Teachers at Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool

The teacher’s role in the Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool (OCP) classroom is multi-faceted.  The teacher is the designer of the child’s environment and maintains the rhythm of the day. The Oakhurst Cooperative Preschool teacher constantly interacts with the children and is engaged in an ongoing cycle of observation, guidance, and assessment.  The relationship that the teacher develops with each child is instrumental in providing the safe and secure environment on which OCP prides itself. The teacher also helps children work through disagreements as an unbiased mediator.  Another important relationship that the teacher nurtures is the relationship with the parent.  Open communication with parents occurs on a regular basis, and the unique parent-teaching experience of the cooperative preschool allows for an even stronger relationship to develop between parent, teacher, and child.

The teacher is instrumental in fostering the child’s love of learning and curiosity by choosing activities that are based on the children’s interests and skill levels.  The teacher understands that child development follows a hierarchy of stages and sequences, and he/she changes the environment and activities appropriately as the children grow and move through the various stages of development.  The teacher also facilitates the experiences through which children learn by creating opportunities for them to make discoveries and to initiate learning on their own. The teacher stimulates questions and helps the child find new answers and challenges.  In contrast to the more traditional “drill and practice” approaches to curriculum, this “child-initiated learning” cultivates more independent thinking, problem-solving, mental flexibility, and complex, high-level thought.  It also allows children to experience trial and error methods of learning and teaches them to be sensitive and responsive to feedback both from the environment and from their classmates and peers.  These “teachable moments” are carefully integrated into a child’s play, and while subtle in application, they are powerful in effect.