Early Childhood Education Commons^™

Learning Stories As Assessment For Liberation, Helen Frazier

Occasional Paper Series

This paper illustrates the transformative power of learning stories as an alternative approach to in early childhood assessment. The author uses examples from her own classroom to demonstrate the use of formative assessment to foster attachment, pluralism and creativity.

Book Review: How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction: Understanding The Persistent Problems Of Policy And Practice, Nicole Hertz

The Language and Literacy Spectrum

Abstract: This review of How Education Policy Shapes Literacy Instruction: Understanding the Persistent Problems of Policy and Practice, edited by Rachael Gabriel, explores the most pressing educational concerns and their relationship to history and policy, written by scholars from all over the country, such as retention, intervention, early childhood and English language literacy acquisition, and coaching. With the current Science of Reading (SoR) movement and all the related laws that are being passed throughout the United States based on current educational reform measures, this review explores the relationship to past, present, and future literacy legislation, through a historical lens, …

Constructivist Teaching In A Virtual Space, Aviva Dorfman

Networks: An Online Journal for Teacher Research

Due to the pandemic undergraduate course, ECE 340: Constructivist Teaching with Young Children, moved to an online, asynchronous format. The in-person methods I used, group work, in-class activities, and discussion, could not be directly transposed online as might lecture and recitation. Toward the term’s end students expressed appreciation for the degree of choice they had in assignments, examples of programs in text and video, and repeated opportunities to design centers and instruction. Some declared a greater sense of confidence as educators. The comments, suggested that the shift into an asynchronous provision of the course had been effective. This study is …

“Not A Stereotype”: A Teacher Framework For Evaluating Disability Representation In Children’S Picture Books, H. Emily Hayden, Angela M.T. Prince

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

Researchers and educators have explored representations of people with marginalized identities in children’s picturebooks for over 30 years. Disability has not been widely acknowledged as a marginalized identity nor explored as an aspect of diversity prevalent in classrooms. In the United States, over seven million students are identified with a disability, and most will spend the majority of their school day in general education classrooms. Like other diverse students, they may not see their identities mirrored in classroom literature. Picturebooks featuring main characters with a disability are rare, and some still foreground medical models, limiting individuals with narrow, ableist notions …

Your Story, Your Life, Your Learning: Autobiography Reveals Basis For Supporting Personalized, Holistic Pedagogy, Michael Maser

Journal of Contemplative and Holistic Education

Each person ongoingly experiences the world uniquely through vital processes shaping their subjectivity, personhood and sense of self. Learning, an innate characteristic or modality of each human life, of living, likewise arises subjectively or idiosyncratically. In this paper, a phenomenological lens is applied to auto/biographical excerpts concerned with various learning experiences to help reveal essential, subjective characteristics of emergent learning. The insights help establish a basis for challenging the primacy of objectivist learning evaluations. The insights also confirm the importance of personalizing learning as a pedagogical gesture nurturing and enfranchising student learning in significant ways beyond conventional educational approaches …

Spacious Theories Of Object Relativity & Objective Reality Book Review For "Seven Brief Lessons On Physics" By Carlo Rovelli, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

An Arts-based Review of Carlo Rovelli’s 2016 book "Seven Brief Lessons on Physics" that incorporates original artworks by the book reviewer. This review concludes with the harvesting of an Expressive Arts Academic Consultation session that was informed by this work of Carlo Rovelli, among many other great creative thinkers in physics.

Tikkun Olam, Book Review For "Art-Care Practices For Restoring The Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, And Healing” By Barbara A. Bickel And R. Michael Fisher, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

A book review of Barbara A. Bickel’s and R. Michael Fisher’s "Art-Care Practices for Restoring the Communal: Education, Co-Inquiry, and Healing" published in 2023 by Routledge.

The Yes Of Soul: Book Review For "Poetry In Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience Through Poetic Writing" By Margo Fuchs Knill & Sally S. Atkins, Katrina Plato, Lucien Zell

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Abstract

A book review of Margo Fuchs Knill’s and Sally S. Atkins’s “Poetry in Expressive Arts: Supporting Resilience through Poetic Writing” published in 2021 by Jessica Kingsley Publishers.

Like the authors of the book, this review is written in partnership. Author and creative writing teacher Lucien Zell reflects on the book’s theme of resilience. Expressive arts professional Katrina Plato follows with a couple of her own poems and then work by clients in response to the book’s prompts.

Harvesting A Blessing, Alba Torres Robinat, Katrina Plato, Alexandra Goodall, Valerie Oved Giovanini, Sinem Lanacı

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

The process of collectively writing the Artizein articles in this issue has come to an end. In this video you can see how we harvested the gifts of our writing collaboration. Each of us made a visual artwork that we shaped as a creative digestion of our work together. The group responded to each members’ art through written words and movement. Each member then gave a final message that gathered what emerged and touched her from the group, the blessing.

Teaching Philosophy As A Pedagogic Practice-Ing: Are You The Type Of Person That Says, “Everything Happens For A Reason”?, Valerie Oved Giovanini Ph.D.

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

In this paper, I discuss a classroom activity that was intended to create an environment attentive enough for students to scrutinize whether their touted beliefs matched their implicit assumptions. Drawing upon Emmanuel Levinas’s ethics of the face-to-face relation, Carol A. Taylor’s posthuman orientations for pedagogical practice-ings, and Bickel’s and Fisher’s emergent theory of art-care, I explore my pedagogical approach in teaching philosophy to explain how affective encounters in communitas between teacher and learners can expand personal understandings and imagine new meaningful possibilities together. These affective encounters serve an ethic of concern where each is capable of a unique response and …

Borders And Bridges In Virtual Work: Between Real And Imaginary, Valeria Rocío Gonzales González Cueva, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article discusses our reflections on how to holistically integrate reality embodied in virtual workspaces--what we perceive within our work and interaction with technology-and highlights the importance of documenting our exploration in times while Artificial Intelligence is developing. Our approach is divided into three parts: the boundaries and bridges between the real and the imaginary, the possibilities of existence and non-existence offered by technology, and the experiences of expressive arts practitioners within virtuality.

Resumen

Este artículo habla de nuestras reflexiones sobre cómo integrar de forma holística la realidad encarnada en los espacios de trabajo virtuales, lo que percibimos dentro de …

Collective Memory And Creative Subjectivity: A Living Conversation, Alexandra Katherine Goodall, Alba Torres Robinat

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

This article is the record of a dialogue between two artists and Expressive Arts therapists, Alba Torres Robinat and Alexandra Katherine Goodall. They chose to undertake this conversation in the form of letters that were written back-and-forth over a period of time in a shared document, which places their correspondence in the tradition of epistolary writing. This decision to write the article as letters lends the conversation an immediacy, a warmth, a sense of time, distance and familiarity, and a feeling of intimacy.

The authors invite readers to witness the deepening of a relationship and the development of their conversational …

Doing And Thinking On The Edge With Intermodal Expressive Art, Katrina Plato, Sinem Lanacı, Valerie Oved Giovanini

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Three collaborators share their experiences and reflections on The European Graduate School’s (EGS) first Alumni Event. Graduates were invited to present the cutting-edge research in expressive arts and critical theory that they developed since their M.A. and Ph.D. programs. Details are provided of the art-making processes they used to recall the memory of the Alumni Event as well as how they harvested its significance months later. The collaborators’ topic was “decentering the self,’’ specifically how to decenter the self in community through expressive arts practices, such as co-journaling, deep listening, and photography. During the Alumni event these practices were intended …

Ιntroduction: Invitations And Purposeful Encounters, Valerie Oved Giovanini, Katrina Plato, Alexandra Katherine Goodall, Carmiella Salzberg Zorzi

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Guest Editor Introduction for Artizein: Arts & Teaching Journal, volume 8, issue 1 2023

Editorial Team Weclome, Darlene St.Georges, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Artizein: Arts & Teaching Journal editorial team welcome to Dr. Jeeyeon Ryu

Editoral Foreword: A Métissage Of Presence-Ing, Darlene St.Georges, Barbara Bickel

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Artizein; Art & Teaching Journal, issue 8, volume 1, Editoral Foreword: A Métissage of Presenc-ing

Front Matter_ Artizein 2023, Barbara Bickel, Darlene St.Georges, Jeeyeon Ryu

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Front Matter for Artizien Arts & Teaching Journal, Volume 8, Issue 1, 2023

Artizein_ Full Issue 2023, Barbara Bickel, Darlene St.Georges, Jeeyeon Ryu

Artizein: Arts and Teaching Journal

Full issue of Artizein: Arts & Teaching Journal Volume 8, Issue 1, 2023

Application Of Multicultural Literature In The Early Childhood Classroom, Deborah Wheeler, Jennifer Hill

Journal of English Learner Education

Culture equates to identity; therefore, the implementation of multicultural literature in the early childhood curriculum is an essential method for securing children’s concept of self and cultural identity. This qualitative study explored the implementation of multicultural literature in early childhood classrooms, and the research included questions pertaining to multicultural literature training, instructional methods, and barriers encountered. The purpose of the study was to answer questions regarding teachers use of multicultural literature in the classroom, how often teachers read multicultural literature and how teachers integrated multicultural literature into instruction. An additional question inquired about what multicultural books titles were teachers reading …

Best Practices For English Learners With Disabilities In Us Schools – A Systematic Review, Samiratu Bashiru, Jennifer E. Smith

Journal of English Learner Education

This systematic review investigated best practices for enhancing academic achievement among English Learners with Disabilities (ELDs) in US schools. By examining 17 peer-reviewed articles and comparing them to the CEC 2014 Quality Indicators, the study identifies significant practices, including culturally responsive methods, technology integration, evidence-based strategies, addressing service delivery challenges, and improving assessment tools. This review has limitations related to inconsistent terminology and highlights the need for standardized language and continued research. It recommends integrating culturally responsive practices, leveraging technology, and refining inclusive assessment tools. This review provides educators, policymakers, and researchers insights, emphasizing ongoing teacher development and policy alignment …

Asset-Based Teaching; Uncover, Cultivate, And Empower Students’ Uniqueness, Stephanie K. Knight, Marjaneh Gilpatrick, Tracy Vasquez

Journal of English Learner Education

As instructors who are in tune with their learners learning and communication styles as well as their family and cultural backgrounds, it makes sense that they view their students’ skills and abilities from an asset-based lens. This article provides the readers with some tactics on how to develop and nurture that growth mindset.

When we consider the assets students bring to individual classrooms, the teaching becomes more personalized and relevant to their learning needs. By implementing these teaching practices, instructors are uncovering, cultivating, and empowering their students’ unique abilities. Ultimately students are able to apply their knowledge, skills, and abilities …

Letter From The Editor In Chief, Jeffrey Lee

Transform

The TRANSFORM journal is a space for leaders, mentors, researchers, and practitioners of transformational leadership to be seen, heard, and valued; it is a place for making connections. Relationship-building is central to transformational leadership at all levels of an organization; this fundamental truth is a trending topic in literature. Otherwise, however, leadership can be an isolating experience.

As an ethnographer, I believe the best way to launch an academic, peer-reviewed journal is to do what I do best: storytelling. I want to share my thoughts on transformational leadership through a story in the form of a letter to my younger …

Global Educational Ramifications Of Covid-19 On Minorities And Students Living In Poverty Or Extreme Poverty: A Literature Review, Jessie S. Thacker-King

Journal of Global Education and Research

Public education requires all stakeholders to collaborate as a community and focus on the essential factors that create a path for student progress, growth, and maturity. The result nurtures students from kindergarten to graduation and beyond and affords them opportunities to become efficacious members of their communities. Schools are a business operating on the premise of the service industry, working collectively with and for the communities they serve. Their operational parameters are to work with all stakeholders to successfully facilitate excellence in education for all students regardless of gender, race, or socioeconomic status. Recent COVID-19 school closures have opened dialogues …

Teacher Certification During Multiple Pandemics In The Epicenter Of It All, Deborah Greenblatt 4509457

Excelsior: Leadership in Teaching and Learning

Teacher certification exams were put on hold as New York City became the epicenter of the COVID-19 crisis in March of 2020. State officials closed testing centers and school buildings, and teacher candidates began to panic as administrators at their student teaching placements worked feverishly to adjust. This changed teacher candidates’ ability to complete the performance assessment required for certification (edTPA). Concurrently, COVID-19 was disproportionally affecting the Black community (Phillips et al., 2020) and areas with limited financial resources. Based on the demographics of students at The City University of New York, there were extensive health challenges for many of …

Singing In Dark Times: Improvisational Singing With Children Amidst Ecological Crisis, Stephanie Schuurman-Olson

Occasional Paper Series

Through this research-creation project -- which is represented by a process-driven ten-minute video -- the author asks what ways of knowing emerge when children and adults, more-than-human, and inhuman engage in improvised singing together in an urban park? This project recognizes our current "dark times" within ecological collapse and operates from a space that hopes to build relationality with sonic ecologies through listening-and-singing experiences, while centering the voices of children and other singers within the ecologies we sing in-and-with.

Painting Our Treescapes: A Visual, Gretel Olson, Ingrid Olson, Stephanie Schuurman-Olson

Occasional Paper Series

Two children (ages 6 and 9) represent an afternoon spent in their urban, wintery treescape through visual art, photo documentation, and written narrative. The first piece, "My Imaginary Forest", considers the seasons, animals, and issues of artistic representation of nature. The second piece describes the relationship between a favourite tree and a child, and considers others -- both present and future -- who also occupy "Our Knotty Tree". All of the words, visual art, and photo selection are those of the children.

Children’S Imagining And Understanding Of Time: A Montessori Perspective

The International Journal of Ecopsychology (IJE)

The scientific understanding of natural processes is underscored by ideas of relative temporality, timing, abstracted time, and inferred time. Gruber’s, Block’s, and Montemayor’s (2022 and in this issue) distinction, explication, and final synthesis between the veridical and an illusory nature of time is pertinent to philosophical and cognitive distinctions between objective and subjective time. These distinctions, when understood and applied to curriculum development, make the difference between effective and extemporaneous, off-the-cuff approaches where in the latter little thought is given to the importance of children’s understanding of time—how it develops. Verily, nervous systems exhibit intrinsic temporality. Irrevocably, time engulfs us, …

Dot Card Number Talks: Illustrating Counting Strategies With Preservice Elementary Teachers, Robert Knurek

Colorado Mathematics Teacher

A dot card number talk was implemented in a mathematics content course with preservice elementary teachers (PsETs) to highlight counting strategies that are commonly seen in elementary school mathematics. PsETs' sketches on the dot cards showcase many different strategies, such as counting-all, counting-on, matching, and subitizing. While their illustrations demonstrated these different strategies, their answers were ultimately the same. The dot card number talk sparked meaningful conversations and helped PsETs distinguish between the counting strategies.

Examining Guided Reading Practices In Kindergarten Classrooms, Erica Barnes, Kimberly L. Anderson, Thea Yurkewecz

Reading Horizons: A Journal of Literacy and Language Arts

This study investigated how 15 kindergarten teachers from one school district implemented small-group Guided Reading (GR). Analysis of video recordings indicates substantial differences in how GR was conducted, with none of the teachers fully implementing GR as conceptualized by Fountas and Pinnell (2012). Consistency across teachers was limited to reading a new book and using a picture walk as part of the book introduction. Differences were observed in how the books were read (choral, round robin, or independent reading) and in instructional activities before and after reading the new book, with word solving being the most prevalent focus of instruction. …

Universal Design For Learning (Udl) In Inclusive Preschool Science Classrooms, Marla J. Lohmann, Katrina A. Hovey, Ariane N. Gauvreau

Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities

Science instruction is a critical aspect of early learning. Teachers can support young children’s learning about scientific concepts through the use of the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework, which is a proactive approach to instructional planning that helps ensure success for all learners. This teaching techniques article offers preschool teachers practical solutions for implementing in the UDL framework for science instruction in their classrooms.