Zen and the art of preschool teaching

No longer are preschool teachers the unsung heroes of education, at least not in L.A. County. On Tuesday, the Board of Supervisors honored the winners of the third annual “Preschool Teacher of the Year Awards.” The six winners were picked by the non-profit Los Angeles Universal Preschool, or LAUP, whose goal is to ensure that every four-year-old in the county receives a high-quality preschool education.

“What all these teachers have in common is an unquestioned commitment and dedication to the children in their classrooms, where they go beyond the call of duty to provide their students with a quality early childhood education that will last a lifetime,” says LAUP Chief Operating Officer Celia C. Ayala.

This year’s Third District winner is head teacher Claudia Araujo of Vanalden Early Education Center in Reseda, where she also facilitates workshops for colleagues, leads meetings for parents on education and development and presents grant proposals. Among her many contributions, Araujo received a $2,500 grant to improve early literacy and math programs at the school and organized a parent lending library.

An interview with the soft-spoken and thoughtful Araujo quickly turned into a session that seemed as much about how to make an emotional connection with children as about how to create a curriculum for them. (For a video of Araujo in action, see below.)

Here’s a taste of what this teacher has learned along the way:

Winning is exciting, but naptime is even more important.

“I got a phone call at work… letting me know that I had won. I mean at first I couldn’t believe it, I was just ecstatic. The children were napping so I couldn’t be loud and I had to step outside and talk to her on the phone. It was really, really exciting.”

Follow your childhood passion.

“Ever since I was little, I always was fascinated with being a teacher, I would pretend to be a teacher, I would play teacher. I like that feeling you get when you are teaching somebody something. As a school girl I used to think this is a wonderful career, this is a wonderful thing to do.”

Be calm and have patience; children will listen.

“We do have children who come in with different challenges. And I see that in order to get across to that child, I will really have to understand the child, I will really have to talk to them. I have to be very calm. I have to be patient. Right away I start talking to the child in a way that’s really calm and really patient, letting him know that things are going to be fine. Sometimes people don’t understand that you have to talk to a child really calmly and when you do that the child responds.”

The best teachers are also students; education is a lifetime endeavor.

“Advice I would give new preschool teachers is to always be patient, get to know the children, and learn as much as you can with ongoing education. Every time you learn something in a class, then you see it at work and it becomes your own, it becomes your own technique. The more that you’re researching, the more that you’re learning. All those little things will help you in the classroom and will help you develop as a teacher, too.”

Be who you are and have fun.

“You want to have fun, be creative, be artistic. The children will love all that. If you are a dancer, dance with the children. Even if you aren’t a good dancer, even if you are moving, the children will love that. Sometimes you may think that you don’t have the right skills, but you already do. You just have to be able to say, I may not be perfect, but I’m willing to try.”

A teacher’s greatest reward is the success of her students.

“One of my former students came back and she was so excited showing me her 5^th grade diploma. When she came in she gave me a hug and said, ‘Ms. Araujo, you were my first teacher!’ Her mother said, ‘You know I had to bring her, she wanted to take a picture with you and her diploma. She’s always thought of you as her very first teacher and you made such a positive influence on her.’ It was really emotional for me because it was so exciting to see that I make a difference.”

Success is rarely achieved alone.

“I am really excited and happy to have won this award because I do like teaching. But I’d also like to say as a teacher, you also need your staff and your paraprofessionals at your side with you. We’re able to work well together, we’re able to share lessons and talk about what our lesson plan is. And once you have that connection and know you are able to work as a team, then everything becomes easier because you know you have support.”

Posted 7/13/10