Thoughts on Education

It is not hard to note that our education system has great room for improvement. The following are some ideas I've been having in this area. The main focus of this article will be for grades K-2. Warning out of the box thinking to follow.

First, a change in education requirements for those working with this group. A focused associates program could easily train people as teachers for the program I'll outline and the ripple effect would be to lower the staff expenses a school must outlay, as the positions would pay less than a full degreed teacher. The skills acquired at this age are not so advanced to require 5 years of higher education to be effective. This program would be greatly focused on music, art and science.

However, the lower expense of having associate degreed educators would allow room for a specialist to do early identification of learning challenges. A "Learning Differences Specialist" would work on a rotational bases (spending time in each of the classes) as a teacher assistant within the school for grades 1 and 2 to identify potential obstacles that any student may face in their future. They would also head an after school program where the learning difference issues could be addressed, not only for those in grades 1 and 2, but the higher grades as well. Perhaps they would do a directed reading program for a student so that once they enter grade 3, they would have strategies in place to be on a somewhat even footing with their peers.

The K-2 group should focus more on exposure and brain development than on specific skill development, however each step (grade) would have a goal for achievement, just this goal will be a bit different than what we've had as goals for this group, thus far. This modification will allow for greater achievement in the next level of learning.

Educating this group would work with the natural strengths of this age. Children under 8 need to move around and engage, they have a natural curiosity about how the world works. By working with the natural strengths would allow children to experience education as the joy that it ought to be viewed. The #1 goal that should be aimed for is that the child is eager to go to school.

Kindergarten is a child's introduction into the learning process. By creating a fun environment allows for maximizing growth potential without inadvertently developing mental blocks for the learning process. As most kindergarten programs are only a few hours a day, music, art and movement would be implemented as the main learning tools. These 3 activities greatly enhance brain connections that will create successful mastery of number and letter identification that will be later built upon as they progress through their education. And many of the kids will begin learning to read through this process without a directed reading program.

Memorization would be experienced through learning songs (and even though they are pre-readers they would still be exposed to the words of the song). Memorization would also be done through playground games and becomes much more effective as they would be engaged in large muscle activity. Learning letter and number recognition could be mastered through art projects. At the end of kindergarten the children should have an indepth understanding of number concepts of 1-10, read the words one through ten, as well as, a couple dozen other words as explored through letter identification (the alphabet) This would be a side effect of the directed art projects. And through this would come a greater understanding as it isn't simply a rote memorization process.

Reading would be a key element to this exposure. As it would not be a direct learning activity, the reading would be done by the teacher. Daily story time exposes kids to words and comprehension that will grow faster than the reading rate would grow if the students were compelled to "learn to read" on their own at this age. Learning to read would be a consequence of learning to write, and by the end of grade 2 the children would have developed knowledge of a few hundred words. Reading on their own would not begin until grade 3, however, exposure to reading would begin in this primary introduction period (grades K-2). This is why it becomes more critical to have a specialist who understands the nature of learning challenges. Dyslexia, for example, most teachers recognize that many young children may transpose letters, yet not necessarily have dyslexia, but most are unaware of the other symptoms of dyslexia and frequently these children fail repeatedly before their learning difference is discovered, if ever. Usually because the struggling child becomes a behavior problem or labeled as lazy, slow, deviant, goof off, etc, because they do not have the experience to verbalize that they are experiencing learning differently from their peers.

Grades 1 story time would include myths, legends, fables and fairy tales. Story that introduce concepts of group ideals. Much of the work would be done through discussion (not lecture) allowing for the development of problem resolution, personal responsibility, tolerance, or whatever opportunities naturally present themselves. Science at this grade would be daily, from the senses, to natural science. Exploring the outdoors, and documenting (drawing) their findings, and experimentation. There are a myriad of very well done books for young science activities. This age loves to "know" and are full of "why is the sky blue?" types of questions. Finding satisfaction to those questions is what propels learning. And thus achieving the #1 goal for this group of wanting to go to school.

By grade 2 the story time will start to include a sense of history and lead to discussions about what came before. Because the reading is not dependent on the reading level of the student, teachers can use more advanced material to bring the subject matter to life. By now, the students would have been read to daily for 2 years and would be exposed to how language works in a way that is more advanced than typical daily speech. They've not wasted their time reading inane books that do little to advance vocabulary or more complex thought. While their other class activities have been building a reading vocabulary they can use when they embark on an individual reading programs the following year.

I'm sure there is much more detail that could be added and needed to research this out fully. But wanted to post it as food for thought.