For Your Binder

Here is the full text of the essay Tolkein presented (in an abbreviated form) in 1938 at St. Andrews, Scotland.  A couple of my favorite quotes: "If fairy story as a kind is worth reading at all it is worthy to be written for and ready by adults."  And, "It may be better for them (children) to read some things, especially fairy stories, that are beyond their measure rather than short of it. Their books like their clothes should allow for growth, and their books at any rate should encourage it." #books #stories #fairytales #reading 

A brief peek into Comenius, Locke, Rousseau, Pestalozzi, Froebel, Steiner, Montessori, Freud, Erickson and Piaget. Bringing together the WHAT the WHY and the HOW. #learning #teaching #theorists

Nature preschools, forest kindergartens, outdoor pre-K, call 'em what you want, they've grown in number almost 500% since 2012! #nature #play #outside #forestschools

Do boring tasks become more playful when toyified?  #play #toys

It's time to draw the line in the sand!  #DAP #play #themes #art #creativity #learning #teaching 

Although neuromyths might have some truth to them, careful reading of the original research often demonstrates that the findings have been misinterpreted, simplified or are based exclusively on animal studies with limited implications for humans.  This link will hop you to a chapter from Understanding the Brain: Towards a New Learning Science (2002) which specifically address 3 of the (now identified 6) myths.  #teaching #learning

From the article: "Wordless (or nearly wordless in the case of Tuesday) picture books bring the reader (of any age or spoken language) into the story in a way that books with words can not." I can't agree more! #books #reading #stories #wordless #KidLit

You don't solve oil spills with multiple choice answers! The future favors the flexible! #play #resilience #teaching #learning #creativity

Disclosure: Depending on how often you find yourself on The Atlantic you might (or might not) need to start a free subscription to access this one. 

Here is another article that emerged in response to the final results of the #Vanderbilt study which came out in early 2022. From the article: "By 6th grade, children in the #Tennessee state funded Pre-K program did worse than their peers (who didn't attend) in measures of academic achievement and behavior. In some pre-K programs, something is not better than nothing."   #play #DAP #teaching #learning #pushdown

This link will jump you over to the collection of Bruce Perry articles housed on the Child Trauma (CT) site. CT strives to translate emerging findings about the human brain and child development into practical implications for the ways we nurture, protect, enrich, educate and heal children.  #DAP #relationships #care #teaching #learning

Remember that one time, when Piaget noticed the kids getting the same questions wrong, but wrong in the same way? Well one time, a very clever workshop participant asked, What were the questions they got wrong? And I realized I had no idea. What a fantastic question! And while I never was able to locate an answer (maybe you did?) I did find this paper from 1911 which, while it didn't answer the participant's question, it made some good points! #teaching #learning #theorists

It's important to make sure neighborhoods have diverse environmental qualities that encourage children & caregivers to stay physically active, meet friends and connect with the natural environment.  #play #outside #movement