Uplifting Research Story: Proven Research Encouraged Ellie to get Messy

            When I think about the positive impact of research, I immediately think of Ellie.  Ellie was a student in my preschool for two years before entering my pre-k class; she was four-years-old then.  Ellie spent a lot of time in my office (I was the director and pre-k teacher); her behavior was challenging at times.  Before entering my class, my teachers warned me about “finally having to deal with Ellie in class.” 

            Although I was convinced that I treated every child the same and was anxious to welcome Ellie to my classroom, I must admit that when I found out she was in Disney World for the entire first week of school, I was thrilled.  Before Ellie even walked into my class, I had labeled her.  Although I’m embarrassed to admit this, I learned so much from this incident, much of which is totally related to our topic.

            SO… our year started uneventful.  My assistant teacher and I were prepared for changes on Monday when Ellie would be returning to our class.  As predicted, my little Ellie did, in fact, have her challenges.  Within a month, my assistant teacher and I began to put one and one together; we finally found the answer.  Ellie acted up only at the art table or on the way to the art table.  After making this realization, we went even further, realizing that Ellie acted up whenever the children were getting messy.

            Then, one day, we were painting huge boxes, a lot of huge boxes that we would eventually put together to make transportation items for our classroom.  It was super fun for everyone except… you guessed it… Ellie!  When Ellie started swatting another child with paint, I lost my temper, telling Ellie to go sit in time out.  WELL… the problem is two-fold.  First of all, I never raised my voice in class, so I shocked all of the students, and secondly, we did not have time out in our class.  Ellie went to the library center, picked books, read, smiled, and remained through the entire activity… and clean-up time… and snack time… and clean-up time after snack… and potty… and…

            Just as we were about to go on the playground, a student asked about Ellie.  We had totally forgotten that she was still sitting in the library area reading books, content.  I felt defeated… and I thought I was professional.  I decided to call Ellie’s mom and set up an appointment.  I wanted to tell her what happened that day before she heard about it from another child or their mom. 

            Embarrassed, I explained what occurred today during art.  When I said that I almost left Ellie in the library, she looked at me and smiled.  She explained that Ellie must have been happy not to be around paint, so it was alright.  What did she mean “happy not to be around paint?”  Something just did not add up… to make a very long story shorter, Ellie acted up during messy activities, because she was taught, by her parents, not to get dirty.  This little 4-year-old girl was afraid to get dirty, because her parents would be angry.  Her parents did not want her to get dirty, because there house was all white (thickly plush white carpet).

            It was a huge realization for all of us.  The more I talked, the more mom blocked me out.  There was nothing I could say about proven research that would change Ellie’s mom’s opinion.  Then I spent hours gathering research that I located on the computer… I put together a notebook of all of the research articles that I had found.  I highlighted results.  I had shared much of this information with Ellie’s mom, but perhaps, she would believe it if she saw the research in print. 

            Several days later, Ellie’s mom requested an afternoon conference with me.  Ellie’s dad came, too.  They were just about in tears as they discussed the research they read about open-ended art and the importance of building children’s creativity.  The research that I shared with Ellie’s parents changed their philosophy on raising Ellie.  They had no idea that they were actually stopping Ellie’s growth in many ways.  Research taught them how to be better parents… they believed the studies, and they quickly replaced the carpet with tile.  It was not instantly, but Ellie slowly joined her friends.  I remember her face the first time she finger-painted in our class; it was like she was experiencing Christmas… she had so much fun. 

            This is, without a doubt, my best story about a young child, and her family, who were tremendously affected by research… and in many ways, I grew, also, as a professional, as a teacher, as a director, as a mom, and as an individual through research.  I will never, ever forget Ellie (yes, I did change her name for purposes of this blog!).