Hybrid Assignment 2
If I wasn’t as passionate as I am as an early childhood educator, I would have probably chose a different path as my career due to the challenges Taylor speaks about in the chapter “For Love or Money”. Not so much because teachers are losing their “creativity” but because I’m beginning to wonder if what I make as a teacher will potentially lead to making a “good living” and paying off my bills. It’s a constant struggle for me because I truly love what I do but it’s been difficult to be financially stable. When I mean struggle, I do not struggle in trying to figure out a different career path. I have no doubt in my mind that I am in the right field because every day that I walk in to my classroom I am happy and I am also fascinated by the intelligent minds of young children. However, to be able to support myself, and potentially to create my own family, I might need more financial support, which I consider my struggles and an early childhood educator.
On the other hand, I do not think that teachers are losing their creativity. I am currently working as a preschool teacher at the CUNY Graduate Center, Child Development and Learning center. At our center we as educators are committed to providing a play-based, developmentally appropriate early childhood education for the children of Graduate Center students. Art is an important and integral part of our daily curriculum. It is a fun way for children to create and represent their ideas. We believe that through art children express what they know and how they feel. In our center, art is never demonstrated by a teacher. It is open-ended and entirely the result of the child’s endeavor. The children show their creativity while we provide a variety of materials for children to experiment with. Choosing the materials is where we get to be creative, and creating the art is the children’s creativity. Some may think that providing the appropriate materials is not enough to show the teacher’s creativity however, this is an important role to increase children’s natural curiosity while helping them gain knowledge.
