The Early Childhood Education Playbook is the epitome of mindfulness! My special education teacher's heart was thrilled to see a focus on the development of learning intentions and success criteria. By setting clear expectations to delineate and verbalize the rationale of a learning target and reinforcing the vital need to develop measurable goals, this playbook helps teachers zero in on the essence of their teaching: Who is this for? What are we going to accomplish today? How will I know that we have reached our goal?
Just as “every child deserves a great teacher, not by chance, but by design” (Fisher, Frey, & Hattie 2016), so does every educator deserve the opportunity to become great. This playbook provides the scaffolds for teachers to build a practice of intentionality where children have agency in their learning and teachers understand the impact of decisions.
"Educators often ask me, 'what does teacher clarity look like for our youngest students?' or “how can I teach early learners how to have agency?' The Early Childhood Education Playbook answers these questions. With ample opportunities for self-assessment, reflection, and practice, this playbook is the perfect professional learning guide for individuals or teams wanting to develop deep learning of our youngest students.
The book is helpful for upper early childhood education and elementary education majors. I used 2 chapters for an introductory course, but the reflective (interactive) aspect of the book is best for upper year students who are working in classrooms. I plan to use the book for that course.