Embracing HighScope: Questioning the "Rules"

In the world of early childhood, buzzwords and phrases such as “best practice,” “developmentally appropriate,” and “intentional teaching” are heard frequently. As an early childhood teacher with ten years of experience, I pride myself on being an intentional teacher who has employed developmentally appropriate best practices at every opportunity. According to my The transition to using the HighScope Curriculum has given me a new perspective on my teaching practices and beliefs. line of thinking, if the curriculum and assessments I am using are research based, then the way I am implementing them must also be developmentally appropriate. However, as I now reflect on my early years of teaching, I wonder whether I truly knew then what those buzzwords meant, and whether my assessment of my own teaching practices was correct. Or had I, unaware, been implementing a developmentally appropriate curriculum in a way that made it less so? In this article, I describe how learning to use the HighScope Curriculum has allowed me to break many of the old rules I was living by and replace them with beliefs and practices that have given those buzzwords new meaning.

From “What” to “How”

My transition to the HighScope Curriculum over the past year has confirmed what I have known about my students all along: children are active learners who need hands-on experiences with real materials. But as I learned more about HighScope, I found myself wondering if I had truly been maximizing every learning opportunity for the children in my classroom. Much like my college education, the curriculum I had been using provided me with the “what” of teaching; what developmental domains my lesson plans should be centered around, what skills and knowledge my children were expected to attain, and — perhaps my biggest take-away from my curriculum materials — what learning centers should be present in my classroom for my students to achieve success. Only after I had been trained in HighScope, and had taken time to reflect on my many of years of teaching, did I recognize I had been missing the most crucial element of working with children, one that the curriculum I had been using hadn’t taught me — that is, the “how”: how do you interact with children and differentiate instruction in a way that encourages success for each student? How do you facilitate problem-solving skills and conflict resolution in a way that builds independence and fosters resilience? And how do you, as a teacher, use your curriculum resources and classroom materials wisely to ensure you are intentionally meeting not only the individual needs, but also scaffolding (supporting and gently extending) the development and interests of each child enrolled in your classroom?

Becoming a Learning Partner

According to Essentials of Active Learning in Preschool (Epstein, 2014), to achieve active participatory learning, children and teachers should be “partners in shaping the learning experience” (p. 8). This was something I had always implemented during work time and outside time, but I now asked myself what it would look like during other parts of the daily routine. In particular, how would this work during whole-group activities? After all, I believed teacher-directed portions of the day were essential to making sure I was “really” teaching and my students were “really” learning. Over the course of this past year, teaching in the HighScope Demonstration Preschool classroom, I realized that, as educators, we tend to follow a set of unwritten rules — for example, that materials should remain in the area in which they are housed or that children should sit on their bottoms when on the rug for large group. Since implementing the HighScope Curriculum, however, I began to question many of these “rules.” Does it matter if Leila chooses to lie on her stomach or Esaiah prefers kneeling to sitting on his bottom during message board? Isn’t it more important that everyone can see and is actively participating? Why shouldn’t the play dough tacos be allowed on the rocket ship in the block area? Don’t astronauts need food on the moon, too? Upon further reflection, I realized we even go so far as to provide children each of the movements expected for certain fingerplays and songs. Most adults would likely perform “The Itsy Bitsy Spider” in nearly the same way; however, since implementing the HighScope Curriculum, I’ve come to learn that a child’s interpretation of a spider climbing up a waterspout and the rain falling down on him looks much different, and is definitely more fun, than the fingerplay we all know. Additionally, I’ve realized that expecting children to move their fingers from thumb to pinky in the expected way may disadvantage those children who lack the fine-motor dexterity needed to make this motion. Since being trained in HighScope, I catch myself more closely examining and questioning the status quo; I recognize that my job as an educator is to make intentional decisions that are mindful of child choice. Another unwritten “rule” I used to follow was to limit the number of children allowed to work in a certain area of the classroom. By doing this, I thought I was establishing a method of classroom management. Since space was limited, I could avoid potential conflict if, for example, I only allowed four children at the sand and water table at the same time. What I didn’t fully realize was that, by doing so, I was also eliminating opportunities for learning and problem solving. Now, instead of limiting the number of children who can work in an area, I make sure I am aware of where in the classroom potential conflicts may arise due to the number of children interested in that particular area. Proactively, I observe where children regularly play and make sure there are plenty of materials available. Where possible, I also enlarge the play space by moving shelves, adding workspace, or switching areas to a larger part of the room. During planning time, when eight children make a plan to work at the sand and water table, I also make a plan to be there to provide support in resolving conflicts as they arise. I’ve come to realize that my role isn’t to avoid or prevent the potential for conflict but, rather, to help children articulate their needs, recognize the needs of others, and assist in resolving conflicts. Then, as we work at the sand and water table — teacher and eight children — we will discuss potential solutions to problems as they arise. We’ll look at where we have positioned ourselves around the table and talk about the space each child needs and how that can be accommodated; we’ll consider the possibility of placing additional bins of water on the floor or on another table, to increase access to water; and we’ll talk about the materials each child needs. If some children need materials that are already being used by others, we’ll talk about how these children can accomplish their plan with other resources. In this situation, children may pose a turn-taking solution, or children who need more personal space or less distraction while they work may choose to make a new work-time plan and return to the sand and water table later. Ever since I first began implementing the HighScope Curriculum, I have felt my role in these situations to be much clearer: I support children in their efforts to express their intentions, to understand the intentions of others, and to find a solution for conflicts that arise.