Amy Reyes: On Inspiration and Innovation

Amy dreamed of becoming a teacher during her early years. “When I was a little girl, I used to play school with my younger sister and create worksheets for her to do,” Amy says. By the time she and her sister were preteens, they were also helping out in their mother’s family child care home, and sometimes they were the only people in charge, Amy explains. “My mother was a drug addict who would often disappear for days at a time, so the family child care home only lasted a few years, and sometimes we didn’t even have a home at all.”

At times, Amy’s family lived in their car, but Amy’s early struggles didn’t stop her from striving to reach her dream. “I was determined to take a different path than my mom,” she says, “and I began to find my way by earning a CDA® right after graduating high school over 25 years ago. My CDA helped me get a job at Head Start as an assistant teacher. Then I went on to become a lead teacher and director while earning my bachelor’s and master’s degrees.”

Amy attributes much of her success to the competence and confidence she gained while earning her CDA. “Without it, I would never have embarked on the path that brought me to my current role,” as Amy explains. Now she serves as an early learning, oral language and early literacy specialist at the Wyoming Department of Education. “I serve 18 sites across the state, and I provide them with the professional development and technical assistance they need,” Amy says. Her special areas of interest include early literacy, social emotional learning (SEL) and outdoor learning. They’re areas in which she has been breaking new ground to meet changes in children since the COVID pandemic when much of early learning went remote.

“During the pandemic, I provided teachers with a lot of training on how to connect with children in a virtual world,” Amy says. “My goal was to show teachers ways to help children feel special at a time when most of the focus was on the issues faced by K-12 students who were home from school.” So, she created a whole presentation to advance SEL in the virtual early childhood classroom. It included steps like incorporating SEL in story time, conducting emotional check-ins to let children convey their feelings and showing children how to express  their emotions in productive ways.

SEL is still one of Amy’s primary concerns, and she’s addressed a new challenge since children returned to in-person school. In the past few years, as Amy points out, “preschoolers are coming to school and they’re more anxious about being separated from their digital devices than they are about saying goodbye to mom and dad. When the children show up at school, they throw tantrums because they don’t want to disconnect from their devices. So, I put together a presentation called Preschoolers and Pixels and provide educators with training that allows them to earn a digital tech certification.”

The training works, and Amy has seen it in action. “I’ve visited one site in which they set up a small tent where children can go without their devices and get ready for a day in the classroom. After spending five minutes in the tent, they’re better prepared to interact with their friends and pay attention to their teachers,” as Amy explains.

And children’s attention span is another issue that has caught Amy’s attention in the time since the pandemic. So, she suggests options to circle time, an activity that tends to last 30 to 45 minutes each day. “Many preschoolers today have an attention span of 10 to 12 minutes, so circle time doesn’t work for them,” as Amy points out. “It may even lead to issues like fidgeting, behavior problems and slower development of language skills.”

Circle time also conflicts with learning through play, Amy adds. “Rote memorization like singing the ABC song or reciting the months of the year put limitations on communication and on the time that children spend getting practice with collaboration, negotiation and conflict resolution. The children also feel unheard, and that can lead to additional problems.”

So, Amy urges early educators to get children off the rug and do small group instruction outside. “You can do small group instruction while you’re sitting in the grass, or you’re sitting on some stumps, or you’re sitting on some rocks,” Amy says. And she has put together a whole program for how to make outdoor learning work.

“It’s called Wild Wyoming, and it’s an initiative in which we encourage teachers to tear down their four walls and take their classrooms outside,” Amy explains. “We began piloting the program two years ago in five classrooms, and now we have 500 educators, serving 6,000 children, who participate in Wild Wyoming.”

Educators who sign up for Wild Wyoming receive training based on a four-part video series that’s available on the University of Wyoming’s website. Besides going through the training, educators have to agree to take their classroom outside for at least eight hours a week beyond traditional recess time. “They can do lunch time, snack time and different lessons outside, which allows the educators and children to feel the wind in their hair and the sun on their faces,” Amy says. “It makes a big difference for everyone since many pre-K classes take place in the downstairs of churches or in dimly lit rooms.”

Having children spend more time in the light and sun helps lighten their parents’ load since it’s easier to get the children to eat their meals and go to bed on time, as Amy explains. “Parents are reporting back that their children are happier, healthier and getting along with their siblings better. Some parents have observed that outdoor learning environments teach children important life skills like following directions, thinking creatively, respecting boundaries and collaborating with others.”

Outdoor learning helps children develop independence and life skills, as Amy has heard from many parents. “Parents feel that outdoor learning helps children become confident, capable and resilient adults by providing space for free play and exploration,” Amy says. “They note that forest preschools, in particular, offer unique opportunities to learn resilience, teamwork, adaptability, and how to overcome discomfort and fear, which are seen as vital skills for making positive contributions to society and others.”

The children’s sense of curiosity and performance in school are also better, Amy says. “Parents believe that outdoor learning fosters academic growth and curiosity. They have seen their children’s confidence and social skills grow significantly in child-led outdoor environments. Parents also feel that the learning opportunities during outdoor play, such as developing coordination, understanding cause and effect, and appreciating nature, are more beneficial than many hours of indoor play. In addition, they note that nature can awaken children’s minds and is not an abandonment of academic work but rather a support for it.”

And parents have wildly expressed their enthusiasm for Wild Wyoming in the many grateful notes that Amy receives. “When I pick up my son at the end of the day, he’s always covered from head to toe with dirt, and his face is always glowing through the dirt with a giant smile,” one parent told her. Another said, “I think it helps children with their emotions being outside more.” And yet another said, “It’s a wonderful thing how the wild calms the child.” And there’s something else that works, as Amy learned during her years teaching children over two decades ago.

“When I was working in the classroom, I enjoyed the challenge of serving the students who had behavioral issues,” she recalls. “Seeing unruly young learners succeed at the end of the year meant everything to me. I managed to make a difference for children who everyone else had given up on because I showered them with love and let them be themselves.”

She’s still taking that basic approach as she campaigns for new ways to serve children by going against convention. “I’m considered a bit of a maverick as I speak out for outdoor classrooms so children can learn in ways that make sense for them,” Amy admits. Her sense of vision comes from “being willing to admit what’s not working well for children and try new things,” she explains. Her inspiration for these innovations also comes from the same sense of mission that drew her to the early learning field when she played school with her little sister. “My dream,” she firmly says, “has always been to serve young children.”