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Early Childhood Education Commons

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Articles 1 - 4 of 4

Full-Text Articles in Early Childhood Education

A Circle With Edges: How Story Time Privileges The Abled Learner, Melissa Tsuei Feb 2017

A Circle With Edges: How Story Time Privileges The Abled Learner, Melissa Tsuei

Occasional Paper Series

Takes a critical look at one of the commonplace features of early childhood classrooms—story time. In her essay, Melissa considers the ways in which story time reinforces unequal power dynamics for diverse learners by privileging the able-bodied learner. In response, Melissa creates and presents the SPHERE model, which promotes active engagement and shared dialogue through collaborative storytelling and nurtures an inclusive literacy-learning environment.


Hitting The Switch: ¡Sí Se Puede!, Stephanie Alberto, Andrea Fonseca, Sandra J. Stein Feb 2017

Hitting The Switch: ¡Sí Se Puede!, Stephanie Alberto, Andrea Fonseca, Sandra J. Stein

Occasional Paper Series

Takes us into the lifeworld of first-grader Jason at Castle Bridge Elementary School, a public, dual-language school in New York City. Written by Jason’s teachers Stephanie and Andrea in conjunction with his mother Sandra, this essay puts forward the ethos ¡Sí se puede! (Yes, you can!), which relies on children’s empathy and calls for a collective response to inclusion. “Hitting the Switch” concludes with practical suggestions for creating an inclusive space for children who use assistive communicative devices so that they can become meaningful participants in the classroom community.


Talking Tolerance Inside The “Inclusive” Early Childhood Classroom, Karen Watson Feb 2017

Talking Tolerance Inside The “Inclusive” Early Childhood Classroom, Karen Watson

Occasional Paper Series

Provides an inside look into what the Australian government calls “inclusive learning communities.” This term emerges from a national early-years learning framework that highlights ability and disability as diversity. Following the course of a six-month period in three “inclusive” early childhood classrooms, Karen offers an account of the transformative potential of inclusion in contrast to the harmful effects of teaching tolerance. Tolerance, as Karen’s study reveals, preserves the dualism of normal versus abnormal (or Other) and hinders critical reflection about ableist assumptions.


The Unfolding Of Lucas’S Story In An Inclusive Classroom: Living, Playing, And Becoming In The Social World Of Kindergarten, Haeny S. Yoon, Carmen Llerena, Emma Brooks Feb 2017

The Unfolding Of Lucas’S Story In An Inclusive Classroom: Living, Playing, And Becoming In The Social World Of Kindergarten, Haeny S. Yoon, Carmen Llerena, Emma Brooks

Occasional Paper Series

Tells stories about a vibrant kindergartner named Lucas through the viewpoints of his mother (Emma), teacher (Carmen), and teacher-educator (Haeny). In this multi-voiced story, the narrative centers on Lucas and shifts outward toward those orbiting Lucas’s wondrously playful universe. The magic of Lucas’s unfolding story is in the ways it disrupts conventional discourses about labels, interventions, and imposed meanings of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).