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Dr. Lesley Morrow: Most of my work has been in schools with teachers and one of the most
important things is professional development for teachers. Another very important thing
is the family. The child spends more time with the family than they do in school, and
prior to getting to school. Reading to children, whether it be a teacher or a parent, is only
really valuable when there is interaction. That means, prior to reading, the parent or
the teacher takes the child through what we often call the book walk. They look at the
pictures and they talk about the pictures, so they get some background information as
to what it's going to be about, which is going to help them understand the story and build
language. Then, do a lot of discussion after the story, and go back through it to highlight
words and say certain key words over again, to act it out, to repeat the story, so you're
expanding the experience with language and understanding. In the past, preschool has
been thought of as a place to play and to get ready for real school, socially and emotionally,
and physically, but there's been very little emphasis on intellectual development. You
need a set of objective or standards, which we have in New Jersey and through many professional
organizations about language and literacy for preschool, and we need to use them, and
we can intentionally embed them into play. For example, if you were to design in your
classroom, a veterinarian's office, which is a simple thing to do, you have a toy telephone,
and a table and some forms, and some stuffed animals and you put in books in the waiting
room, and you model for the child the behavior. And he'll say something like this says, this
teddy bear's blood pressure is 300 points, he should take 10 pills a day, go to bed,
keep warm, and have some soup. Now that language would never evolve unless that play setting
was there. Plus, the child is learning correct behavior in social settings. Professional
development is absolutely crucial, otherwise you're not going to have quality preschool.
You need master teachers who mentor new teachers, you need coaches who will demonstrate new
kinds of strategies, so aside from the education that the teacher has prior to getting the
job, there needs to be ongoing professional development. Professional development encourages
teachers to read more books, to reflect with other teachers, to take more courses, to go
to conferences, to be aware of professional organizations that exist where they can attend
and learn more, and is the only way that they will keep on top of things. As I went to school
and I taught children and I started to do research, it became more and more clear that
early literacy was the most important part of literacy development. It starts at ground
zero. It starts at birth. The earlier that we can get to children who are considered
at risk, the better. If we wait until elementary school, kindergarten, first grade, by the
end of third grade, only 10% of the children who are below grade level, can ever get to
grade level again. The way to do this of course is to intervene as early as possible. Those
who are illiterate drop out of school, aren't able to get jobs, and live in poverty, as
a result, they have children who end up the same way. They also frequently have social
problems that often lead to crime, and our prisons are filled with individuals who are
illiterate, so without a doubt, this is one of the biggest plagues. We have, in the world,
in our country, parents are a crucial part. The best job in raising a little child can
not be done just in the school. The parent is needed as well.
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