Back to Basics: Don't forget to be human.

Great advice for teachers and parents...and non-parents!

"To be a caring person, though, an educator must first be a person. Many of us are inclined instead to hide behind the mannerisms of a constantly competent, smoothly controlling, crisply authoritative Teacher… To do so is to play a role, and even if the script calls for nurturance, this is not the same as being fully human with children. A real person sometimes gets flustered or distracted or tired, says things without thinking and later regrets them, maintains interests outside of teaching and doesn't mind discussing them. Also, a real person avoids distancing maneuvers such as referring to him or herself in the third person (as in: “Mr. Kohn has a special surprise for you today, boys and girls”).

Here, again, what initially looks like a common sense prescription reveals itself as challenging and even controversial. To be a person in front of kids is to be vulnerable, and vulnerability is not an easy posture for adults who themselves had to strike a self-protective pose when they were growing up. Moreover, to reach out to children and develop genuine, warm relationships with them may compromise one's ability to control them. Much of what is wrong with our schools can be traced back to the fact that when these two objectives clash, connection frequently gives way to control."

Alfie Kohn

Teach Leadership: Maximize the return of the experience

The article Who can teach leadership? by the HBR published last week states that we learn to lead through the experience of leading and following. It is a great read where Gianpiero Petriglieri shares his experience as a professor of a leadership course for business professionals.

In a recent study "Jennifer Petriglieri, Jack Wood and Gianpiero Petriglieri found that working with professionals who espoused different perspectives and values helped managers question, and learn more deeply from, their own experience — building the personal foundations required to lead mindfully, effectively and responsibly. Whatever qualifications and work history a teacher (or a coach) may have, then, matters less than their ability to help you maximize your return on experience. Will your course, your teachers, your classmates, help you approach, examine and draw meaningful lessons from your experience past and present? Will they take your experience seriously without taking your conclusions literally? Will they challenge you to take a second look at things you usually take for granted, or rush over? Will they provoke you to articulate, broaden or revise the views you have of yourself, leading, and the world? Will you be open and committed to that work? These are the questions you should ask anytime you're enlisting someone to help you become a better leader."

Again, these are great practices to learn when you are getting an MBA. But, I am grateful to work at a preschool based on social costructivism that supports the learning of many of these practices at an early age. How would the world look like if we lead and follow from a young age? If we reflect of our own teaching/parenting and we focus our daily interactions on giving children different perspectives instead of the correct answer? If we challenge them to take a second look at things that we take for granted or rush to teach because that is what they are supposed to be learning right now?  Let's maximize the return on the experience on a day to day basis. Let's teach leadership.

I think I know what I want to do with the rest of my life. I want to shift paradigms.

"Now that I'm older and arguably wiser, people sometimes ask me for that "one piece of advice." Usually, it involves stepping into someone else's perspective and seeing things from their viewpoint. With each year that passes, I find myself doing that more and more, leading me to dole out that piece of advice more frequently.

You see, there is no truth or ultimate reality. There is only our perception of it. We have a lens we see the world through. And everyone else has his or her own lens. Paradigm shifts happen when we suddenly see reality through another lens, and the best way I've found to do that is to try to understand what another person's view of reality looks like." Gord Hotchkiss (Search Insider)

As I was reading this article, I thought one of the most important roles of teachers and parents is being paradigm shifters. The starting point is to understand the child’s perception to support this process in their own terms. By tuning in to the child's perception, we model the exact behavior we expect from them. Next, we can verbalize our thinking process saying: “We sometimes have different opinions or ideas, and that is OK.”

Teachers as connectors with the outside world

“The well-rounded teacher, while maintaining a professional commitment, has other interests as well. Good teachers have an involvement with the world outside the walls of the early childhood setting. They want to help children understand some of the real-life issues and concerns. They know that their interest in the world at large transmits itself to children.”

Kids are my business

Kids Are My Business

How lucky am I?
At work each dayI get to help children learn and play,
And keep them safe so they will grow
Into adults I’ll be glad to know!
How proud am I?
I guide today’s youth to strive for knowledge, goals and truth.
I play an important part in inspiring them to take learning to heart.
How grateful am I?
I value so much the smiles that I win and the lives that I touch.
I love earning the trust of each girl and boy.
Kids are my business as well as my joy!


-Robin Squire

“Permissions” by Christina Lopez-Morgan

“It’s OK to try something you don’t know.
It’s Ok to make mistakes.
It’s OK to take your time.
It’s OK to find your own pace.
It’s OK to bungle---so next time you are free to succeed.
It’s OK to risk looking foolish.
It’s OK to be original and different.
It’s OK to wait until you are ready.
It’s OK to experiment (safely).
It’s OK to question “shoulds.”
It is special to be you. You are unique.
It is necessary to make a mess (which you need to be willing to clean up!)

Knowledge & Cognitive Development

I am really passionate about how we learn and acquire knowledge. How can we make learning meaningful and fun?

As I read that "To think is to be able to acquire and apply knowledge". I wonder,  if sometimes we focus more on the acquisition part than the application of it.  We show its applications from our point of view. But, Are we giving children enough time to find the relationships and generalizations of the concepts from their perspective?

I like Piagetian perspective on cognition and celebrate the fact that he considers that knowledge is “an interpretation of reality that the learner actively and internally constructs by interacting with it”.


During a meeting with the director of our pre-school, we were talking about the multiple intelligences theory. She presented an interesting idea. It is important to use all the intelligences to teach children but it is also important to use children’s plasticity capabilities during early childhood education to develop other intelligences. Once you identify the strongest intelligence in the child, start by introducing concepts though its strongest intelligence. Then, you can work on developing other intelligences that are not the strongest ones with the activity.

Brain based research also shows the importance of relationships over facts stating that the brain is run by patterns rather than facts.

I think cognition and especially the “skills of inquiry” are probably the most important. "Inquiry" is defined as "a seeking for truth, information, or knowledge -- seeking information by questioning." Without them knowledge is not internalized in a meaningful way. It is not conscious.


Source: Beginnings and Beyond. Gordon, Browne

Everything is connected

It is interesting that the children’s physical and motor development is integrated with cognitive development. I never noticed the complexity of dancing and how it impacted problem solving, planning, and sequencing until I read about it. (Page 432).

Considering that the culture has such a big impact on children, we should try to evaluate our routines and start modeling the behavior we expect from our children. Taking into account that the motor development is a “lifelong process of continuous change” (Page 435), we can continue the process of enhancing our cognitive abilities by physical movement. When we (adults) start being more active, children will follow our lead.
It is so important to be aware of our behavior since the children create a picture of themselves from the words , attitudes, body language, and judgment from those around them (Page 445). Motor skills build self-confidence and our attitude toward those activities influence the way children approach the challenges presented by those activities.

Everything is connected; physical development, cognitive development, adults and children.

The Environment and the Curriculum

I believe the environment is the children’s third teacher. I enjoyed reading about the different aspects that we have to consider to serve this purpose. There are so many elements involved.

I especially like the principle “Involve the children in the process of planning and setting up the environment” (Page 335). Sometimes, the teacher is the owner of the classroom and it is very hard for children to feel that it is theirs as well. Leaving spaces for the children to display their works and their pictures is important, as well as involving them in big changes in the physical space. It creates a sense of ownership.

“Make it safe to make mistakes” (Page 336)

The self-help environment’s goal is for children to see self-reliance as valuable. “[They] become capable of reinforcing [themselves] and leaves ways open for adults to praise [them] for other important things.” (Page 340).

I am a fan of Alphie Kohn and I really feel that praise needs to be used more carefully in the classroom. We have a tendency to praise every single action of the child which encourages them to do things to receive it. We should reinforce the value of their actions and its usefulness to them instead of saying “good job!” We need to focus more on developing internal motivations instead of creating a system in which external motivations are the main driver to evaluate success.

I found the 4 principles for creating an effective curriculum very valuable (integrated, emergent, based on multiple intelligences, mind differences in learning styles). It is an easy check list to keep in mind.

All the curriculum models offer valuable approaches than can be incorporated. I like: Reggio Emilia, Montessori, and Waldorf. Open your mind to create great curriculums and teaching skills no mater what is the method used in your school.

Sources: Beginnings and Beyond. Gordon, Browne.

Teaching/Learning

What is the relationship between “teaching and learning”?

The relationship between teaching and learning is very close, so close that one does not exist without the other. It is a relationship of continuous flow of ideas, experiences, knowledge, paradigms, personalities and energy. These relationships can take place within a person, or between 2 or more entities, including 2 or more persons or between a person and an object. Teaching and learning happen at the same time. In order to teach we need to be open to learn and unlearn. We teach by example, by observation, by repetition, by revisiting the experiences, creating opportunities for practice and scaffolding. We learn the same way.

Meaning of Education

What is the meaning of “to educate”?

I believe that in order to answer this question we must ask for who?
For me, “to educate” means empowering human beings to be themselves and develop their full potential while respecting others as part of a community. We empower providing example, environments, situations, knowledge, tools and relationships that encourage the individual to think and analyze the situation, to explore, and develop a solution. We educate providing tools to allow others to make conscious decisions in life.
For many people “to educate” is the transference of knowledge, concepts, ideas that allow you to function in the world, to be productive and a valuable member of the society, to compete in a global economy. As stated in the book Education and the Soul: “The emphasis [of education] is primarily economic. Education in many cases has become a series of tests and hurdles rather than focusing on learning”. I personally agree with these statements.

In the words of John Dewey: “I believe that education is a process of living and not a preparation for future living”.

My teaching philosophy

I believe the role of the teacher is to be a facilitator. He/She prepares its students for life and guides them in the process of learning how to learn. The teacher promotes the development of the human being as a whole, preparing them for life and not only for school.We need to focus more on developing internal motivations instead of creating a system in which external motivations are the main driver to evaluate success.

I believe the family and our communities play a mayor role in our lives. Our parents are the first teachers. They have a powerful influence in our process of learning and developing as human beings.

It is important that each teacher and parent evaluate how he/she was raised and who does he/she wants to be; as a teacher, a parent and as a human being. We teach by example and we greatly influence the children around us.

Each individual is unique and learns and communicates through different methods at a different pace. This is supported by the interpersonal communication model called Neuro Linguistic Programming (NLP) and Howard Gardner’s Multiple Intelligences.

The process of thinking should take precedence over the accumulation of facts. Learning how to think, how to identify and how to solve problems should be valued more than creating a finished product. In order to understand this process, we need to be watchful observers and interact with the children openly to learn with them. Through observations, we can evaluate our teaching methods and make sure our programs deepen and strengthen a child’s sense of identity.

Play allows children to use their creativity while developing their imagination, dexterity, physical, cognitive, and emotional strength. Even further, it allows children to learn in a fun engaging way. Every minute of a child’s life is an exploration. Play is only a word we (as adults) assign to an action in a period of time in which children have fun learning. Play gives us a chance to interact with the world around us and, more important, to discover and explore different aspects of our life. Aren't we all playing?

I believe in the importance of the social, emotional and creative development of children. I love the idea of including children with disabilities and gifted kids in the classroom. It teaches tolerance to all the children and creates role models for others. The teacher’s role is harder than ever and it requires teachers to be life coaches instead of teachers.

There needs to be a balance between independence and interdependence. Even though many cultures value interdependence and collectiveness, individuality needs to be valued in each child in order to create an active and valued participant in the group. Otherwise, there is the danger of creating frustrated followers of social inertia instead of valuable contributors for the creation of a better world.