Empowered by Play » kindergarten

Radical Preschool

Geralyn — Wed, 01 Sep 2010 18:54:15 +0000

As young children across the country start a new school year, and teachers across the country set up learning environments for their young students, many early childhood teachers will look to the HighScope Educational Research Foundation for guidance. HighScope is a well-respected, research based approach to early childhood care and education. The well-known Perry Preschool Study showed the long-term benefits of receiving a high-quality preschool program using the HighScope approach. Active Learning is at the center of the HighScope.

From their website:

The HighScope educational approach is based on the belief that young children build or “construct” their knowledge of the world – they are “active learners”. This means learning is not simply a process of adults giving information to children. Rather, children discover things through direct experience with people, objects, events, and ideas. They learn best from pursuing their own interests while being actively supported and challenged by adults.

And:

The space and materials in a HighScope setting are carefully arranged to promote active learning. The center is divided into interest areas organized around specifics kinds of play; for example, block area, house area, small toy area, book area, sand-and-water area, and art area.

Sounds good, right? Sounds great, actually. I agree wholeheartedly with the foundations of the HighScope curriculum, which is why I was shocked and disappointed recently when I read in one of their new resources that “Computers are a ‘must’ in early childhood classrooms.” (Setting Up the Preschool Classroom by Nancy Vogel, p. 81)

WHAT?!? Since when? And says who? Computers are a “must”?!? Not according to over 70 professionals who recently signed a letter to NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children). This letter was written by the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood with help from the folks at the Alliance for Childhood.

From the letter:

In the world of medicine, implementation of any medical practice intervention is guided by the principle “Do no harm.” We believe that maxim should guide the use of new technologies in classrooms, particularly since screen time may displace activities with proven benefits for young children such as direct hands-on exploration of the world, connecting with nature and with other human beings, and child-initiated play. Given the vast amount of time that young children are spending with screens and out of child-care settings, and the growing concerns about the impact of screen media on children’s well-being and development, we urge the NAEYC to take a leadership position in efforts to reduce the amount of time children spend with screens and promote the kinds of hands-on creative play proven to be beneficial to their growth and development.

And:

Given that there exists a wealth of screen-free educational activities known to be beneficial to children, and limited data on the costs/benefits of screen media – particular, new media – for young children, we strongly recommend that the burden of proof should be on documenting the benefits of screen media, and on proving they are not harmful, before it is assumed that screens should be incorporated into early childhood environments.

Lisa Guernsey of The New America Foundation is more in favor of computers than those who signed the CCFC’s letter. She has her own letter to NAEYC posted on her blog, Early Ed Watch. But even though Guernsey is more supportive of computers in early childhood settings, she also cites her own warnings and recommendations, and doesn’t agree that computers are now a “must”.

So I ask: why such a strong (and in my opinion, dangerous) statement from HighScope? Believe me, I am trying to find out.

And consider the e-mail I received recently, with the message line reading “Here is your Digital Kindergarten”. The pitch letter started out like this:

Please enjoy this Digital Sample Digital Mini-Text for your students. Complete Curriculum publishes dynamic K-12 digital textbooks and highly-interactive web-based instructional programs that make learning fun and “cool” for today’s whiz kids who eat, breathe, and sleep technology. Our groundbreaking format takes students out of the dull world of traditional print textbooks and transports them into the exciting world of interactive textbooks and lesson plans where learning becomes fun.

Uggh! So now we have a digital alternative to the “dull” world of print textbooks. Hmm, here’s a radical idea: how about letting our students interact with the world around them?! Play with real people and real open-ended materials? Explore nature, art materials, building materials and actual books?! Could the real world be an alternative to the “dull world” of print textbooks? To paraphrase Free-Range Kids author Lenore Skenazy, when did the preschool/kindergarten we grew up with become so radical?

You can help protect preschoolers from too much screen-time!

Geralyn — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 11:49:11 +0000

I am in the joyful and exhausting throes of “Cousins’ Camp” (this year we have 15 first cousins, ages 4-13!) and don’t have time for a long post. But I felt compelled to let everyone know about an important window of opportunity to advocate for our youngest children. Currently NAEYC (National Association for the Education of Young Children) is re-drafting their position statement on Technology and Young Children. NAEYC is at the forefront of early childhood education. Just to give you an idea of their influence, their Annual Conference draws more than 20,000 early childhood teachers, administrators, professors and others. Lots of people pay attention to what NAEYC has to say. Right now we have a unique opportunity to have input on their statement – and help steer NAEYC in the right direction in limiting screen-time in daycare centers, preschools and other early childhood settings. In a brilliant move, Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has teamed up with the Alliance for Childhood to draft a letter to NAEYC – signed by over 70 early childhood experts. Please visit CCFC’s website today to read their letter to NAEYC and for a wealth of information about this topic. Then you can contact NAEYC yourself. The window of opportunity closes July 30, 2010, so I urge you to act soon and to spread the word! Thanks so much.

Defending dirt and Playing for Keeps

Geralyn — Tue, 06 Jul 2010 11:39:02 +0000

The other day my kids were playing in the mud with their cousins. We were replanting some lilac shoots from a very special family bush. While I was thinking about the significance of this 1oo+ year-old family heirloom, the kids were busy stomping in the mud and muck. I didn’t get upset with them – in fact I encouraged them. “Go ahead!” I said. “Get dirty. I just read about a new study that says playing outside in the dirt may actually make you smarter!” The kids giggled at this and started asking each other, “Are you smarter now?” and answering,”Yes! E equals m c squared!” I laughed, with them, but I am quite happy to have this new research in my arsenal in the fight to keep play in our children’s lives. So, the next time your little ones come in the house all grubby from making mud pies or digging to China, rest easy knowing that playing in the dirt has been shown to lower depression, lesson anxiety and now…make you smarter!

You see, back in May, Science Daily reported: “Exposure to specific bacteria in the environment, already believed to have antidepressant qualities, could increase learning behavior, according to research presented at the 110th General Meeting of the American Society for Microbiology in San Diego.” Read the whole story here.

The researches found the effects were temporary, which means repeated exposure is good. Their research helps the growing movement of outdoor classrooms, school yard gardens and bringing kids (and all of us) back outside. Personally, I know that when I am stressed, time outdoors always helps. I’ve known babies who would stop crying and fussing when they were brought outdoors. I can relate because I am the same way. As a teacher, I always knew that time outside in nature was good for kids – especially as television, video games and the internet were keeping them more and more inside. I wrote more about nature and education in this article, “We Need More Sticks and Grass! We Need More Beauty!” .

Now, having evidence that being outside in nature can actually increase learning behavior – this is the icing on the cake. “This research suggests that M. vaccae may play a role in anxiety and learning in mammals,” says Matthews. “It is interesting to speculate that creating learning environments in schools that include time in the outdoors where M. vaccae is present may decrease anxiety and improve the ability to learn new tasks.”

Looking for more evidence that time spent outdoors is good for our children? Here’s more. There’s a terrific new book just published by Teachers College Press. It is called Playing for Keeps: Life and Learning on a Public School Playground, by Deborah Meier, Brenda S. Engel and Beth Taylor. The book comes at just the right time, when parents and teachers are looking for ways to convince principals and policy makers that recess is a necessary and valuable part of the school day. The book is written about the early years at the Mission Hill School in Boston, a school that I am proud to have helped start and then teach at for eleven years. The authors are all incredibly talented teachers and mentors, who helped me learn how to closely observe children and the deep importance of active learning. It is from these women that I learned much of what I know about being a good teacher.

From the introduction, “We invite readers to appreciate the life of the imagination on the playground, to see the energy children bring to exploring their social and physical surrounds, and to share with us the children’s delight in active learning.”

If your children are outside – playing, living, laughing, learning and getting dirty – these two new bodies of evidence help confirm what you already know. If your children are inside more than you like, and you are advocating for recess, struggling to bring a garden to your school yard or working to bring more outdoor recreation spaces into your community, now you have two new powerful weapons in your arsenal. Excellent.

Protecting play? Three great new resources!

Geralyn — Fri, 07 May 2010 17:33:22 +0000

In our current world, play has gotten squeezed out of our lives and has become a four letter word. Helping to spread the word about the importance of play is a major part of Empowered by Play’s mission. I am thrilled to report that this week I received three wonderful emails with new resources that can help parents, teachers and policymakers get a better understanding of the importance of play – and may help restore playful lives.

The first resource is the brief, yet compelling argument that play is innate (Is Children’s Play Innate?) presented by City College Professor Bill Crain and published in the current issue of Encounter: Education for Meaning and Social Justice (Vol. 23, No. 2.). Crain lays out his theory through looking closely at three lines of research and concludes, “when contemporary educators reduce playtime, they might be frustrating an innate need.” Consider this excerpt:

Additional evidence that play is innate comes from George Eisen’s little-known (1988) account of children in the ghettos and concentration camps of the Holocaust. One might suppose that the children’s hunger, fear, and anguish would have completely suppressed their desire to play, but this didn’t happen. Summarizing the diaries and reports of Holocaust victims, Eisen (1988, 66) says, “Play burst forth spontaneously and uncontrollably without regard to the external situation.” Lacking manufactured toys, the children made their own — out of mud, snow, rags, and pieces of wood. When a skeptical interviewer asked a girl how she could have played in Auschwitz, her face lit up and she said, “But I played! I played with nothing!With the snow! With the balls of snow!” (p. 72)

I was impressed with Crain’s reasoning when he shared his thoughts at the In Defense of Childhood conference back in March. I have been telling others about this amazing Holocaust story and have continued to ponder his ideas. I am thankful to have a written piece to contemplate and pass along.

The second resource is the essay Core Standards in Kindergarten by teacher Dr. Eric Gidseg in the current issue of Collage published by Community Playthings. The entire issue is dedicated to the Common Core Standards and the implications for early childhood. Gidseg eloquently uses the story of his young student Gabe to illustrate a very real struggle that kindergarten teachers are facing everyday:

Gabe is a bright little boy in my kindergarten class with sparkling blue eyes and loads of enthusiasm and energy. He knows just about everything that there is to know about fire engines and rescue vehicles. He can stand before a classroom of five-year-olds, show his detailed drawings of a ladder truck, and describe how it is used by firefighters when they attack a fire. Over the course of this school year Gabe has taken just about every book on firefighting and fire equipment out of the school library. Gabe is not yet secure, however, in the connection between the letters of the alphabet and their sounds, nor is he able to count beyond the number 15 without becoming confused and repeating himself. This is in spite of daily classroom experiences and instruction to support such learning, differentiated for his current level of achievement.

I am faced with a challenge. I know from more than 30 years of experience as a kindergarten teacher that there’s nothing wrong with Gabe—that he will learn to read and count perfectly well, given time and encouragement. But he has not met the standards that have been created to guide kindergarten instruction and learning. This child will have a failing report card if I cannot help him to master these skills. In spite of my long experience, I am unsure of myself as I am forced into an increasingly didactic role with children like Gabe. In all likelihood I can get Gabe to develop these skills, but at what cost?

I am thankful to Gidseg for shining a spotlight on this struggle, and for sticking with the fight. We need experienced teacher such as him, working with our youngest children. More and more experienced early childhood teachers, who know what is possible and what is right, are leaving the profession heart-broken. They take with them decades of experience and deep knowledge about how to create environments where young children thrive and learn and grow – and want to be.

The third great find comes from the US Play Coalition, and the announcement that registration is now open for The Conference on the Value of Play set to take place at Clemson University February 6th – 9th:

The Conference on the Value of Play will emphasize the health and educational implications of play while still focusing on the role of parks and recreation in facilitating play for all. We are thrilled to have Dr. Joe Frost, Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus from the University of Texas, serving as the Honorary Chair of the Program Committee for The Conference on the Value of Play. Dr. Frost and the program committee are working to create a program that will include nationally acclaimed keynote speakers who will address the role of play in facilitating physical and emotional health, cognitive and educational success, and overall quality of life for people of all ages.

There you have it…three great finds for the fight to protect play. If you know of others, please send them this way!

Milk Media Madness

Geralyn — Thu, 08 Apr 2010 02:38:18 +0000

Is it too much to ask that our school children eat a school lunch without being marketed to? I don’t think so. A few months ago, I wrote about Milk Media and their Milk Rocks! campaign. At that time I was upset about the Bakugan website advertised to my 5 year-old son on his school milk carton. Since then, both Milk Media and my local dairy have assured me that this won’t happen again. There won’t be a media character or a website advertised on their milk panels. Or, more accurately, there won’t be any website except for “Milk Rocks!”. Their website continues to be advertised to school children across the country every day.

Check out these images of some of their featured performers:

Every time I check out the Milk Rocks! website, I get more and more upset. The website features sexy singers (see above) and video games (some of them, such as 3 Foot Ninja II, are violent). They have trailers for all kinds of movies, including violent PG-13 movies such as Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen. Their contests and content are aimed at older children (13 -18) though their website appears on milk cartons for students of all ages - including kindergartners and elementary students. Now, when I look at the website, I see that kids are encouraged to “become a fan of Milk Rocks! on Facebook”. I am not naive. I know that there are 11 and 12 year-olds on Facebook, but should school milk cartons be encouraging that?

Why is this happening? How is Milk Media allowed to do this? Their website states proudly: “Milk Rocks! connects with students using milk carton side panels to lunchroom posters and book covers. Our Dairy partners make it all possible – their delivery personnel are in and out of every school every day — delivering cartons, checking posters, distributing book covers. We don’t just ship materials and hope for the best, we’re there every day.” Well, I have been trying to get in touch with my local dairy to ask more questions about this, but don’t have any answers yet. I truly do not believe that Milk Media should have such easy access to our children – especially when most parents do not even realize what is going on.

Milk Media and their Milk Rocks! campaign claim their aim is to increase low fat milk consumption (as opposed to sugary drinks), though healthy messages are only a tiny portion of all that the website has to offer. There is a bit of information about the health benefits of drinking low fat milk. There is also advertising from smallsteps.gov which encourages water drinking and exercise, however that ad popped up less often than the Facebook and Twitter ads when I browsed the website. Their motto, “Plug in. Drink up.” just doesn’t sit right with me either. Apparently, the motto refers to the electronic music and milk, but to me it sounds as if they are encouraging kids to play video games while drinking. Maybe that’s just me.

In my eyes, Milk Media continues to pull a fast one on parents (and schools) across the country. Enough already! If you think so, too, write to them at info@milkmedia.com or info@milkrocks.com. Find out if schools in your area are involved, and if so, contact your local dairy and let them know how you feel.

“The Brawl Begins” when Milk Media meets my son

Troublemakers and Peacemakers

The good, the bad and the Common Core Standards

Geralyn — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 03:49:41 +0000

I am back from Boston and the MassAEYC conference and have had time to think about some of the points David Elkind made in his keynote address. Dr. Elkind is the author of many respected books, such as The Hurried Child, Miseducation: Preschoolers at Risk and most recently, The Power of Play. One idea that Elkind shared during his keynote was that good experiences are the best preparation for bad experiences, and bad experiences only prepare you for bad experiences. He gave the example of children who were directly affected by the events of 9/11. Researchers followed some of these children for several years, and found that the children who had no prior traumas were able to better cope with the events of 9/11. Children who had already experienced trauma in their lives were more adversely affected by the events. Their prior bad experiences did not make the bad experience of 9/11 easier to handle.

His words made me think about our current emphasis on standardized tests and the academic push into our early childhood classrooms. High-stakes tests; the weeks and months that go into preparing for them; and “kill and drill” scripted curricula have turned education into a “bad experience” for many of our elementary, middle and high school students. Pressures from the federal, state and local policy makers has trickled down to our youngest students. (See previous post Kinder Kindergartens, Please) And with Arne Duncans’s Race to the Top, it looks as though these pressures will continue.

What is the best way to prepare our youngest students for the inevitable bad experiences (high-stakes testing for example) they will encounter? Do we give them more bad experiences? Do we take away playful learning, child-centered curricula, developmentally appropriate expectations and engaging environments? Do we remove all that we know is good for young children’s learning and replace it with didactic instruction that kills curiosity and threatens to turn kids off to school? Or, do we make our children’s early experiences rich with discovery; full of language; and complete with secure relationships?

I had the chance to ask Dr. Elkind about this connection I was making between what he said, and the pressures of high-stakes testing. He replied that hadn’t thought about it quite that way – but agreed it was a valuable point. He stands with the many early childhood experts who have made a public statement about the new Common Core Standards, and the negative impact the current draft will have on early childhood classrooms. There are just two more days to comment on the current draft of the Common Core Standards, and the early childhood push-back is getting some attention. If you haven’t already, please visit the Alliance for Childhood website today and learn more about the standards and how to comment on them. I urge you to do what you can to help secure good experiences for our children in the early years – and help prepare them for what lies ahead – both good and bad.

Agents of change

Geralyn — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:07:17 +0000

Today I write about two unique opportunities. Your voice can help make this country a better place for children and play. First, as I’ve written recently, the Common Core Standards are now available for public comment at www.corestandards.org (until April 2nd). The current draft for kindergarten includes:

“Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.”

“Use the most common affixes in English (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.”

“Say the number name sequence forward or backward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of always beginning at 1).”

“Understand that names of shapes apply regardless of the orientation or overall size of the shape.”

As you may recall, Alliance for Childhood recently released a joint statement about the Common Core Standards signed by concerned early childhood experts from across the country. (Here is an excerpt from that statement: “Young children learn best in active, hands-on ways and in the context of meaningful real-life experiences. New research shows that didactic instruction of discrete reading and math skills has already pushed play-based learning out of many kindergartens.”)

The statement has already impacted the Common Core Standards, with some small changes having been made. (Now kindergarten students must know haw to write most upper and lowercase letters instead of all upper and lower case letters.) There is a chance that we can make an even bigger impact. The Alliance for Childhood website has links to all the early childhood standards and ideas about how to respond to the survey. I filled one in yesterday, and urge you to do the same – before the comment period closes. Currently (according to Catherine Gewetrz of Education Week) the comments being submitted about the standards are 75% positive and 25% negative. Let’s get that negative percentage higher and get some attention! Also, for more information and ideas about the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind and more…you can also check out the insightful exchanges between Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch on the Bridging Differences blog in Ed Week.

Another way to speak out on behalf of children is to encouraging Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to include recess in their plan to fight childhood obesity. Check out this recent blog post for more on that. Currently, and only for the next few days, there is a chance to send your comments and ideas to the task force at Let’s Move. Click here to send in your ideas. Last week I was talking with a frustrated mom who has a very sad little 6 year-old daughter. Every day, her daughter has to “earn” her recess, and sometimes she just isn’t able to. On those days, she gets off the bus crying. To me, that is outrageous and unacceptable. Recess belongs in the school day, for exercise, relieving stress and having some fun!

I hope you find some moments in the next day or so to use your voice on behalf of children and play. And I urge you to spread the word about these two unique opportunities.

Alliance for Childhood’s Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals

Geralyn — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 14:28:00 +0000

You know something is wrong when a kindergartner asks: “Mom, can I retire from school?”

Kindergarten has traditionally been a wonderful world of discovery and playful learning. It has been a place where young children grow in their independence, form relationships outside the family circle, and learn about the world around them in a thoughtful and inviting environment.

If you are a regular reader of Empowered by Play, if you have a child in kindergarten right now, or if you are an early childhood educator, you know about the current crisis in early childhood education. The pressures of our high-stakes testing world has encroached dramatically on early childhood classrooms, taking away playful learning and replacing it with incessant assessments and developmentally inappropriate expectations. I’ve heard from experienced teachers who are leaving the classroom because they can no longer, in good conscience, be a part of a system that is harmful to children. This weekend I heard about a mom whose son is struggling in public preschool. She isn’t sure what is going on, though he has been sent home from school a few times. When the mom asked the teacher what exactly is going on with her son, the teacher admitted that she just didn’t know since she doesn’t have time to talk to her students. The teacher is too busy trying to “get through” all the lessons and assessments she is mandated to keep up with, and revealed that she has a conversation with each child about once a week. Once a week!!!

It truly is time to stop the madness. Read below the recent statement signed by hundreds of early childhood health and education professionals. A deep thanks to the incredible folks at Alliance for Childhood, Ed Miller and Joan Almon, for making this happen. Please check out the Alliance for Childhood website, where a complete list of signers will be available soon. I urge you to help spread the word to parents, teachers, the press and politicians.

Joint Statement of Early Childhood Health and Education Professionals on the Common Core Standards Initiative

Issued by the Alliance for Childhood

March 2, 2010

www.allianceforchildhood.org

We have grave concerns about the core standards for young children now being written by the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers. The draft standards made public in January conflict with compelling new research in cognitive science, neuroscience, child development, and early childhood education about how young children learn, what they need to learn, and how best to teach them in kindergarten and the early grades.

We have no doubt that promoting language and mathematics is crucial to closing the achievement gap. As written, however, the proposed standards raise the following concerns:

Such standards will lead to long hours of instruction in literacy and math. Young children learn best in active, hands-on ways and in the context of meaningful real-life experiences. New research shows that didactic instruction of discrete reading and math skills has already pushed play-based learning out of many kindergartens. But the current proposal goes well beyond most existing state standards in requiring, for example, that every kindergartner be able to write “all upper- and lowercase letters” and “read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.”

They will lead to inappropriate standardized testing. Current state standards for young children have led to the heavy use of standardized tests in kindergarten and the lower grades, despite their unreliability for assessing children under age eight. The proposed core standards will intensify inappropriate testing in place of broader observational assessments that better serve young children’s needs.

Didactic instruction and testing will crowd out other important areas of learning. Young children’s learning must go beyond literacy and math. They need to learn about families and communities, to take on challenges, and to develop social, emotional, problem-solving, self-regulation, and perspective-taking skills. Overuse of didactic instruction and testing cuts off children’s initiative, curiosity, and imagination, limiting their later engagement in school and the workplace, not to mention responsible citizenship. And it interferes with the growth of healthy bodies and essential sensory and motor skills—all best developed through playful and active hands-on learning.

There is little evidence that such standards for young children lead to later success. While an introduction to books in early childhood is vital, research on the links between the intensive teaching of discrete reading skills in kindergarten and later success is inconclusive at best. Many of the countries with top-performing high-school students do not begin formal schooling until age six or seven. We must test these ideas more thoroughly before establishing nationwide policies and practices.

We therefore call on the National Governors Association and the Council of Chief State School Officers to suspend their current drafting of standards for children in kindergarten through grade three.

We further call for the creation of a consortium of early childhood researchers, developmental psychologists, pediatricians, cognitive scientists, master teachers, and school leaders to develop comprehensive guidelines for effective early care and teaching that recognize the right of every child to a healthy start in life and a developmentally appropriate education.

Defne Apul, Assistant Professor of Civil Engineering, University of Toledo, Toledo, OH

Cara Armstrong, Curator of Education, Fallingwater, Mill Run, PA

Ray Bacchetti, Vice President, Planning and Management, Emeritus, Stanford University, Palo Alto, CA

Lyda Beardsley, Director, Child Development Programs, College of Marin, Kentfield, CA

Laura M. Bennett-Murphy, Associate Professor, Psychology, Westminster College, Salt Lake City, UT

Karen D. Benson, Professor, California State University, Sacramento, CA

Eugene V. Beresin, M.D., Professor of Psychiatry, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

Wendy C. Blackwell, Director of Education, National Children’s Museum, Washington, DC

Wil Blechman, M.D., President, Docs for Tots Florida; Past President, Kiwanis International, Miami, FL

Lila Braine, Emeritus Professor of Cognitive Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Michael Brody, M.D., Chair, Media Committee, American Academy of Child and Adolescent

Psychiatry, Washington, DC

Stuart L. Brown, M.D., Founder and President, National Institute for Play, Carmel Valley, CA

Blakely Bundy, Executive Director, Winnetka Alliance for Early Childhood, Winnetka, IL

Nancy Carlsson-Paige, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Lesley University, Cambridge, MA

Catherine Carotta, Associate Director, Center for Childhood Deafness, Boys Town National Research

Hospital, Omaha, NE

Sherry Cleary, Executive Director, NYC Early Childhood Professional Development Institute, City

University of New York, NY

Colleen Cordes, Executive Director, Psychologists for Social Responsibility, Washington, DC

Milly Cowles, Dean, Principals’ Academy, Mobile, AL

Ellen F. Crain, M.D., Professor of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

William Crain, Professor of Psychology, City College of New York, NY

Sara McCormick Davis, Associate Professor, University of Arkansas Fort Smith; President Elect,

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, Fort Smith, AR

Diane Trister Dodge, President, Teaching Strategies, Inc., Bethesda, MD

Georgianna Duarte, Professor, University of Texas, Brownsville, TX

Barbara Dubitsky, Director, Mathematics Leadership Programs, Bank Street College, New York, NY

Sean Durham, Director, Early Learning Center for Research and Practice, University of Tennessee, Knoxville, TN

David Elkind, Professor Emeritus of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Ann S. Epstein, Senior Director of Curriculum Development, HighScope Educational Research

Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI

Beverly Falk, Professor, School of Education, City College of New York, NY

Stephanie Feeney, Professor Emerita of Education, University of Hawaii; Chair of the Advocacy

Committee, National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators, Honolulu, HI

Margery B. Franklin, Professor Emerita of Psychology, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

Doris Fromberg, Professor and Director of Early Childhood Teacher Education, Hofstra University,

Hempstead, NY

Joe L. Frost, Parker Centennial Professor Emeritus, University of Texas, Austin, TX

Ellen Galinsky, author and work life researcher, New York, NY

Suzanne Gellens, Executive Director, Florida Association for the Education of Young Children, Tampa, FL

Roberta Golinkoff, H. Rodney Sharp Professor of Education, Psychology, and Linguistics and Cognitive

Science, University of Delaware, Newark, DE

Elizabeth N. Goodenough, Lecturer in Literature, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Rachel Grob, Director, Child Development Institute, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

Marcy Guddemi, Executive Director, Gesell Institute of Human Development, New Haven, CT

Darell Hammond, CEO and co-founder, KaBOOM!, Washington, DC

Jane M. Healy, educational psychologist and author, Vail, CO

Kathy Hirsh-Pasek, Stanley and Debra Lefkowitz Professor of Psychology, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA

Craig Holdrege, biologist, educator; Director, The Nature Institute, Ghent, NY

Carla M. Horwitz, Lecturer, Yale Child Study Center, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Carollee Howes, Professor, University of California, Los Angeles, CA

Kim Hughes, Therapeutic Teacher, Trainer, and Consultant; 1999-2000 North Carolina Teacher of the Year, Project Enlightenment, Wake County Schools, Raleigh, NC

Olga S. Jarrett, Associate Professor, Early Childhood Education, Georgia State University, Atlanta, GA

Candace Jaruszewicz, Director, N. E. Miles Early Childhood Development Center, College of Charleston, Charleston, SC

Jim Johnson, Professor-in-Charge of Early Childhood Education, Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA

Constance Kamii, Professor, University of Alabama at Birmingham, AL

Lilian G. Katz, Professor Emeritus and Co-director, Clearinghouse on Early Education and Parenting,

University of Illinois, Champaign, IL

Ethan H. Kisch, M.D., Child Psychiatrist; Medical Director, Quality Behavioral Health, Warwick, RI

Robert H. Klein, Professor Emeritus of Physics, Cleveland State University, Cleveland, OH

Tovah Klein, Director, Center for Toddler Development, Barnard College, Columbia University,

New York, NY

Edgar Klugman, Professor Emeritus, Wheelock College, Boston, MA

Alfie Kohn, author and lecturer, Belmont, MA

Linda Kroll, Professor, School of Education, Mills College, Oakland, CA

Linda Lantieri, Director, The Inner Resilience Program, New York, NY

Diane E. Levin, Professor of Early Childhood Education, Wheelock College, Boston, MA

Yeou-Cheng Ma, M.D., Developmental Pediatrician, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, NY

Fran P. Mainella, Co-Chair, U.S. Play Coalition, Clemson University, Clemson, SC

David Marshak, Professor Emeritus, Seattle University, Seattle, WA

Milbrey McLaughlin, David Jacks Professor of Education, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Gillian D. McNamee, Professor and Director, Teacher Education, Erikson Institute, Chicago, IL

Deborah W. Meier, Educator and Senior Scholar, New York University, New York, NY

Mary Sue Miller, Lead Educator for Early Learning, Chicago Children’s Museum, Chicago, IL

Lowell Monke, Associate Professor of Education, Wittenberg University, Springfield, OH

Mary Ruth Moore, Professor, University of the Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

Dorine Morese, Instructional Coordinator, NYC Office of Early Childhood Education, New York, NY

John Nimmo, Executive Director, Child Study and Development Center, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH

Nel Noddings, Lee Jacks Professor Education Emerita, Stanford University, Stanford, CA

Pedro A. Noguera, Peter L. Agnew Professor of Education and Executive Director, Metropolitan Center

for Urban Education, New York University, New York, NY

Susan Ohanian, Fellow, Education Policy Studies Laboratory, Arizona State University, Charlotte, VT

Sharna Olfman, Professor of Clinical and Developmental Psychology, Point Park University,

Pittsburgh, PA

Linda Olivenbaum, Director, California Early Childhood Mentor Program, San Francisco, CA

David Osher, Vice President, Education, Human Development, Workforce, American Institutes for

Research, Washington, DC

Vivian Gussin Paley, author and teacher emerita, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools, Chicago, IL

Kim John Payne, director, Center for Social Sustainability, Antioch University, Northampton, MA

Helene Pniewski, M.D., Developmental Pediatrician and Child Psychiatrist, Providence, RI

Ruth Prescott, Professional Development Director, Chicago Metro Association for the Education of

Young Children, Chicago, IL

Baji Rankin, Executive Director, New Mexico Association for the Education of Young Children, Albuquerque, NM

Fretta Reitzes, Director, Goldman Center for Youth and Family, 92nd Street Y, New York, NY

Mary S. Rivkin, Associate Professor, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Baltimore, MD

Alvin Rosenfeld, M.D., Child Psychiatrist; Lecturer, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

A. G. Rud, Head, Department of Educational Studies, Purdue University, West Lafayette, IN

Eliza Russell, Director of Education, National Wildlife Federation, Reston, VA

Susan Riemer Sacks, Professor of Psychology, Barnard College, Columbia University, New York, NY

Lawrence J. Schweinhart, President, HighScope Educational Research Foundation, Ypsilanti, MI

Dorothy G. Singer, Senior Research Scientist, Dept. of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Jerome L. Singer, Professor Emeritus of Psychology, Yale University, New Haven, CT

Mary Stone, President, Missouri Association for the Education of Young Children, Springfield, MO

Maurice Sykes, Executive Director, Early Childhood Leadership Institute, University of the District of

Columbia, Washington, DC

Molly Thompson, Director, Early Childhood Programs, Breakwater School, Portland, ME

Arlene Uss, Director, Center for Early Care and Education, Bank Street College, New York, NY

Rosario Villasana-Ruiz, Faculty, City College of San Francisco, CA

Macy Welsh, Director, National Lekotek Center, Chicago, IL

Donald Wertlieb, Professor, Eliot-Pearson Department of Child Development, Tufts University, Medford, MA

Frank R. Wilson, M.D., Neurologist (retired), Stanford University School of Medicine, Portland, OR

Marie Winn, Writer, New York, NY

Lisa Witkowski, Director, Future Workforce Unit, Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County, Fort Worth, TX

Chip Wood, Author and educator, Courage and Renewal Northeast, Wellesley, MA

George Wood, Principal, Federal Hocking Middle & High School, Amesville, OH

Note: Signers’ affiliations are listed for identification purposes only and do not signify the organizations’ endorsement of this statement. For a full list of signers, see www.allianceforchildhood.org. For more information about this statement and the Alliance, contact Executive Director Joan Almon (joan.almon@verizon.net) or Senior Researcher Edward Miller (ed@allianceforchildhood.org).

The above letter was mailed to all 50 state governors, 51 chief state school officers, and 88 state early childhood specialists. It was also hand delivered last week to the following offices:

At the National Governors Association–

Raymond C. Scheppach, Executive Director

Dane Linn, Director, Education Division

Ilene Berman, Program Director, K–12 Education

Rachel Demma, Senior Policy Analyst, Early Childhood Education

Kathleen Nolan, Director, Health Division

Mary Jo Waits, Director, Social, Economic and Workforce Programs Division

At the Council of Chief State School Officers–

Gene Wilhoit, Executive Director

Lois Adams-Rodgers, Deputy Executive Director

Scott Montgomery, Deputy Executive Director

Thomas Schultz, Director of Early Childhood

Melissa Zack Johnston, Director of Strategy and Implementation

Racing toward all children left behind

Geralyn — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 18:34:38 +0000

Considering the fact that the test-prep pressures of No Child Left Behind have already wreaked havoc on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood classrooms, the impending common-core standards will do nothing but add further damage. These proposed standards come with the federal Race to the Top funding. States must agree to adopt these standards – or else they can not qualify for the RttT money. Some states (such as Texas) and some districts have already realized that losing further control of their schools just isn’t worth it, or that the funds offered by RttT may not even cover the changes they need to make or the added hoops they’ll need to jump through.

I’ve looked at the common-core standards for kindergarten. It is the grade my sons are currently in, and it is the grade I have the most experience teaching. After reviewing the ludicrous lists for math and language arts, I can tell you there will be even less time for playful learning in the states that adopt these new standards. Here are some highlights (or low lights!) from the kindergarten math common-core standards:

Students understand that:

A two-digit number is some tens and some ones. For example, 29 is two tens and nine ones.

Breaking apart a group can be recorded in an equation such as 8 = 5 + 3. Breaking apart a group in more than one way can be recorded in an equation such as 7 + 6 = 10 + 3.

Students can and do:

Rank three objects by a shared attribute (especially length), and use transitivity to compare two objects indirectly.

Move shapes using translations, reflections and rotations.

Do you know how to “use transitivity to compare two objects indirectly”? If Secretary of Education Arne Duncan has his way, our 5 year-olds will need to. There are many more standards listed, and one of my favorites is “Students understand that names refer to shapes regardless of orientation or overall size.” I love that one, because in the real-life of a kindergarten teacher, one knows that turning a triangle will inspire great debates about what the shape is now! As my friend wrote recently, “I teach 30 first graders math and when presented with an equilateral triangle with a “point” facing down, half will insist it is not a triangle. Wellesley [MA] is hardly an uneducated town…”

Simply put, you can’t regulate what a young child will understand. Why is our federal government trying? You can, however, learn a great deal about how young children understand the world by listening to them play. For more on that, check out this previous post , Taking Time to Listen and Learn.

Time to investigate, ask questions, discover, mess around, get dirty, and debate what a triangle “turned-upside” is. That’s what we need. That’s what I’m fighting for.

For some related posts see:

Kinder kindergartens, please!

One Teacher’s Story

Learning Through Play and Keeping Good Teachers

Playful learning is more than just Sight Word BINGO

Playing to Learn – thank you Susan Engel!

Geralyn — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 01:57:59 +0000

Earlier this week there was an absolutely beautiful op-ed piece in the NY Times, Playing to Learn by Susan Engel. In light of Obama’s proposed changes to No Child Left Behind, Susan Engel describes further changes – ones that would truly impact teaching and learning for the better. “Our current educational approach — and the testing that is driving it — is completely at odds with what scientists understand about how children develop during the elementary school years and has led to a curriculum that is strangling children and teachers alike,” she writes. It reminds me of a recent study from the University of California where National Board Certified, Highly Qualified teachers were surveyed about NCLB. 84% responded that NCLB has had unfavorable effects. “These highly accomplished teachers were skeptical, and in some cases angry, about the consequences of No Child Left Behind for the nation’s school children,” the report said. “This is a problematic outcome of the legislation, if only because these are precisely the teachers the public schools can least afford to lose.” Click here to read more about this study.

In her essay, Engel describes what an engaging curriculum can look like (engaging for students AND for teachers). Here is a bit about an imaginary third grade classroom,

“In this classroom, children would spend two hours each day hearing stories read aloud, reading aloud themselves, telling stories to one another and reading on their own. After all, the first step to literacy is simply being immersed, through conversation and storytelling, in a reading environment; the second is to read a lot and often. A school day where every child is given ample opportunities to read and discuss books would give teachers more time to help those students who need more instruction in order to become good readers.

“Children would also spend an hour a day writing things that have actual meaning to them — stories, newspaper articles, captions for cartoons, letters to one another. People write best when they use writing to think and to communicate, rather than to get a good grade.”

She goes on to describe computation, collaboration and the value of extended time for play. (Check out the full piece for more details.) What she says makes so much sense, I only wish I had written it myself. How have we gotten so far off track with education in this country? What will it take to get us on a better track? I thought Obama would be the answer – but his inner circle of advisers are not what I dreamed of – more like a nightmare! When will our leaders start asking teachers about teaching and learning instead of legislating misguided mandates?

As a teacher, I found ways to have extended periods of time everyday when students were making choices about their own learning. Building materials, art supplies, conversations and good literature kept students engaged and motivated. They had time to play, discover, invent and experiment. At Mission Hill School in Boston where I taught, in a child-centered, democratic classroom, I had time to work with small groups and talk with individual students. We studied curriculum themes for ten or twelve weeks (sometimes longer) and made room for students to carry the theme in their own directions.

My own sons (six-year-old twin boys in kindergarten) now struggle to stay engaged at school. Some days are better than others, but some days are pretty bad. Especially when there has been no time for play or discovery. It is what they live for. Literally, playful learning is like oxygen for them. Hours spent building ramps out of recycled cardboard, rudimentary Rube-Goldberg-inspired contraptions, Lincoln log cities and LEGO vehicles are what makes life worth living for them. They also love to write and illustrate short books – and lately have re-discovered a stack of books they wrote last year (before they started school). What fun it has been, re-reading with them something they wrote a year ago – and noticing how much their writing has developed.

I sympathize with teachers who are struggling to stay true to what is good for kids, and I thank Susan Engel for writing her piece for the NY Times. I’ll be spreading it far and wide. I hope it helps the movement!