How can a place be so greatly valued?

In Rethinking Early Childhood Education the author spoke so vividly of her appreciation for a sense of place. This kind of thinking goes along with the saying of stopping to smell the roses. Our world is filled with so many beautiful features of nature that are often over looked and under appreciated. Children can become fascinated by these things in nature on their own but with an adult’s guidance and knowledge they could learn so much more. For example, a child may see a ladybug on a leaf and run to tell the teacher. The teacher can either say something like, “That’s nice” or can take this interest and turn it into a learning experience. If the teacher does not take that opportunity to teach the children on something that they are interested in then the interest may fade and a learning opportunity would be missed.

There are many benefits for appreciating our natural environment. The author mentions that by caring and appreciating for even one place can cause a person to find the beauty in another simple feat of nature. For instance, if a child enjoys going to the beach and playing in the water they can come across feelings of happiness that they may not find in other places. Their passion for the ocean may cause them to keep the surrounding environment free from things such as cans and plastic bags (often found at the beach). Later they may go to a waterfall or river and feel a similar happiness as the beach and may want to also take the same kind of care of that place as well.

In the classroom there are so many different types of lesson plans and many of them do involve nature, but how great would it be to be able to introduce a passion and eye for the simple beauties in nature. There are many resources out in our earth such as leaves, sticks, and sand that can all be used in the classroom. One idea would be to have a garden with the children. They would be able to practice science with growing seeds, commitments and responsibility from taking care of the plants, cooking skills with preparing edible plants, sensory from smelling the earth and the greenery, healthy eating habits from eating the seeds, fruits and vegetables and self-confidence from growing something that can be enjoyed by everyone.

In the New Possibilities book the author talked about the class being a valued place for the women in it. It was in the class where many of them had a chance to broaden their view on the world. It was difficult for many of them outside of the classroom but in the classroom was their chance to learn to hopefully better their lives.

Another thing that caught my attention was the mention that bookwork and tests do not necessarily prove that a person is qualified to work with children. A person’s temperament and personality plays a large role in the kind of teacher they are going to be. It was suggested by one of the students in the author’s class that things such as observations with actual children should be required beyond bookwork. I agree that just because a person passes a college class does not mean that they are ready to become a teacher. There are some people who are smart but I know that I would not want them teaching or being a part of my children’s class. There is so much more to being a teacher than people realize.