Emergent Curriculum relieves stress of lesson planning

There I sat, bent over my lesson plan forms, eyes closed, listening to the deafening silence of 17 sleeping preschoolers. The only box that was filled in was 'Sensory'; I had decided to fill the sensory table with sand and water, and maybe bury something in it. Pretty smart, I thought, considering the massive interest in dinosaurs among my group of children. Perhaps a dinosaur land could be created...but how to avoid the throwing of wet sand?? Deal with it later, I heard myself say to myself. I could feel my eyes and thoughts avoiding the other areas: Dramatic Play, Story, Language, Math, Science, Music; on the average day, I was lucky if any planned activity got done. Creature of habit that I am, I reluctantly let my thoughts wander to a new way of lesson planning that I had recently learned about. I speculated that this was as good a time as any to try it. And much to my surprise, it worked! It is called the Emergent Curriculum, and is based on the emerging ideas and skills of the children for which it is created. Traditionally, lesson planning is pretty much teacher controlled, but this technique is almost 100% child oriented. In many early childhood programs, the philosophy is "learn through play" and "open-ended", which is terrific for the children, but can be tough on teachers. The Emergent Curriculum works even better in these types of environments, because the teacher is really tuned in to her or his childrens' interests. Here's how it works: Start with a few clipboards with pads of paper, and place them in each learning area. As you are observing your children play and interract, simply jot down the main ideas that seem to be coming out. Then go back to it when you have some time(I know, silly of me to think a preschool teacher would have some time!) and brainstorm on the general ideas, writing down everything you can think of, no matter how uninteresting it may seem to you. For example, say that there is alot of interest in money. You could brainstorm things like 'bank' 'counting' 'presidents' 'shopping' 'paper' 'metal' 'more and less' 'giving vs. selling' and many more ideas you may come up with. You can build indefinitely on this one brainstorm session, and go into more complex projects like a bake sale, making dramatic play into a bank, and so on, which could lead you to cooking projects or field trips. What you will probably see is that you have much more interest in the activities, and fewer behavioral problems throughout the day. Even the specific activities you might have planned have more of a chance of being accomplished. One of the interesting features of the emergent curriculum is that you can have several different ideas and themes going on at the same time. You are not limited to a theme of colors or shapes, for example. If you listen and watch, your children will tell you what they are ready for and what they want to learn about. You are not limited to seasons or calendars, either. As one teacher said to me once, "Apples don't cease to exist just because Fall is over!" You may be talking about eggs in the middle of January and pumpkins in July, but as long as your plans are based on the children's interests (and as long as you remain flexible and can change as their interests change)you will most likely end up with a happy, active classroom.

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