What does Head Start preschool mean?
It is giving young children the head start they need to become functioning members of a social and academic community of learners.
The program has been around for 48 years for a very good reason. It works.
How many times have we seen children come into our classroom who are unaware of social norms and insecure? We have the privilege to help them grow up and become active participants in school.
As an employee of the Department of Education, I am a special education teacher in the Head Start program. Our classroom has both special and regular education students. In the past five years, I have seen students develop quickly with peer modeling. It is a lot easier to teach a child the right way by example. Language barriers vanish when two gibberish-sounding 3-year-old children speak clearly to each other. Ability levels disappear as they engage with classmates. Accepting differences is routine in our preschool lives.
Playing happily, a new 3-year-old enters our playground and creates a toy gun out of Legos. A more-mature 4-year-old says, "There are no guns in school!" Yes, it is sad to say, that our preschoolers are viewing video games, television and movies that are way too violent for their young minds. We explain that what they are watching is not real. When we say they are not real, we mean that they are pretend, and that school is real, their classroom is real, and their friends are real. We have to socialize them and teach them to differentiate between the "real" goodness in this world as opposed to the "unreal" violence. For some of them, the distinction is difficult.
Personalities are strong in young children. A few years after birth, they are defining who they are and what they like. We are grate-ful for any positive influence we have in their development.
Reading is important, so we share books on the circle carpet each morning. This is a bonding time. When a student needs extra attention, reading a special book with the teacher is quietly satisfying.
The health and welfare of the children are big concerns. We discuss food. Every day, the children brush their teeth, drink milk and eat balanced meals. We teach them safety precautions, with a trip to the local fire station.
The Head Start program goes beyond helping the children, and supports families in every way it can. Monthly parent group meetings are held. The Head Start family advocate addresses parental concerns. Parents are elected to serve on a policy council local governing board. Volunteering time to help our preschool is encouraged.
If I could for one minute share the joy of watching a physically impaired child learn to run with his peers; a nonverbal 4-year-old open up and speak words; a stubborn 3-year-old begin to share and care about another person; a concerned 4-year-old wipe away the tears of another 4-year-old; an independent 3-year-old stand up to another student shouting, "Stop, I don’t like that," when their personal space is invaded; a loner come in and learn how to make friends — all of this makes me wonder why we don’t have more preschools like Head Start in America.
