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“There is no one right way,” can often be heard at Preucil. You want to paint a blue dog, go for it. You want to draw your house as a circle, fine. You want to pretend the baby dolls are evil robots, ok. You don’t know how to draw a penguin, well, there’s no right way. For we believe in Loris Malaguzzi's 100 languages (maybe more)—“a hundred thoughts, a hundred ways of thinking, of playing, of speaking…” But as I’m reflecting on my favorite Martin Luther King Jr. quote today, “The time is always right to do what is right,” I’m challenged with the task of teaching children there is a right way of treating other people. I value kindness, empathy, and community in my classroom. We talk a great deal about opening our hearts and taking care of each other. What does doing the right thing mean to 3, 4, and 5 year olds? Does it mean doing what adults tell them to do? Conformity? My challenge as a teacher is to teach children that it’s ok to paint a blue dog, but not to exclude a classmate. Round houses are just fine, but bullying is not. Evil baby robots are scary-fun, but chasing someone who doesn’t want to be chased is not. The biggest challenge is to foster this value within their own hearts. I don’t want to create a list of rules to follow because the teacher said so. I don’t want there to be consequences of lost privileges imposed upon by adults. My goal is that when they are interacting with others, they simply have a feeling inside that can’t really be put into words other than “do the right thing.” Perhaps there are 100 ways doing the right thing; perhaps there is no one right way to treat each other in the right way. “…A hundred always a hundred ways of listening…of loving, a hundred joys for singing and understanding” (Loris Malaguzzi).
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Tricia Windschitl
5 day teacher |