HighScope Training: Step One (draft)

This year has been an incredible year for professional development! Professional Development is one of my favorite things because I love to learn new information! I wrapped up my Step One training at the beginning of this year; it was split into three parts and spread out over a couple months. Step One would be good for someone at the start of the school year or before they begin in the HighScope classroom because it was basically things I already knew about. I know it was helpful for those in the training with the positions I just mentioned - I am not trying to say this is a pointless training! I really enjoy[ed] the booklets the trainer gave us, which we unfortunately did not go through, but the booklets are very useful tools.

Day One: Active Learning
On this day, we were given our first booklet, which was about Active Learning. This is the essential part of the "HighScope Preschool Wheel." This first handbook gives an inside look at how HighScope connects to some theories of development and how the HighScope Foundation uses them to carry on with their curriculum. Our time wasn't spent going through the book, like I was hoping, but we did other engaging activities; our instructor picked out bits and pieces that were the large key concepts. For these training explanations, I will just go through the key parts in the book, whether or not we went over them in our session. There is a lot of content for teachers to learn about HighScope and all of the little parts that make it go. The start to all of this is called "Active Learning."

"Active participatory learning is the principal element of the HighScope educational approach. It has five ingredients:

• Materials. Programs offer abundant supplies of diverse, age-appropriate materials. Materials are appealing to all the sense and are open ended - that is, they lend themselves to being used in a variety of ways and help expand children's experiences and stimulate their thought.

• Manipulation. Children handle, examine, combine, and transform materials and ideas. They make discoveries through direct hands-on and 'minds-on' contact with these resources.

• Choice. Children choose materials and play partners, change and build on their play ideas, and plan activities according to their interests and needs.

• Child language and thought. Children describe what they are doing and understanding. They communicate verbally and non-verbally as they think about their actions and modify their thinking to take new learning into account. 

• Adult Scaffolding. 'Scaffolding' means adults support children's current level of development and offer gentle extensions as he or she moves to the next level of developmental stage. In this way, adults help children gain knowledge and develop creative problem-solving skills.

"Many teachers believe that as long as children are handling materials, they are engaged in active learning. Manipulation of materials is essential, of course, but by itself does not constitute active learning. Active learning occurs when all five of the ingredients are present."

My instructor wanted us to memorize this definition by using an acronym. For the life of me, I cannot remember her acronym, but I remember mine, which I thought was pretty hilarious: My Mom Cooks Llamas and Snakes. I think HighScope did a great job at defining this and it is very clear to me why this is their "principle element." The next page goes on to explain why Active Learning works: the children are intrinsically motivated! If you notice above, their elements are all about children and helping them in their interests by providing opportunities.

"Active learners become engaged in play and problem solving because they themselves choose to do so. Motivation theorists suggest that children choose to become engaged in activities and interactions that are enjoyable, related to their current interests, and that allow them to experience feelings of control, success, and competence. Therefore, adults in active learning settings can consider these factors as they plan experiences for children, conduct large- and small-group activities, and interact in adult-child partnerships."

It is connected to making choices and giving choices. I know it is so hard sometimes to do this because it is easier to just say "this is what you are going to do" or "do this." We, as teachers,  need to buck up and get some patience! All I want for the students I teach is for them to develop resilience. This is truly what you need in life! If you help young children develop their active learning skills through opportunities (i.e. purposefully planning and implementing with resources) and guide them through problem-solving WITHOUT PRAISE, they will develop confidence in themselves; not to mention, they will also develop as a person. If you're still unsure about intrinsic motivation, here you go:

"Factors of Intrinsic MotivationThe following five factors are central to intrinsic motivation:

• Enjoyment

• Control

• Interest

• Probability of success

• Feelings of competence and self-confidence

"We have found that children are most likely to become engaged in learning and achieve higher levels of social, cognitive, and language functioning when they are in settings in which adults form partnerships with children. Adults who are partners as they talk and play with children are responsive and interactive rather than directive and controlling. In an active learning setting, adults understand the power of intrinsic motivation - the desire to acquire knowledge because one is genuinely interested in it or to pursue a goal that comes from within. Therefore, they provide many opportunities for children to make choices, take initiative, and lead activities. At the same time, they avoid praise and rewards because these external motivators tend to lose their effectiveness and do not carry over into similar situations where rewards are lacking. Adults are aware that praise can actually backfire - discouraging children's efforts, increasing children's dependence on adults, and making children anxious and defensive."

Although this might be a little biased because it is in my HighScope booklet, all teachers and curricula makers just want children to learn. You can do the research on "Intrinsic Motivation," and sure enough there is a lot more to say about it. Even outside of the HighScope realm, I can testify that removing praise is hard to do, but it is worth it and it is possible!
With all of these factors that make up Active Learning, we also need to throw in some developmental theory. If you don't know by now, HighScope uses a constructivist ideas. I should probably be in tune with this developmental theory a little more, but being out of school will do that to you! The booklet goes into their connection with Piaget.

Child Development and Learning

• Human beings develop capacities in predictable sequences throughout their lives. As people mature, new capabilities emerge.
• Despite the general predictability of human development, each person displays unique characteristics from birth, which through everyday interactions progressively differentiate into a unique personality. Learning always occurs in the context of each person's unique characteristics, abilities, and opportunities.  
• There are times during the life cycle when certain kinds of things are learned best or most efficiently, and there are teaching methods that are more appropriate at certain times in the developmental sequence than at others. 
• An educational experience, procedure, or method - whether adult- or child-initiative - is developmentally appropriate if it...

• Exercises and challenges the learner's capacities as they emerge at a given developmental level.
• Encourages and helps the learner to develop a unique pattern of interests, talents, and goals.
• Presents learning experiences when learners are best able to master, generalize, and retain what they learn and can relate it to previous experiences and future expectations.              

• In the HighScope, approach, learning is viewed as a social experience involving meaningful interactions among children and adults. Since children learn at different rates and have unique interests and experiences, they are more likely to reach their full potential for growth when they are encouraged to interact and communicate freely with peers and adults.  

To further connect HighScope's "Child Development and Learning" excerpt with Piaget, they go on to say "While children obtain social knowledge from others through social interactions, they construct physical and logical knowledge as they act upon objects and manipulate materials." 

Day Two: Adult-Child Interaction


Day Three: Daily Routine Part 1 - Overview and Plan-Do-Review