[HANASHIR:16430] RE: Early Childhood Developmentally Appropriate Practice

[rahel <rahel...>]

Shalom Everyone,

I've been following the Dinosaur/Tot Shabbat sting with minimal interest. I 
am of the camp that feels dinosaur's don't belong in Jewish education - 
simply because we have such rich resources - why follow the lead of the 
mainstream? We ought to be more creative with what we already have!

Anyway, that's not what I wanted to comment on. I wanted to add to this:

At 09:30 PM 1/6/2004 -0900, you wrote:
>....children have much longer attention spans than we think. The old "20 
>minutes at time is all they can focus on" is out, which I think is what 
>the 15 - 30 minute Tot Shabbat is based on. I could certainly sustain a 
>longer service for the little ones, now that
>I've got a "real" service going, rather than a prettied up story time 
>(thanks to you all!).

Children love to sing, dance, move, hear stories, play instruments.... 
Children are interested in anything for a long time if YOU are interested. 
I have the job of leading a 45-minute long service class to ALL the kids 
(aged from kindergarten to 7th grade) in our synagogue on Sundays. This 
class happens after they have already attended one class for an hour on a 
sleepy Sunday morning. The kids are tired and hungry and certainly not 
interested in sitting for another hour praying. HOWEVER, this they do. For 
the most part we conduct the same service as they will attend with adults 
on a regular Shabbat weekend. We do this so that the kids who do not attend 
services on Shabbat will learn what they are missing! I do not do any 
special antics to rouse their interest. However, there is a lot of singing 
- simply because the service has a lot of singing. I play the guitar - 
although this year I have used it less because the kids know the songs 
fairly well already and I want them to sing more. I have students lead the 
service - Bnei Mitzvah students get a chance to practice. I also have 
volunteers (kids of all ages) read different passages. Sometimes I stop and 
ask them - "what the heck does this passage mean????". They love this 
because they get to tell me what it's all about. And they're really very 
smart. I also found out that they are really listening - better than me! - 
and really know what's going on. Even if the reading is very dry and 
boring. Lately we've had a group of kids doing a little dramatization of 
the weekly Parsha. They get organized that same day with my colleague. He 
gives them their parts and they simply read the text. Some of them get into 
it and have a great time. Others simply read their lines in monotone. But 
somehow it all seems to be having a great effect. This week one 2nd grader 
told me he came to Sunday school just to see what was going to happen to 
Joseph in Egypt!

I think the key to the success of running the same old "boring dry service" 
at Sunday school is three-fold:

1. I love the service. I love what I'm doing. I'm enthusiastic and animated 
and am having fun. I am setting the tone with my enthusiasm and love of 
what I am doing. So they love this dry boring service now too.

2. I'm pretty strict about giving the service its due respect. When kids 
are chatting, I simply ask them to separate and sit apart. I don't punish 
or scold - I simply call out the child's name and tell them where they need 
to sit. It's a matter of course and never interrupts the flow of the 
service. I also tell the kids that when the Ark is opened and we are 
praying it's a serious business and we need to conduct ourselves with 
respect. And they are fine with this. I'm serious and respectful of the 
Torah, or our prayers etc. and so are they. WOW - how serious they are 
about remembering loved ones who have died, and about sending healing to 
the ill. WOW!

3. KIDS are conducting the service. They are involved. They are leading. 
I'm simply listening. I have learned that kids listen better to each other. 
So I get out of their way as much as possible. I simply facilitate. They do 
the drama. They lead the prayers. They get very serious when their peers 
are the ones in control. And I LOVE it when they lead.

20-minutes for all of the above is way too short. 45-minutes is just right.

Rahel