Year: 2018 – Province: Nova Scotia
Transcription – Matthew Sampson-2018 Prime Minister's Awards for Excellence in Early Childhood Education
[Black screen fades up to close-up of man in interview setting, against a mottled background. Music playing.]
[Caption: Matthew Sampson, Peter Green Hall Children’s Centre]
Matthew Sampson: If children are motivated, self-motivated, intrinsically motivated, their learning is so much deeper. I develop a relationship with them to help with their motivation. I need to understand what they’re already motivated about. I build on what they have done, because I follow emergent curriculum, which comes from the child, and just find a way to make their interests into the lesson.
[End of Matt speaking cuts to voice over with video of Matthew speaking into a microphone behind a podium addressing fellow recipients and then, as the voice over continues, to still photos, as follows: Matthew lying on the ground with several children sitting on top of and beside him; Matthew chasing a child around a group of seated children and adults; and Matthew sitting with a small boy at the top of a skateboard ramp, with other children playing below. Cut back to Matthew speaking in interview setting.]
Matthew Sampson: Well, the most important thing for any learning space is the reflection of the children—their thoughts, their ideas, their values, themselves in that learning space. They feel the pride, they feel the possibility of owning the knowledge themselves. They think, ‘You’re actually interested in my ideas, well, here’s another one.’ I can build on that. It needs to be a rich learning with materials from the real world. So, having acorns, metal pieces, nails, hammers, paper, paint, ink—that should all be available. But also there should be a connection to the Internet, and a recordable camera, so they can revisit what they’ve already learned or examine it deeper. I was recently challenged about blank walls in the classroom. The project that you put up on the blank wall is important. It’s significant. It is about the children.
[Cut to close-up video of Matthew smiling, back to the interview setting and then to Matthew making a presentation standing near a podium in front of a screen.]
Matthew Sampson: So what she did was take the pencil drawing that he had drawn, added some pink accents to it, and designed her own little schema of herself and called herself Queen Emily of the Zombies. And then, all of a sudden, Zombie World changed. It wasn’t just black and white anymore. It was a fully coloured world.
[Cut back to Matthew speaking in the interview setting.]
Matthew Sampson: But on the other hand, you want your walls, you want the environment, to engage the child, to reinforce the learning with other things that maybe they haven’t come up with. And, in that way, we keep artifacts of children’s learning in the space as well. Technology can be a great tool if you’re using it in a way that expands on their thoughts, expands on their theories, expands on their resources. But if it is the source of their information, then it becomes more of a barrier. It stops them from thinking and makes them think that Google has the answer. I don’t need to think for myself. So, technology is wonderful when it’s expanding, when it’s being used in conjunction with thought.
[Cut to video of Matthew seated and addressing fellow recipients, with voice over, and then voice over with still photo of Matthew in a play yard holding a smiling young boy in his arms. Cut back to Matthew speaking in interview setting.]
Matthew Sampson: Don’t expect to go into the room and be the expert. Go into the room and learn, learn about who these people are, because they are people; they’re citizens. Learn about what they want to learn about. Learn about what you want to learn about. I guess, just open yourself up to try something you’ve never tried before. And, if you think you know the answer, don’t ever, ever let it escape your lips because their answer might be a better answer than your answer.
[Fade to black.]
[Cut to white screen, with the Government of Canada FIP followed by the Canada Wordmark.]
Certificate of Excellence Recipient
Peter Green Hall Children's Centre
1094 Wellington Street
Halifax, NS B3H 2Z9
Telephone: 902-494-1747
Website: www.pghcc.org
Type of setting: Child care centre for children ages 5 to 12 years
A proponent of emergent curriculum and the Reggio Emilia approach to early childhood education, Matthew Sampson recognizes the uniqueness of each child in his care. He respects children as capable individuals, and supports and encourages them in every regard, so they feel valued and secure.
Philosophy of care
Matthew has a thirst for knowledge and for co-learning with children. He strives to provide a learning environment in which children can challenge themselves and their thinking, fostering independence, personal growth and discovery along the way.
Support of child development
- Encourages children to explore their interests, even when they are unconventional or involve risk:
- Boys who had prepared a zombie-themed newscast at school with Matthew's support went on to create the complex and detailed Zombie World (Matthew later presented the story behind this project, about which some people had concerns, at workshops and in a paper)
- A three-month project grew out of children's interest in putting on a fashion show; the children modelled garments they had designed and then sewn (with help) on donated sewing machines
- Children researched equipment options so a classmate who used a wheelchair could play outside in the winter; the centre director, upon hearing the children's proposal, agreed to use some of the centre's special needs funds to buy a sledding tube
- Created the Imaginarium for the after-school program, a room in which children can engage in transformative play and create—using loose materials and parts—any world they choose (examples include forts, arenas and the Titanic)
Involvement with parents, families and the community
- Fosters collaboration between children and educators at other centres; for example, a joint summer outing resulted in older children helping younger ones on a weeklong art project
- Organized a weekend sleepover at the centre as a fundraiser to buy an accessible swing for the centre; these events have continued as fundraisers, with the money going back into the classroom
- Created the Emergent Curriculum Study Group: at monthly meetings, educators in the community gather to share their experiences in early childhood education and discuss topics of interest
- Travelled to Japan and Hong Kong to share his vision for early childhood education, and visited various child care centres throughout Asia, validating his commitment to emergent curriculum
Rave reviews
"Matthew really and truly leads by example. He always makes time for children, no matter how busy he happens to be. He listens to their concerns and to their curiosities and does whatever he can to build the curriculum around their interests and allow them to explore these to broaden their learning."