Bank Street

I finally got to Bank Street!!  One of the previous department coordinators, Margie Brickley, came from Bank Street and brought a great deal of their philosophy with her!  It was wonderful to reconnect with her during my visit and the school did not disappoint!  A big thank you to Ronnie Sampson who gave me a wonderful opportunity to visit all aspects of the school!

The environment is one of engaged students who are excited about their education!!  I took 141 pictures and want to share each of them with you because I've never seen so much learning happening and evident in one place!  The school goes from 3 years old to 8th grade.  As Ronnie said some people leave jazzed up and others leave sad!  Jazzed because of the possibilities of what education can look like and sad because they are unable to duplicate it.  In my case I left feeling both of those things and also that I missed this type of educational opportunity for my own children!
 

Part of the philosophy of the school involves social justice and it was apparent in EVERY class I visited!  The children begin learning about their own families in the 3 year old class and the scope is widened at every age.   I don't know where to begin....I may add a comment every day.

The first thing I noticed was the large number of blocks located in every classroom!!  One of the classrooms I observed in had two large areas with blocks - there were blocks on the outside play area - large blocks and small colored blocks.  It struck me that Caroline Pratt - the block lady - was also from New York.  Surely there was some collaboration occurring between her and the Bank Street founder, Lucy Sprague Mitchell!  This was an example from a class.  They sent "homework" with the children asking them to talk with their family about what rooms were in their houses, what was in those rooms and how they entered them.  After a rich class discussion, the children were assigned other children to collaborate with and asked to create their own houses.  The creations were quite elaborate asthey had spent several days on them.  The day I observed was the last day and so lots of pictures were being taken.  

This picture is from another classroom where the children's creations were put on very large blocks and displayed in a pretend art museum!  I got to see them for free :).  The school culture was riddled with art, music, science and literature.  They have separate teachers for music, art, physical education and Spanish exposure!   Children's artwork and creations were exhibited throughout the school halls and every classroom.

Student work was highly valued and children were treated very respectfully.  I noticed a common language throughout the classrooms when teachers were speaking with children.  "I'm speaking to so-and-so now, but I will get right back to you" and  "Tell them how you that made you feel" are a couple examples from numerous that I heard.

Reading List

A few people have asked me about what books I'm reading - here is the list:

¨Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool

¨Understanding Waldorf Education

¨Models of Early Childhood Education

¨The Daily Routine Video: High Scope Curriculum

¨Explorations with Young Children

¨Nurture through Nature

¨Head Start: the inside story of America’s most successful education experiment

¨In their Own Way

¨Multiple Intelligences in the Classroom

¨Working in the Reggio Way: a beginner’s guide for American teachers

¨Next Steps Toward Teaching the Reggio Way

¨The Outliers

¨Montessori: The Science Behind the Genius

Pictures

I promised pictures!  This is a great idea.  Pictures of local buildings were attached to small boxes for use in the block area.  One of them is the High Scope Building!  

This was another exciting area - not sure you can see the rebus schedule of the day on the board.  I noticed two children consulting it to decide what was happening next!  The children used the large number of big building blocks to create a "castle" in the writing area.  Teachers allowed the children to move materials to ALL areas of the room, but children were also VERY involved in the cleanup process.

 

The children entered the classroom, the parents signed them in officially, the children signed themselves in on their sign-ins and then went to the rug where books had been laid out for their use.  Children went to the bookshelf and made their own choices, too.  Many parents sat on the rug with their children and read to them.  If a parent had to leave, their child would slide right over to a parent next to them and the parent would read to both children.  The community created at the center for parents was awesome!  They all interacted and at the end of the first day, many parents remained in the playground area allowing their children to play and they were talking after the teachers had come back into the classroom.  I guess children, parents and teachers were empowered at this center!  

Reflection on High Scope

The second day was just as amazing as the first.  I had the opportunity to view the High Scope Offices which are housed in a beautiful old mansion and meet Ann Epstein who is THE author of High Scope books.   It must be a stimulating environment to work in with such great minds.  Polly Neill was my guide as I observed the classroom!  She is also an author of one great science book and is putting the finishing touches on a math book.  I think we should consider adopting them for our math and science class at Harper.  Thank you Polly - I loved your curriculum and enjoyed our conversations!

I felt the classroom was a little rambunctious the first day and even more so on the second day.  I was reflecting on that and the fact that one of the goals of this curriculum is "sharing power" and I realized that was exactly what I'd been observing.  The children weren't told to be quiet - what child wants to be quiet?  Children want to be loud and get excited and in allowing that (within reason - the class was NEVER out of control) I understood that this classroom was controlled by the children also.  They made decisions where to play and with what.  They signed themselves in, played with each other and resolved their own conflicts.  This was a child centered curriculum and the children were responsible for their own learning.  The teachers stimulate their interests, but allow the children to develop at their own rate.  Shared control...

One anecdote that I loved was because it was an example of an empowered child talking to his parent.  A dad was helping his young son ride a bike powered by turning hand pedals but the child lost interest quickly because he couldn't do it.  An older boy came up and starting working the pedals and turning in circles.  The Dad pointed out to his son how this boy was doing the bike (in order to learn how to do it - NOT pushing him).  The child replied to his Dad that he was 3 and that boy was 5!  An empowered three year old.  Teaching children to speak up for themselves when they're 20 and 21 is much harder than empowering young children with the confidence of making good choices and speaking up for themselves.  I can hear this boy telling his friends that he is NOT going to drink because he's not old enough - can't you?   I was left with that as I left Ypsilanti, Michigan and also the large number of children who have grown up empowered through this curriculum.  The effects of this curriculum have been researched for almost 50 years and the effects are still validated.  I think I know why...