Recently we had the opportunity to read a copy of Erika Christakis' book "The Importance of Being Little". The overarching theme of the book, analyzes the state of the early childhood education system in America in hopes of creating a dialogue to usher positive changes to the system. The author is a Early Educator, recently teaching at the Yale Child Study Center who is certified to teach pre-K to second grade in Massachusetts as well as a licensed preschool director.
Ms. Christakis' writing style is very personable making this book very easy to read with loads of great real life examples and insights but much of the time feels unstructured and may leave the reader forgetting the topic of the chapter at hand. It is however, a very insightful look at our early childhood education system with a wealth of research cited to support her thoughts, although no easy solution is given at the end of the book.
Mismatched expectations
The author talks of the Preschool Paradox in that adults see children as capable learners but instead offer predetermined, rote, unengaging curriculum with decontextualized learning standards which don't acknowledge children for being smart, creative and brilliant problem solvers. As a result, young learners are often both bored and overstimulated in their structured learning environments. The author reminds us that children exist in a whole environment, and that they spend most of their early childhood outside of preschools (if they are enrolled in a preschool). She points out that learning and schooling are indeed mutually exclusive as learning can and does happen outside of classrooms and classrooms most often don't offer children engaging learning experiences. The solution offered here is that parents can be advocates for engaging learning environments in their child's school and can relax and connect with their child outside of school, rather than continuing the push for "learning" at home.
Relationships
One solution Ms. Christakis offers is to ensure children have high quality interactions with their caregivers. She gives a great deal of examples and research to show how learning is relationship based. Some suggestions for improving communication and relationships with children are to simplify (schedules, clutter, stuff...) and connect. Listen to understand and ask open ended questions rather than "hot housing" by drilling colors and letters. She suggests becoming better observers of children by first observing them with what she describes as "no memory-no desire". Allow them to question, explore and reflect and be present and listen when they need you to help them sort through their thoughts.
Play
While not a new topic in the least, Ms. Christakis advocates for free, long, uninterrupted play. She makes note of how children's play spaces have changed (i.e. not being able to roam about outdoors) how play things have changed (i.e. toys with generally one purpose) and how play time has changed (i.e. less unstructured time and more lessons and teams, etc.) Research continues to support free play as the strongest learning environment for young children and unfortunately for children in highly structured environments are losing these critical learning opportunities.
Families
What was particularly refreshing was Ms. Christakis' use of the words "Strengthening Families" (p. 279) and looking at what is strong in the family (p. 284) which are tenets of the Five Protective Factors framework our agency firmly supports in practice. She proposes that the biggest gains in learning can be made by helping parents focus on their strengths, providing resources delivered in partnership with families as well as creating strong bonds with both the family and the children in care. We also enjoyed a discussion she had on the Diane Rehm Show highlighting children's needs to feel secure which touches on the Five Critical Emotional Needs outlined by Dr. Gerald Newmark in his book "How to Raise Emotionally Healthy Children".
Better Pay for ECE Teachers
Lastly, but certainly not least, the author advocates for improving America's early childhood education system by increasing wages and improving supports for Early Childhood teachers and staff which she argues will increase quality by attracting the best candidates to the job.
Don't have time to read the book? Listen to a 50 minute interview with Erika Christakis on the Diane Rehm Show on NPR.
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