TOO MUCH PRESSURE TOO SOON? WHAT’S A TEACHER TO DO?

I often wonder if we are exerting too much pressure too soon on young students when they begin attending public school. Hopefully, they were in a more carefree environment in preschool and then may enter an intense atmosphere in public school that even begins in Kindergarten. Some of my friends that teach early grades tell me that Kindergarten is becoming more like first grade in the stress and academic demands and first grade is becoming more like second, etc.

Every teacher understands that legitimately a community must expect schools to be held accountable for proficiency and learning. Most teachers I know do not object to reasonable demands for this.

But the current climate suggests that if we just push students even more then they WILL be able to compete more effectively in the world as adults. We could enter a whole philosophical argument as to whether our society has been more productive in the past when we allowed children to play and develop their imaginations which translated into more inventive and creative adults. These adults go onto be more productive because of their imaginations have never been squelched or hammered into a box. Certainly Steve Jobs, the former CEO of Apple, still asserts that play and fun are an integral part of his current company policy and why it is so successful.

The other side of the argument holds that unless we set standards and expect students to meet them, they will just lazily slide along in life becoming deadbeats, or letting the other countries of the world outsmart and out invent us in product and out produce us profit.

Somewhere along the line, business has become schooling and schooling has become big business.

Certainly I have always been an advocate of learning and standards. I have had high expectations for students but they are developmental appropriate and reasonable.

For example, if Kindergarteners are ready to read and have proficient reading readiness then they might be ready to receive reading instruction to begin to learn to read.

I heard a disturbing comment the other day from my daughter-in-law (she has a one year old daughter), that unless your Kindergartener can read when he/she enters Kindergarten, he/she is all ready considered behind. Not only is this harmful, in my opinion, but it is without any consideration for what is cognitively, emotionally, socially, and developmentally appropriate.

So what is a teacher to do who may realize that some of the current academic demands are unrealistic, unreasonable and might even be harmful to his/her charges? Remembering that first a teacher’s job, like a doctor’s, is to do no harm; I offer some suggestions to help incorporate play back into learning.

There are numerous advocates and studies that support play as not only valuable but necessary for healthy human growth and development. (See sites at end of article for references)

Without adequate time for play, students may become restless, anxious, angry, irritable, unfocused and uninterested in learning. Think of yourself, when you work too long and hard, with no breaks or time for recreation- what happens? Even the military, realizes that R&R (rest and recreation) are essential to human recovery. I have heard some teachers report that their students just scribbled their end-of the year standardized tests rather than really exert their best. (after endless weeks of test prep and nothing else)

Ideas to Try:

Incorporate as many academic standards as possible into one learning lesson. This means you must know and understand the standards well and be able to plan a lesson with as many of the elements incorporated as possible.

Weave games, active motion, rhymes, music, songs, poems, and plays into as many aspects of the learning time as allowed. Most of my teaching time was spent designing every element of fun as I could in my learning. Everyone learns more when it is fun.

Make sure that your classroom is a community of learners and that you foster the emotional and social standards for this.

Let students know that every student is learning, can learn and will learn, but that learning looks different for every student. If you are not an advocate of multiple learning styles, this may be a good area to investigate.

Design your schedule with frequent breaks and times for the mind to rest, including breaks for physical activity. Yes, you can walk your students on the side walk for five minutes to clear their heads. If someone objects to this, do exercises in the room.

Cooperate with your students. Ask for their fierce or devoted concentration for fifteen minutes. Then reward them with a break, or five minutes to chat with their friends, or ten minutes of free reading time. You can accommodate intense learning time with relaxed learning time by planning and cooperation with your students.

Develop the imagination of your students by valuing imagination and creativity and foster these elements by planning activities that encourage it. Show appreciation for students who think outside of the box. Usually, the clowns are, and can be your most devoted students, if you can appreciate their strengths. Brainstorming sessions, problem-solving, experiments, and team projects all can incorporate standards of learning AND fun– if fun is planned as part of it.

Last, have fun yourself as a learner. If what you are teaching bores you to death, it will bore your students to death. Get sincerely upbeat about what you teach and collaborate with colleagues to learn fun and interesting ways to teach it.