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Kaleidoscope - Dr. Kimberly Gordon Biddle

Two Wonderful Quotes

Posted April 4th 2015

Here are two quotes about educating young children. Read them and reflect on them. Then post a comment about your thoughts.

"I truly believe that it is my job not to discover the limits of what a child can do, but actually to give them ways of breaking through those limits." William H. Johnson

"The first priority in education is to get children excited about learning. The second is to keep then excited. Everything else will take care of itself." Jason Elsom

Now post your thoughts, reflections, and comments.

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Reply from Sophie posted on May 29th 2015

Both of these quotes relate to a child\'s education but I really enjoyed the second quote. I think it is very important for children to be excited about they are learning. With wanting to become a teacher in the future, I want to keep them interested and excited about what their learning. If their not excited about what their learning, then they won\'t retain any of it.

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Reply from Ceceilia posted on May 20th 2015

I actually really liked both the quotes. I get that ofcourse we want to help kids reach and find their limits, but it is also a good challenge to give them different ways and push them to find their limits. For the next quote, I thought was on point. I totally agree. Since I want to become a teacher in the future, I do want to try and do this. I always see children and even my peers who do not seem motivated at all to be at school. It is definitely a privilege to be able to go to school, so the better way to help that as a teacher is to be able to keep students excited and exhilarated to learn. With this come the teacher, if the teacher loves their job it will become natural at keeping the classroom exciting and teaching students ways that will make them want to learn, as well as have a great experience with learning.

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Reply from ShaNice Patterson posted on May 19th 2015

I love the second quote. Its important that children are learning but I believe its more important for them to be excited about what they are learning. Children will retain more information when its something that they enjoy. It also believe as educators that its important for us to find and break the limits that these children struggle with when it comes to education.

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Reply from Patricia Gonzalez posted on May 17th 2015

The second quote specifically caught my attention because that is something I live by with learning. When learn something new, challenging or appealing, I try my best to engage with the new material by having a positive attitude. A way I continue to stay engaged with a new material is by viewing assignments at a diffetent angle for instance I dont necessarily look at the assignments as an assignment instead I view it as way to better comprehend the material. By looking in that angle it makes my learning experience more fun, and exciting. In fact sometimes it doesn't feel like I'm doing an assignment, it feels more like a game or a conversation with a friend. Learning and teaching with excitement is what truly what I strive to achieve when I began to teach. My only concern when I began to teach how will I continue the excitement? And how can I recycle that energy of excitement for so many years? I hope I find the answer when I began to teach. And I hope my excitement of teaching doesn't fade, and if it does I hope to find that rejoice of excitement.

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Reply from Ashley Crane posted on May 14th 2015

The first quote is extraordinarily relevant to educating young minds because putting a cap on what a child can do is what finding their limits does. You must remember that your goal as an educator is to remind children that limits do not actually exist. That they can continue to grow, develop and excel in every aspect of life. It is our job to make them understand their abilities and not their limits. When a child is excited to do something, then they exhibit intrinsic motivation. When a child has this intrinsic motivation, the learning happens almost automatically. You want a child to want to learn because that is how and when the best learning occurs. When you have to convince, persuade or bribe a child to participate in learning then you will ip undermine this intrinsic motivation which provides the natural excitement to learn and explore and grow. Both of these quotes represent two very aspects of how a child can successfully learn and grow in an educational context.

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Reply from Yuga posted on May 12th 2015

I think both the quotes truly reflect about the core fundamentals that can provide strategy for high quality early childhood care and development. The first quote suggests that we can always encourage child to think out of the box. We as child development specialists should be open to consider different approaches of teaching and guide children to use his/her all the potentials. Children can learn and grow the way their parents, teachers, and caretakers nurture them. An adult interacting with child should help children to mature in their thought process. The second quote reminds me as an extension of a Chinese proverb, which I sincerely admire - “Tell me and I will forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I will understand.” Involving children into learning is not always enough, but making the leaning process interesting and exiting can help to sustain their interest in learning. Once they start enjoying the learning process, they can learn more and different things overcoming any initial hesitations to new concept or ideas.

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Reply from Brittanny Schulz posted on May 10th 2015

Both of the quotes posted above are beautiful and are easy to agree with as a potential ECE educator. Children are capable of doing just about anything that their abilities allow them to, but scaffolding and paving some ways for them to realize their potential are a couple of the greatest things a teacher can do. When a teacher can connect with his/her students on a more intimate level, so as to learn the likes, dislikes, ambitions, dreams, etc. of their children, he/she can provide ways for children to learn in ways that they love. And it is much easier and more efficient to learn when materials are presented in mediums that we get excited about because they are accommodated to present information in a form that is special to us. Use this same strategy on children and, like the second quote states, "Everything else will take care of itself." It is time to get the kiddos enthused about their natural want to learn!

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Reply from Jagdish posted on May 9th 2015

These quotes can help teachers and professionals in the child development field remember that each child is unique and our job consists of tapping into those unique abilties and helping children exceed their potential. Once children discover who they are and solidify their personalities they can jump into new opportunities. Ideally educators should help children find their own persona and grow with the children. This can lead to a vast amount of opportunities as well as a healthy environment that challenges individuals!

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Reply from Elizabeth Cruz posted on May 7th 2015

I really enjoyed both quotes; the first one reminds us that as educators or even parents we are not just here to find the limit of what the child can do. We are here to help children surpass the limitations they put on themselves or that others are putting on them. In addition to helping students in all the ways possible, even if that way is not necessarily “by the book”. The second quote really spoke to me in that once children are excited or interested in a topic they jump feet first into whatever they are learning. As educators when we make a topic or subject interesting to students the possibilities are endless. The students could take our one lesson as a jumping off point for numerous things. All of which if students are interested in will offer them endless possibilities.

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Reply from Demetra Rozakis posted on May 7th 2015

I really like both of these quotes and agree with both when it comes to teaching. "I truly believe that it is my job not to discover the limits of what a child can do, but actually to give them ways of breaking through those limits." (William H. Johnson) I think this quote relates to more than just teachers. For example, parents. Parents are there to guide their children throughout life and teach them new things as they grow up. "The first priority in education is to get children excited about learning. The second is to keep them excite. Everything else will take care of itself." (Jason Elsom) This quote is very important because in my opinion if a child does not find something exciting they usually lose interest. Even now, as a college student this happens to me sometimes. These quotes are both very relatable to education.

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Reply from Angelina Marasigan posted on May 6th 2015

I love both quotes! I think that it is equally important to push passed children's comfort zones and lift them up to their full potential as well as to grasp their attention with exciting education. Learning could be so fun and once children get excited about learning new things and keeping students engaged, they will continue to live a lifetime of learning. Most importantly, they will learn to love breaking through their own limits themselves.

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Reply from Chelsea Deavers posted on May 6th 2015

Both quotes relate to educating young children, however, I feel like the second quote I relate to more. I agree that the first step in education is to get children excited to learn. To many times have teachers and parents complained that their student or child is not excited for school, therefore not excited to learn. As a preschool teacher I feel it is very important for me to get my students excited for learning now before they head off to more academic classes. If children are excited at a younger age that excitement for learning can continue to foster and make learning appear to be easier. The first quote then relates to that continued excitement for children. At that point, when children are already glad to be at school and to learn, my job as a teacher is not to know their limits, but to challenge my students to keep growing. To do that I can offer different learning techniques and styles to my students to meet each child’s needs. By doing so, children can break through their own learning limits to be the best student they can be (and an excited one!).

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Reply from Chelsea Deavers posted on May 6th 2015

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Reply from Maritza G posted on May 3rd 2015

Both quotes, I believe, are the ideal strategies utilized in quality teaching. The difficulty of maintaining children's interests and helping them break through limits are difficult for any teacher but once both are achieved, children experience a deep level of learning. Teachers often push students to the limit and beyond but some forget to incorporate activities that will catch their interests and get them excited about learning. I believe both are needed in order to get through each student but capturing each individual's interests and excitement is difficult in itself. One student may be excited to do hands-on experiments in science but another student might prefer textbook learning. Although that is difficult, teachers can achieve this by showing their excitement and keeping student's minds working with something that is enjoyable to all.

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Reply from Jonathan E posted on May 1st 2015

For the first quote, I believe that if an educator is attempting to break the limits of what a child can do, they have to first understand those limits. Johnson does not believe he needs to “discover the limits of what a child can do” but I think it is actually important. How is a teacher supposed to help the child if they do not know where to target the child’s weaknesses? As for Elsom’s quote, I agree that we need to get children exited to learn. People sometimes believe that education is only a school aspect, but if children are excited to learn, they will learn beyond school because they have the spark to do so. However, I disagree that excitement is all the child needs. Even if a child is excited to learn, they still need right kind of guidance to succeed.

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Reply from Shivani Patel posted on April 30th 2015

I think both quotes depict the role of teachers. I think learning should be challenging with the guidance of teachers. If teachers do everything for their students without challenging them, then I feel like children are learning to be overly dependent on teachers. I work with toddlers and they are expected to serve their own food and bus their dishes off the table and into a bucket. Even though children may drop their dishes and crack a few glasses, it is ok because they learn from their mistakes. They learn so many skills from this one task. You have to allow children to make mistakes in order for them to improve next time. You may not think that children this young are able to understand these concepts, but they are fully capable. And secondly, learning should be exciting in order for children to be intrigued. If learning isn't exciting then I feel like children are less motivated.

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Reply from Victoria Thomas posted on April 27th 2015

When I read both quotes the first words that came to mind was Encouragement and positivity. Describing the educator who wrote those quotes are going above and beyond for their job. Which proves they are doing more than their job. Educators who care more than just about collecting a paycheck. They care about the success of the child. Educators who are excited and more than capable to do what they need to do to make sure students do more than memorize, they make sure the child will actually learn, and keep the attention of the child! Some children simply go to school because it is required for them to. But I feel with more educators described in this quote more students will come to school ready to learn physically and mentally.

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Reply from Jordan Milhous posted on April 27th 2015

I think that both of these quotes do a wonderful job describing the purpose of an early childhood educator. Educators need to be knowledgeable and need to know what the children need/want. Some subjects will be more difficult to emphasize than others but it will be up to the professionals to keep them motivated and excited about the subject they are trying to teach. Educators are not only meant to provide the tools they need to succeed but also to give them the expectations that they can do whatever they set their mind to. They can not only have limits but they can also break those limits and use them in different ways throughout life. Children need to be able to explore and have different experiences throughout life.

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Reply from Arianna Oneto posted on April 23rd 2015

These quotes do an excellent job of describing what any quality early childhood educator strives to accomplish. As a professional in the field one wants to engage in meaningful interactions that hold the interest of the child, are fun, and are providing tools for developmentally appropriate higher level thinking. By doing this, educators make learning an experience instead of a task which encourages children to explore in the future. Each day I strive to do just this with each student I encounter. These interactions may look different for each child but the intent is always the same: promoting exploration and deeper thought while maintaining a fun and interactive experience.

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Reply from Amanda Huynh posted on April 22nd 2015

The role of a teacher is multi-faceted. Not only do educators serve as role models to children, they are also tasked to teach and, most importantly, to guide our children. A teacher may recognize the potential and limits of a child’s learning capabilities. But they don’t stop there – rather than just acknowledging it and recognizing it, a impassioned teacher will counsel and guide the child to breakthrough barriers and continue to achieve more. I believe this quote is very profound, as it hones a child’s learning enthusiasm and encourages an unceasing thirst for learning. When I was in high school, many teachers simply taught the materials and had the students recite the information on papers and exams. However, the advanced placement classes were vastly different. I believe these courses embraced William Johnson’s quote of providing outlets for children to break through learning limitations. These classes, and the teachers teaching these classes, promoted critical thinking and analysis of not only the course materials, but also of various aspects of our own learning abilities, interests, and perspectives. Rather than mindlessly teaching and forcing children to commit things to memory and developing zombies to run the future, this mindset of teaching perceives and approaches learning of a person and their mind as diverse and dimensional.

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Reply from Lindsey Pitts (Quail) posted on April 21st 2015

"I truly believe that it is my job not to discover the limits of what a child can do, but actually to give them ways of breaking through those limits." William H. Johnson Reflecting on this first quote, I immediately thought of another quote, “Do as I say not as I do.” The way education has shifted with high stakes testing, and less hands-on learning in the classroom, it seems children are being given less opportunity to discover and learn on their own with firsthand experience. They are being “taught to the test,” with no room for error or original thought. William Johnson’s quote is a great reminder of how important it is for children of any age to be given materials and tools to apply to learning on their own, and not just be told what and how to learn. I think our education system is slowly trying to get back to “hands on” learning, but until the system has changed, it is the job of educators to give them the tools to “break through those limits” as Johnson stated, and think in new ways. "The first priority in education is to get children excited about learning. The second is to keep them excited. Everything else will take care of itself." Jason Elsom The second quote is so true when it comes to learning, with any age, not just kids. In every area of education and in life, lack of interest is going to result in lack of effort. The idea of making “excitement” a priority for children’s learning is brilliant because if children have an interest in what it is they are learning, not only will they most likely remember it better, but they will be able to apply it later in their education and life. To do this, educators need to relate the learning material to students first hand experiences. For example, teaching a lesson on math (adding and subtracting) with a worksheet is not too exciting, and children are going to lose interest quickly. But if a teacher is able to think of something that would get kids more involved and engage them in an experience like having a student store to buy/sell items, they are not only going to remember the experience, but the concept as well. The end of Elsom’s quote, “everything else will take care of itself” supports the idea that students having fun will actually lead to learning.

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Reply from Seng posted on April 20th 2015

"I truly believe that it is my job not to discover the limits of what a child can do, but actually to give them ways of breaking through those limits." William H. Johnson "The first priority in education is to get children excited about learning. The second is to keep then excited. Everything else will take care of itself." Jason Elsom Both quotes are very thought-provoking and meaningful to educate children. The first quote simply discusses the importance of understanding that there is no limit to anything that a child can learn, if the child has the motivation and desire to do so. Also, it is important for an adult or a teacher to allow the child to explored their surroundings. In other words, as a future teacher, I would provide multiple sections of learning development (math, science, play, music etc) to allow children explored, and this can allow them to see what they like to do, and what they don\\\\\\\\\\\\\\\'t. For instance, putting limitations to what a child can do is not helping them learn. Children needs to explored beyond their means and expectations. For instance, the farther a child know what he can do, the more likely the child will reach his potential of learning. Each of us has certain limits to what we can do, but what the quote really is talking about is that, limits puts a restriction to not allow what we can do. With no limitations, a child is able to explored different ways of doing things; and limitless opportunities leads a new pathway of discovering who you are. The second quote is talking about the importance of education. Education is very powerful and it allows people to gain an understanding about the world around them. For instance, it is important to get a child excited about learning. Once the child is excited about what he is learning, then that allows the child wanted to learn more, and be more engaging with the learning process. However, not only is the child is excited, the adult that is learning with the child needs to be excited too. For example, if a toddler is moving up to a preschool environment; things is going to be different. When the toddler first explored the environment of the classroom, the child sees very different things and learning structures in the preschool setting. This would also imitates and scares the child. So, it is important for the teacher to explored the different environment with the child, while also inviting the child to interacts with the children and environment. If the child sees that the teacher is excited about preschool, that will helps the child to also feel excited about preschool. In return, the child can better be prepared for preschool, than the child that was not excited about preschool. Learning is only fun, if a child is excited about it. This is very important and it will allow the child to want to learn, and keep on learning.

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Reply from Kimberly Gordon Biddle posted on April 21st 2015

Seng, what a wonderfully reasoned and supported comment.

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Reply from Brooke Shill posted on April 14th 2015

I love these two quotes and I believe they are both so true. As a teacher, I believe my job is to first and for most introduce the students to education in a fun and exciting way. I should be encouraging them to love school and the education they are getting, proving to them that learning is an awesome experience that we sholdn't take for granted. After that it is my job to get them to learn their limits and motivate them to push those limits to learn more and do better. As teachers, we have the opportunity to change the attitueds of the future and get students to love learning instead of having them avoid it. If everyone is on this page the future would look very bright!!

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Reply from Marisela Rivera posted on April 7th 2015

When I first read these quotes, for some reason I thought about Kindergarten and elementary school; however, they apply to all children from the day they are born. Parents are a child’s first teacher and they help them reach their first milestones such as crawling, walking, and their first word. To encourage a child to reach these milestones a lot of repetition has to take place. But, children are like sponges, and sometimes learn things we did not intend for them to learn, such as a bad word. However, more often, they learn good things. When a behavior is encouraged or rewarded, it is likely to be repeated, so say some theories on motivation. By giving children energy, and light to spark the fuse for a love of learning, they can continue to motivate themselves and stay excited, hence breaking their own limits.

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Reply from Holly Siino posted on April 5th 2015

I definitely am in agreement with these quotes about teaching! I think that this even goes beyond educating young children to the high school and college levels too. The teachers that were memorable to me in my time as a young student were those who were really seeking to inspire the children or teens in their classes. Those were the teachers that made me want to grow and expand in my knowledge. I think this especially true when educating young children because we are shaping their worldview and the way that we teach will affect their relationship with the world around them into the future. Although this argument seems redundant, I truly believe that if teachers focus too much on reaching benchmarks in their cirriculum progress then they will not be as successful. But if they take on the contemporary teacher belief that what is learned in the classroom should be focused on what the children are interested in, they will get kids exicted about learning and about the world around them.

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Reply from Marie Simon posted on April 5th 2015

It is possible to measure Early Childhood Development and Learning by performing assessment of their development including language, physical, social, emotional, and cognitive. These aspects are more important than just testing their pre-academic competencies alone. Because children's developmental abilities are different in each child, so measuring based on each child abilities, we will resolve conflict socially and balancing each child's overall functioning.