Open Discussion Forum

  • 1.  Each and Every Child Bookstudy

    Posted 08-22-2020 02:53 PM

    Each and Every Child: Teaching Preschool with an Equity Lens
    Reflections, Part 4 – Supporting Emergent Bilingual Children
    08/18/2020 

    As a group, these were our reflections on this segment of the book: 

    1. We discussed the key strategies to try with POLL, but did not agree with the point of helping children understand the purpose of the lesson. Our thinking was that this seemed to be pushing down the curriculum, which would not be very developmentally appropriate. We agreed that children should be playing and teachers should be scaffolding language there. We then did discuss, that perhaps this would be more beneficial for older children (6-8) years old, but for the most part, our experiences were with younger children, and that is what our discussion was focused on. 
    2. We thought there could be more specific examples of how to incorporate different languages/cultures in the science area. One suggestion was to include different spices. 
    3. We agreed that the ideas for "superdiverse" settings were great for an ideal classroom, but wondered about the practicality of finding time to translate so many different languages every day. One group member who works on a college campus is going to consider seeking college students who speak various languages to volunteer in the center once the COVID threat has changed. We also discussed creating private YouTube channels for our programs that family members could post videos of themselves reading books in their home languages to be utilized in the program, hanging posters of common phrases used in children's home languages, creating a calendar of traditions, where families are invited to share more intentionally and a cultural community is created within the program.  
    4. We discussed wanting to not fall into a tourist approach, particularly in the dramatic play area with dress up clothes. This might be a good place to talk about the celebrations families celebrate and the traditional clothing they wear for these celebrations. We thought it might be better to incorporate artifacts from children's home cultures other than traditional clothing. The book Loose Parts 3 is a great resource including suggestions such as using loose pieces of fabric from various cultures rather than specific clothing.  
    5. We discussed avoiding stereotypical artifacts, such as headdresses, teepees, dreamcatchers, etc. The book Lessons From Turtle Island was recommended as a resource about Native cultures. 
    6. One program asks families at enrollment what skills, talents, hobbies, etc. they have that they would be willing to share in the program. 
    7. We talked about the need to be conscientious and put these practices into action, while expecting to make mistakes along the way. 
    8. We talked about the importance of using labels selectively instead of filling the entire room with labels and overwhelming the children. Labels could be used for items that are relevant, high frequency words that are regularly used in the program. One group member shared that she has used word cards on rings for each child and words were added when they were inquired about. All the word rings went into a box and could be shared among various children. 
    9. We saw benefits to simultaneously translating during instruction based on experience and knowledge about the particular children in the group. 
    10. We all agreed that just reading this book is not enough. We need to be a voice and spread the message and continue to take action. 

    Additional Resources discussed: 

    The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter by Vivian Gussin Paley https://www.amazon.com/Boy-Who-Would-Be-Helicopter/dp/0674080319 

    Lisa Murphy on Play: The Foundation of Children's Learning https://www.amazon.com/Lisa-Murphy-Play-Foundation-Childrens/dp/1605544418 








  • 2.  RE: Each and Every Child Bookstudy

    Posted 08-23-2020 01:40 AM
    Thanks for sharing, some great ideas! Also useful for bi and trilingual settings. I particularly like item 3.

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    Patricia Mezu
    Professional Minds MEA
    www.prminds.org
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  • 3.  RE: Each and Every Child Bookstudy

    Posted 08-24-2020 01:42 PM
    Lisa Murphy's book is a excellent book with tons of ideas that work well with early childhood education.

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    Darlene Ingram
    Assitant Education Manager
    PCDC
    Newport News VA
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