My colleague and I decided to stop attending these regression sessions and instead, we'd start visiting schools that have a philosophy similar to ours, which is a child centered/influenced approach to education. All of the schools we've attended thus far are private schools where parents pay an arm and a leg for tuition. These are fantastic schools. I usually come out feeling very inspired and eager to implement new ideas but eventually become deflated due to the fact that our high poverty public school lack resources to obtain the same materials these private school has. Often, these schools have enormous space for their pre-kindergarten students alone, and the resources and tools in one classroom probably equate to the resources and tools of our entire school. Afterwards, I would usually spend a lot of money on materials inspired by these visits.
All of the schools I've attended have these large wooden hollow blocks. They are great building tools for kids, but are very expensive. Twenty of these blocks run about several hundred dollars. That was out of the question for me to ever buy. But I wanted my students to be able to build with things beyond the average wooden block. Great thinkers help change the world. How many new inventions have debuted as luxury items a few years ago, but have since become necessities? I believe children need to be exposed to new ways if we want them to develop a creative mindset. We want them to ask questions and create solutions for them instead of being fed answers to questions.
My goal as an educator isn't to give my students answers. Instead, it's to guide them as they look for different ways to find various solutions. I wish to create divergent thinkers who are able to adapt to a changing environment and are versatile when they are faced with challenges. Toys won't directly lead to this, but provide various opportunities to think differently. These new building toys arrived today and they have caused quite an excitement in our class. Already, kids are coming up with exciting new ideas to build with our new resources.