| Michael: |
Before we get started, let's spend a moment talking about your family. Your mother was a teacher, right? |
| Lillian: |
My mother graduated from Spelman College--where I went to school--and taught in both Atlanta and New Orleans. For most of her teaching career, she taught first grade, but she was also a Title I reading teacher. Her grandmother earned a "normal" degree from Wiley College, and her grandfather trained to be a minister but found himself teaching the fourth grade for a time, as well as serving his church. He also founded one of the first preschool programs for African American children. That was in 1911, and the program is still operating today, although the name has changed.
|
| Michael: |
Is there any way I can talk you into finding a fourth generation teacher in the family? That would be fabulous. |
| Lillian: |
My great grandfather wasn't a teacher, but his story is unquestionably remarkable. His name was Pierre Caliste Landry, and although born a slave, he managed to educate
himself somehow and learned to read and write. He spoke Creole and "Parisian" French as well as English, and was the first African American to serve as mayor of an American city. He was later elected to both the House of Representatives and Senate in Louisiana.
|
| Michael: |
That's a pretty impressive family history. How about your own teaching history? |
| Lillian: |
I began teaching in New Orleans in a program for hearing impaired students. When we moved to San Antonio, Texas, I taught in a preschool for hearing impaired kids.
When we moved again to Big Spring, Texas, I taught I taught elementary students with hearing impairments for four years (all levels), preschool students with hearing impairments for two years, and hearing students for about one semester. Since 1991, I've been a preschool teacher in Illinois' Kankakee School District.
|
| Michael: |
Even the building in which you teach has a little history. Can you tell us about that? |
| Lillian: |
Our building, the Jefferson School, is the oldest school in Illinois that's still being used as a school. It was built in 1866. We're actually a satellite center. There are three
preschool classes in our building and three more at the Mark Twain School. Our administrators and classes for older students are at Mark Twain.
|
| Michael: |
Can you tell us something about your program and your children? |
| Lillian: |
Three of Lillian's students work on a school bus floor puzzle, with an assistant on hand to help if needed.
 |
We're part of the Bright Beginnings program, a state-funded prekindergarten program for at-risk children. The children are between 3 and 5 years old, depending on the month of birth. The risk factors include things like being in foster care, having teen parents, prenatal alcohol exposure, developmental delays, and speaking a first language other than English. I have 15 children in my classroom each session, with two sessions per day, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. I have a full-time aide, and the district provides other support personnel. The state has recently mandated that our classes increase to 20 students. We're
hoping to prevent that somehow, because it will severely reduce our effectiveness as teachers.
|
| Michael: |
I've been in enough preschool classrooms to know that 15 children is quite a handful. What's your biggest challenge? |
| Lillian: |
That's pretty easy to answer. It's finding time to figure out who needs what. You know, assessing children and making the right learning experiences available to them.
Because my children come from such diverse backgrounds, their needs are enormously different. This is complicated by the age range of the children. Some of my children are just 3 years old, but others are close to 5 and have spent more than a year with me already. I wonder what people think about me when they see me writing feverishly on sticky notes.
|
| Michael: |
Sticky notes? |
| Lillian: |
During the day, I carry a pad, pen, and sticky notes with me. As we go through the day, I jot down notes about what the kids are doing. I find that recording my
observations during regular classroom activities is the best way to determine what my children know and what skills they have yet to acquire. More often than not, the most convenient place to stick them is on the back of the pad. It actually works pretty well, although I'm sure it looks strange.
|
|
Lillian uses sticky notes like these to quickly record student observations during the hubbub of regular classroom activities.
|
| Michael: |
These observations are how you assess children's progress? |
| Lillian: |
Whenever possible, I observe my children in everyday situations. This gives me more reliable and valid information about their progress than any kind of artificial
situation. We've been using Sam Meisels' Work Sampling System for a number of years, and systematic observations are the heart of the system. The state of Illinois recently developed preschool standards and a Work Sampling System to observe them. I find it's a great way to learn where children are. It also gives me a lot to talk about when parents come in. Instead of giving them the results of traditional tests, I can discuss specifically what the children know and how I observed
this. Sometimes the parents are completely surprised to discover how much their children know.
|
| Michael: |
I take it then that you are a supporter of standards. |
| Lillian: |
I can't speak for other preschool teachers or teachers who work with older students, but I don't find that standards are a burden. Because of the nature of our program and the risk factors to which our children are subjected, we've always been rigorous about ensuring that children have an opportunity to learn and practice critical literacy skills. I
honestly believe that preschool standards reflect what teachers should have been doing all along. I'm completely against making preschool just an early version of first grade or even kindergarten, but I think that there are skills that children in preschool should learn. Standards, whether they are locally or state developed, help us prepare all of our children
for kindergarten and first grade. (The Illinois Early Learning Project provides a description of the Illinois Early Learning Standards.)
|
| Michael: |
What challenges do your students and you face when it comes to literacy in particular? |
| Lillian: |
One of the major challenges is a lack of literacy in the home. Not only do many of our parents not read to their children, but there is not much reading material in the home at all. One way we battle this is with our classroom "lending libraries." Each Friday, the students check out books (in Spanish for our Spanish-speaking students), and we ask the parents to read the books to their children over the weekend and return them on Monday. We also subscribe to a bimonthly parenting magazine for each family (unfortunately, these are not available in Spanish).
|
| Michael: |
With that kind of structure, is there any room for technology? |
| Lillian: |
I have a computer in my classroom, and I have it set up as a regular learning center. Children sign up for it just as they would any of the other learning centers, and they
use it chiefly for learning activities and art.
|
| Michael: |
Do the children use the computer by themselves? |
| Lillian: |
It's not a simple question to answer. Yes, children can use the computer alone, but this doesn't usually happen. My aide or I usually observe children as they use the
computer. The computer is set up close enough to my desk so that I can observe a child working while I'm doing something at my desk like writing observations or spending some
individual time with a child. I sometimes pull up a chair and interact with the children when they work at the computer. I find this is a great way to review any number of literacy
skills with a child.
|
| Michael: |
So the computer provides an opportunity for you to socialize with the children? |
| Lillian: |
That's true, but it's more than that. The children also socialize with one another when they work at the computer. Other children like to hang out around the computer and
give advice to the child using it. There's a lot of social interaction, and I think this is probably more important than the computer activity itself. |
|
Also, the children get to learn about taking turns. We have a sign-up sheet--a wipe board, actually--for the computer, just as we do for the other centers (the sensory tables and snack area, for example). Kids put their name on the list--actually, it's a symbol, because most of my children can't write their names yet--and they tell me their "plan" for how they want to use the computer. I think it's a good idea for kids to use the computer for a reason rather than just sitting down and playing games.
As far as the plan, my students tell us where they plan to work or play during center (these plans change often, of course). If a student chooses the computer, when it's time for him or her to use it, either the child or I set a timer for 10 minutes. I initially stay nearby by to be sure that the student is managing okay, and I give help if needed. Often, other children will help. At the end of the 10 minutes, another child has an opportunity to use the computer.
|
|
|
|
|
|
In Lillian's classroom a wipe board serves as a computer sign-up sheet.
|
|
Working at the computer is a social process for Lillian's students, who often help one another at the computer.
|
|
| Michael: |
Who makes sure that the transition from one child to another is smooth? |
| Lillian: |
Believe it or not, that takes care of itself. The children know how important it is to share, so when time is up, the child using the computer doesn't complain. There's also a
good bit of peer pressure. The next child to use the computer is watching the clock pretty closely, as are the other children. This is true about the other learning centers, too.
|
| Michael: |
What sort of literacy activities do your students engage in at the computer? |
| Lillian: |
Currently, literacy activities at the computer are principally incorporated in the software (letter recognition, some word recognition, etc.). However, this year we are
considering the use of "e-mail pals" to promote literacy. What we are hoping is that our children will be able to correspond by e-mail with children at the Mark Twain School. The
children will say what they would like the e-mail to contain, and my aide or I will type the messages. I think this will be a great opportunity to encourage oral language
development, associate written and spoken language, explain elements of writing such as small and capital letters, and so on. For example, as we type, we'll talk about when we
use capital letters, what a punctuation mark looks like, and so on.
|
| Michael: |
How do you deal with the "digital divide" issue? |
| Lillian: |
Because we work with at-risk children, very few of them have experience with technology or have access to computers at home. Occasionally we get a child who has a
computer at home, and it's pretty clear that they have an advantage early on. After a while, however, the other children catch up. In the classroom, all of the children have the
same access to the computer, and we are able to give them the help that they need. One of the best sources of help is older children, the ones we've had for a semester or more.
These children know how to use the different programs on the computer, and they are more than willing to help the younger or less experienced children.
|
| Michael: |
How else do you accommodate individual differences in students' comfort level with technology? |
| Lillian: |
We try to ensure that children who are reluctant to spend time at the computer are given the support they need to at least become familiar with technology. In contrast, we
don't want other children to develop such an interest in technology that they ignore other important aspects of development.
|
| Michael: |
Do you run into the problem of some children wanting to use the computer too much? |
| Lillian: |
Sometimes. The children use the learning centers in which they are most interested, so children will want to spend more time doing some things than others. This is true for the computer and for other learning centers.
|
| Michael: |
Are most of the children ready to use computers when they come into your class? Some of them seem pretty young. |
| Lillian: |
Sometimes they are too young. Here's what we do: All the children have an opportunity to work at the computer using appropriate software and with the help of my aide or me. We give them all the support they need, but if they still struggle, we give them a month or two and then try it again. It doesn't make sense to rush them, and there are
countless other things for the children to learn.
|
| Michael: |
What are some of your students' favorite software programs? |
| Lillian: |
The favorite software programs vary by student and interest. They benefit literacy development by helping with such things as left to right progression, letter recognition, and word recognition. Some of the software programs that I like are: Edmark's Bailey's Book House, Millie's Math House, and Sammy's Science House; The Learning Company's Reader Rabbit's Preschool; Scholastic's I Spy Junior (this one even includes sorting and Venn diagrams for preschoolers), Davidson's Learning Center Preschool; and Sesame Street Numbers.
|
| Michael: |
If you had the option, would you use more technology? |
| Lillian: |
We're hoping to get one more computer this year and hook it up to the Internet. There might be some Internet applications, additional to the ones we are already using,
that we can use to develop the interests children have in various topics. But other than that, our days are already pretty full. I just don't think we have time for too much more
technology. In addition, I think there are many other things that children this age should be doing.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Even preschoolers can be computer users when given the support they need--but Lillian never rushes her students into it.
|
|
Lillian finds that sitting down and interacting with children at the computer is a great way to review literacy skills.
|
|
| Michael: |
What do the parents think about the way you are using technology? |
| Lillian: |
I think all of them are pleased that their children are getting a chance to work with computers, but then again, they are pleased that the children are getting a good
preschool education in lots of areas. One of the most common reactions of parents is surprise that their children are capable of doing so many things. We hear comments like "I didn't know she could do that" all the time. I have to admit that hearing this makes me feel good. I think it shows that we are giving the children an opportunity to develop their
interests and abilities in literacy, art, mathematics, technology, and other areas.
|
| Michael: |
Do you have a chance to get together with the kindergarten and first-grade teachers? I would think that's pretty important. |
| Lillian: |
We have some contact with teachers of older children, but not as much as I would like. Part of the problem is that we are a satellite school that serves only preschool children. We get together with the other preschool teachers at Mark Twain and occasionally with the kindergarten and first-grade teachers. I'd like to do this more often because I want to be sure my children have a good chance at succeeding when they move up through the grades.
|
| Michael: |
When you get together, what kinds of things do you talk about? |
| Lillian: |
The most important thing is making sure that our children have an opportunity to learn all of the predecessor skills that kindergarten and first-grade teachers expect incoming children to have.
Related to that is an issue that is of special importance to us, consistent teaching. We have a high rate of mobility within the district, so a number of children move from one class
to another. In order to make sure the children don't suffer as a result of this mobility, all of the preschool teachers cover the same content during the same week (However, we may not, and usually do not, cover the content of that domain in the same manner). I know it sounds like something that most preschool teachers would object to, but it's worked well for us, and we still have a great deal of flexibility.
|
| Michael: |
What do kindergarten and first-grade teachers expect in the way of literacy skills? |
| Lillian: |
No skills are required, but the kindergarten teachers have commented that they can usually tell which students have been in preschool. They appreciate these children's knowledge of reading conventions and their general knowledge of books.
|
| Michael: |
It's been wonderful speaking with you, not just because we are old friends, but because you are such a great teacher. I'm sure that the parents of your children realize that their preschool experience is the equal of any in the country. I'm also sure that the educators who read this interview will give serious thought to your suggestions about using technology with preschool children. Thanks for taking the time to speak with us. |
