So much to ponder in this wonderful, rich conversation!!! I responded out loud with listening and driving! But of course no one heard, and now I can't remember. But EVERYONE should do a deep dive: this gets at the heart of some of our ongoing issues in early childhood! Thank you!!! So much wisdom!!!
This was incredible! I was left feeling energized, validated and most of all not alone. My two cents on what to call ourselves, I too cling to the term teacher. Until there is a massive societal shift the title is one of the only ways we have to achieve the respect our work deserves. I never hear the term educator without a questioning inflection tacked on the end of the word.
Teaching is a thing people do. When one does that, one is a teacher. Last month, my adult daughter filed a tax return for the first time. She reached out to me several times during the day for clarification and guidance and I listened and questioned and shared my knowledge. That was me teaching. I had information that she needed for what she was doing. I think an issue that is more central than what we should call ourselves is the one your guest articulated in saying something like, “There are things about they way people use the word teacher that we don’t want to be associated with.” Teaching is imparting what one knows. The approaches we use in early childhood include sharing vocabulary, asking questions, answering questions, getting to know the learners, offering stuff to engage with, reading, singing, telling stories, playing games, expressing emotions, comforting, redirecting, helping and not helping, and most importantly, being learners ourselves. I firmly believe that those approaches are the exact same ones that are the most effective with learners of any age. What’s wrong with the term ‘teacher’ is that our culture also uses it to describe lecturing, grading and keeping order. Those education strategies are most often used to describe what instructors of older children and adults, so that we who actually teach feel that it can’t describe us. The real problem is that many of those in K-12 and up education aren’t teaching, or at least they don’t understand that that part of what they do with their students is the most impactful part. I am a teacher who has worked with toddlers through middle schoolers and with adults in Community College. I co-founded a school that serves children in grades TK through 8th, that is based on constructivist learning theory and on a strong parent engagement component. Currently, I mentor teachers at the beginning of their careers. I love these conversations and I wish they were common between all of us who work with learners.
So much to ponder in this wonderful, rich conversation!!! I responded out loud with listening and driving! But of course no one heard, and now I can't remember. But EVERYONE should do a deep dive: this gets at the heart of some of our ongoing issues in early childhood! Thank you!!! So much wisdom!!!
This was incredible!
I was left feeling energized, validated and most of all not alone.
My two cents on what to call ourselves, I too cling to the term teacher. Until there is a massive societal shift the title is one of the only ways we have to achieve the respect our work deserves. I never hear the term educator without a questioning inflection tacked on the end of the word.
Teaching is a thing people do. When one does that, one is a teacher.
Last month, my adult daughter filed a tax return for the first time. She reached out to me several times during the day for clarification and guidance and I listened and questioned and shared my knowledge. That was me teaching. I had information that she needed for what she was doing.
I think an issue that is more central than what we should call ourselves is the one your guest articulated in saying something like, “There are things about they way people use the word teacher that we don’t want to be associated with.” Teaching is imparting what one knows. The approaches we use in early childhood include sharing vocabulary, asking questions, answering questions, getting to know the learners, offering stuff to engage with, reading, singing, telling stories, playing games, expressing emotions, comforting, redirecting, helping and not helping, and most importantly, being learners ourselves. I firmly believe that those approaches are the exact same ones that are the most effective with learners of any age. What’s wrong with the term ‘teacher’ is that our culture also uses it to describe lecturing, grading and keeping order. Those education strategies are most often used to describe what instructors of older children and adults, so that we who actually teach feel that it can’t describe us. The real problem is that many of those in K-12 and up education aren’t teaching, or at least they don’t understand that that part of what they do with their students is the most impactful part.
I am a teacher who has worked with toddlers through middle schoolers and with adults in Community College. I co-founded a school that serves children in grades TK through 8th, that is based on constructivist learning theory and on a strong parent engagement component. Currently, I mentor teachers at the beginning of their careers. I love these conversations and I wish they were common between all of us who work with learners.
Child Whisperer’s