This article discusses The Forest Hill Nature
Preschool. The school’s director Lavonne
Taylor spent time working at Joppatowne Elementary in Baltimore County and The
Archdiocese of Baltimore before starting her own school. The school emphasizes the Reggio Emilia
approach. The students learn in the
school building, but spend a great portion of their time outside. They also get to interact with animals such
as rabbits and chickens that live on the property, participate in performances and
do yoga on the stage in the “classroom in the woods,” and walk the fairy
gardens trail.
Ms.
Taylor express her concern over the amount of pressure being put on younger
students in order to achieve higher testing scores. She mentioned that what was once a first
grade curriculum is now being taught in a kindergarten classroom, causing the
kindergarten curriculum to be taught in the preschool classroom. She believes that students are not prepared
at their age for this type of work. Sitting
inside and doing worksheets is not developmentally appropriate for that young
of children who acquire most of their learning through interactive play. One example Taylor gives is that, when it
rains and water fills up the sandbox, the children practice irrigating the
water. The children are still getting
academic training, but they are learning in a way that is authentic for them.
Although
for most educators who understand the value of developmentally appropriate practice
and play for children, I think the culture in our education system now is the
more “traditional academics” the better.
Everything is about the test scores.
Because school systems are placing so much emphasis on this, students
and parents do as well. Because of this,
they might see the extensive amount of time outside playing as “a waste,” even
though in reality it is presenting the students with diverse, relevant, and
authentic learning opportunities.
This approach to preschool
education seems to be very effective, but I wonder what it would look like in
other areas. This preschool is located
in Forest Hill, Harford County. Parents
have more options about where they want to send their children to school. They choose to send them to The Forest Hill
Nature Preschool. Its location also
lends itself to the exquisite outdoor education the students’ receive. When discussing her previous jobs, Ms. Taylor
said that parents were apprehensive about letting their students go out into
the woods. She replied with, “It’s just
trees.” In some cases though, areas
surrounding schools are not “just trees.”
They are unsafe areas. Also, this
type of education, I feel, would require training in the Reggio Emili approach. While the article does not specifically
mention if the staff are Reggio Emilia certified, I am presuming that the staff
receives training. Brining this type of education
to schools in the City or County would also require training for faculty and
staff. This then brings about the
question, “Where do we get the money?”
How do you feel this approach could
be handled in public schools in areas such as Baltimore County or Baltimore
City? What are steps the school systems
or teachers could take to better educate the whole child?
I have placed the link to the article
here.
2 comments:
Reading this post and the article about Reggio Emilia, I kept asking myself "When did this disconnect with nature happen?" Both the blog post and article highlight students playing in the woods and letting children explore outside as if it's a novelty to venture into the wilderness of the suburbs or cities. While living in Vermont, I worked at a public elementary after-school program. The students went outside every day for at least an hour to play, partake in nature walks, or work in the school garden. I thought this was the norm with after-school programs and by extension elementary school curriculum. The VT students felt comfortable being outside.
With pre-planning and probably lots of convincing to administration and parents (and possibly asking another teacher to accompany), I do think it's possible to have classroom outside whether in the county or city school system. The point is to go outside and teach students to be OK with touching dirt, admiring the beauty of trees and flowers, and sharing facts about nature. Especially for city schools, one step could be going to the playground and gathering around the tree and having a lesson.
I volunteered for an after-school program in Pittsburgh and helped with the environmental portion for the students attending the program. The teacher would plant veggies and fruits with the students, and some of what they grew would be included in meals. They would also learn to build things like chicken coops or planters. With AmeriCorps, we would take youth to volunteer with Blue Water Baltimore or on hiking trips, and in some cases this would be the first interaction with woods and outdoor spaces.
In my experience, it seems like any outdoor education is facilitated through after-school programs or mentoring programs rather than at the school. And maybe that is because of additional costs or training teachers would have to go through, but it seems like it could also be teacher-initiated -- trips outside or bringing in different plants or fruits or veggies for students to try as part of a lesson. Although that is also coming from someone who has also only worked with students in the US outside of traditional classrooms, so maybe it is not that easy.
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