I started a new Substack!!
I’ll be sharing tips to help make life in an early childhood program easier. I’ll also be sharing content from the book I’m writing. I hope you’ll join me on this journey and share my content with other early childhood educators. Below is my first Substack post.
Back-to-school season is here. Are you ready?
As an educator, I’ve always hated August 1. No matter how many years I’ve taught or how long I’ve been out of the classroom, August 1 creates anxiety. It’s still summer. It’s still freaking hot outside! I’m just settling my head from the previous school year, and now I’m supposed to start thinking about my new group of children, when all I really want to do is sit by the pool (or the beach), listen to a good book, and work on my knitting.
But here we are…
One reason August 1 creates so much anxiety is that I can’t help but reflect back to my very first year teaching. While it was eons ago, I still can’t shake that feeling of walking into my classroom, all excited about my first real job as a Kindergarten teacher, with my bags full of decorations for my new room. When I got there, I walked into my classroom, and my excitement quickly faded to surprise, and then disappointment.
My classroom was not designed for Kindergarten. It was meant for first grade, or literally any other grade, not Kindergarten. There was no sink in the room. No bathroom. No child-sized furniture. All the shelves were built-in to the walls underneath the windows. The school gave me a housekeeping set with minimal materials, an empty bookshelf, and unit blocks. There was a closet full of old DLM materials (more on that in another post) but no manipulatives or toys. And that was it.
And don’t get me started on the endless meetings that had nothing to do with early childhood education. No planning time. Very minimal time in my room to hang all the decorations I had. No time to go through the boxes of DLM materials in the closet. I did find seven curriculum guides in there, but I had no idea what to do with them.
What I wish I had…
I really needed someone to walk me through what to do next. What was I supposed to do with those curriculum guides? How was I supposed to set up my classroom when all of my storage was against the wall? How do I create learning centers when the materials I had were so limited? Where would I find simple things like good children’s literature, construction paper and crayons, basic math manipulatives, or puzzles? What do I do on the first day of school? How do I create lesson plans?
I had a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education, yet I felt so lost and very, very clueless about what to do, not just on the first day, but every day.
I’ve learned a lot over the past 30+ years in this field, through research and professional development, but mostly through trial and error.
Now, in my work with other early childhood educators, my goal is to take the mystery out of all the things that caused anxiety and frustration for me. I know that the anxiety and frustration still exist with so many early educators today, because I lived it, and I hear the same things over and over when I go to preschools and childcare centers.
I’m here to be that guide that I wish I had when to help me not just when I was first starting out, but along my entire journey because there’s always something that creates anxiety or frustration. I’m here to share insights from what I’ve learned, and what I’m still learning about how to be successful in an early childhood program. I’ll share ideas for setting-up your space and how to use the environment to meet the needs of all learners. I’ll share ideas for managing children’s behaviors in a way that helps build connection. I’ll share ideas to make implementing curriculum easier and more effective, including planning, observation, and assessment. And if you have questions, feel free to reach out! I’d love to help you find solutions to the things that create anxiety for you.
I hope you’ll join me in this journey to find solutions to the daily challenges and frustrations of working with our youngest learners.
Recent Comments