Education
philosophy
I
feel that children learn best in an environment where they feel safe and loved.
A child must first feel that they can trust you before they will open up their
minds to begin to learn from you. This
is why I fully agree with Maslow that it is most important to build trust and
an environment of safety and love with a child. When a new child enters my class I will work
on showing them my class is a safe space. They are allowed to have fun and they
are allowed to express themselves in a safe way. Having said that, I believe
part of that trust is establishing boundaries. Children crave boundaries and it
is part of establishing that trust. Even in the first few months of life,
whether they know it or not, children are constantly asking the question “do
you love me enough to say NO?” It is our responsibility as the adults in their
lives to answer that question with “yes, I love you enough to say NO”. This
question is asked by a baby when they begin to put dangerous things in his or
her mouth and we take those things away. This question is asked again by a
toddler and preschooler who wants to slap, kick, bite or hurt others or just
simply do things he knows he shouldn’t. The adults in his life need to say, “no,
you can’t do that”. This question is
asked again by a school age child who learns to talk back, disobey and lie and
the adults in his life need to say “No, you can’t do that.” The question is
asked over and over and over again, every day a hundred times in a hundred
ways. WE must create a safe space for them to learn by creating safe healthy,
boundaries that say “I love you enough to say NO and Yes”.
After
children begin to feel safe with you, they want to explore and learn all about
their world. I feel like they should be allowed the freedom to do so. I am the
kind of teacher that will sit back and watch my toddlers climb as high as they
can on the climber and then get to the top and cry for help. I do not get them
down, I facilitate them getting themselves down. They got up there; they can
get down! I coach them how, and this fosters independence! They quickly learn
this concept and can do it on their own and feel so proud of themselves when
they get up and down all by themselves! It is important to allow children to
learn through experiences. This is not
to say you should stand back and watch them burn themselves with an iron so
they learn the word hot! But if they want to see what salt tastes like because
it looks like sugar, put some on your finger and see what they think. Experience
is a great teacher. Our 5 senses are the
best way we remember things and children’s senses are just standing by waiting
for input!
Lastly,
we know that all children learn differently. Some are more auditory, some are kinetic,
some are visual, and some are tactile or a combination of several or all. So in planning lessons and activities we must
keep all of our learners in mind. We have to do things throughout the day to
keep all of our learners engaged. Some may enjoy one activity more than others,
some may not be able to keep on task at all, but it is about trying to get them
to do something they may not have otherwise tried to do. We must also be
sensitive to each child’s needs and issues. We may have a child with sensory
issues, or strong aversions. If we keep this in mind as we present activities,
it will make presenting lessons easier on everyone. Lessons should be prepared
with the students in mind that the material will be presented to. If you know your students, you can tailor the
lessons more specifically to their interests and educational needs. Education
is about taking a child from where they currently are and moving them forward. Every child is unique and should be treated as
such.
Early
Childhood Education is an absolute PASSION of mine. I wish I could teach every
person in the world about how crucial it is! From the moment a child takes its
first breath it is learning. Their brains are developing faster than science
and technology can even count! Synaptic pathways are building by the
nanosecond. They are learning while they are sleeping, they are learning while
their parents are thinking they are just looking at them. I teach a class of 2
year olds, every day. Those sweet babies are coming up with new and amazing
stuff. They change faster than I can
keep up with. My task as their teacher is an overwhelming blessing, but a huge
responsibility. I am helping to build humans, everyday! What I do and say with
those little people matters. If I’m having a bad day and say or do something
that isn’t nice, it could create a little wrinkle in their brain that could
have a lasting effect. I have to be on top of my game ALL DAY EVERY DAY! It’s a
big job and I am beyond honored to do it.
