Every year at this time teachers stop to think about what they have given the children over the past year, and in our case, because we all work so closely with all of our children, we think about the whole student body and what we have given each child over the past years.
This year has been a good year. The graduating class seems to have been with us forever, and the memories and the accomplishments seem like a mountain of successes. They will each go off to a new school, a big school with a lot in their repertoires.
When we remember back to how many of these children came to school not knowing much and filled with anxiety about how hard it would be, it's a stretch to look at them now and realize just how much they have learned and what neat people they are.
Learning is a many splintered thing! Learning begins with listening and remembering. If a child does not have the discipline to be quiet and listen, he will not, consequently, he will not learn. If you don't listen, you won't learn. Not all children learn to listen and not all choose to remember even when they do listen. This is a maturity issue. This is always accomplished in the partnership with the home. In homes where listening and remembering are not important, the task of teaching is a very difficult one.
Learning is also a very individual thing. Some children learn by categorization. They learn by taking things a part, sorting them out and putting them back together. They learn by separating the whole and examining the parts. They learn by putting things into groups. Some children learn through art. They hear or see something, and they need to draw it to capture it and make it theirs. Some children put everything to music and sing about what they have learned. There is nothing funnier than a child who is sitting on the toilet singing up a storm about his last geography class!
Some children learn through numbers. They like to weigh, count, collect, touch, and keep many things. Some children are visual learners from the git go and like to watch, see, and find the many angles that make what they are learning make sense.
Some children learn by touching and doing. The hyperactive child is such a child. He will touch everything and copy by doing anything he sees that might teach him something he wants to learn.
Most children are auditory learners and learn by listening. They can learn nearly anything quickly, and this goes away once they learn to read.
The window of opportunity opens for every child at a different time. The window opens when a child is allowed the maturity of his attending adults to explore without fear. Letting go and letting children explore their surroundings is the great window opener.
Parents who let go of children from the beginning and allow a child to discover the world around him will experience a child for whom windows open quickly and easily. Children love to learn, and offering them a world of things to count, sort, touch, listen to, do, and talk about is the way to achieve the most from a child.
Every few months, parents and teachers should re-evaluate their child's surroundings and make changes. Children don't remain fixed in their development and neither should their surroundings. Adding new toys and things, increasing the tools of education should be a constant effort on the part of teachers and parents.
With the seasons changing, it's time to get one more big push to the finish line, and then change atmospheres to summer. Summer is also a time of learning and exploring. Children never stop learning, and teachers and good parents know that. It's never about pushing; it's always about showing.
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