How Preschool Teachers Do It

There's much more to figuring out if children and adults are visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learners than you may have thought. Join Alison and Cindy for a discussion about all the different ways to identify different learners. You may even recognize yourself!

Cindy and Alison discuss one of those "always been done this way" situations - public displays of behavior - their impact, and how we might adjust them before the next school year.

How present are you when children focus on an object or task? Do you focus with them on what they see? It is good for them and it is great for your mental health! Cindy and Alison discuss this powerful and brain-building interaction with children that has benefits for all.

Now and always, fostering 1:1 relationships with children should be a priority. In this episode, Cindy & Alison discuss Dr. Robert Pianta's "Banking Time." Consider how you might bank time with children to intentionally develop connections that you can draw from when they need us most.

If children learning at home who had 1:1 time with teachers online during the pandemic have pulled ahead of their peers, it proves that we have never spent enough 1:1 time with them. How can we take this information and improve the future of early childhood education? Join Alison and Cindy as they discuss lessons for the future.

Was your school day divided by subject area when you were a child? Was math time separate from language arts time which was separate from socialization time? Join Cindy for a discussion about the skill-building perspective you never learned in that system.

For so many of us, this week marks 1 year since our lives changed because of COVID-19. How can we frame what has happened, perhaps start to heal, and forge forward? Process this with Alison and Cindy as they reflect and look to the future of early education.

There is a big difference between adapting a curriculum and modifying it. Which one is the way to go when taking what teachers are given and applying it to the children in the room? Cindy and Alison discuss what teachers should think about and what families should know.

Sometimes we purposely, and other times we subconsciously, prompt children so they answer questions correctly. Does that really help them to learn? Are we meeting our goals for the children or for us? Join Cindy and Alison for a discussion about prompting and how to handle answers when they are and are not what we were looking for.

Is dynamic learning silent? Have generational messages about children being silent seeped into our classrooms? Join Cindy and Alison for a discussion about silence as they wonder if it is really golden.

How would the environment change and the children think of themselves if we described them by their strengths instead of their struggles? Alison and Cindy discuss reframing our world through how we describe children.

Without meaning to, are we adding to the children's stress by encouraging perfectionism? Are we setting up an expectation that is impossible to achieve? Listen to Cindy & Alison discuss what can cause this stress-inducing mindset in children that will impact them always.

They aren't bossy. They are leaders! Cindy and Alison discuss the importance of fostering the leadership qualities you observe in young children. Listen, learn and laugh with us!

Children hear the news from the TV in the background, from the adults who think they aren't listening and more. Watch for signs that they are trying to understand. Join Alison and Cindy as they discuss how to help them sort the information.

Children aren't born knowing the steps of good decision making. Alison and Cindy discuss the questions to ask children that can become their internal dialogue. Decision making - go forth and teach it!