Over the weekend, teachers from across the country traveled to the Fred Rogers Institute at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe for some free professional development inspired by the legacy of Fred Rogers.
Organized by Ryan Rydzewski and Gregg Behr, co-authors of the book “When You Wonder, You’re Learning,” frED Camp gathered about 200 teachers this year to both consider and share how they answer the question: What would Fred do?
Behr said a better question is: “How might we be inspired by what Fred did all of those years ago and make use of the blueprints that he designed for himself and use those blueprints in our own craft as teachers and librarians and as social workers and after school directors?”
Rogers centered the role of community in children’s development in his work, opening up the role of caring adults — or “helpers” as he called them — to encompass more than just parents and teachers, said Emma Swift Lee, director of the Fred Rogers Institute.
“We find that … it's not just classroom teachers by any means, or parents that can learn so much from Fred Rogers' legacy,” Lee said. “But really anyone who recognizes that they have a special role they can play in the life of a child in their home or community.”
Educators were taught that understanding the level of influence a community has over children’s development can be key to providing them the foundational security they need to learn. Much of that security comes from cultivating an environment of comfort, even on imperceptible levels. Think, the familiarity of Rogers’ famous sweater or the slowing of the piano’s music at the beginning of each episode of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood as he made his entrance.
Rogers developed his methods with the help of child psychologist Dr. Margaret McFarland, with whom he regularly met to discuss and understand child development theory. Rogers did this because he wanted to create television scripts that reflected real concerns and feelings of children.
Organizers described how the simplicity of Rogers' approach — which uses the guiding ideas of self-worth, trust, curiosity, looking and listening carefully, play, and solitude — allows teachers and other “helpers” to draw on Rogers’s example while tailoring his approach to best fit their classroom needs.
“We forget when we watch, that there was a deliberate intention behind everything Fred did,” Rydzewski said. “He created this wonderful environment that made us feel safe and special and accepted, but that wasn't magic — everything Fred did was grounded in the science of learning.”
Workshops presenters included Trying Together, Pennsylvania Association for Educational Communications and Technology, WQED Education, Matt’s Makerspace. The event was also made possible through the partnership of Kidsburgh and Remake Learning.
The next iteration of frED Camp will likely be held at the University of Pittsburgh, said Rydzewski, with the added objective of integrating pre-service teachers into the Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood philosophy.
frED Camp was also made possible in part through grants from the Grable Foundation which also funds education reporting at 90.5 WESA.
