Encouraging Students to Develop and Share Their Passion

“My own curiosity drives me and that’s one of the reasons why I’ve been able to achieve… something with the life that I am leading…My curiosity is what wakes me up in the morning and what makes me think…”. These are sentiments shared by Angela Lee Duckworth on a Scratch Your Itch Podcast no too long ago, talking about “Grit” and “Character”. As the conversation progressed, she and A.J. Juliani uncovered some interesting motivators that sparked my interests (literally) and inspired my sharing with you today. It helped me to reflect on how I am encouraging my students to develop and share their passion through family engagement.

A.J. Juliani said something so profound that emanated from his personal experience with his students:

-A.J. Juliana via Scratch Your Itch Podcast

 

Of course, I had to bring this into context with my PRESCHOOL CLASSROOM:

What does this look like in the preschool classroom?

 

A.J. Juliani talks about choice and allowing students the opportunity to learn about something they were interested in. Well this type of learning is the epitome of my preschool classroom.  As we learn various things throughout the year, we always engage the families and children to add their input to make for more meaningful theme building, and enjoyment of each theme we focus on.

Even in learning about various themes, students have the choice of a theme related center daily; as well as the choice to do something that they are simply curious about. Sometimes other centers are created from the interests of the children, outside of the given theme. However, because my students are so young, we do give guidance and ideas to help cultivate their interests. But at the end of the day, the choice is ultimately theirs, and because families have helped to make props, or have sent in relevant contributions from home for the particular theme in which children can relate and connect, this builds even more curiosity.

 

-A.J. Juliana via Scratch Your Itch Podcast

Those meaningful connections help children to learn better and play with purpose. They always have the opportunity in the classroom to reflect on what they did in play as well, which demonstrates that sharing of their passion.

What does this look like at home now?

As within the classroom, I encourage families at home to continue to reflect with their children during and at the end of their activities throughout the day. Even if it is something as simple as saying: “What did you like about making your favorite strawberry cupcakes with vanilla frosting?” This statement is descriptive; it reinforces that this was the child’s interest; and gives them a voice—saying that their opinion matters, and they are valued.

A.J. Juliani talked a lot about students’ values and how when you focus on their values, you don’t have to lecture so much. Families can simply learn while enjoying time together making the child’s favorite cupcakes. So much can come from an activity like this: understanding measurement; reading a recipe; back and forth dialogue; comprehending time…and the list goes on and on. But most importantly is that all of this learning is taking place with the interest of the child at the center.

So, how can we encourage students to develop and share their passion while at home?

The same model at school will serve even greater purpose at home. It has the capability of creating even greater connections and opportunities for children to develop and share their passion because who knows or understands a child more than the people that live with them?

 

As we continue with remote/virtual learning platforms, I plan to continue to be transparent with my families, sharing success stories, as well as my struggles I’ve had with my own children. I am making connections and modeling the behavior for them to keep trying with their children.

 

 

I’ve always believed that behaviors are learned, and so it is within my classroom that I model positive behaviors so that my preschool students will be more likely to imitate those behaviors that they learn from me. Especially at this stage, it is age and developmentally appropriate to model the behaviors that you need and want your students to take on. To go even further, I give opportunities for my babies to practice positive behaviors after they’ve been introduced through a social story, or some sort of appropriate lesson.

It is my personal interest to sing, so as I have decided to record daily “Morning Meetings” to share with my students and their families, I am exploring and developing my strengths and interests as a singer. There’s a whole lot of singing going on, trust me. This behavior has lead me to be more curious to want to learn more about special effects; lighting; engagement on screen; sound quality; and so much more that goes into making a video. I am learning more because of my interest to sing and passion to teach, while helping others to learn from the behaviors I am displaying. As I do this, I am modeling behaviors for my parents, and encouraging them to do the same with their children at home.

 

 

After each Morning Meeting, I always invite parents to share with me what special activity they’ve done for the day, or who their child chose to be for the day’s Make-Believe Play time. The responses have been amazing, and this is a way for us all to continue to stay connected while parents and students develop and share their passion. This is fine family engagement right here.