In the first years of life, as children observe, imitate, and interact with people and their environment, the brain is structuring a foundation for vocabulary, values, cognitive processes, and social skills. Educators, you can help influence that development by teaching the skills and dispositions of intelligent, creative, effective decision makers and problem solvers. Within these pages, Arthur L. Costa and Bena Kallick share the authentic stories and experiences of teachers who have taught these Habits of Mind (HOM) to young children: - Persisting - Managing impulsivity - Listening with understanding and empathy - Thinking flexibly - Thinking about thinking - Striving for accuracy - Questioning and posing problems - Applying past knowledge to new situations - Thinking and communicating with clarity and precision - Gathering data through all senses - Creating, imagining, and innovating - Responding with wonderment and awe - Taking responsible risks - Finding humor - Thinking interdependently - Remaining open to continuous learning The practical examples in this book show how anybody who works with young children can introduce the Habits of Mind in entertaining and concrete ways that are developmentally appropriate. By designing learning experiences that reflect the situations and challenges children face in their lives, educators can help our youngest citizens begin to develop the habits of mind that feed a lifetime of learning.

This book brings together the work of researchers from around the globe around the topic of children’s first transitions to early care and education. It discusses political and sociocultural contexts, theories, and ideologies around the theme. The book offers perspectives and findings on adult expectations around a child’s first transition, infant emotional experiences, the role of space, the part that key objects play in infant transitions, and the role of time. It also discusses age of first entry, routines and rhythms of the institutions, and the future expectations of those involved. The book takes a culturally responsive approach, revealing at times striking commonalities across countries, and at other points distinct differences in the people, environments, orienting pedagogies, and policies that inform an infant’s transition into care.

Margaret Carr′s seminal work on Learning Stories was first published by SAGE in 2001, and this widely acclaimed approach to assessment has since gained a huge international following. In this new full-colour book, the authors outline the philosophy behind Learning Stories and refer to the latest findings from the research projects they have led with teachers on learning dispositions and learning power, to argue that Learning Stories can construct learner identities in early childhood settings and schools. By making the connection between sociocultural approaches to pedagogy and assessment, and narrative inquiry, this book contextualizes Learning Stories as a philosophical approach to education, learning and pedagogy. Chapters explore how Learning Stories: - help make connections with families - support the inclusion of children and family voices - tell us stories about babies - allow children to dictate their own stories - can be used to revisit children′s learning journeys - can contribute to teaching and learning wisdom This ground-breaking book expands on the concept of Learning Stories and includes examples from practice in both New Zealand and the UK. It outlines the philosophy behind this pedagogical tool for documenting how learning identities are constructed and shows, through research evidence, why the early years is such a critical time in the formation of learning dispositions. Margaret Carr is a Professor of Education at the University of Waikato, New Zealand. Wendy Lee is Director of the Educational Leadership Project, New Zealand.

A 2023 SPE Outstanding Book Honorable Mention Those who are younger continue to be objects of injustice and inequity; those who are younger, people of color, females, and human beings living in poverty have never been included in equitable performances of justice, care, respect, and fairness. The authors in this international volume use existing social values and institutions--and the strengths of these varied perspectives--to address justice in ways that have not previously been considered. The aim is to create more just worlds for those who are young--as well as for the rest of us. The first set of chapters, Bodies, Beings, and Relations in More Just Worlds, place at the forefront the lives of those who are younger who are commonly situated in positions of invisibility, disqualification, and even erasure. In the second section, Performances of Care and Education for More Just Worlds, the authors acknowledge that needed (re)conceptualizations of those who are younger, along with appreciation for human diversity and entanglements between the so-called human and nonhuman worlds, are the foundations for more just care and education environments. From the critique of neoliberal reform discourses to reconceptualizing human relations with nonhuman animal and material worlds, care and learning environments are rethought. The set of chapters in the final section, Stir of Echoes: 20th Century Childhoods in the 21st, take-up the 20th century critical concerns with constructions of “child” that have dominated and continue to govern perspectives imposed on those who are younger. Suggestions for becoming-with those who are younger through resources like reconceptualist scholarship, Black and Indigenous Studies, and various posthuman perspectives are provided throughout. Whatever the emphasis or focus of a section or chapter, throughout the volume is the recognition that dominant discourses (e.g. neoliberal capitalism, conservativism, progressivism, human exceptionalism) and the policies they create (and that facilitate them), influence possibilities for, and limitations to, more just childhood worlds. Therefore, each section includes chapters that address these complex discourses and policy issues. The reader is invited to engage with these complexities, to become-with the various texts, and to generate unthought possibilities for childhoods in more just worlds. Perfect for courses such as: Curriculum Theory │ Multicultural Education │ Cultural Knowledge of Teachers and Teaching │ Sociocultural Foundations │ Anthropology of Education │ Identity, Agency, and Education │ Race and Ethnic Relations in Schools │ Philosophical Foundations of Education │ Educational Epistemologies │ Theorizing and Researching Teaching and Learning │ Qualitative Research in Education: Paradigms, Theories, and Exemplars │ Epistemologies and Theories in Multicultural and Equity Studies │ Curricular Approaches to Multicultural and Equity Studies in Education │ Culturally Relevant Pedagogy (3) │ Multicultural and Global Perspectives in Teaching and Learning │ Teaching for Social Justice │ Diversity and Equity in Education │ 21st Century Childhood Curriculum │ Childhood and Globalization

School readiness is as much about schools recognizing the existing capabilities and knowledge each child has when they enter school as it is about supporting children and families in their preparation for entering formal learning environments. Effective approaches that address learning variability must take these differences into account, recognizing and leveraging opportunities inherent in the child’s ecosystem of resources. The Handbook of Research on Innovative Approaches to Early Childhood Development and School Readiness assembles the most current research and thought-leadership on the ways in which innovative education stakeholders are working together to impact the most critical years in a child’s life—the years leading up to and including kindergarten. Covering topics such as change agency, experience quality, and social-emotional development, this book is a crucial resource for educational researchers, child development professionals, school administrators, pre-K teachers, pre-service teachers, program managers, policymakers, non-profit service organizations, early childhood EdTech developers, curriculum developers, and academicians.