Recently I was visiting/mentoring in a school and a sincere, somber second grader said, "School's getting more  "complicateder." When I was littler, I used to just have fun and get stuff in my head, like, BOOM! it was just there like sight words and stuff, but now I have to really think hard to learn stuff, and it's just "complicateder" to learn all that stuff."

She didn't even wait for my response before she said, with the brutal honesty only a child can muster, "I think it's cuz my other teachers liked it when we had fun.  They laughed and smiled a lot."

OUCH!  Not a teacher among us would question the well-researched fact that children learn best when they are having fun (read that engaged in activity that makes sense to them).  Why are we so reluctant to also accept the well-researched fact that teachers are more effective instructors when they, too, are engaged (read that motivated by the content and finding pleasure in the kids)?

In this 21st century worlld of standards, assessments, accountabililty, budget restraints, expanding responsibilities, and public scrutiny, we could easily lose sight of why we stay in teaching. It certainly isn't for the salary, the ease of the job, or the prestige. We need to regularly take a breath, look at the kids, close the door, and enjoy.  We don't teach programs, curriculums, standards, or textbooks.  We teach little humans, and that should bring a smile.

 

  November 5, 2012   Yippee-Skippee!  I've finished what I'm hoping is the last round of edits for my new book that will be released by Scholastic in the Spring of 2013.  It's a stuffed-to-the-gills resource book of solid (and research-based) instructional and intervention activities and strategies that are easy to implement, and will put some zest back into your teac...(Read More)

Last week I spent two wonderful days with a group of six kindergarten teachers from two public charter schools in southern New Jersey.  Four of these teachers, while not new to teaching, are new to kindergarten. I was able to spend mornings visiting each of their classrooms, and was awed by their commitment to the children. I saw rich, engaging classrooms that honored children...and I got to...(Read More)

Research is clear, definitive, and explicit!  A child's oral language, both receptive and expressive, by age four is a reliable predictor of literacy success. We know that children from homes with limited conversation and narrow vocabulary will need lots of oral language development in order for beginning literacy instruction to make sense. So, it's up to us to smother, inundate, and immerse...(Read More)

  In recent years, teachers and researchers in early childhood education have explored the topic of the changing kindergarten from various angles (Goldstein, 2007; Graue, 2001; Gullo, 2006; Hatch, 2005). At stake is figuring out how teachers can address the twin demands for increased levels of student performance and the implementation of a standardized c...(Read More)