Page 42 - 2022-Mag_88-4

Classroom Practice/Program

When districts require all kindergartners to be on the same page at the
same level, a conflict of approaches arises. Asking teachers to meet each child
where he or she is developmentally and tailor instruction accordingly while
simultaneously imposing a standard academic expectation sends a mixed
message. Kindergartners enter school at age 4, 5, and 6 years of age. Some have
preschool experience; some do not. It is not realistic, and I believe harmful,
to expect that all children will achieve a set standard at the same time (i.e.,
all children will know all sounds and letters of the alphabet by November
1; all children will read level X independently by the end of kindergarten;
all children will be able to count to 100 in an X-minute timed test, etc.).
This pressure has preschool teachers and parents pushing academics earlier and
earlier. As word of the kindergarten “entrance exam” gets out, young children are
being shown flashcards of the vocabulary words on the assessment and number
cards 1 to 100; are expected to “sound
out” words before they grasp the
meaning of these abstract concepts; and
are asked to “write down the sounds
they hear” in a fictitious word. This can
be very frustrating for the child who
is not yet ready (and for the parent).
The fact is that although school
has changed, children have not.
Biological development of 4-, 5-, and
6-year-olds has not changed. Research
has shown repeatedly that any gain
children have made by being pushed
to accomplish reading skills earlier
is lost by age 7 or 8. One practice,
redshirting (i.e., holding a child out of school beyond the entry age) has become
more common as parents fear their young child will not be able to keep pace
with older children in kindergarten (Burt, 2018). This only creates more of a
divide among the children developmentally. Of course, most 6-year-olds can
hold a pencil and sit still longer than most 4-year-old children! It seems we have
confused physical maturity with intellectual ability, even labeling it “giftedness.”
The central, critical message here is one that all parents and teachers would
do well to remember: Earlier isn’t necessarily better, and more isn’t better if it’s
too much. Think of the age-appropriate activities children are missing while
we have them struggle to do things that they are not yet ready to do! Instead of
practicing flash cards and completing paper-and-pencil tasks before he or she is
ready, a child might sit on the lap of a caregiver and hear a story, help make a
shopping list, make a snack to share, play with blocks or puzzles or playdough,
or go outside with an adult for a shared walk or trip to the park and have a great
conversation about it. In school, the child might be hearing literature from
a variety of content areas, learning vocabulary through shared experiences,
developing phonemic awareness skills developed through nursery rhymes and
repeated readings, learning concepts of print and shared background knowledge
through reading big books, or taking short trips and sharing ideas or stories

40 · Volume 88-4