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Here, in a section we call "How I teach," we ask educators who have been recognized for their work how they approach their work. You can see other parts of the series here .

Jessica Fong had her bulbous moment one day when she was taking her Spry Elementary School kindergarten students to play in a natural park near the Little Village School. The park, which is called Jardincito, had once been an uninspiring parking lot, but the community had turned it into a natural playground filled with big boulders, trees and meadows. To put it simply, the children liked it.

"A slide – you can only slide on it," said the Humboldt Park native, who will be spending this fall from Spry at the Velma Thomas Early Learning Center at McKinley Park. "But a stump can be a stump, a cookie, a dog house, a million things that kids develop in their own game."

Fong, whose first teaching assignment was a mixed class in Guatemala in 2007, began talking to parents and other teachers about the value of the "game of nature," but the figures made would help her case. The problem is that few people have studied how children respond to natural environments compared to more traditional playgrounds. "I thought, if I can have numbers, I can make my case more powerful.That ended up being true."

She applied and won a grant through the intermediary of Chicago Foundation for Education, which provides teachers with stipends to conduct research-based education projects. She spoke to Chalkbeat Chicago about her year-long research project, what she learned about natural gaming and the next question she hopes to answer

Was there a time when you decided to become a teacher?

I worked a little over a year at the Chicago Children's Museum in 2005. My position was to facilitate and create programs for the Pritzker Playspace. children from 0 to 5 years old. I liked working in a creative and collaborative environment, but it was hard to work with children for a short time. As it was a museum, they would move on, and I would never see them again!

I really wanted to get to know kids so I could create learning experiences with them. This awareness has made me decide to become a teacher. I knew that by working in class, I would be able to create these important relationships

How do you get to know your students?

In early childhood education, we know that families are an integral part of our class. You often hear in early childhood that parents are the first teachers of children, and I really do. I get to know my students by getting to know the whole family. At the beginning of the year, I spend time with each family talking to them and learning about children. During the last school year, I asked each family what hopes and dreams they had for their child and I created a signboard at the entrance of my class. so that children and families can see it every day.

Tell us about a lesson you teach. Where did the idea come from?

In my class, there are not so many "lessons" that there are experiences. I am an emerging educator based on investigation, which means that I am the interests of the students. For example, during a study on clothing, students showed an interest in washing clothes. They asked a lot of questions about washing machines, especially when we read the book "Knuffle Bunny", in which a little girl goes to the laundry with her father.

Based on this interest, I planned a visit to a local laundromat where children could see, hear, touch and feel how the clothes were washed. After this visit, the children showed interest in making a launderette in the classroom, I bought the biggest moving boxes and I helped the kids build a 'washer And a "dryer" in our play area.

My favorite lessons are the lessons that come from the kids themselves because they are motivated to learn when it comes from their own curiosity.

Tell us about your research on nature-based gameplay. What did you learn?

I started this research from my observations of last year. Once a week, I took my students to a natural playground (Jardincito Nature Playground) two blocks from Spry Elementary in Little Village, where I was teaching. It seemed that the children were more cooperative and used much more play than in the traditional playground.

This year, I really wanted to know if these observations were real, or, rather, had merit, so I applied for a scholarship with the Chicago Foundation for Education. With the support of fellow teachers, I developed a research plan and implemented it. Most of the research focused on videos of children playing in the classroom, on the traditional playground and on the natural playground. I then watched all the videos and coded them to see the models.

Through this process, I discovered that children participated 44% of the time in the wild, against 15% in the cooperative and 30% in the class, 8% in the cooperative and 15% in the cooperative. pretended game. in the traditional playground. At the other end of the language spectrum, I found that in the traditional playground, 50% of the language was minimal – meaning that children did not speak or scream and scream – and 27% were languages ​​of conflict, which meant the children were arguing or fighting each other. In the natural park, it was much less: 8% of minimal language and 15% of conflict language.

What this tells us is that children engage in a much richer and more complex language in the playground of nature compared to the traditional playground and the classroom. class. When children are involved in a simulation game, they must use complex language and thought processes when they create game scenarios. I liken it to the improvisation game "Yes, and … " because children really have to think deeply and critically. It's really exciting to watch and hear

Can you give us an example?

Here is a transcribed excerpt from one of the videos I took:

Stephanie: I am mom. OK, you are the sister, you are the sister.

Arianna: I can not! Sister, help me. I slide.

Stephanie: I have you, my baby. (Help Arianna pick up the paper) Go my baby.

Arianna: I am too small. Mom, how could I sleep?

Stephanie: Con mami (with mom) here, over there. Catch him here (hold the branch), grab it here.

Arianna: No, I'm … Professor Fong, I'm scared. I can not go down.

Stephanie: Look. Put your pie in the water (foot here), a magpie (a foot). Esta para aquí. (This one for here). Ok, come on.

Arianna: Ah, uh.

Stephanie: Put your mano aquí (hand here) (indicates the branch).

Teacher: Slide, there you will slide, slide. Good work!

Arianna: Oh, I did it! I knew I was not scared.

This use of simulation play and cooperative language is an integral part of early childhood learning, since the development of oral language is a crucial precursor to the development of written language. It has been found that children who are academically successful possess rich oral language skills. The research also found that children with better verbal ability show better overall cognitive abilities and academic performance. This is a crucial discovery.

Part of my research also focuses on the game of environmental social justice of nature. The majority of Chicago's nature playgrounds are in the North Side, and the majority of children enrolled in nature play schools are white. This means that low-income children in the south of the city are not taking advantage of these incredible games. I believe that it is crucial to play nature in the inner city of Chicago

What is the question that your search has not answered yet?

There are so many! I want to know why there is more co-operative language and simulation language in the playground, in the classroom, and in the traditional playground. What is the natural playground that creates these language opportunities? I also want to know what languages ​​my students have chosen to use – English or Spanish – and why? Is there more Spanish used in one setting than in another and is there more English used in one setting or another? I also want to know if there are any changes that can be made to the traditional playground and classroom that can make this rich, cooperative, pretentious language available.

What object would you be missing during school? day?

In a classroom with so much energy and excitement, I would be lost without my extraordinary teaching assistant

What's going on in the community which affects what is happening in your class?

Outside of school really affects what's going on inside my class. Students tell me daily things that happen in their community and which they witness directly. Gunshots and gang activity are part of their daily lives. Many of my students also have family members in prison and they see the effects on their family life.

Which part of your work is the most difficult?

The hardest part of my job is lack of resources. I spend over $ 2,000 a year on school supplies like soap and paper. In addition, as teachers, we have so little time, if any, to work together and collaborate. I've mentioned that I would be defenseless without my teacher's help and yet, she and I do not have any shared planning time during the week to talk about what's happening in the classroom. It means that I tell him what we will do with children just as we do. I would compare that to two doctors talking about their surgical plan when the scalpel is in their hands.

What was your biggest misconception that you first taught?

The biggest misconception I had was that classroom management concerned children and set the rules and expectations of the class. Although this is an important part of class management, I have found that your environment is an even bigger part of class management. You can spend the whole day telling kids not to touch anything, or you can simply move that object in the first place. It is up to the teacher to create an environment where children are free to explore and create without having to 'pay attention'.

What is the best advice you have received about teaching?

The best advice I received was not directly related to teaching, but rather to self-care, which really plays a big role in the fact to be a good teacher. I volunteered at a women's shelter and one of the women I worked with asked her to walk with her to the local music store. While we were walking, she said that she saves the little money that she has and from time to time she buys music. She said that to take care of her family, she had to take care of her first. For a very long time, I did not understand, but now, as a mother, teacher and student, I know she was so right.