Why_Not_

Why Not' When I started at Bright Horizons I remember one of the first things I was told is “Take whatever previous knowledge of child care you have and block it from your mind. Welcome to a whole new world of childcare”. After being hired I started trainings, orientations, filling out my PDR, hours of Health and Safety courses and reading policies of the Bright Horizons belief statement about the H.E.A.R.T principles. There is one policy I will never forget it was called “Why Not'”. As I read it I remember thinking how it’s impossible to have a successful student from this idea. It discussed using a child's imagination to create your lesson plan. Every time a child was doing something you were encouraged to take a step back, and watch with an open mind and fresh eyes (as long as it was not a safety issue) then think to yourself “Why Not'”. I thought about using child emerging curriculums life this offering students endless options. I could only imagine using this policy in previous experiences I thought to myself there would have been kids hanging from rafters, yelling at each other, throwing toys up into the air, and art materials from floor to ceiling. I soon moved on to the next section of policies without giving it much more thought then “That is one crazy useless policy.” My first day I started with the same old preexisting theories according to my past child care settings which were not always very nurturing or educational. The idea was basically to please the directors by preventing the students from biting, cookie cutter Art (which is my ultimate peave-I have a BFA in Studio Art with credits in Elementary Art Education), keep the kids from hitting each other, going through the potty procedures as if it were an assembly line, and just survive the day without being hit or pinched too many times. I was young, did not have my own child and still unsure about the age group I was with. I had ages eleven months thru three and a half years old in one room. Although I did not have my own child I had past interactions with all age ranges from infant up to 18 years old. In most places of employment or volunteering involving child care opportunities it never felt “right.” It seemed like I could not teach with my heart. It turned me off to the idea of ever putting my own baby in a day care. At that time I did not have a child but one of my strongest beliefs and still is that I would question myself while observing another teacher or while being faced with a challenging situation and consider if there was a hidden camera on my own child while he was at the facility would I feel happy with the interactions he was receiving. I quickly found out that I was not going to be able to just use my good old “have a seat” when a child was acting out, “stop throwing things”, and ordering children around to maintain sanity in the classroom, while having feelings of being burnt out, way over ratio, and rarely getting a chance to use the bathroom myself, or eat. After my first few hours I was so over whelmed listening to the other teachers and the vocabulary they used. I could not believe how calm and interactive the entire vibe felt of all people in the room. My partner made me nuts at first “No thank you Josh. We don’t bite are friends. How are you feeling'” she would say in a very calm, Mary Poppins sort of soothing tone. I remember thinking“if that was my son he would be in so much trouble right now (keep in mind it was the fourth child he “successfully” bit in less then three hours even with new “job” for the day which was being his one on one). I was very curious how this was going to play out so I listened to the conversation unfold and had my first example of the “Why Not'” belief help not only the biter, but the child who bit, other students in the room who were witnessing the situation and the teachers herself to remain calm, patient and still in control. Josh explained that his teeth hurt, he told the teacher the rubber decoration on his friends shirt looked like his “gummer” (teether) at home. He cried when he noticed his friend was bleeding and being cleaned up and attended to by the school nurse. As I observed this entire process it occurred to me I was in “a whole new world of child care” and it felt right! As weeks went by I started to incorporate their beliefs and strategies into my class. I noticed things were much different when you used the “Why Not'” approach before acting on your assumptions. It wasn’t long that my old statements and habits were broken and restored with the idea that children are just like adults. They have incredible imaginations yet less jaded by societies negative impact on our outlook of life. There beautiful ability to interact socially with others with such a genuine eagerness to learn was so pure. My job as their teacher was to assure they had proper guidance and modeling. Within three months I did not have kids hanging from rafters but they did hang puppets they made of themselves outside on the climber to watch what happened when the wind blew across the playground. Instead of correcting them and saying “don’t throw stuff off the climber”, I asked them questions and discovered they were curious about wind and at its’ most basic state. Where does it come from' Why is it here' Then I created a lesson with informative answers while incorporating things they were currently interested in such as puppets and of course “Our World” (which is Bright Horizons term for Social Studies/Geography) times which frequently involved being outside. Another example was when I was helping a child in the bathroom with his snaps. As I used verbal directions to guide him through instead of rushing to get to the next child, I sat and enjoyed some “Prime Times” with him. I asked about his new baby sister that was to arrive any day and how he was helping to get the house ready. I noticed some of my “friends” (another Bright Horizons suggestion instead of referring to them as “kids”, “students”) I watched a few children throwing stuffed animals from the Cozy Cube which was used to help a child calm down and feel they had their own space. Instead of telling kids “not to throw toys” I again asked questions. What are you throwing' Why are you throwing it' What could we throw instead of toys' Where could a safe place be that we could throw toys' After listening I encouraged them to pick there favorite thing from the classroom and bring it to the Project Room. I sat back and observed while the children dipped their favorite toy in paint then threw it across the room at the large piece of butcher paint hanging from the ceiling. We talked about what was happening to the paint when it hit the paper, how it looked after it fell, and other options for getting our urges to through out. The children decided on taking paper outside and wrapping it around the slide so they could roll balls in paint down the slide. I encouraged them to use different sizes to explore which rolled further. After all...they were interested so...”Why Not'”.