Written Down at the NAEYC Annual Conference

"Education is not the filling of a bucket, but the lighting of a fire"      -   W.B. Yeats

Documentation is an act of love.

What does it mean to enter into a relationship with a child?

How can we promote collaboration between adults and all children - not just parents and their own child - in early childhood settings?

Unit blocks are broken down into logical, mathematical segments, not unlike musical notation.

When you don't say "no" as much, "no" carries more meaning. (stay positive)

"The culture of babies"

Simplify, Slow Down, and Be Present.

Nature unfolds a world of imagination.

We need to remember that literacy expectations are culturally based.

The act of learning to read and write is only part of the literacy puzzle.

Story acting is practicing empathy in a way that is rarely available in planned classroom activities - it allows for practice of something that is typically spontaneous.

The mind's eye is a SUPERPOWER!

Have you written something down lately that is sparking some ideas, plans, or prompts?

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again, via brainpickings.

I thought about the read-along when I read this : creativity and innovation can require blood, sweat, and tears, and there is no such thing as an overnight success.  That is the part of creativity that no one talks about, right?  Sometimes, understanding just takes time.

Hello, Babies.

Life, perfectly articulated by Vonnegut.

(I cannot remember where I originally found this, so if you know, please share in the comments!  Thank you!)

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"when we adults think of children, there is a simple truth which we ignore: childhood is not preparation for life, childhood is life.  a child isn’t getting ready to live – a child is living.  the child is constantly confronted with the nagging question, “what are you going to be?”  courageous would be the youngster who, looking the adult squarely in the face, would say, “i’m not going to be anything; i already am.”  we adults would be shocked by such an insolent remark for we have forgotten, if indeed we ever knew, that a child is an active participating and contributing member of society from the time he is born.  childhood isn’t a time when he is molded into a human who will then live life; he is a human who is living life.  no child will miss the zest and joy of living unless these are denied him by adults who have convinced themselves that childhood is a period of preparation.

how much heartache we would save ourselves if we would recognize the child as a partner with adults in the process of living, rather than always viewing him as an apprentice.  how much we would teach each other…adults with the experience and children with the freshness.  how full both our lives could be.  a little child may not lead us, but at least we ought to discuss the trip with him for, after all, life is his and her journey, too.”

– professor t. ripaldi

found via regarding baby

more things to write across the sky.  

a friendly wolf

"But I'm a friendly wolf...That's the kind you can pet.  They're very nice to be."

from Mollie is Three by Vivian Gussin Paley

 

visual news

"There are three possible directions of choice.  Educators may act so as to perpetuate the present confusion and possibly increase it.  That will be the result of drift, and under present conditions to drift is in the end to make a choice.  Or they may select the newer scientific, technological, and cultural forces that are producing change in the old order; may estimate the direction in which they are moving an their outcome if they are given freer play, and see what can be done to make the schools their ally.  Or, educators may become intelligently conservative and strive to make the schools a force in maintaining the old order intact against the impact of new forces."

John Dewey, Education and Social Change

Democracy and Education (1916) in full, from Columbia University.