When They Do the "Wrong Thing"

I do read a lot of blogs about teaching and early childhood, but I also like to read blogs on other topics. After all, you never know where that great idea will come from. One of my favorite "non-teacher" blogs is Brainzooming. It's a business blog about creativity and innovation. In a recent post, they shared this video.

"Concert" Foundation For A Better Life from Matthew Williams on Vimeo.

I've seen this video on TV before, but it hit me again how great it is. On Brainzooming, they commented that leaders should encourage creativity daily (for adults and kids). And their post got me to thinking and reflecting.

What do we as teachers do when kids are doing the "wrong thing" in an activity? I don't mean using materials in a destructive manner or disrupting/preventing others from playing and exploring. I mean the times that a child takes materials and does something completed different from what we planned. Or uses the materials in a different way.

Teacher Tom recently posted about 2-year-olds turning every painting experience into finger painting. And I blogged recently about kids tearing paper when it wasn't really my plan. I guess it comes back to saying yes to kids' ideas.

We say we want kids to be creative and to think independently. If that's really true, we must be willing to allow their ideas - and not just allow them but encourage them. I try to do that, but sometimes it's easier to control the situation. So I'm taking the pledge again: I will encourage kids to explore and discover, to experiment and exercise their own ideas. That's definitely the RIGHT thing.