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Many of my children, though only four or five years old, have already dealt with difficult situations such as foster care, parental incarceration, and homelessness. While all of these issues can effect a child’s perspective and ability to trust others, parental incarceration recently posed a challenge for me as a teacher with a responsibility to educate children about the positive role of police in our society.
Last week, we held Career Day at our school. To prepare, we discussed possible jobs and as a class composed a letter welcoming the Career Day participants. During our pre-writing discussion, I asked the students how they felt about Career Day. Tyrone responded, “I feel angry because the police gonna come and lock everyone up.” His comment reminded me of an earlier comment from Aniyah that also expressed distrust of the police and suggested we physically hurt the police so they “won’t do that anymore.”
I began to explain the reasons why people go to jail and emphasized the positive role of police officers in making us safe. I couldn’t help but glance at two of my other students who currently have a parent in jail. They didn’t say anything, but I wondered what might be going on in their heads. “Is my mommy wrong? Is she making people unsafe? Is it a good thing that the police took my daddy away from me? If the police are good, is my daddy bad?”
As I considered these thoughts, I began to backpedal. I talked briefly about people making mistakes and responded to a question about everyone going to jail “for life” by stressing that many times people in jail get to leave and be with their families again. I then wondered, for Tyrique - who will be fifteen when his mother gets out and is just developing a sense of time - what is the real difference between a life apart from his mother and ten years spent apart from her during his crucial childhood years?
I am aware of the sensitivity of these issues and the larger reality of mixed attitudes toward the police in inner city neighborhoods. What is not clear is how to deal with them in a way that will both preserve strong ties between children and their families and define the police as a source of protection for the people in those neighborhoods.
This time of year we begin the process of transitioning from pre-k to kindergarten. We must prepare our students for the move out of Pre-k 114 and the reality that many of the adults and peers they have come to know may not be moving on with them.
My class started this process earlier than usual, because Ms. Bimba, the woman who comes each week to work with the children on social skills, had her last day today. Saying goodbye is not easy for many people, both young and old. How we handle goodbyes for young children can be particularly delicate depending on their emotional development and past experiences.
Here are some ways we facilitate the process in Pre-k 114:
1. Start Early – We leave enough time to prepare students, mentally, for change. We engage students in a dialogue, plan special events like the pizza party we had for Ms. Bimba, and give students other outlets to express themselves. Our conversation with the children about Ms. Bimba’s departure began a week before she left, and we have already started our conversations about the larger transition to kindergarten.
2. Invite Expression of Feelings in Many Forms – Children, like adults, express feelings in different ways. For Ms. Bimba’s departure, we not only discussed our feelings but wrote, sang, and danced about them, too. We focused the conversation on how we felt about Ms. Bimba throughout the year, not just about our feelings about her leaving.
3. Integrate Transition Process into other aspects of the Curriculum – Thinking strategically, we incorporate “saying goodbye” activities into other lessons. For instance, we did a whole-class letter to Ms. Bimba using interactive writing, explored water color paints to make a piece of art for Ms. Bimba, and read a book with similar “goodbye” themes to help the children practice relating the characters’ experiences to their own lives.
4. Consider Individual Children and their experiences – Some children have a particularly difficult time with goodbyes because of their own experiences with adults or other children having to leave them (e.g., I’ve had students separated from family members because of custody issues and incarceration). We think proactively about how to help these children deal with their feelings; for example, we recognize that some may not like to talk about such experiences in a large group.
We as educators must ask ourselves, what messages are we sending to children during transitions like these and what are they taking away from the process? My children have a sense that sometimes people we care about cannot stay and that it’s okay to feel angry or sad. They also have ways of constructively dealing with those feelings, whether it be writing the person departing a letter or talking about the fun things we did with that person. As they move forward to kindergarten and beyond, they will need these tools to remain calm and focused, even in times of change.
Like adults, pre-k students have good days and bad days. How we as teachers deal with the latter can significantly impact our relationships with individual students, their academic and social growth, and our overall classroom culture.
Just as we differentiate instruction to meet the needs of all students, we must also individualize our approach to motivating them. Karen, though upbeat and highly participatory throughout the day, periodically comes to school in tears, clinging to her grandmother. She is quite comfortable using writing and drawing as a creative outlet, so I suggest that she write a note or paint a picture for her grandmother during choice time. This helps her remain connected even when she cannot be with her family.
Her grandmother and I have also worked on stressing responsibility with Karen. I thank all of my students for being responsible when they correctly follow our morning routine as they enter. Karen’s grandmother and I use that same terminology when we are trying to stop her from crying. This process usually takes a few minutes. She then calmly puts away her belongings, washes her hands, and is eating breakfast with her friends in no time.
Awana occasionally comes in sobbing and lethargic, particularly if she has been absent or we are returning from the weekend. If she says anything, it’s usually a very quiet, “I want to go home.” Her mother is not nearly as present or supportive as Karen’s grandmother, nor does she use writing and art in the same way as Karen. She does, however, respond well to good old-fashioned hugs. I usually ask her how she feels, let her know how I would feel, remind her of our classroom routines, give her a hug, and send her on her way to “have fun and learn with her friends.” Kevin or David sometimes chime in with their own hugs and a “We missed you when you were out, Awana.”
Aniyah often arrives late and upset about something that happened with her brother on her way to school. Despite our daily “fresh start,” she sometimes carries over some baggage from behavioral problems the day before. I am quite familiar with her affinity towards cheer leading and use this knowledge to motivate her. I often greet her with a cheer to her name or ask her to help me out with a cheer for one of her friends.
Understanding and effectively addressing mood fluctuations is an important part of my job, and through this process my students gain self-confidence and the trust in me they need to be engaged members of the classroom community. When we as teachers succeed in this role, disruptions to the class are minimized and children are less likely to use negative behavior to get attention.
All I have to do is turn on a cable news show with talking heads barking at each other to know how important listening is for the young generation I teach. I work intensely with my students on their ability to listen to teachers and each other.
Like any other skill, I start my plan for listening skills by familiarizing myself with the state’s idea of mastery. The NJ Preschool Expectation for listening is pretty comprehensive. In addition to following directions with several steps, students must demonstrate proficiency in engaging in a dialogue with others and incorporating ideas from previous discussions and songs into play.
With these guidelines in mind, I design lessons that cover each component. These can be games explicitly dealing with following directions (Simon Says has always been my favorite) or increasingly complex directions given to students in small group and one-on-one interactions during choice time.
Story time discussions are obviously valuable opportunities for students to strengthen listening skills as they listen to the teacher read to them. Students can also work on listening to their peers as we engage in a dialogue about the story. I have taught my children how to build on the comments of another student and respectfully offer alternative ideas by using phrases such as “I agree” or “I disagree.” During a recent read-aloud of the book Giraffes Can’t Dance, Jeffrey noted, “I think the giraffe is gonna leave the jungle ‘cause the lion mean to him.” Samar then responded, “No, he not gonna leave. The other animals will be nice to him.”
As you can imagine, with 14 four year olds egocentric tendencies can pose challenges for the frequency and depth of these kinds of interactions. Tanasia, whose mind was often on her family in the beginning of the year, would comment on her brothers and sisters regardless of the topic of our class discussions. After months of working on listening skills and becoming more comfortable in the classroom, she now makes comments and asks questions pertinent to stories. During a story for Mother’s Day just last week, in which the mother is in a wheelchair, she asked, “Ms. Pappas, why she in the wheelchair?” Derrell demonstrated his own growth in listening by answering her: “I think she fell in the street and was hit by a car.”
Students also show progress by incorporating ideas from discussions and stories in their play. After building a house in the Blocks Area, Fuquan told everyone to step back and then cried, “I’ll huff and I’ll puff and I’ll blow your house down,” thereby applying his knowledge of the Three Little Pigs to his independent work. Ravon showed me a turtle moving slowly in the Discovery Area after we acted out The Tortoise and the Hare during Outdoor Play time.
These skills lay a strong foundation for our students as they head off to kindergarten, having gained an understanding of how to follow directions and recognize the perspectives of others in pre-k. Now if you'll excuse me, I have some “Hardball” and “O’Reilly Factor” to catch up on...
Karen's grandmother told me from day one that she was concerned about her granddaughter's social skills. She had never been to school before and spent most of her time around adults: uncles, grandparents, and cousins. Karen already excelled in basic literacy and math skills after working with her great grandmother, a retired school teacher, one-on-one for the past year. Her transformation into a highly sociable member of our classroom community highlights the benefits of pre-k, even for those children who can attain academic readiness at home.
Karen's experiences made her quite focused on reading, writing, and interacting with Ms. Morrison and me in the fall. She chose to read in the Library, play with Table Toys, or paint by herself during Choice Time. Like David she was quite hesitant to join her fellow four year olds in more social areas such as Dramatic Play and Blocks. Yet she listened to and comprehended stories read on the rug, could write her name, and was starting to make connections between letters and their sounds. While I kept challenging her with her academics, I knew the real challenge for Karen would be developing relationships with her peers.
I exposed Karen to the same community building lessons as David. But whole group songs about our friends and puppet role plays did not motivate Karen to socialize with her friends. She would cheer on her friends and participate in role plays at the rug, but then continue to play on her own during choice time. I needed to use a more proactive and involved approach that both reflected Karen's current comfort level and built on that comfort level to further her social development.
Karen gravitated toward and listened to me because I was an adult. So, I invited her to play with me and then suggested we either join her peers or invite them to play with us. She agreed and, over time, discovered how much fun her friends could be! I remember her laughing with Samar in the Discovery Area while they tested magnets with various materials. She even started problem solving independently with her friends in December.
 Karen has come a long way since September. Just this week, she chose to go to Dramatic Play and was soon taking her friends' orders at our pretend restaurant. She and her friends joked about changing their names in the Sand Area last month. She still sometimes prefers "alone time," like when she became adamant about separating the seal and the alligator in the Water Area so the seal would be safe, as shown in the picture. Yet she frequently experiences the very social interactions that will help her build and nurture relationships for years to come.
 Four months ago David’s mother remarked that she wants her son to go “sky high in life." Now, as he begins to transition to kindergarten, David shows tremendous social and academic progress. His story shows how high quality pre-k supports multiple facets of childhood development.
Socially, David adjusted to our rules and routines fairly quickly back in the fall, but he tended to avoid playing with others and participating actively in large group activities. He was reluctant to sing along with the group or respond during a read-aloud. He preferred playing with dinosaurs by himself in the Discovery area to playing with his friends in more populated areas such as Blocks and Sand. The challenge was to have him go beyond just following all the rules as an individual and begin collaborating more with his peers and participating during whole group lessons.
To help his growth in this area, I encouraged David and his classmates to support their friends by cheering them on with individualized chants (e.g., There is a friend who’s in our class and David is his name-o, d-a-v-i-d, d-a-v-i-d, d-a-v-i-d, and David is his name-o). I also used stories and puppet role plays to facilitate discussions about how we can help each other solve problems (e.g., if our friends are struggling with a task, we can help them remember the “Little Engine that Could” by saying, “I think you can, I think you can” or if a friend does not get picked for something we can say, “oh well, you’ll get it next time,” just like “Susan the Squirrel” puppet did for her friend, “Danny the Dog” puppet).
David soon started having breakthrough moments. He expressed pride in himself by informing his mother of his “purple” status (a reward system I use) the moment she picked him up. The next day, David would let me know how proud his dad was when he told him. He also started contributing more on the rug. Just this week David got to purple for his active participation throughout the day. In terms of playing with others, David often travels between play areas with friends, most notably last week when he and Tyrique together made newspaper hats in the Art Area and drew a pirate adventure on the chalk board in the Writing Area.
Academically, David came in to pre-k knowing some letters and was starting to write his name, but he had difficulty counting, making connections between letters and their sounds, and forming letters. I soon made him the snack manager, which required him to count his friends every day. We also worked with him in small group on name puzzles and exposed him to print and letter sounds at every opportunity. His mother was also quickly responsive to my efforts to invest her in David’s progress; his father soon followed. They worked with him on writing the sight words we learned in school, labeling pictures he drew with the beginning letter of each objects and person, challenged David with opportunities to count with everyday routines (e.g., the number of dishes needed for dinner or shirts in the laundry), and, as they noted in their New Year’s Resolution, read with him every night. His father remarked at one of our conferences that David was so excited about books, he would stop his father repeatedly during stories to make comments. I kept them updated on specific strengths, weaknesses, and ways they could move him forward. I could tell from looking at his writing and hearing him explore letter sounds that his parents were using the strategies at home.
David can now write short sentences with little guidance and is starting to sound out words. Furthermore, he not only counts to twenty, usually without mistakes, but also suggests using counting to figure out the answer to a question (e.g., how do we know that more students voted for apples as their favorite fruit?).
David, like all of my children, came to me in September with strengths and room to grow, both socially and academically. I responded to these complexities with a multifaceted approach that reflects and addresses the needs of the whole child. His progress highlights the potential of pre-k to impact several developmental areas positively and the important, collaborative role parents can play in laying a strong foundation for their children.
The other day I was reminded of the importance of solidifying positive and peaceful attitudes early on in pre-k. I overheard a teacher reprimanding a first-grade student in the hallway for hitting another child. The teacher simply said, “You cannot hit her, it’s not nice. Do you understand?” When the child did not respond, the teacher said, in a more abrasive tone, “Say YES!.” The child then said “yes,” as commanded, and the teacher moved on.
I had to wonder how effective that child will be in solving problems on his own. Perhaps his teachers to date have not taught social skills effectively. Or possibly he has experienced things that have undermined the endurance of those skills in the long run. The incident caused me to reflect on my efforts this year.
I start teaching our peaceful and empowering approach in the beginning of the school year. The process entails direct whole-group instruction through puppet role plays, books about friends and feelings such as Words are not for Hurting, and songs like “The More We Get Together.” In these activities, we use consistent language like, “I feel sad when you [fill in the blank].” Add to this many one-on-one, informal teachable moments, and gradually the children gain an understanding of why they should use their words instead of their hands.
By December, my students were able to follow through with a “peace agreement”, but I served a dominant role in the initial stages of the process. Since then, the children have made even more progress and now take ownership of the peace process from the beginning. For instance, David used to suggest that characters in our stories use violence to solve problems. If the Cat in the Hat won’t leave, David suggested, we should “hit him on the head.” Now, he is more likely to recommend talking through problems. When we discussed recently how the farmer in Farmer Duck exploits duck and refuses to do any work, David chose peaceful means over violent ones, advising the duck to tell the farmer, “Please, can you help me?.”
Other children still require occasional reminders and encouragement, but their skills are clearly developing. Tyrone’s first inclination during a recent read aloud was to hit the animals that had stolen a character’s fruit. After I asked him, “Do we hit animals or people?” he offered an alternative measure: “I would tell the animals that I won’t ride them no more.” Similarly, Jeffrey came to inform me today that another student would not let him play with a certain toy. All I had to say was, “Work it out on your own,” and Jeffrey returned to the student to say, “I feel sad when you won’t let me play with it.”
Pre-k teachers - indeed, all teachers - have an obligation to teach conflict resolution in a way that empowers students to solve problems peacefully. I want my students to leave pre-k with the rationale and language needed to facilitate peaceful conflict resolution so that, throughout their lives, they will rarely, if ever, receive a scolding like that first grader in the hall. Perhaps if we start with pre-k classrooms that provide students with such tools, we will lay the foundation for a society that more closely embodies Immanuel Kant’s vision of enduring peace between people and states.
Effective Praise is a crucial element of a strong pre-k classroom. As any early childhood educator or parent will tell you, young learners constantly seek validation from adults. In response, I try to provide constant support for my students’ achievement in order to instill in them the self-confidence needed to take risks as learners and to remain highly motivated. Yet “being positive” in any way does not necessarily benefit young learners.
Consider how we, as adults, become better at something professionally. If a boss or colleague simply says, “Good work,” we cannot be sure what was good and how we can continue improving in the future. If the coworker is specific and genuine, however, we feel not only confident in our abilities but empowered to produce “good work” later on.
The principle holds when working with young children. A child might approach me with a piece of artwork, for example, and I may feel inclined to comment on how beautiful it is. The child, however, walks away from that exchange with no understanding of the strengths he exhibited or areas he could work on. So, while it takes more thought and effort, I aim to engage each child in a dialogue with comments and questions like, “Interesting, I like the way you used three different colors on the top part of your design. Why did you use three colors on top, but only one color on the bottom? Tell me about the design. What could you add to the horse?” Through dialogue, I can focus the child on specific aspects of the work and invite her to reflect.
And it’s amazing when you can actually see and hear that reflection taking place. I often hear my students think out loud and address the points we brought up in earlier discussions. For example, Ravon recently noted, “Oh, the cow has eyes to see just like me,” before he added eyes to his drawing, and Tyrone now engages in a dialogue with himself as he writes independently. While labeling his cat mask during small group recently, he asked himself, “How do you spell cat?” and then responded, “You need to stretch it out, c-aaaaaaaaaaaa—ttt” as he pulled his hands apart the way we had discussed in a one-to-one guided writing session.
In a given day, between small group and whole group lessons, anecdote note-taking and snack time, providing specific and authentic praise that invites further reflection seems difficult. But praise with a purpose is so effective and rewarding that I encourage everyone around young children, in or out of the classroom, to do it. I’ve summed up these principles in a document for easy adult reflection.
After reading the reports about the link between childcare and negative behavior problems later on, I thought it might be helpful to hear a parent’s take on the effect of pre-k on her son’s development. I decided to interview Ravon’s mother (“RM” for the remainder of the interview). Ms. Pappas: Why did you decide to enroll Ravon in pre-k?
RM: I didn’t want a lot of play for Ravon. My younger brother was in your class the previous year, and I always liked the way you involved the parents in the homework assignments. I like the interaction with me and Ravon because I know what he is learning and we can work on further developing his listening and language skills together. Also, you still let them play in your classroom, but they learn through the play. Daycare was just play, play, color, color, all day long, but not enough learning.
Ms. Pappas: What do you think about recent studies that link childcare programs with negative behavior later on?
RM: Well, I used to work in daycare, so I agree. They tend to baby the kids instead of giving them ways to solve problems when they misbehave. They don’t explain things as much. The regular elementary school pre-k is different. You explain to the child why they are wrong and how they can correct themselves.
Ms. Pappas: How much education do you think a pre-k teacher needs in order to benefit children?
RM: I think experience goes a long way, often more than education. Some people with experience over education can deal with children better. My grandmother had no education and kept eight children in line.
Ms. Pappas: What are the benefits of pre-k?
RM: I have seen so much growth with Ravon. He’s expressing himself better. He’s more disciplined, and he wants to come to school. He doesn’t want to miss a day. My husband and I are so happy.
Ms. Pappas: What are your hopes for Ravon?
RM: Ravon can write, express himself more, interpret things better, read at least on his level.
Ms. Pappas: What about in the long run?
RM: I want my son to go to college. I want him to have a very decent job. I want him to enjoy what he does. It's not as much about the money. I really want him to be happy.
I was concerned last week when a recent report linking child care to later behavioral problems in children grabbed headlines. I can only imagine the guilt that parents who have children in such programs felt upon hearing this news. But the reality is far from the “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” picture painted in the media.
High quality pre-k offers the chance for young children to learn how to express themselves appropriately in a wide range of social interactions, how to solve conflicts with peers, and how to function productively in a structured school environment.
The first thing my children learn is how to follow set routines. Many come in without any previous childcare experience. Their first week behaviors have included children leaving the class to run down the hallway laughing and screaming and others simply wandering the classroom unresponsive to my efforts to give directions. I consistently implement classroom procedures and routines designed to make the students capable of working on their own and with others.
By the end of September they could do everything from sitting on the rug to disposing their lunch tray. They also knew what would happen if they did or did not follow our classroom rules, why it was important to follow the rules, and how to “use their words” to solve conflicts. Their awareness of what to expect, desire to receive positive praise, and investment in our “we are all friends” classroom culture curbed negative behavior. Moreover, our emphasis on the rationale behind wise choices such as peaceful conflict resolution made our teaching more lasting.
Parents can certainly also teach their children about solving problems and behaving appropriately. Yet pre-k offers the opportunity for young children to practice these strategies with a large and diverse group of their peers on a daily basis. Kevin, aka “the anti-sharer,” who frequently threw temper tantrums when he did not get a turn at something, frequently exhibited similar behavior at home. Pre-k gave Kevin the chance to practice working out problems with other children, a skill that will help him in school and at home. Moreover, we used our knowledge of his learning style based on our extensive anecdotes to develop an outlet for his negative energy and an opportunity for him to take ownership of the solution within the context of our daily routines.
High-quality pre-k offers high-quality teachers focused on analyzing student behavioral problems and implementing enduring solutions. Without such attention, I could see the problems getting worse and producing the kind of results captured by this latest research. For me, this study and my experiences are a call for educators, parents, and policymakers to support efforts to make all early care and education programs high quality.
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My name is Sophia Pappas, and I teach pre-kindergarten at an inner-city public school in New Jersey. By sharing my classroom and my thoughts, I hope to give you more insight into the benefits of high-quality pre-k and how we can all play a role in creating and improving these vital programs. And I want to know what you think, too, so please don’t be shy about leaving comments and using this blog as an outlet for ideas, reflection, and debate.
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Pre-K Now is a public
education and advocacy organization that advances high-quality, voluntary
pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds.
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