Promoting Independence
From the desk of Leigh Ann…
“To find yourself, think for yourself.” ~ Socrates
This week I have thought a great deal about how to make our kindergartners more self-reliant learners. As a teacher I want to facilitate learning, model appropriate behaviors, and guide students in developing strategies that help them become competent readers, writers, and problem solvers. Striking a balance between allowing them to be independent learners and knowing when to step in to help can be difficult. I want to provide the balance that allows children to become self-confident and self-sufficient while still feeling supported and mentored.
It is often more important for me to ask questions to guide thinking rather than to provide quick easy answers. What do you think? How would you solve that problem? What should we do first? Asking leading questions and brainstorming together can help stimulate thinking. Modeling good questioning techniques provides young children with some strategies to attack problems on their own.
As parents and teachers we have to encourage our children to take risks in their work and let them know that it is okay to make a mistake or two along the way towards greater independence. As adults it is hard to let go of our idea of perfection. It is definitely quicker and more skillfully done to complete tasks for our children instead of allowing them the time to complete them on their own. When hanging up coats or packing bookbags on their own our children see they are responsible for taking care of their belongings. When a child asks, What’s that word? or How do you spell…?, it is so easy to give the quick answer. I know I am guilty of this during a time crunch, but this makes my students continue to depend on me.
My goal should be to nurture the persistence and inquisitive spirit needed to find answers independently. I want our children to know they are capable of solving problems and that making a mistake is not a failure rather a chance to advance learning by trying again.
We need to model responsibility and self-reliance in what we say and do. Our children rely on us and watch carefully to see how we react to life’s situations. I have often been guilty of wanting to rush in and shield children from disappointment or failure, but by doing this I deny them a chance to develop some important life skills like self-reliance and self-confidence. Our children are depending on us to teach them how the world works and how we should work in the world. Sometimes that means they learn from us and other times it means we encourage them to work it out on their own.