In my education program, I taught a curriculum called IMP, Interactive Mathematics Program. This curriculum was developed in 1989, so it has time and experience behind it. And can I just say, I love this curriculum! I love how it puts the heavy lifting on the students. I love how the problems aren’t contrived but are really applicable to daily life. I love how each unit has a central problem students have to answer, like “How long is a shadow?” or “Do bees really build it best?”, and through answering these problems they are learning mathematical concepts.
The school where I got a job, however, was not using IMP as their curriculum. But after my first year, I was able to convince my principal to adopt it. Then throughout my second year, I was able to convince 9 other schools to do the same. I did this by allowing teachers to come and observe me, and holding professional development conferences about the curriculum and my own experience with it.
You see when schools were forced to adopt Common Core a few years ago, many had to switch curriculums in order to comply to the new standards. Common Core is just a new set of standards. But for mathematics, these new standards imply that students have more opportunities to collaborate, problem solve, and have deeper conceptual understanding.
The schools in the system I was working in kept trying different new curriculums, but each curriculum seemed to fall short. Students were not learning. Grades were not improving. Teachers were miserable. This is because all the new curriculums that claimed to comply to Common Core were too new. There were too many issues that needed to be worked out. Honestly most of the new books I saw were literally the same original textbooks that we all had growing up, but with “group work” sprinkled in. It was old, masked as new. But because everyone was in a rush to implement Common Core, the curriculums came out before they were ready.
Consequently during my second year, I made it my mission to convince as many schools as I could to adopt IMP. Because I knew IMP was successful! It has the history behind it that already proves its success. Furthermore, it is already everything Common Core is trying to be, but it was done in 1989.
So I have just told you how amazing this curriculum is. From the school’s point of view, it is 100% compliant with Common Core. From a teacher’s point of view, it is a fun and enriching curriculum. From a student’s point of view, it actually teaches understanding rather than memorization through stories and group worthy tasks. It has been around for almost 30 years!
Then why haven’t you heard of it?
Why aren’t more schools using it, if it is such a successful and enjoyable curriculum?
Well through my fight to spread IMP I realized, just because something is good, even really good, doesn’t necessarily mean it is well known.
This brings me to RIE.
People keep asking me what RIE is. Which is understandable. It is not a widely known parenting philosophy. But it is not a new thing, and it is not a trend. RIE was founded in 1978, but the ideas that developed this philosophy stem from much earlier.
Magda Gerber, founder of RIE, was influenced by her children’s pediatrician Dr. Emmi Pikler. Dr. Pikler worked with parents in the 20’s and 30’s to raise their children in an environment with free movement and minimal intervention.
In 1946 she opened up an orphanage in Hungary named Loczy to house the hundreds of infants found parentless after World War II. Dr. Pikler wanted the babies to be raised according to a specific philosophy:
- trust in the child as a self-learner
- intimate human relation with one primary carer
- minimal interruption of child play
- a lot of time for child play
- independence in movement, choice, and activities
- involvement of the child in all activities with the carer
- respect
As a doctor, Emmi Pikler was specifically focused on the physicality of allowing babies to grow up without being taught how to sit or walk. She wanted them to develop gross motor skills on their own timeline.
Furthermore, Dr. Pikler ensured every carer took extensive notes. Each carer was in charge of 3 babies, and were to take weekly notes that tracked behavior and movement, as well as social interactions. Outside of these notes, there was several scientists and doctors who observed and carried out studies during the 60’s and 70’s. Research done on this philosophy and methodology continued because Loczy continued to raise children in this way for 30 years!
After Magda Gerber worked with Dr. Pikler in Hungary, she decided to bring what she learned to the United States. She became an infant specialist herself and began Resources for Infant Educarers® (RIE®) to continue educating parents and caregivers.
My point with all this, is that although RIE is not well known, it is not new.
But I get it, people who have just heard of it may still be hesitant and wonder, how do we really know if it works? Even I wrote a whole post about not knowing whether RIE will help my son become a respectful, secure adult one day. But just as I told teachers when they were training and learning IMP with me, they needed to trust in the curriculum. They needed to trust that it has been around and it does work.
We too, need to trust in RIE.
RIE has the history.
My RIE teacher has children in their 20’s. She told me she could always see a difference between her kids compared to other kids. My other RIE teacher just went to her granddaughter’s 8th grade graduation last week. She raised her kids using RIE, and they are in turn raising her grandchildren using the same ideals. She said it was such a unique experience being able to see her 13 year old daughter so self aware and confident.
This style of raising children has a history. And the history speaks for itself.