This essential guidebook offers creative, exciting ways for teachers to implement and support deep, authentic and transformative learning in early childhood. Each standalone chapter identifies a key focus for empowering children, exploring the research behind the habit, how it stimulates deep learning and the ways in which it can help address implicit hierarchies and disrupt oppression. Chapters feature hands-on activities, ideas for lessons and events that teachers can try, alongside techniques to involve parents and families, bringing this important work beyond the classroom walls.
Author(s): Wendy L. Ostroff
Publisher: Routledge/Eye on Education
Year: 2022
Language: English
Pages: 170
City: New York
Cover
Half Title
Series Information
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Introduction to Empowering Young Children
Respecting Children’s Unique Perspectives
Challenging Social Facts
What Is the Point of School?
Why Kids Need to Enact Social Justice
A Great Moment for Bold Imagination
References
1 Empowering Young Children to Be Social and Collaborative: How to Nourish Empathy, Understanding and Valuing Others
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Collaboration
Synchrony: The Beginning of Empathy
How Collaboration Facilitates and Deepens Learning
Learning By Joining Communities
Solving Problems Together in “The Zone”
Collaboration Nourishes Social Justice Via Empathy, Understanding and Valuing Others
Sample Nourishment of Empathy, Understanding and Valuing Others
In Sum
References
2 Empowering Young Children to Be Playful and Joyful: How to Nourish Flexibility, Sharing Power and Handling the Unpredictable
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Play
How Play Facilitates and Deepens Learning
Play Enhances Social Skills: A Pathway to Social Justice
Free to Play
Play Is at Risk
How Playfulness and Joy Inspire Social Justice
Sample Nourishment of Joyful Flexibility, Sharing Power and Handling the Unpredictable
In Sum
References
3 Empowering Young Children to Be Curious Inquirers: How to Nourish Experimentation and Innovation
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Inquiry
How Inquiry Facilitates and Deepens Learning: Curiosity and Questions
Outcomes of Curiosity: Divergent Thinking and Creativity
How Curiosity Inspires Social Justice
Sample Nourishment of Experimentation and Innovation
In Sum
References
4 Empowering Young Children for Autonomy and Agency: How to Nourish Freedom, Self-Determination and Confidence
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Autonomy and Agency
How Autonomy Facilitates and Deepens Learning
Harms of Surveillance (And Even Praise)
How Autonomy Nourishes Freedom, Self-Determination and Confidence
Placemaking as Autonomy
Sample Nourishment of Freedom, Self-Determination and Confidence
In Sum
References
5 Empowering Young Children to Take Their Time: How to Nourish Patience, Presence and Comfort With Discomfort
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Time in Childhood
How Time Facilitates and Deepens Learning
The Faster Equals Better Myth
Too Much, Too Soon in School
Unstructured Time for Learning
Pausing, Incubation and Problem Solving
How Time Nourishes Social Justice
Sample Nourishment of Patience, Presence and Comfort With Discomfort
In Sum
References
6 Empowering Young Children for Dynamic Movement in Nature: How to Nourish Embodiment and Ecological Attunement
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Moving, Embodied Learning
How Movement Facilitates Deep Learning
Teaching for Embodied Cognition
Complex Thinking and Spontaneous Movement
Movement Outdoors
Walking
Nature
How Dynamic Outdoor Learning Nourishes Social Justice
Sample Nourishment of Embodied, Ecologically Attuned, Outdoor Learning
In Sum
References
7 Empowering Young Children to Value All Voices, Practice Dialogue: How to Nourish Active, Deep Listening and Critical ...
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Dialogue
How Dialogue Facilitates and Deepens Learning
Children Ask the Most and the Best Questions
In the Present, Real-Time
Active and Deep Listening
How Dialogue Nourishes Social Justice
Children Need to Be Empowered in Education
How Dialogue Nourishes Multiple Perspective-Taking
Talking and Thinking Together
How to Implement Dialogue With Young Children
In Sum
References
Conclusion
Navigating Complexity
On the Ground
Final Thoughts: Nourishing Virtuous Citizens, Leaders and Changemakers
References
