The Rookery

As a faculty, we begin every school year reviewing key elements of our practice.  Some things, like the required OSHA training about extension cords, are good reminders but not necessarily inspiring (to be fair, it's about more than extension cords.)  But we also look at the teaching standards we've agreed to hold ourselves accountable to.  We wrote a new document because the state teaching standards didn't go far enough.  We needed to articulate what it means to be a progressive educator – what it means to teach at Prairie Creek.

Re-reading it every year grounds us.  It reminds us of what we do and why.  I'd like to share it with you in bits and pieces over the year so that you know what I am aspiring to.  Here is the first element:

The Teacher’s Practice is Child-Centered

• The children are always at the center of every decision the teacher makes.
• The teacher’s focus is on the whole child  – social, emotional and academic – and each area holds equal weight.
• Children are considered as individuals, each according to their developmental stage. The teacher pays close attention to each child’s interests and needs, including sensory and movement needs.
• The value of each child is celebrated as the teacher creates an environment for everyone’s strengths to be recognized.
• Surprise, delight and joy in learning is an expectation for every child.

The emphases are mine.  The other parts of the document detail our curriculum work and the classroom environment but this first part gets to the heart of what we do.  Every decision is made with the child at the center.  I work hard to create a classroom where every child finds their place.  The first six weeks is key to creating a world where children feel safe and understood and inspired.

Tomorrow a new group of Herons will begin their journey.  Even twenty years into this, I still find myself getting nervous.  But I know that, as long as I put the children in the center of what we do, the year will be a special one.