The Power of Emergent Curriculum: Stories From Early Childhood Settings - Softcover

Wien, Carol Anne

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1938113020 ISBN 13: 9781938113024

Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children, 2013

Synopsis

Learn About the Power of Emergent Curriculum This remarkable collection of stories from early childhood settings illustrates what is possible when using an emergent curriculum approach. The stories tackle unusual topics, such as assessing the need for program rules, addressing the impact of a hurricane on classroom design, observing the empathy of toddlers, exploring children’s ideas about sculpture, and appreciating a long-term, multiage project in an after-school program. Overall, what readers witness is a rise in the quality of practice that results when responding to emerging topics. Responses to each chapter, written by educators whose interests and experiences relate to the topics addressed, add to the content and impact of these stories on the depth of learning that takes place when teachers and children engage in emergent curriculum. These experts include Elizabeth Jones, Margie Carter, Deb Curtis, Marian Marion, Laurie Kocher, Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Mary Benson McMullen, Carol Copple, Susan Fraser, Travis Wright, Carolyn Pope Edwards, and Lella Gandini. These extraordinary stories will inspire early childhood educators to imagine new possibilities in curriculum and learning.

About this title

About the Author

Carol Anne Wien, PhD, is a professor in the Faculty of Education at York University (in Toronto) and longtime friend and mentor to Peter Green Hall Children's Centre (in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada). She is the author of many articles and several books, including Emergent Curriculum in the Primary Classroom: Interpreting the Reggio Emilia Approach in Schools.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

Welcome to The Power of Emergent Curriculum: Stories From Early Childhood Settings, a book about intentional and responsive teaching. Seven of the ten chapters in the book were developed through a collaboration between the leadership and staff at Peter Green Hall Children’s Centre in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, and Carol Anne Wien, a wise writer, storyteller, professor in the Faculty of Education at York University in Toronto, Canada, and longtime friend of Peter Green Hall. The shared authorship of these pieces reflects the deep respect of these collaborators, who are learning together and realize that without all of their experiences and contributions, there would be no story to share about the life and learning of children and adults at Peter Green Hall. Each of the stories that takes place at Peter Green Hall represents a point in time along an ongoing professional development journey as teachers at this early childhood setting learn about, create, and respond to emergent curriculum. It is a journey of ups and downs with bittersweet moments and moments of pride and joy as educators evolve from feeling hesitant and anxious to confident in their ability to embrace the content that emerges in the everyday life of an early childhood program.

Edition details

• Publisher: The National Association for the Education of Young Children
• Publication date: 2013
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1938113020
• ISBN 13: 9781938113024
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 152