What is a Crayon?
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| Image: NY Times |
Storytelling...
Joe Saneflippo's newsletter struck a cord with me when he said, "To desire that connection is human and derived by emotion. We want to hear their story. We look for the story because we want to connect, and the emotion of the stories gives us that connection. The greatest stories in the world are real…and many of them are happening in our schools." Some of my greatest stories have come from my classroom, and one of my favorite stories-which I think is perfect for this generation-happened just a few years ago. It resonates with me to this day, and I think about it every "first day" of school.
The Story...
Wyatt* was a boy in my preschool class three years ago. On the first days of school, we ask the children to write their name and draw us a picture of anything they'd like. We offer many writing utensils, and they may choose at random. I am sitting at a table with Wyatt and two other students. The two students are busily working on their drawings-Wyatt is just sitting. "Don't you want to color Wyatt?" I ask. He shrugs his shoulders. I allow him to observe the other students for a few more minutes, hoping he will gain some inspiration from the others. He continues to sit. "What's your favorite color?" I ask. "Green." he says. So I reach over and rummage through the container of brand new crayons and come up with two green ones-one light and one dark. "Look" I say, " I found two greens in the bin-would you like to color with one of these?" He looks at me, and looks down at the crayons in my hand. He looks back up at me, confused. "What is that?" he asks. "What is what?" I say. "What are those?" he says pointing to the crayons in my hand. "These? They're crayons silly!" I say almost chuckling. "What's a crayon?" he says-straight-faced. "A crayon? You know it's what you color with" I said. I reach over and pick up a sheet of paper and demonstrate the crayons (did I actually just say that?). "Huh", he says. I ask him "I'm sure you have these at home-don't you color at home?" He shrugs again. I offer the crayons to him again. He looks at them, then at me, then at the other students. A light goes off and he brightly says, "Oh, is it like a stylus?". "Yes", I say energetically, "but no I-pad needed!" He happily takes the crayons from my outstretched hand and begins to color. I think my mouth hung open-completely aghast for several seconds. When I relayed the story to his mother, she just said, "I'm sure we have crayons at home."
Gen X vs. Gen Z...
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| Streampage.com |
How can two letters in the alphabet that are so close-be so far apart in, well, everything! I am a Gen Xer. I am considered the "latch key, MTV era" kid. When I was growing up, the only phone I had was hung in my mother's kitchen and attached to a cord. But the Gen Z kiddo is labeled the "iGeneration" or iGen. They have never known life without a cell phone of some sort. Information is at their fingertips, and digital technology is commonplace. I suppose I shouldn't have been all that surprised that at some point in my career, a child was going to "shock" me with a statement like that-and that the parent was going to confirm the shock.
Reaffirmations...
I learned a powerful lesson that day. Regardless of how "far apart" I feel like I am from my students-and their parents. It is important for me to continue to introduce them to the important skills and necessary tools for them to have a successful academic start. NAEYC confirms that preschool-aged children develop in many ways-physically, socially, emotionally, in language and literacy, and in thinking (cognitive) skills. My role is to support them in all of these areas. So that no matter how far apart we are-we are still connected.
For more information on early childhood development please visit:
*"Wyatt's" name has been changed to protect his identity.
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