Like and Share, Like and Share

The last three weeks have been a whirlwind.  Between publishing the book, walking the Komen 3 Day 60 Mile walk in Atlanta, and closing on my house, its been crazy! Add that to the regular 9-5, teaching two courses this semester, and face painting on the weekends.  Yeah, I've been a busy girl.

But I still had time to learn a little something.

Like. and Share.  Two words I've tried to instill in my sons over the last 25 years are now being taught to me. By a marketing guru no less.  Here's how it works.

If all my friends who read my posts hit like, then Share that post with their friends, asking THEM to Like and Share, I will amass great numbers of likes, and will, one day, be called by ELLEN's producers to "come on in and share your message with the world."

And what exactly IS that message, you wonder?  
Ah, that answer is on the next blog.  Until then, you know what to do!
See the  icons below? Just Like. and Share!


Thanks!

Replacing Letters of the Week with Real Learning

Here's another snippet from my new book, Monday Memo: Creating Change in Early Childhood Education, One Message At a Time. 

As we  discussed,  this year will be about building relationships  and implementing developmentally appropriate practice. We  connected the research about how children  learn with the importance of being intentional teachers.  Some of what  we discussed was new to you.  During our discussion of the Vermont standards for kindergarten  readiness, we noted that decoding (reading) and writing are not required skills for four year olds.

 

The amount of time used for teaching letters and sounds can now be used to offer free time experiences that increase their independence,  i.e. getting dressed, communicating  their needs, caring for each other,  problem  solving skills, etc.  You can also  use that time to allow  the children to explore interesting materials that people bring into the classroom.

 

Remember  when we practiced setting up materials in an intentional  way to get the children interested?  Jacquie and Jenn sorted rocks and put them in glass baby food jars. They displayed the jars on a mirror to offer a visual appeal. Then they took a few big shells and placed some small rocks in one and larger rocks in the other. Next to the rocks they placed a magnifying glass. They told us their intent was to encourage the children to explore and maybe sort the rocks by size. We all agreed that this display was much  more interesting than the red bowl of rocks that they usually have sitting in the science area.

 

Developmentally  appropriate practice  and child centered learning  have been  proven  to be excellent  ways to teach children.  This combination  of the constructivist  and sociocultural theories  tells us to create  experiences  that allow children  to construct  meaning. Giving children  ample time to have these experiences lets them  share what  they  are learning  with their peers. The  role of teacher  as facilitator  means  you “guide” learning  experiences, not “teach knowledge.”

Want more?  Order your copy of Monday Memo today at Amazon.com! 

Where's your copy?

"I have an autographed copy and it's such a wonderful book.  Everyone needs to keep this on their desk, on their nightstand--somewhere close to you!!"

Thanks, Pam!  I'm so glad you are enjoying Monday Memo!  

To get your copy, go to www.monday-memo.com.

From Done to Done-r: The Road to Amazon.com

You may remember this post on Facebook and Twitter not too long ago:

Ahhhh! The book is DONE! DONE I tell you! And yes, I'm crying. Bet you would, too, if you were in labor for 28 months and delivered a 182 page baby. 

That's right! Monday Memo: Creating Change in Early Childhood Education, One Message at a Time is DONE! I shouted it at the top of my voice from my living room, I sent texts to friends using lots of !!! and :)), and I told anyone who answered their phone that finally I. Was. Done! I accepted everyone's praise and congratulations, knowing that I'd finally met one of my biggest life goals. Then I took out my To Do list, created back in the fall of 2011, to see what I could start on next. 

(But I didn’t quite understand what done meant/when done was really done.)

About an hour after my post, I received a message from my publisher, telling me that there were big problems with the layout and that we needed to make some changes before it could be ready for the printer. 

And then there were problems with the hand drawn cover art. 

And then there were 12 days of final design changes, last minute re-wording, and a few finishing touches. And then finally I finished my book a 2nd time. 

I woke up last Saturday to the following email. 

From: Publisher

To: DJ 

Your book was officially born at 7:45am eastern time. Proofs are ordered. Regards.

Whoohoo! NOW I have a book. NOW I can cry again and email my family who will whoo hoo right on cue. 

And now that its finished (again), I wait. And wait. And wait. The wait is driving me crazy. 

From Monday Memo: A Note To Teachers

“Be the change you wish to see in the world.” ~ Mahatma Ghandi

A teacher who read a preview of Monday Memo told me she wished the book was already published and that her director had the chance to read it. Her concern what that since she was “only a teacher”, she wasn’t able to make real change in her school.

Hogwash.
This memo is for you.

Dear Teacher,

You are one of the most important pieces of the preschool puzzle. You are the one re- sponsible for keeping a schedule, maintaining order, scaffolding learning and setting the tone of your classroom. You are the front line when it comes to the parents. If it weren’t for you, the directors would be giving tours of an empty school.

All of us deserve to work in a place that respects children and gives them the absolute best early childhood experience. If you feel your program needs some work, don’t back down or give up.

You have the right to work in an environment that reflects joy and learning.

You have the right to professional development that is specifically geared to you and your needs as a teacher.

You have the right to be seen as a competent teacher who is capable of making the right decisions for her students.

You have the right to have co-workers who are professional, collaborative and equally passionate about early childhood education.

However, before your fight, understand that with those rights come responsibilities. Before you point your finger at your director, take a moment and look at yourself.

You also have responsibilities.

You have the responsibility of making your classroom a space that reflects joy and learn- ing.

You have the responsibility to teaching children according to their individual needs.

You have the responsibility of seeing your children as competent and capable of making choices about their interests.

You have the responsibility to seek professional development to help you become a teacher who can deliver numbers 1-3.

You have the responsibility to be a co-worker who is professional, collaborative and equally passionate about early childhood education.

You should have a vision of excellent early childhood education.  (If you don’t, email me. You can borrow mine until you create your own.)

Decide now to create the best possible classroom you can. Read everything you can, find like minded people, ask questions, go to conferences, join ECE lists serves, but don’t, under any circumstance, allow yourself to do less than what you know is right for children just because your director isn’t up to speed yet.

Decide now that you don’t need all new materials, better carpets, sleeker furniture and smart boards before you can have a wonderful program.

Decide now to avoid excuses like “I can’t do this until my coworkers do.” Stop waiting for others to do what’s right for children.

Decide now to become an excellent teacher. We are counting on you. 

With utmost respect,

DJ Schneider Jensen 

Don't Change Your Plan, Change Your Marketing!

My new book, Monday Memo: Creating Change in a Early Childhood a Education, One Message at a Time, (www.rockingrventures.com), is written in memos: to teachers, parents, friends, etc. Below is an except, written to a fellow director.  I wonder if you see yourself in this message?  

September 29 

Dear Beth,

I feel so badly about the challenges at your school. Whenever there’s change, there’s fear and anxiety. Your staff and families are not upset at you; they are simply concerned about the unknown and need more information.

You told me that the parents expect academic results. My parents here have that same concern. All parents want what is best for their child. My response? Give them the best. Show the parents academic results. Document what the children learn when they collaborate on a project. Identify the counting, sorting and one-to-one correspondence, addition and other math skills they learn as they play grocery store. Make sure parents understand that the teachers also have academic goals for the children, and organize the environment with those goals in mind. Don’t change your plan, Beth. Change your marketing.

Share stories of success. Use successes to show parents not only WHAT the child learned but HOW the child learned. For example, don’t let a teacher send home Bobby’s blueprint of an airport without an explanation. Have her explain that while he was drawing it he was retelling the story of how he and his mom were snowed in at the airport for an entire day. Connect the memory to the drawing, and point out that he labeled all the restaurants and the bathrooms. Explain that labeling is graphic representation, a precursor to writing.

Beth, you know as well as I do that running a school has its ups and downs. Downs happen when we forget that our teachers and parents are as valuable as our children, and we take them for granted or view them as the enemy. Stay connected with your teachers. Meet with parents on a regular basis. You will win this school, I assure you. Go Beth!

 

Ladies and Gentlemen, It's a Book!

After 28  months, my new book Monday Memo: Creating Change in Early Childhood Education, One Message at a Time, is finally complete!  And man, this thing is really cool!

My wonderful publisher, Rocking R Ventures has charged me with the challenge of posting excerpts from the book on a regular basis.  Today I start with the cover.  Maybe tomorrow you'll get the acknowledgements. :)
 

Monday Memo is the story of a year in the life of a preschool director as she struggles to move her new school from their “teacher-directed-thirty-minute-circle-time-everybody-listen-do-as-I-say-letter-of-the-week-craft-and-worksheet” approach to one that uses developmentally appropriate practice and views the child  as competent and capable.  The  challenges she faces are the same as yours: teachers who are not on board, parents who are trying to understand the change, and, of course, the typical day to day firefighting just to keep her school running.   Written solely in letters: to the teachers, the parents, friends and family, Monday Memo offers  insight into a director’s struggles, and models responses that foster change.  Fun and relevant...You’ll refer to this book over and over .

Pretty cool, right?  Told ya!

Do me a favor and share this post with a friend.  Let's make Monday Memo              so popular that Ellen DeGeneres has no choice but to bring me on her show.  I've been practicing my dance moves all summer for this.   I'm ready!

 

 

October 10

October 10

Hi Mom, 

There are two major changes I want to see happen in my school this year. One is the curriculum and the other is behavior management.  Before we even consider going through accreditation, I want these teachers to understand developmentally appropriate practice (DAP) and emergent learning.  DAP entails teaching to the individual child not the whole group.  It means that what we do is aligned with who the children really are, not who we “expect” them to be. 

For example, 4 year olds are not going to learn the letter A by bingo dotting red paint and then placing apple seeds onto a coloring sheet of an apple.  To expect them to learn from that experience is inappropriate. This school currently uses the worksheet method of teaching.  The teachers will show an apple to the group, say ‘this is an apple, everyone say apple.  Apple starts with A. Everyone say A.  Now let’s glue 4 apple seeds onto our paper. 

This is really boring!  The children are better than that.  They deserve to be treated with the same respect that we offer each other.  They have natural curiosity and want to learn as much as they can about things  that are interesting to them.  Children are always looking for connections.  How is that apple relevant in my life?  Does it smell familiar?  Have I had this before?  Why is this one green?  Do green ones taste the same?  I love how they taste, I wonder what else I can do with this. 

What the teachers need to learn to do is plan for children who are investigators.  The classroom needs real apples laid out on a table for them to “discover”, then let the children taste, touch, open, sniff, and explore that apple.  Add plastic knives to the mix. They can find the seeds inside.  Help the make applesauce or do apple stamping.  (Do you know that there is a paint that is edible? )  These hands of experiences help make connections for the child.  If the teacher is smart, she will have journals for the children to then write/draw about the apples if they want.  When the child draws in his journal and the teacher asks him to label the apple, the child will now say, “How do you spell apple.”  BINGO!  Relevant opportunity to introduce the letter A. 

The problem with this scenario, or so it seems, is that the teachers are worried about the child who doesn’t want to write/draw in his journal.  If he doesn’t write, how will he ever learn the letter A?  That’s where I have get involved.  My job is to help them understand that language and literacy skills  happen all day long in every part of the classroom.   They just need to look for the opportunities that are interesting and relevant, and use those times to teach.  It’s a new way of thinking. 

The other piece to DAP is how it pertains to behavior management.  What is it with teachers and time out? Busy children are happy children.  If we expect them to sit while we count out 4 seeds, one child at a time, there will be problems.  Someone is going to get bored and start flinging the seeds.  At that point the teacher is going to have to “teach” the seed flinger that he needs to be polite.  Which means the others have to wait and watch as one child gets reprimanded.  And as if that wasn’t awkward enough, someone else is probably going to act out and put a seed up her nose, which is now going to force the other seed counters to wait while the teacher panics and tries to get the lodged seed out of said child’s nose.  It’s a  vicious cycle, I tell you!   

Once the teacher understands that waiting for every child to count seeds is both unnecessary and boring, she will change herplan, (maybe add a egg carton with numbers in the spots and challenge the children to a seed counting game they can play during center time) and then children will be busy, and then no one flings seeds, although I can’t guarantee that no one will try to shove a seed up her nose.  Noses are like magnets for tiny round things. 

I guess you can see how that this is going to be a busy year for me.  It’s okay, I love the challenge and know that the results are worth the effort.   I’ll keep you posted.

October 3

October 3,

Dear Diary,

In the book Spreading the  News:  Sharing Early Childhood Education,  Margie Carter and Deb Curtis talk about bringing the parents inside the classroom through photos and documentation. 

Genius!  Why didn't I think of that?  This could solve my problem. 

If the teachers document the learning, then the parents can see where the pre-writing and pre-reading skills come from.  If the documentation is done correctly, maybe the parents can see the actual GROWTH of language.  For example, if the threes start the language and literacy documentation, then the parents will really see the changes during the fours year. 

Maybe we should start this in the two's?  

Why only language and literacy growth?  Let's show growth in all of the domains. 

Hmmm, If I asked the teachers to begin doing all the domains, they would walk out.  I would have a mutiny on my hands. 

Baby steps, Deej,  baby steps.

October 2

October 2

Dear Mom,

I can’t say that I’m having a good day.  It started off with my pregnant cook calling out for the week.  I really don’t mind cooking, but I am spreading myself too thin, and can feel it. What I need to be doing is spending time in the classroom.  Here’s what happened.

This last month was wonderful.  At least that's what I thought.  The teachers have been sharing stories of things going on in their rooms, so I assumed that they were on board.   

So, when some of the moms in Deirdre’s class asked for a conference, I was a bit surprised. It was then that I learned that Deirdre had told the parents “we aren’t doing letter of the week or letter pages this year”, but didn’t tell them what we were doing in place of letter pages.  She also told the parents that she isn’t using a curriculum this year, and that she was going to teach the children only what they wanted to learn.  Well, this explanation didn’t sit too well with my moms (can you blame them?) and they are panic stricken that their children will leave the fours room as illiterate hobos.  (My paraphrasing, but still…)

I understand that in this age of accountability, we are responsible for identifying specific goals and documenting growth in our children.  I also understand that letter sheets and projects appear to “prove” that something productive happened in the classroom.  But I also know and believe that it is the experience, not the capstone project,  that is most meaningful for children. Albert Einstein said it best: “The only thing that interfered with my learning was my education.”

What I can’t understand is why teachers and parents cannot make the shift from didactic teaching to the discovery zone?  Is it because they are scared of losing control of the children?  I don’t think so.    I once thought they maybe were scared to grow, that they didn’t want to change their ways.  But nowadays I believe that they just need some help.

You know when two year olds have an altercation; the teachers say to them, “use your words and tell her how you feel.”?  I always thought that was funny (as well as misleading), since two year olds don’t have a huge repertoire of feelings with which to refer.  However, when teachers learned to say, “tell her that you are mad (sad, angry, whatever),” they were giving the children the actual tools to use.   Once the teachers learned what to say to their children, the children learned what to do, and communication between two year olds became more productive.  Maybe what I need to do is give my teachers the tools, and help them feel comfortable using them, rather than just telling them “use your words.” 

September 7

SEPTEMBER 7

Dear Diary,

I heard a child crying in the hall this afternoon, and watched as Jacquie, the threes teacher (who should be teaching 5th grade in a military school), scolded Aaron for talking.  Really?  Talking? This little sweetheart of a boy is so shy, and he cries on a dime.  Finally he gets a  little courage to speak, and because “we don’t talk as we walk down the hall”, he gets in trouble.  What is wrong with this picture?  When I asked Aaron what happened, Jacquie spoke up, and started to tell me how “we are having a little problem keeping our bubbles in our mouth.” 

I asked her co-teacher Jennifer  to take the children back to their class and walked with Jacquie to my office to discuss this.  There are just some things I won’t stand for and stopping children from talking when there is no reason is one of them. I remember another  little guy crying during circle time in her class last week, too. 

Jacquie told me that the children here needed this kind of discipline (and the parents liked it, too), because she needed to get them ready for big school. Apparently this community has very high standards for their kindergarteners, and she is just trying to get them ready.  I chose not to explain that this was inappropriate for kindergarteners, too.  She is really just misinformed and needs some guidance.  I know I can help her get there, I just gotta figure out how.   I just told her that we were a place where children were able to be themselves, and if she felt like the talking was getting out of control she could suggest whispering.  I reminded her that social skills are formed during these years, and children need the opportunity to freely communicate with one another in order to practice these skills.  

 Can’t learn to walk if you’re strapped in a stroller.