Emily O’Brien was exposed to teaching early age, and that led her to advocacy.
“My grandma was an elementary school teacher, and that influenced me to become an educator. I remember her spending time with me as a child practicing my reading skills. As I grew older, she was always sharing stories about her time as a teacher and how she helped her students and families. It was important to me to give back and support children and families as well.”
O’Brien has worked as a preschool teacher in the Somerville Public Schools and in two private programs, the Apple Orchard School and the Charlestown Nursery School.
The contrast between these public and private programs “opened my eyes,” O’Brien says.
The private schools had strong curriculums. Apple Orchard focuses on outdoor play. The Charlestown Nursery School takes a Reggio Emilia approach, providing children with engaging materials and opportunities; one example is a project that engaged children in learning all about flowers, visiting a local flower shop and asking questions, and then bringing that knowledge back to school where the children set up their own flower shop in their classroom. The children also got to sell their flowers to parents.
“That was an amazing experience for the children and their families.”
“I wanted to bring that kind of richer curriculum into the public schools, but there was push back against Reggio Emilia learning and playing outside for an extended period of time because public schools have standards that they have to meet, so there’s less flexibility.
“But I keep thinking that kids deserve all these wonderful learning experiences that have a research base. Kids deserve that type of education, and I keep asking myself, What can I do to advocate for that?“
One answer was to step out of the classroom and join Strategies for Children’s Advocacy Network.
“Now is the time to advocate for early education and universal pre-K because it’s growing across the Boston area,”O’Brien says.
For her Advocacy Network project, O’Brien is gathering the stories about the impact of high-quality early childhood programs from educators, children, parents, and caregivers and then sharing these stories on Instagram.
“I’m trying to get people’s voices out there and share how important this work is. They’re the ones in the classroom every day, so people should be able to hear what they have to say.”
O’Brien was inspired to launch the Instagram page because she has been following the progress of The Early Childhood Agenda, specifically workgroup 8, which is focused on developing public education campaigns.
“The workgroup has key messages that emphasize playful learning and the importance of nurturing environments and preparing educators and building inclusive communities, and those are all things that I’m passionate about advocating for, too.”
Ask O’Brien what policymakers should know about early childhood programs, and she has a definitive answer.
“Every child deserves high-quality education, and it should be affordable and accessible for all families. Development from birth to age five is so important. Those are the years that we need to give children our best. They deserve the best education.
“Children should have joyful learning experiences. They should love learning. They’re not going to miss out on numbers or letters. They will learn to read when they are ready to read. And learning through play is an important step for getting to that point.”
It’s that conviction that will drive O’Brien’s future advocacy.