As we continually explore the question of what it means to be a progressive educator, one of the answers we consistently return to is the idea that progressive education instills within the child a lifelong love of learning. John Dewey made this clear (and a central part of his text Experience and Education) when he wrote, “The most important attitude that can be formed is that of the desire to go on learning” (p. 20). In progressive spaces, we ensure this in many ways - by facilitating hands-on, student guided learning; by following children' s lead in the classroom, and, as Julie Stern writes in her text Conceptual Understanding: Harnessing Natural Curiosity for Learning that Transfers, by “respect[ing] the developmental stages of childhood with intellectual rigor” (p. 4). 

It was restaurant day, a culmination of our eateries unit, which explored how an eatery works, the importance of eateries, roles and responsibilities in eateries, and how eateries help the community. Children collaborated in small groups, demonstrating their learning about how an eatery functions and how to work as a team. Amongst the groups was the “Mexican Burrito Restaurant” team. They were working in our outside garden space, and while they were highly engaged in the task at hand, they also kept getting “distracted,” as most children their age do. The head chef in this group was crafting beautiful tacos using leaves as a shell and flowers as her filling. Another child was taking pride in the restaurant’s money box he had created in our Idea Box Center, where recycled materials are used for inventions. The pressure to film a final video to document their presentation of learning in this unit loomed over my head, but not theirs. As they continued to define roles and negotiate who would do each job in their restaurant, one of the students observed a small caterpillar munching on a leaf above their heads. 

It's back to school season. At this time of the year, educators and leaders are thinking about many things: materials to buy, curriculum to plan, classrooms to prepare. But what about our inner preparation as educators? I have found over the years, in my own work and in working with teachers around the world, that it's not what we've planned, but how we've prepared ourselves that will determine our success in the classroom.