Comments for Teachers (C4T) #1 Teacher Tom

Teacher Tom is a preschool teacher at a cooperative preschool in Seattle, Washington.  He works with children from age two until age five. His cooperative school atmosphere allows him to engage closely with the parents and gives a sense of community. His school and his teaching methods are an unfamiliar, yet enjoyable learning experience for me.


The Boy Who Painted Dragons
By Teacher Tom
Post 1


This post talks about teaching preschoolers about dragons because it is approaching the Chinese New Year. He says that most children are frightened of these creatures, focus on their fangs when looking at pictures of them, and only associate them with fear. The children were asked to paint dragons and reading books about dragons sparked a discussion. Teacher Tom wanted to teach the kids the metaphor of how dragons are similar to themselves.  He said that a lot of the boys in his class are exploring their masculinity and wanted to show them that they too can be dragons and exude the powerful characteristics of dragons but for good and not evil. He wasn't sure if the kids really grasped the concept but he was okay with it. At least he got them thinking.

I posted my comment and told him that I thought his post was very informative and insightful. I would've never thought of a dragon metaphor, much less to teach it to children at such a young age. I said that what I remember of preschool is taking naps, learning vocabulary, and learning the days of the week. I commented how his teaching style is very unique and creative and posted links to both my blog and the class blog.


Scattering
by Teacher Tom
Post 2


This post is about children's behavior while playing. He gives the story of two twin boys that are two years old and knock over a bucket of counting bears. Instead of giving them "directional statements" such as, "Pick those up!" or "Don't do that!", he decides to tell them a non-directional statement such as, "The bears are on the floor." He then goes on to say he tells them that the bears are on the floor and they should be on the table.  The boys eventually understand that the bears should be picked up and with the help of Teacher Tom himself, they successfully pick up the bears, with Tom narrating along the way. He says that since this episode with the boys, he has had other instances with kids doing the same thing, and not necessarily with the same results. Kids at this age are biologically programmed to behave like this to get attention, but he needs to focus on the behavior he wants to see, rather than what actually happened and what he'd rather not see.  That is an approach that I've never heard of, and it makes sense to a degree. He wants to teach kids to do the right thing because they chose to do it, not because an authority figure told them to do so. I love that idea and totally agree with it.

I commented on this post by saying how I've never really enjoyed working with kids at this age because I would never have enough patience or know how to react to their behavior.  I tell him his post was very informative and told him what I learned from it. I hope to take his advice and not use directional statements when I have my own children someday. I close by saying it just takes a lot of patience and time--two things Teacher Tom mentioned as well. 


Teacher Tom is very enlightening and brings new ideas to normal daily activities with kids. I really appreciate his insight and will continue to follow his blog/posts.