After watching it, I know that she understands what it is that we are all envisioning for the school. I've always believed that play is how children best learn. The definition of Kindergarten is "Children's Garden." The ideas it's based on are children learning through creative play and through interaction with each other.
This type of experience is one of the many reasons I loved teaching music at Lakeview Elementary School. We learned a little music history, a little music theory, a little music performance and a had a whole lot of fun. I know that I did! That's how I ran my classroom. Every child was important and every child was to be treated with respect, by me and by the rest of the class. I did not allow anything less. I can remember encouraging laughter at all times except when someone was performing a solo and they were scared. That was about the only time that we weren't giggling and playing together, with me just guiding us through the format of all of the songs and games.
There were times that I worried I wasn't a good enough teacher, but so many of the kids stayed with music after they left me and I know that it was because they loved it. I know that there were better teachers, but I don't know if there were many teachers who were better at communicating encouragement, love, joy and support...and celebration when they learned something new. That was always fun!!! Now we just need to add the third element to the subject we'll learn about and the fun...we need to add in the courage to take chances. It's the trifecta!
I swear that I can't wait for the first day of school. I have some research to do, but as James and I discussed, it's like I'm researching in my head all the time. I'm figuring things out and trying my best to learn something new about the best models of education every day.
Thanks to Genevieve for the link and the encouragement! I really appreciate it.
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