Organizing for Effective Early Childhood Programs and Practices

David Burchfield

David Burchfield, a first-grade teacher at Brownsville Elementary School in Crozet, Virginia, discusses the teacher's role in early childhood classrooms. Excerpted from a videotaped interview with David Burchfield (North Central Regional Educational Laboratory, 1992).

"I think the teacher's role in an early childhood classroom is a highly complex one. You need to be a nurturer, you need to care about the child, you need to know their needs in a very personal way, what's going on at home, and that implies a lot of communication between home and school. You need to know them as a learner, and you need to understand their strengths. One of our philosophical beliefs at our school, is that we build on what a child can do and not looking at them in a deficit model, not saying this child can't can't can't, but what can this child do, what are their needs, what are their interests, what are their strengths, and building on those things, so as a teacher, that's my job to know those things. You're also a coach, I think that's a word that I think is helpful, a facilitator, a guide, and to a great extent, a friend."

This Critical Issue was researched and written by Judy Harris Helm, president of Best Practices Inc., an educational consulting firm in Brimfield, Illinois, and former coordinator of professional development at Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center in Peoria, Illinois.

Date posted: 1997
Revised: 1999