Learning in the Early Years
I was six years old in 1955, the year I started first grade. I don't remember much about those first years at Grover Cleveland Elementary School in Chicago: just tidy classrooms, stern teachers, and well-groomed little boys and girls who sat in wooden seats at wooden desks lined in straight and narrow rows.
I remember naps in kindergarten after cookies and milk (something I miss to this day). I recall having a crush on my second-grade teacher, and a run-in with my third-grade teacher, the one who poked her finger into my forehead and chastised me in front of the entire class for getting a math problem wrong. I still don't like math.
Fortunately, the ways and means of primary education—those years from prekindergarten through third grade—are changing. Innovative teachers now work individually with students, often in concert with their parents, other teachers, and the students themselves. Developmentally appropriate practices, multiage classrooms, multicultural lessons, and cooperative learning are among the strategies used in primary education.In the best schools, children learn that learning is fun.
But all is not well in primary education. Too many schools still rely on age- specific curricula, textbooks, worksheets, and skill drills to teach young children. Too many teachers have too many children in classrooms sorely lacking in resources and materials. Too little attention is paid to helping teachers obtain the new skills necessary in today's increasingly diverse classrooms. Too many families live in or near poverty and are unable to actively engage in their children's educations. And, too often, too little money is available to provide for the educational needs of children.
In a report more than seven years ago, Newsweek magazine noted: "Why is it that we know so much about how young children learn, and yet we do so little of it in our schools? Ages five through eight are…when children begin learning to study, to reason, to cooperate. We can put them in desks and drill them all day, or we can keep them moving, touching, exploring. The experts favor a hands-on approach, but changing the way schools teach isn't easy."
No, it isn't easy. But throughout the Northwest, classrooms, schools, and entire districts are changing. They are providing children opportunities to learn and explore in dynamic, tactile, and engaging environments. Northwest Education visited four such schools for this issue on The Early Years. We interviewed teachers, administrators, parents, and students; observed innovative teachers; listened to students' stories and watched them as they struggled and shined with reading, writing, spelling, drawing, and working together.
We witnessed learning among the youngest students.
We hope you enjoy this issue of Northwest Education. Drop us a line if you'd like to add your views to the discussion. Our address is on the back cover of the magazine. We look forward to hearing from you.
—Tony Kneidek
nwedufeedback@nwrel.org
This document's URL is:
Home | Up & Coming | Programs & Projects: Northwest Education | People | Products & Publications | Topics
© 2001 Northwest Regional Educational Laboratory
Date of Last Update: 9/28/01
Email Webmaster
Tel. 503.275.9500