If you've known me for a long time, you've seen my work in education swing dramatically, after many years teaching 8th grade language arts in New Orleans' public schools. I can't say that I didn't confuse a few colleagues and friends with my choice to work with little ones...from adolescence to infants and preschoolers! I don't know if I've ever been able to explain what this place has given me.
I took this job in early 2006 to help these parents open this center. I took the job because "I knew I could do it." My motivator for choosing this work was my son Elliot. Diagnosed with congenital CMV at 4 months, his life at the time was a whirlwind of therapy and specialists' appointments. How could I bring in income but still know what he needed? I honestly had no idea what kind of community I was joining with Abeona House. Each day provided me with a reason I could not have forseen.
First, there are the parents. I was "hired" 7 months before we opened. I wasn't sure if this whole thing was going to pan out. Would this place ever open? Did these people know how to navigate the city's bureaucracy, even more damaged after the storm? But then I'd show up at a work day, and see moms with small children crouched at their sides holding toy tools hanging sheetrock, or painting. And dads installing plumbing, nailing up boards on the porch, and moving in loads of donated furnishings from garage sales. I wasn't really the director. I was a participant being carried by a wave of good works, by these great people who were so determined, you couldn't help but want to help by meeting them, or observing them.
One parent in particular enlisted me in her pursuit to navigate the many licensing agencies and inspections. The hoops we had to jump through! Here are a few highlights:
-we didn't have offstreet parking; waiting for our waiver could have delayed our opening by another 6-12 months! We rented a parking space at a nearby lot and painted a wheelchair on it.
-the state fire marshall and city health inspector wanted oppposite things for our bathroom door. So for the health inspector, we installed an automatic door closer. For the SFM, we put it back up.
-our application for a designated drop off zone was brought to City Hall. At the same time as Donald Trump's (failed?) CBD plans. Needless to say, the documents so painstakingly created, were lost.
I know it's not the most interesting reading, but these little challenges greeted us each day. Just the creation of the ramp, the $20,000 ramp, was a make-or-break decision. Will we be able to pull this together? We've already tapped out loans from families...
So it seems like a small miracle to me, each day that I walk up any of my children up that ramp. Somehow we managed to do it. To open this place.
Our parents continue to work in the creation and growing of Abeona House. After 3-and-a-half long years, we finally repaid the $60K in interest-bearing debt we acquired in opening this place, and now, we can begin paying back our community lenders who believed so much in what we are doing here. And still we continue to grow.
But it's what happens inside that makes Abeona House unique in the world:
- These teachers love children, and value their ideas. This is obvious from each greeting, project display, or discussion about where a project should go. This is no accident. The Reggio Emilia approach, that inspires our work, espouses that children are collaborators in their own learning. Teachers are to be responsive to their verbal and non-verbal curiosities; pay attention to the interests emerging in their play, and document through cameras, paper and pencil, video and audio recorders, the great richness that comes from dialogue. As an educator, I can say that I always loved children and valued their ideas. But their ideas were separate from what happened in my classroom. My classroom (my classroom, not ours) was about what I needed them to learn, not what motivated them as learners, as people, or as growing adults. Working in the Reggio Emilia approach has completely changed my view of the teacher. I will never work with children in the same way again.
- It's full-inclusion at it's best. Once I met Elliot's teacher, Ms. Gwen, I knew that she was why I was here. Her infusion of his therapies into every day routines, all with copious amounts of love and humor, showed me that my life didn't have to be defined by Elliot's disability. My work was to find others who would see the many contributions he makes, and find ways to support his growth. I know that any child who comes through our doors will thrive.
- These parents truly value teachers. I can't tell you how refreshing it is to see authentic communication between teachers and parents. I continue to strive for this with my oldest two, as they enter "big school." It's a rare and beautiful thing.
- Children love to be here. They know their feelings are important, their wonderment is a gift, and that this place is theirs. They work collaboratively, value empathy, and nurture good ideas. I look at them and wonder, with all of these tools, with all of this love, what will they do? And it teaches me the potential of this style of learning: If all children were taught that their ideas had value, that schools are places that untap the potential of their uniqueness, what would our world be? This is my daily work.
I work not only to make this place an amazing model of high quality early childhood education, I believe my work is also showing why we should do things this way. One walk through Abeona House will show you why. You are all welcome.
This month alone, we will host 20 educators who want to learn more about our work with children.
In two months, we will participate in a major educational symposium with the Louisiana Children's Museuem, and visitors from Harvard University and Tufts, as well as local lawmakers. It's so easy to get caught up in the quantitative values of ed...our work seeks to show them the potential of a qualitative focus.
There are a million reasons you should support Abeona House, and me, in the Reggio Run: our sliding fee scale, our health insurance plan for teachers (so rare in this field), and you can read more for yourself. I hope while you're visiting the site, you'll click on the Donate Now button, and support our work, and our growth.
And sorry for the shameless self-promotion, but if you do donate, please note that you are supporting Emmy in the Reggio Run. Thank you for reading.
1 comment:
This is beautiful!
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