At a recent
school day concert I was able to observe, right before my eyes, one of the
differences between early childhood educators and elementary educators. Within 50 minutes there were two
examples of different approaches that may reveal a great deal about the way
that these professionals look at their work with children.
The concert
involved preschoolers, kindergarteners and first graders at the school. All of the children joined in with
enthusiasm: clapping, dancing and guessing the silly rhymes that would complete
phrases in my songs. Overall it
was a great event and what I am about to describe were small incidents that did
not interrupt the concert in any way.
This sort of thing happens many times during the course of a school day. I
only noticed all of this because I was facing the teachers and students as I
led my concert.
And I have a
knack for observation.
About half way
through my concert, I noticed that two girls in one of the first grade classes
began to chat. Soon, rather than clapping and singing along with me, they were
engaged in their own games: poking at
each other, giggling, etc.
This is common,
of course. Young children can be
easily distracted. (Adults can
too. Instead of poking and
giggling, adults text.)
I watched this
develop over a couple of songs and then noticed a first grade teacher walk over
to where these children were seated, scold them a bit, and, after that, return
to her chair on the far side of the room.
Almost as soon as the teacher walked away the two young girls were at it
again. The teacher returned after
a few more minutes and, once again, scolded the children and pointed towards
me, indicating that they should "pay attention." She then walked,
again, to her seat on the side of the room.
After another
song the children began their poking and giggling again. When the teacher returned a third time
the two girls were brought out in the hallway. They were gone for a few moments and, when they returned,
they were separated. Each girl had
tears in her eyes. For the rest of the concert these two young girls sat
in a slump and pouted. And, for them, the singing, clapping and rhyming was
over.
There was
nothing unusual about this incident in any way. It is standard practice for elementary school teachers to
monitor children's behavior and, when needed, correct it. In fact, many teachers would say that
this type of management is expected
of them.
Almost as soon
as the first graders were separated, however, near the end of my concert, two
boys from one of the preschool classrooms began talking to each other and
laughing - even tussling a bit.
They were no longer facing me, but facing each other as though they were
unaware that my concert was still in progress.
The preschool
teacher, sitting on the floor in close proximity to the children, noticed this
right away. She scooted up a bit
and redirected the two boys by demonstrating the movements in the game I was
leading. Almost immediately the
two young boys were engaged once again and playfully participating.
There was
nothing unusual about this incident either. It is standard practice for early childhood professionals to
redirect young children rather than punish them. By sitting right near the children and joining in the games,
the teacher was able to help these two distracted preschoolers remain
engaged.
The preschoolers
missed only a moment of my concert before the teacher helped to keep them
involved. After her redirection, they actively participated until my concert
was over. There were no tears.
I want to be
clear that both teachers were very professional, in their own way, and doing
their jobs as they understand them.
It is likely
that most people watching might not have even noticed the preschool teacher's
intervention, but would definitely have witnessed the first grade teacher's repeated
corrections. That being said, I
can't imagine anyone reading these accounts, as I have described them, would
disagree with me that the more effective practice was carried out
by the preschool teacher.
My question is
why is there such a difference between the two approaches? First graders are only, at
the most, two years older than preschoolers. Do these small incidents tell us anything about the
different ways that early childhood educators approach their work with young
children and the way that elementary educators approach their work......with
young children?
