May 19, 2004
Wolves in Sheep Clothing
Scene One:
A few weeks ago a mama came into one of my events and told me how much she "hated coming here" - "it's so messy," she said, "and there are babies here and the children should be together by their ages... "
Her list of grievances went on and on.
When I pointed out the many advantages of mixed age groupings she said that I believe that "because I'm Montessori."
She told me that her son didn't want to touch anything or "do" anything because it's "dirty." When I pointed out that her son was squirt bottle painting at the easel and seemed to be having a good time (he created about many prints) she said yes - but it's always so messy... I might add that she requested that we stop putting his name on his artwork because she "didn't really want to bring it home anymore."
But wait - it gets better.
Before moving her son away from the easel and washing him up she turned to me and informed me that she is going to school to be a (gasp!) preschool teacher!
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Scene Two:
Imagine a child at the easel painting... and painting... and painting... 15 sheets of paper later... still painting... colors, scribbles, designs, mixing.... painting...
I was watching in awe. Mama approached me and said "that's a lot of painting! I don't think he's painted before."
"Really?" I said. (This kind of susrprised me as he was about 3 1/2)
"Yeah, I don't think his preschool has painting."
Without missing a beat I looked her right in her eye and said, "Then you need to find him a better preschool."
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Scene Three:
One of my favorite new little teachers came to me one afternoon all in a tizzy... she was MAD about something!!
"Today," she said, "today she ____________ (insert your favorite laminated lady name here) made an announcement that we were going to get to "do" the easel today! So she asked me to go get it out of the BACK OF THE CLOSET and the children all had to put their smocks on and were all lined up to "do" the easel. They just stood there. Waiting. Worried that they wouldn't get a turn. Wondering when it would be out again."
"It was just WRONG!"
Easels need to be out every day. If you have to DUST your easel off and blow cobwebs off it before using it - IT IS NOT BEING USED ENOUGH!!!!
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Point of the story?
Sometimes we are quite quick to point a finger at administration and call them the wolves when in actuality many wolves are not cloistered in cozy corner offices in high rise buildings... not in the district office across town.... but rather, in the ROOM RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Some of you would say "Forget next door Lisa - she's right in the room with me!"
It will be IMPOSSIBLE to win our battle if we are always in constant struggles with our own peers! Laminated Ladies get in the way of creating appropriate classrooms. Wolves scare us into doing things our hearts and souls would scream NO! to. How are we working to create a united front in our centers?
Having different STYLES is not the same as having different PHILOSOPHIES! Think about this for a minute. You might all have a different WAY of doing circle time, yet the overarching belief in each room needs to be the same. What does this mean??? it means ALL realize that children are still "listening" whether on bottoms or laps or bellies or chairs... it means that ALL realize that the calendar is a PROP and that "what day it is" really makes no difference to a child unless IT IS THEIR BIRTHDAY or almost their birthday or just was their birthday!!! The way circle is done might be different - but the overall belief surrounding circle time (the reason it's done and why) needs to be the same in each room.
I cringed one year as the laminated lady my kids graduated up to sat them down on day 1 and said to them "OK, listen up... you are not with Miss Lisa anymore and we do things quite a bit differently in this room..."
Is your staff on the same page? Do your assistants and helpers KNOW what you believe in? Do you know what THEY believe in?
Take a few minutes and think about this one. I hope to bring it up again this summer and go into depth about the difference between philosophy and style...
let me know what you think!
all my best,
lisa
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