confessions of a preschool teacher

I am feeling a bit defeated today. This is not an emotion I entertain very often. After a long day of conferences, I am a bit at a loss. I am super passionate about teaching to the level of dorkiness. I love love love to learn all there is to know about preschool, child development, etc. All teachers must put in a certain amount of professional development hours. For someone like me, this means nights and weekends. Although it takes time away from my family, I am happy to be privy to the cutting edge ideas of educators. I am blessed with a school who funds these workshop. Now to the point at hand, I am bewildered by the expectations that have been set forth for preschoolers. I am here to tell you we are focusing on the wrong developmental areas of children. After meeting with several parents, who were concerned about letter-sound connection, pencil grip etc, I am feeling the urge to vent. We are discovering that children ultimately succeed in a child focused play based learning environment. A place where open-ended play is embraced. This means blocks, play dough, process art, dramatic play. As children, we fondly remember playing outside with little supervision. This kind of play is so important because we used our imaginations in sustained, elaborate role play. This is where we discovered what we wanted out of life and how to resolve conflict. Children are becoming more and more unsatisfied with toys because they are so used to being entertained by media. From the womb we hang toys in their faces then on to being entertained by tv leading to toys that make noise and talk for them and on to video games and computers. Toys are give to children with a script. Here is a toy, here is how to play with it. Also, we have to schedule play dates. We are no longer in a world where the back yard and the neighborhood is a safe place to play unsupervised. Parents hover and pounce on kids when conflict arise during a play date. And we play with our kids! I can't remember a time my mother played with me. Our kids don't know how to play by themselves. I am guilty of all of this as a parent. As an educator, it's time to make parents aware of what our media-saturated world is doing to our kids. It's time to get kids back into play....free play....open-ended play. But how do we get back there? How do we rescue childhood? Who can remember games of kick the can, cops and robbers, capture the flag? When we played these games we resolved conflict, worked as a team, learned defeat and success, helped our wounded friends, etc. What will happen if our children aren't given the opportunity to develop these skills? How come we don't keep score anymore? Isn't winning and losing part of life? If everyone wins then what is the point of trying our best? Feeling depressed yet? Or inspired? Let's get inspired and rescue childhood for our kids sake!

Geocaching

Ok, I think I might be the last person on Earth to learn about Geocaching. Today was our first time. Did we have a good time or what! It amazes me that I am still finding new incredible places after thirty-four years of living in this area. The story with the tower is it was built in the 1890's as a watch tower for boats coming in carrying coal. It was originally three stories higher. This is 3.5 miles from my house. Who knew. The cache was located nearby. The kids each took an item and left two pieces of their coveted sea glass. I am surprised Elizabeth left her favorite piece. Elizabeth chose a geocoin which we logged and tracked on the computer. Now it's our turn to drop it at a new cache for someone else to fine. Oh my, this is my new favorite thing. We love spending time in woods. We are usually tracking animals. But this puts a whole new spin on our outings. We are already planning our next one.

the dog ate my homework....

I am going astray from my photography project the joy of luck. The thing is I 'm not much of a luck girl. I don't consider myself lucky or believe things happen because of luck. I think everything happens for a reason. So I am going to do my own thing. If you know me you know this is pretty much par for the course. I can stick with something for a couple of weeks maybe a month then I get bored.
About this picture: Elizabeth came home with her first quiz. This was her answer to "Would you like to be President?" If you know Elizabeth, you know this answer is spot on. I love the perspective of a seven year old. How much this statement says.....

day 4: favorite material things

I wish I could say I was a 'regular' kind of girl. I don't collect shoes or care about expensive jewelry. My favorite material things are on a short list. My jeep is probably up there as far as favorite material things. It's red has a sun roof and plows through all weather conditions. Second on the list is my itouch. Music is sacred to me and therefore not attached to my phone. I love that my music doesn't ring in the middle of a good tune. I do however collect purses. Vintage for the most part. This is a pic of my favorite Bakelite purse. It is the coolest. My mom found it for me in a vintage shop in Florida. I am in love with my medium format camera. It sadly collects dust but it has taken it fair share of gorgeous photos. It we come out of hiding again when I have my barn/studio and room for a dark room. These photos were taken with my digital point and shoot. I was going to take a picture of my digital slr but who knows what happened yesterday afternoon. I do love my camera so very much. Even if I did have all the money in the world, I would probably still by old things....I am weird. It's my busy season at school....comment writing, conferences, mother's tea etc. My blog posts may be every couple of days so hang in there with me!
This is joy of luck: day 3

day 3: lucky symbols

I am not one to carry a lucky symbol around with me but who knew my husband did. In jest, I asked him if he carried something lucky. "Actually, I do." he said. His dear friend who passed was buried with the twin. It's just as you imagine, heavy, worn, beautiful. I am not one to believe in luck. Maybe because nothing ever lucky has happened to me. Maybe it's perspective. Many on-lookers would consider me very lucky. I guess my idea of luck would be winning the lottery or something of that magnitude. But you have to buy lottery tickets to win and I just don't do that. I do however throw salt over my shoulder when I spill it and twitch if no one blesses me after a sneeze. Bless you.

day 2: green

I had a clever idea for today's assignment but alas life got in the way. We woke up to a broken water tank. I headed to work without a shower...ewwwww. Then Elizabeth started the day with the tummy bug....double ewwww. My grand plan was to head to the local windmill for the "green" assignment. But with a sick wee one and no water I decided to poke around the yard for a little green. Elizabeth looked at the second picture and said "mom why did you take a picture of trash?" Its gravel and a little sprout. This house is new to us this spring so I am excited to see what comes up. It was almost 70 degrees here today. Bare feet. Shorts. Outside fun!
This is joy of luck: day 2

day 1:gift

I had the day to think of a gift that I take for granted. It needed to be abstract if you will. There was a long list of ideas for this assignment. One that jumped out at me was fertility. I have never had to think about fertility for a second. My mother put the fear of God into me at a young age by telling me if a horny boy walked by me I would get pregnant. So I spent most of my life petrified of my fertility. All I had to do was think about getting pregnant and I was. Actually, my mid-wife told me I was that .1% that manages to get pregnant on birth control. I remember falling asleep sitting up on the couch and saying to myself "I haven't been this tired since I was pregnant...." End of story. For so many women it is a long journey. Hormones, injections, anxiety. I wonder how many couples go through this alone. It's not like we talk about it casually at cocktail parties. Regardless, the outcome is the same. Happy bubbly babies who love us unconditionally.
This is joy of luck: day 1

Day 28: the future

I will have many jobs, live many places, know many people. There is one thing that will always be my present, my future, my past....these two. They are my constant. Their love is unconditional. I lean on them as much as they lean on my. Twenty-eight days of taking photos. (well I missed one assignment.) I am sad it is over but feel I have gained a deeper understanding of my camera. We have relationship now. I have a dear sweet friend to thank for turning me on to the joy of love project. She and I have sat on mountain summits and canoed over 100 miles together. We have cried, laughed, prayed, danced, sang together. Even though we are separated by many miles she is still a wonderful friend after so many years. I may not know what it is but I know there is a plan for me and she has reminded me of this.
About the photo: Yes we live in New England and my kids are constantly dressed for summer. Maybe it's the woodstove and they feel hot. It is tank tops and undies most days around here. They are leaning on Elizabeth's razor scooter. I let them ride scooters inside now and then. Remember, I live in New England and its winter! I have attempted to honor the content of my photos with minimal cropping, editing, enhancing.
This is joy of love: day 28