NAEYC Conference
By Mary Munday, Teacher
In the past decade, brain research has proven that music is more than frivolous fun. It’s an important part of young children’s education. Bing Nursery School head teacher Kitti Pecka described this research to a room full of teachers attending the annual conference of the National Association for the Education of Young Children, held last December in Washington, D.C. Music is a wonderful way to engage young children because it is a natural and enjoyable part of their everyday lives, Pecka said. Through music, you can individualize songs that will boost children’s learning. Music facilitates language acquisition.
Music is a great way to introduce new vocabulary, but also supports many other different areas such as self-expression, cooperative play, creativity, emotional well-being, and development of social, cognitive, communication and motor skills. Music and singing are a fun and effective way to help young children learn. Pecka shared many music ideas that teachers could use in their classrooms. The group became inspired and many teachers stayed after the session to discuss ways of implementing the ideas in their programs.
Pecka and six other Bing teachers joined thousands of early childhood educators and advocates at the largest early-childhood education professional development meeting of the year. In addition to Pecka and myself, Bing teachers Julia Carr, Lauren Gustafson, Quan Ho, Andrea Reese and Neely Zangenehzadeh took part in the three-day conference. What follows are insights gained from attending several of the sessions.
Talks focusing on children with special needs brought up many ideas that benefit work with all children. The presenters mainly discussed behaviors associated with autism spectrum disorder, social interaction among children with special needs and typically developing peers, and strategies to bring students together. Although they were primarily discussing children with special needs, I found many of their ideas to be beneficial for all children. With regards to social interaction, they discussed how teachers can facilitate peer-to-peer interactions. For example, if a child is having difficulty connecting with his peers, a teacher can go near the child, focus on what the child is working on, and then invite others to play. This teacher invitation increased social proximity and many times resulted in cooperative play. The teacher’s sensitivity and awareness to help bridge friendships helps the children to become more socially competent.
George Forman, professor emeritus at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst, led a valuable session on the importance of observer intuitions for identifying the thinking in children’s play Forman showed workshop attendees clips of children at play. The clips were stopped at precise moments so that we could discuss what we thought the child was thinking. One particular clip was showing a child stacking tires. She carefully planned her approach and adjusted the plan when necessary. Watching the clip, teachers were also able to come up with appropriate questions they could ask the child to help guide her play. After much time and many modifications, the girl was able to stack five tires on top of each other, creating a pile nearly as tall as she was. Persistence and flexibility ultimately lead her to success. This is an example of how teachers can review recorded play experiences, discuss ways to guide the children to success, and then share these valuable experiences with the parents.
Another session discussed how teachers can document children’s learning experiences and then use documentation as a point of exchange with children, parents, teachers and the community. The presenters described the major strategies: listening, observing, gathering, interpreting and revisiting. They explained that documentation can augment children’s learning experiences. For example, when children see the documented work they often become more interested, curious and confident. Documentation also shows children that we take their work seriously. This encourages the children to approach work responsibly and with energy and commitment. Ultimately, the children enjoy projects and experience delight and satisfaction in the process. Documentation also makes it possible for parents to be aware of their children’s experiences at school. Another key point is that documentation sharpens and focuses teachers’ attention on children’s plans and impressions and on their own role in children’s experiences. Documentation is children’s learning made visible.
I felt all of the sessions I attended were valuable and inspirational. It was especially rewarding to reconnect with colleagues I have worked with in the past and discuss the sessions in depth. I was so fortunate to have had this experience to learn from early childhood educators from across the nation.