The Hancock-Henderson Quill, Inc.
Teacher employs hands-on approach
by David Grimes for The Quill
DALLAS CITY- What works and what doesn't in a pre-kindergarten classroom still is being sorted out in preschool and child care settings across Illinois, but pre-K teacher Linda Housewright has had her ducks in a row for several years now.
Her pre-K classroom served as a center for learning for about 40 Illinois educators and school officials last week - one of just four such facilities tagged as a model site by the Illinois State Board of Education.
Housewright's 3- to 5-year-old charges learn their lessons in a friendlier, less staid environment than students confined to traditional classroom settings.
Her 19 students spend their school days learning about the fundamentals of science, math, reading and other disciplines through a hands-on approach to each lesson and in sharing with others the lessons learned.
Housewright's classroom walls are covered with survey results tabulated by the students, artwork pertaining to specific lessons, shopping list collages and books children can select from in pursuing an understanding of their individual lessons.
A recent segment on eggs and their role in the cycle of life had several of the students identifying the difference between a duck egg and a people egg.
The duck eggs pertain to fertilized eggs; "people" eggs are those meant for human consumption.
Floor mats in the classroom bear road map and cityscape designs and a hodgepodge of numerals, alphabet letters and varying color designs.
Class pets, whose lifestyle behaviors are under constant observation, include Norman the goldfish and Squash the tarantula.
Seeing children succeed academically at an early age should not be unexpected or surprising, according to Housewright.
"Their moral value system is formed by the time they turn 5 years old," Housewright said. "They already know the difference between yes and no, right and wrong."
So expecting the fundamentals of music, art, math and science to be attainable is not out of the question.
When the state Board of Education issued early childhood standards and benchmarks - 105 in all - in 1999, Housewright found her classroom procedures already covered all the areas.
As a result, giving her classroom techniques and arrangement the nod when the state began to seek four model classrooms to help other facilities across the state apply state-recommended benchmarks to their own classroom settings was a natural choice.
Getting children interested in the "why" of lessons and cultivating a warm environment for each student to learn those lessons is an important preparation for later grades.
ISBE testing of student achievement - begun in 1997 - starts in third-grade.
Students retain information better if they are shown rather than told what the objective of each lesson is, Housewright said.
That track, followed through subsequent grades, gives the student a better chance at academic achievement.
Early learning success "is the beginning on which everything else builds," Housewright said.
Housewright also serves as an ISBE standards trainer and spends a good deal of time driving to and from other school districts around the state sharing her insights and successes in student learning.
Her cross-pollination approach is teaching education basics through the right mix of classroom materials and an environment conducive to making learning exciting.
"If you can see what you're supposed to be learning about looks like, you'll understand it better," she said.
Housewright will present her findings and experiences in the classroom when she attends the National Association for Education convention in Chicago next month.