Last night I attended a lecture given by the Buddhist Chaplain at Oxford University.  The theme of his talk was ‘positive thinking’.  He addressed a young man in the room, saying “If you’re overwhelmed with your work in seventh grade, take one minute to think back to third grade, or first grade, or Kindergarten, and note all the good work you did”.  The speaker suggested this practice might help the young man ground himself and muster the confidence to succeed in his present predicaments.  

I thought about my youngest students.  They’re three years old.  It’s mind-blowing to think my students only been alive for roughly 1,000 days!  They don’t have the experiences from which to muster confidence to face their challenges.  No, in Preschool we are setting the foundation stone upon which each student will build future confidence and pave the road to success.  

To this end, I really have only one goal for my students.  I want my students to love school and see themselves effective and successful students.  I don’t care about their ability to count and sort objects;  I don’t stress about their acquisition of letter-sound relationships.  Preschool is the foundation for all future successes.