Perspective
Empower and Encourage
By having their attempts at independence valued and supported,
young children begin to develop a sense of themselves as
autonomous beings who have the ability to fulfill their own desires ad
goals.
This feeling of empowerment leads to initiative on the part of the
child and she will begin to set goals and take on projects. Little
Leprechaun teachers are supportive of each child's attempts and
responsive to their failures so that the child will devlop the resiliency
to bounce back from setbacks.
Once children approach school ages, they start to become interested
in mastering competencies valued by the adult world, such as reading,
writing, and working with numbers. Since they are moving from an
emphasis on the processes of their activities to the products, and being
given the opportunity to solve manageable problems, they will begin
to develop feelings of competency, efficacy and ability.
These feelings of competency will help the child to see himself as a
"doer" and learner. This confident picture of himself is further
encouraged by the teacher who provides opportunities for him to
revisit activitis he has completed and abilities he has mastered.
Together, they can examine a problem he encountered during play,
or revise something he may have created.
Explore and Experience
In order to construct their understandings of how the physical and
social worlds work, children need the opportunity to engage their
minds in meaningful challenges and problems. To meet this need for
developmentally-appropriate problem-solving, children are provided
with large blocks of time to engage in various types of self-directed
learning-through-play, including manipulative play, art and music
play, language play, and socio-dramatic play.
During these activities, the young child will often want to accomplish
tasks that they don't quite have the ability to carry out. Our teachers
support children in their efforts to carry out their goals and intentions
by providing "just enough" support for the child to accomplish her
goal; that support is removed when the child can act independently.
Teachers are watching for opportunities to move children from acting
with support to independent behavior.
Exploring meaningful problem-solving also occurs when children
experience interpersonal conflicts with their peers. When these
conflicts arise, our teachers support and encourage children to work
out their own solutions to the problem presented.
When allowed to work out their own solutions, the children are
rewarded with a sense of control and competency.
Experience
Each child comes to the educational setting as an individual in terms
of personality, talents, and interests. Not everyone excels in all
developmental areas or learns in the same fashion. Research has
shown that there are in fact eight different intelligences. Children vary
as to the degree of interest or talent they may have in any one of
these areas.
- Linguistic - being smart with words
- Logico-mathematical - being smart with numbers and reasoning
- Musical - being smart with rhythm, pitch, and melody
- Spatial - being smart with pictures
- Bodily kinesthetic - being smart with your body in space
- Interpersonal - being smart with people
- Intrapersonal - being aware of your own feelings and thoughts
- Naturalist - being smart with the natural world
Teachers provide opportunities for children to exercise those
intelligences that come naturally to them, to have their achievements
in those areas encouraged and validated, and to experience activities
that exercise all of the intelligences.