The distant memories of my first year of school have now faded into the fuzzy periphery of my mind. If I concentrate, I can recall a round table with a red triangle in the middle, a favored magenta crayon box, and a small writing book with a picture of a caterpillar on the front. But after reading kindergarten teacher Julie Diamond's bookWelcome to the Aquarium: A Year in the Lives of Children, I've realized that I possess more than just a few faded memories from that stage in my life. Only now am I truly aware that in that pivotal year, each of us lays a foundation with our classmates and teachers that influences not only academic advancement but social development as well.
Diamond takes the reader step-by-step through the academic year of her kindergarten class. She begins by describing how she prepares for the year by painstakingly planning the layout of the classroom, rearranging it with an eye for how the students will move about the room. Diamond creates space for students to learn not only from the teacher, but also from one another. "In this kind of classroom," she says, "the goal is the development of children's intrinsic interests. … It's a stage set, waiting for the actors" (p. 11).
Once her students take the stage, Diamond narrates a captivating tale that unfolds throughout the year in a way that is enlightening, entertaining, and honest. Even in this era when teachers are pressured to stick to an inflexible and rigorous academic schedule, Diamond unabashedly advocates creating blocks of unscheduled time: "For teachers to protect children's right to time—to empty time—requires courage. … Time allows children to develop as people with broad interests and capacities; it allows them to gain a sense of conviction about their choices" (p. 15). And Diamond gives her students as many choices as possible—not only about where to hang signs or what to write on the calendar, but also, often, about what they will learn. In Diamond's classroom, a spontaneous question can inspire the creation of an entire unit for the class.
Refreshingly, in Welcome to the Aquarium Diamond is as honest about her struggles as her successes. Although she stresses the importance of trusting students' ability to learn for themselves, she is candid about her own occasional failures to do so. The aptly named chapter "Midwinter Doldrums and Quarrels" reminds us that even the best teachers get frustrated and make mistakes. Her extended case study of Henry, a socially isolated student whose quiet resistance concerns Diamond, demonstrates how an educator's wealth of experience can also work against her, even with the best intentions.
In attempting to understand the roots of Henry's behavior, Diamond draws on her previous experience with his older sister and her observations of Henry's family; she zeroes in on his parents' failure to perceive their children's challenges and to set limits for their children as "the problem." It takes most of the school year before the teacher and Henry's parents get past talking at cross purposes and reach some mutual understanding of his needs.
Altogether, Diamond's account of the school year is inspiring. Whatever the struggles, Diamond remains true to her guiding purpose throughout the year:Their accomplishments must, for me, encompass a central goal, for [the students] to be more consciously, recognizably themselves. The hope implies that children's selves count, a moral belief, one that more than anything else anchors my understanding of what this year is for and what teaching is for … to not merely add to a child's accumulation of knowledge, but add to a child's ability to be a full human being. (p. 194)
Every day, Diamond supports the whole child. Looking through her eyes, it is easy to see how her philosophy can apply to every classroom, school, and community.
