Spark a Revolution in Early Education: Speaking Up for Ourselves and the Children

Spark a Revolution

IN EARLY EDUCATION

Speaking Up for Ourselves and the Children

Rae Pica

Published by Redleaf Press

10 Yorkton Court

St. Paul, MN 55117

www.redleafpress.org

© 2023 by Rae Pica

All rights reserved. Unless otherwise noted on a specific page, no portion of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or capturing on any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a critical article or review to be printed in a magazine or newspaper, or electronically transmitted on radio, television, or the internet.

First edition 2023

Cover design by Renee Hammes

Cover illustration by Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné

Interior design by Becky Daum

Typeset in Myriad Pro

Printed in the United States of America

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Pica, Rae, 1953-author.

Title: Spark a revolution in early education : speaking up for ourselves and the children / Rae Pica.

Description: First edition. | St. Paul, MN : Redleaf Press, [2023] | Includes bibliographical references and index. | Summary: Rae Pica’s Spark a Revolution in Early Education provides a conversational approach to advocating for active, play-based learning for the development and education of the whole child. Including chapters on debunking myths in early childhood education, advocacy basics, and strategies for speaking up, this book provides early childhood educators research and actionable steps for approaching decision makers to generate necessary change in early education policymaking--Provided by publisher.

Identifiers: LCCN 2022022730 (print) | LCCN 2022022731 (ebook) | ISBN 9781605547718 (paperback) | ISBN 9781605547725 (ebook)

Subjects: LCSH: Early childhood education. | Active learning. | Play--Psychological aspects. | Communication in education. | Education and state.

Classification: LCC LB1139.23 .P5147 2023 (print) | LCC LB1139.23 (ebook) | DDC 372.21--dc23/eng/20220706

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022730

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2022022731

Printed on acid-free paper

This book is dedicated to Kelly O’Meara, Sally Haughey, Sheila Chapman, and Paul Earhart, four special people who, each in their own way, helped get me through these last few years.

Contents

Acknowledgments

Introduction

Section 1: Debunking the Myths Harming Children and Early Childhood Education

CHAPTER 1: Myth #1: Earlier Is Better

CHAPTER 2: Myth #2: Children Learn by Sitting

CHAPTER 3: Myth #3: Digital Devices Are Important to Learning

CHAPTER 4: Myth #4: Playtime Is Not Productive Time

Section 2: Advocacy Basics

CHAPTER 5: Advocacy Can Be Easier Than You Think

CHAPTER 6: The ABCs of Advocacy

Section 3: Speaking Up

CHAPTER 7: Getting Families on Our Side

CHAPTER 8: Getting Administrators and Policy Makers on Our Side

CHAPTER 9: Conclusion

Resources

References

Index

Acknowledgments

Thanks first to the many early childhood professionals who have joined me online for professional development and keynotes. At the end of one of those sessions, the talk turned to advocacy. When I said something about speaking up for ourselves and the children, someone suggested that should be the topic of my next book. Obviously, I took it seriously! (I always get a tingle when encountering a great idea.) I also want to thank all those who follow me on social media who got behind the idea of Rae’s revolution.

My editor, Melissa York, has worked diligently to make this book the best it can be. I appreciate her dedication and support. Thanks, too, to my copyeditor, Marcella Weiner, for her attention to detail, to Danielle Boodoo-Fortuné for her stunning cover art, and to everyone at Redleaf, each of whom plays a role in bringing a book to life and to market.

Introduction

For more than four decades, I’ve served as a consultant, author, professional development provider, and keynote speaker in early childhood education (ECE). If you’re familiar with my work, you realize I’m known primarily as an advocate for moving and learning and for the development and education of the whole child: mind and body. My mission is to ensure that child development guides all our practices with children—and that children can be children. Typically I have not been associated with general advocacy in the early childhood field. So you may wonder what prompted me to write this book.

The simple answer is sadness. I’m incredibly sad about what is happening to the children and to the field. Over my forty-plus years in the profession, I’ve witnessed a lot of changes, particularly during the last couple of decades. Unfortunately, too few of those changes have been for the better. Misguided beliefs and policies have brought about increasingly inappropriate practices and increasingly unhappy children and teachers.

Still, despite all evidence to the contrary, there have been times throughout the years when I was convinced a revolution in the field was imminent. Surely, I thought, people who understand children and who actually seem to like them would finally begin making the decisions about ECE. Surely an understanding of and respect for child development would begin to guide the policies and practices in early childhood education.

Clearly, I’ve been naive. I first predicted an imminent revolution in the 1980s when Howard Gardner brought his theory of multiple intelligences to the world. Dr. Gardner identified bodily kinesthetic intelligence as one way of learning and knowing, thus validating the connection between mind and body. His work showed us that the body matters in the learning process and validated children’s need to move and play and to acquire information through active, experiential learning. But despite the way educators gravitated toward Gardner’s work, there was no revolution.

In the 1990s came incredible brain research demonstrating the link between moving and learning, body and mind. Educators Eric Jensen and Carla Hannaford were among the authors sharing the research about the many ways in which movement contributes to cognitive development and intellectual performance. To this day, there are stories in the news about the positive impact physical activity has on optimal brain development and functioning. Certainly, I thought, we would now stop associating learning with sitting! But even Dr. John Ratey’s (2008) contention that movement is like Miracle-Gro for the brain has done little to influence flawed education policy.

Then the horrifying statistics surrounding the childhood obesity crisis became clear in the late 1990s and early 2000s—with 40 percent of children ages five to eight showing at least one heart disease risk factor (Bar-Or et al. 1998) and one in three children in the United States at risk for type 2 diabetes (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 2021). I felt sure the revolution would come and people would at the very least grant children’s bodies greater consideration. How could they not?

Well, as you know, even the possibility of hypertension at age five didn’t bring about a revolution. In fact, things have only gotten worse for children. Here’s some of what I have seen happening since entering the field:

Singing, dancing, play, and art projects have been replaced with endless sitting and worksheets.

Housekeeping centers, dress-up corners, and sand and water tables have been replaced with desks.

Exploration and discovery have been replaced with instructional time and test prep, even for the little ones.

Recess and outdoor play times have been shortened and even eliminated.

Misguided beliefs that children must hurry up and succeed as soon as possible are among the reasons kindergartners are expected to master the first-grade curriculum and standards, and preschoolers to take on what used to be saved for kindergarten (more on this in chapter 1).

Children who were excited to go to preschool or kindergarten discovered all too quickly that learning is not as much fun as it was before they arrived in school.

Because of adult interference with child development, we’ve witnessed children with so little movement in their lives that, among other things, they have no fine-motor control and are falling out of their seats.

With a rise in demand for academics-oriented early childhood programs, play-inspired programs fight to avoid extinction.

The stories I come across and the emails I get from distraught families and teachers tell a tale of miserable, frustrated, and even clinically depressed little ones who already hate school at age four or five. The teachers aren’t much happier. And worst of all: Children don’t know how to play anymore!

This is all unacceptable. And it must change.

But are we, as early childhood professionals, responsible for bringing about that change? If not us, who? I believe early childhood professionals are uniquely qualified to save the day—and the children.

How This Book Can Help

A colleague once said to me, For too long teachers have been told to shut up and do their job—and for too long they’ve done just that. He was speaking of public school teachers in the elementary grades and higher. But his statement may ring even truer for those in the early childhood profession. You, after all, are the lovers, not the fighters.

Those with a special affection for the little ones tend to be softhearted. You went into the field because you value the unique nature of young

children and are likely fond of hugs and giggles. You don’t necessarily consider yourself an avenger, prepared to battle forces of evil.

But what if you didn’t keep silent? What if you said no to administrators and policy makers trying to bully you into harmful teaching practices? What if you insisted on having a seat at the table when outsiders were making decisions about early childhood education? What if you resolved to debunk the myths under which families and policy makers are operating? (As you’ll see in section 1, I consider these myths to be the crux of the problem.) What if we became advocates for early childhood education and children, speaking up for them in whatever ways we’re able?

This is what I believe: If we all say no, fight for a seat at the table, and work to debunk the myths—if we become advocates—the children, their families, and you will benefit greatly!

I do understand that even the idea of speaking up can be intimidating. However, I want to reassure you that not only can advocacy be less daunting than you might imagine, but there are also many ways to advocate, with varying degrees of difficulty. In this book, we’ll explore several of them, ranging from the simplest to the somewhat more challenging. Mostly, I want this book to demonstrate that when you choose to be an ECE champion, you’re not alone. It’s important to remember that whenever you feel intimidated or overwhelmed.

If you’re reading Spark a Revolution in Early Education, you obviously believe, as I do, that all children deserve a real childhood. They should learn as nature intended—joyfully and through play! Learning should be active, not passive. More than likely, you’re tired of witnessing unrealistic expectations and a determination to accelerate child development (which isn’t possible, by the way), stripping children of authentic learning—and of their giggles. You’re disturbed by the inequities that exist in education and want to see every child provided with the good foundation a quality early education can supply. You’re fed up with all the nonsense depriving children of childhood and requiring you to teach in ways that you know aren’t right!

As William Holden’s character in the movie Network once declared, I’m mad as hell, and I’m not gonna take this anymore! Well, that certainly sums it up for me. I invite you to join me in the sentiment. If we all get mad as hell, change can and will occur.

What to Expect in This Book

As mentioned, section 1 covers some myths that have become accepted by our society as truths. While I have theories about where some of them come from, I’m befuddled by the origin of others. Why has misinformation come to play such a prominent role in parenting and education policy making? I simply don’t know. What I do know is