High-Quality Early Learning for a Changing World

This concise and accessible resource provides an overview of the fundamentals of teaching in early childhood settings (pre-K–2), with a focus on what high-quality practices look like. It details the features of developmentally appropriate, linguistically responsive, culturally relevant/sustaining teaching and how this approach can prepare our youngest citizens for the challenges of our 21st-century world. Beginning with what the research tells us about how young children develop and learn, Falk shows how to create learning environments, plan, teach, and assess in ways that support children’s optimal development. Specific strategies are described and explained, such as setting up the classroom environment and schedule, making smooth transitions, using effective communication strategies, and creating home–school partnerships.

Book Features:

• Combines understandings from multiple disciplines: child development, neuroscience and biological sciences, culturally responsive teaching, and language diversity practices.
• Examines how high-quality practices can be attained for all children and families, paying particular attention to traditionally underserved communities.
• Provides concrete examples of what developmentally appropriate curriculum, instruction, and assessment look like in diverse communities, including photos and links to online videos.

Beverly Falk is professor and director of the graduate programs in early childhood education at the School of Education of the City College of New York. Her books include Defending Childhood: Keeping the Promise of Early Education and Teaching the Way Children Learn.

“This text is a portrait of what it means to be an early childhood professional and to take seriously the job of establishing meaningful relationships with children, families, and professional colleagues. It is these relationships that will shape the social, emotional, and cognitive foundations of generations of productive and enlightened citizens. No work is more important.”
—From the foreword by Jacqueline Jones, president and CEO, Foundation for Child Development

“This book clearly demonstrates what quality in early care and education looks and feels like, why it is important, and how to bring it about. No less than a manual for creating growth-enhancing experiences in early childhood, Beverly Falk has distilled years of experience into practical advice and well-researched lessons.”
—Samuel J. Meisels, Founding Executive Director , Buffett Early Childhood Institute , University of Nebraska

“Beverly Falk reminds us that the field of early childhood education is rich in research, theory, practice, and promise. She brilliantly challenges us to translate what we know into what we do, in order to improve school and life outcomes for ALL children.”
—Maurice Sykes, director, Early Childhood Leadership Institute

“Writing about a subject long ignored, Falk has brought us critical knowledge
about early childhood in this superb book. Through research, practice, and examples of high-quality teaching in our changing society, we learn how to build a supportive environment that connects experiential learning and social–emotional development in a variety of classroom contexts.”
—Ann Lieberman, senior scholar, Stanford Center for Opportunity Policy in Education

“In this important and inspirational book, Falk focuses on the historical questions of instructional quality and the pressing issues regarding the future of early childhood curriculum, content, and context. Falk masterfully articulates the critical role that early learning educators play in facilitating young children's cognitive, emotional, and physical development while understanding the cultural, familial, and cultural assets that they bring to learning.”
—Vivian L. Gadsden, professor, Penn Graduate School of Education

Foreword by Jacqueline Jones

Acknowledgments

Introduction
   Purposes
   The State of Early Childhood Today
   Overview of the Book

PART I: FOUNDATIONAL KNOWLEDGE TO GUIDE TEACHING

Chapter 1. Insights from Research on How Children Learn
   What We Know About How Young Children Learn
   Quality Early Education and Care: Turning Knowledge into Action

Chapter 2. Organizing the Classroom as a Learning Environment
   The Physical Environment Supports Active Learning
   The Role of the Teacher: Facilitator of Learning

Chapter 3. Routines and Transitions
   Flow of the Day
   Transitions

Chapter 4. Understanding the Context in Which You Teach
   Knowing About the School and Community in Which You Teach
   Understanding the Cultural Contexts of Your Learners
   Getting to Know Each Individual Learner

PART II: LEARNING, CURRICULUM, AND ASSESSMENT

Chapter 5. Connecting Play, Purposes, Standards, and Goals
   Thinking About Purposes and Goals
   The Importance of Play and Active Experiences
   Play, Standards, and Intentional Teaching

Chapter 6. Choice Time in Fanny's Kindergarten Classroom:  Nurturing Learning Through Inquiry and Play
   Daily Choice Time Provides Opportunities for Active Learning and Inquiry
   Building on Children's Realities and Strengths
   A Range of School Supports Nurture Teachers' Learning
   Nurturing 21st-Century Skills Through Active Learning

Chapter 7. Learning Through Interdisciplinary Curriculum Studies
   Joining with the Learner
   Designing Your Own Studies Versus Using Predesigned Curricula

Chapter 8. Joining with the Learner Through a Required Curriculum: The Subway Study in Emma's Prekindergarten Classroom
   Key Features of Joining with the Learner
   What It Takes to Make This Kind of Teaching Happen

Chapter 9. Walking Alongside the Learner Through a Teacher-Designed Curriculum: A Study of "Change" in Yvonne's Prekindergarten Classroom
   Organizing the Classroom for Active Learning
   Connecting to Children's Interests and Questions
   Teaching to Support How Children Learn
   Building Community in the Classroom
   A School Context and Process to Support Learning

Chapter 10. Observing, Assessing, and Using Information to Inform Teaching and Support Learning
   Teacher-Kept Records
   Student Work Samples
   Student-Kept Records
   Documenting the Learning of the Group
   Weaving Assessment into the Curriculum: An Iterative Cycle
   Communicating About Children's Learning with Families and Communities

Chapter 11. Using Assessment to Inform Teaching and Support Learning: The Bronx River Study in Jessica and Andrene's 1st-Grade Classroom
   Context/Background
   Incorporating Children's Interests, Questions, and  Understandings into Curriculum Planning
   Infusing Skills and Content Knowledge into the Study
   Sharing the Study Through an All-School Museum
   Classroom Centers and Materials
   Managing the Discipline Needed for Active Learning
   Differentiating the Curriculum for All Students
   Keeping Track of Children's Learning
   Sharing the Learning with Families
   Schoolwide Supports

PART III: STRATEGIES FOR SUPPORTING CHILDREN'S LEARNING

Chapter 12. Focusing on Literacy
   Literacy Development Is a Continuum
   Reading Development
   Writing Development
   Balancing Explicit Instruction with Intentional Guidance and Independent Play-Based Activities
   Providing Supports for Children's Varied Development

Chapter 13. Teaching Strategies to Support Children's Learning
   Purposes Guide Teaching
   Teaching Strategies to Match Purposes

Chapter 14. Celebrating Diversity
   Children's and Families' Sociocultural Contexts Are Assets and Valuable Resources for Learning
   Believing That All Children Can Learn
   Respecting Variation in Children's Learning and Development
   Supporting Variation in Children's Language Development
   Supporting Young Children to Be Critical Thinkers
   Replacing Obstacles with Opportunities to Succeed

Chapter 15. Building Community in the Classroom: Caring for the Whole Child
   Care Nurtures Healthy Development
   Disciplining Through a Community-of-Care Approach
   Creating Community

Chapter 16. Creating a Caring Community of Learners in Kimberly and Vanessa's 1st/2nd-Grade Classroom
   Strategies for Building a Caring Community in the Classroom
   Play, Active Learning, and Community Building
   Practicing Democracy

Chapter 17. Partnering with Families in School Life
   Communication Vehicles Build Community
   Maximizing and Sustaining Family Involvement

Chapter 18. Learning from Teaching
   The Teaching Life Is a Learning Life
   Learning with Others in Community
   Problems as Opportunities

Appendix: Methodology for Teaching Descriptions

References

Index

About the Author

Visit highqualityearlylearning.org to view companion videos featured in the book and other resources for teachers, teacher educators, policymakers, and other stakeholders.