When I was about six years old I got to meet a very
interesting member of my family, my grandmother’s brother, Tom Nett or Uncle
Tom as we called him. Uncle Tom and his wife were the first people I met when
we moved from Montana to Phoenix, AZ.
Being six years old I found Tom and his wife, Jerrie to be some of the
most bizarre people that I had ever met. Not bizarre like dark clowns or extra
toes but bizarre because they seemed to live a very simple life and to enjoy
it.
I didn’t particularly enjoy going over to their house
initially. They had a television but it was ancient and they didn’t really have
anything a kid would like to do. They were also vegetarians,(the first I had
ever heard that word, vegetarian) and they didn’t believe in sugar so every
time we went over there for dinner it often consisted of a very bland bean soup
and a little watermelon if we were lucky. I found it very drab and very boring
as a kid. The one saving grace is that they were both artists and would allow
me to explore their materials and paint and draw to my heart’s content.
As I grew older I started to listen to Uncle Tom’s stories
after dinner and that’s when I learned that he was drafted in the Vietnam War
and in many ways was traumatized there. He didn’t talk much about the war
itself but I did learn that within him, he rebelled against the war. He became
more or less a hippy and as soon as he could rightfully escape the war he did.
Actually, he was shot in the foot and medically discharged. And instead of
returning home he rebelled and took off to Europe where he back- packed around
the continent. Of all that I remember about my Uncle Tom from my childhood, the
one prominent thing t is one particular discussion we had.
We were all sitting around chatting, I was off in some dream
world when my Uncle Tom caught my attention and spoke to me directly. He had a sense of urgent seriousness in his
eyes and what he said to me was, “Always question authority. Just because
someone has decided that they are an authority over you doesn’t mean they are
right.” And boy did I take those words to heart, even though at the time I
didn’t really know what that meant. My mother to this day rues the day he said
those words to me.
From that day on I sprouted into a rebellious,
self-righteous, out spoken little girl with some major authority issues. I
drove my mom, quite a few of my teachers and eventually quite a few of my
employers, nuts. I’ve even been written up for insubordination. I didn’t even
know they still used that charge against people. Regardless, I also think those
words have led to my desire to own my own business, one where I can do my own
thing and be my own boss.
Right now I am working my way through school where eventually
I plan to earn my Doctorate in Early Childhood Education. Once I have achieved
this goal I plan on opening my own preschool based on a structure of learning
and curriculum I have created. Society is learning the value of the first five
to eight years in a child’s life, which before was believed to be of no
consequence and is now discovered to be the very root and stem from which
children grow and become people. The experience a child has in the first eight
years of life is directly connected to who that child becomes and what he is
able to accomplish in that life.
So, you are probably wondering what this has to do with
storytelling for which this blog site relates. Well, what I want to do is I
want to write my preschool curriculum based around the use of story. Not only
do I want every experience to be linked to a story from around the world to
bring culture into the classroom, but I want to teach children from a very
early age to tell their own stories. I want them to tell the stories their
imaginations create. I want them to be able to identify stories and how they
relate to them. I want them to learn
from the stories of others and most of all I want them to learn how to tell
their own stories about themselves and their families.
The first five years of a child’s life is essential in the
building and development of a child’s social skills and interactions. They are
also vital in the development of a child’s emotional self which includes
learning empathy for others, understanding, and openness and especially in a
child’s sense of self as they embark on the journey to self-discovery. What
better way is there to assist children in developing a sense of self and others
than through story? There is no better way if you ask me.
My curriculum is going to be filled with so many stories, you
won’t even know it until you realize you are already a part of it. Every single
one of us has an endless supply of stories to tell and what a lot of us don’t
realize is that we are part of a story everyday of our lives. With every day,
with every experience each individual’s story grows. Everyday someone else’s
story impacts your life and somehow your story impacts theirs.
Learning to tell their own stories can help children build
positive self-esteem, help them learn from each other, help them find a voice,
an identity, and express themselves in a meaningful way as well as learn to
laugh at themselves and to find a lesson or learn something from every
experience they have. Each person you meet has a story and something to offer,
just as my Uncle Tom did and the knowledge he had to offer me changed me
forever.
What do these stories tell you? The main precepts my
preschool will embody will be, “What is your story? How is your story going to
unfold?” With just that idea alone I can
build an entire environment, provide endless materials and offer unlimited
experiences conducive to the learning, growth and development in each child.
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