New Books
Lewin-Benham, A. 2006. Possible Schools: The Reggio Approach to Urban Education. New York: Teachers College Press. 176 pp. ISBN 08077-465-17. $22.95.
This book describes the struggles and achievements in launching the Model Early Learning Center, a preschool housed in a children’s museum in Washington, D.C., that was designed to serve neighboring families with low incomes. Ann Lewin-Benham, the director and founder, chronicles how the staff survived difficult and chaotic beginning years, their discovery and ultimate success in using the Reggio Emilia approach, and finally the center’s closure.
Readers see how the staff confronted and resolved the numerous political and social problems of the urban context and negotiated the long process through which the teachers adapted to new ways of thinking about early childhood education and themselves as teachers and collaborators. Special attention is given to the complex processes through which the essential aspects of the Reggio approach are understood, such as managing a schedule to keep time flexible (Americans tend to watch the clock, while the Italians watch the children), learning to teach children in small groups, fostering authentic exploration of materials, and applying the strategies involved in daily project planning to help teachers produce panels that document children’s thinking rather than just look good.
The NICHD Early Child Care Research Network. 2005. Child Care and Child Development: Results from the NICHD Survey of Early Child Care and Youth Development. New York: Guilford. 474 pp. ISBN 1-59385-287-8. $25.
Does nonmaternal care early in a child’s life really matter in his or her development? To answer this complex question the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) conducted one of the most comprehensive scientific studies in the last 20 years, of early child care and its relationship to development. The study follows children (and their families) from infancy through elementary school as they participated in both center-based and home child care.
This volume presents results based on the first four and a half years of the children’s lives in a collection of research reports published by the NICHD Early Child Care Research Network in psychological, developmental, educational research, and health journals. Readers gain insight into how the type, amount, and quality of infant, toddler, and preschool child care interact with socioeconomic variables, family situations, and other child and family factors to influence a child’s development. The research reports include methodology and analysis techniques and cover topics such as the ways in which child care affects mother-child bonding, physical health, problem behavior, peer interaction, and cognitive and language outcomes. A closing commentary discusses the importance of early child care and presents implications for families, social scientists, government agencies, and child care providers.
Ladd, G.W. 2005. Children’s Peer Relations and Social Competence: A Century of Progress. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press. 436 pp. ISBN 0-300-10643-2. $60.
This comprehensive and scholarly review of the research and professional literature on children’s peer relationships spans the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. Ladd highlights the way children’s relationships with age-mates contribute to their social and emotional competence, adjustment, health, and achievement. Topics include the origins of social competence, entry into peer group play, acceptance and rejection, aggression and peer victimization, and the roles of gender, emotion, and culture in children’s peer relations and social competence.
Ladd summarizes theoretical and practical findings relevant to promoting children’s social competence. Although complexity of social behavior sometimes leads to tentative conclusions, social principles often predict how relationships will develop. For example, extensive analyses of the interactions of young children in pairs reveal a sequence of conversational processes that predict friendship formation. The author discusses experimental interventions designed to help children at risk or those who have problems interacting with peers. He also gives pragmatic implications for adults interested in improving children’s social competence and enhancing peer relationships.
Toll, C.A. 2005. The Literacy Coach’s Survival Guide. Newark, DE: International Reading Association. 184 pp. ISBN 0-87207-565-6. $22.95.
Drawing from her experiences as a teacher, literacy coach, and trainer of literacy coaches, Toll offers practical suggestions and insight into the complex roles of the literacy coach who supports teachers. The first section addresses current concepts of educational change and provides an overview of many approaches to change that help literacy coaches avoid falling into the trap of believing one solution will work for any problem. In the second section, the author discusses how to get off to a good start with the principal, staff, and parents. Offered are key communication strategies to help coaches establish reciprocal relationships, strategies and forms to prepare for and facilitate individual conferences, and ideas for supporting teacher teams and study groups. The third section addresses problems and challenges often faced by literacy coaches, such as teacher resistance to change or pressure from a principal to raise test scores regardless of the process.
Dennis, K., & T. Azpiri. 2005. Sign to Learn: American Sign Language in the Early Childhood Classroom. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf. 194 pp. ISBN 1-929610-69-6. $24.95.
This guidebook can teach preschool teachers without a sign language background how to weave American Sign Language (ASL) into the curriculum. Authors show how hearing children are naturally responsive to this language, which uses hand shapes, motion, and facial expressions to communicate visual concepts. Learning to sign helps children gain an appreciation for differences between people and a respect for deaf culture and promotes interaction between deaf and hearing people.
The first part of the book provides a brief history of ASL and its importance in the deaf community, the benefits to hearing children, and guiding principles for developing curriculum plans and incorporating ASL into the schedule and daily routines. Separate chapters address signing in the early childhood literacy program and using ASL for classroom management. A year of sign language lesson plans is arranged thematically, offering detailed instructions, material lists, follow-up activities, and illustrations.
Recent NAEYC Acquisitions/Copublications
The following titles are available from NAEYC online at www.naeyc.org/shoppingcart.
Balaban, N. 2006. Everyday Goodbyes: Starting School and Early Care—A Guide to the Separation Process. New York: Teachers College Press. 168 pp. ISBN 0-8077-4639-8. NAEYC #780. $18.
Separation often evokes feelings of fear and anxiety in all of us—children, parents, and teachers alike. Teachers and parents must know how to help young children cope with the unpleasant feelings sometimes associated with separation. Emphasizing the need for parents and teachers to work together in phasing children into a child care, preschool, or kindergarten program, this book offers many sensitive, practical suggestions to ease the separation process for all involved. Available in December 2005.
Bardige, B.S. 2005. At a Loss for Words: How America Is Failing Our Children and What We Can Do about It. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. 254 pp. ISBN 1-59213-393-2. NAEYC #782. $20.
Parents, policy makers, and child care providers must recognize the role of early literacy skills in reducing the achievement gap, which begins before three years of age. This research-based text explores home and classroom settings that promote language, contrasting them with child care settings that need improvement. We can build better community support systems and public education to ensure that children learn the power of language from their families and teachers.
Bloom, P.J. 2005. Blueprint for Action: Achieving Center-Based Change through Staff Development. 2nd ed. Lake Forest: IL: New Horizons. 305 pp. ISBN 0-9621894-8-0. NAEYC #778. $40.
This book provides a framework for understanding early childhood centers as organizations and the dynamics of change within such organizations. Geared toward directors who want to move beyond a “quick fix” notion of center improvement, this guide for program analysis and action details a comprehensive method for assessing program strengths and areas in need of improvement. The heart of this approach is an individualized model of staff development. Vignettes connect the concepts presented to real-life situations experienced by early childhood administrators. Bloom includes sample forms/assessment tools that directors can adapt for use in their own programs.
Jones, M., & M. Shelton. 2005. Developing Your Portfolio—Enhancing Your Learning and Showing Your Stuff: A Guide for the Early Childhood Student or Professional. New York: Routledge. 139 pp. ISBN 0-415951-18-6. NAEYC #779. $20.
Portfolios are lauded as the answer to assessment, but they are often overwhelming for adult learners who are accustomed to standardized tests and term papers. What features of a portfolio elevate it above a simple scrapbook? How do you form, articulate, and support a philosophy statement? What is reflective writing? Geared toward the developing early childhood professional, this book illuminates the process of creating a portfolio and lays out practical strategies for capturing your professional development.
Levin, D.E., & N. Carlsson-Paige. 2006. The War Play Dilemma. New York: Teachers College Press. 2nd ed. 144 pp. ISBN 0-8077-4638-X. NAEYC #781. $18.
Here is practical guidance for working with children to promote creative play and for positively influencing the lessons about violence that children learn from the media. The authors examine five possible strategies for resolving the war play dilemma and show which best satisfy differing opinions: banning war play; taking a laissez-faire approach; allowing war play with specified limits; actively facilitating war play; and limiting war play while providing alternative ways to work on the issues. Available in December 2005.
Wurm, J.P. 2005. Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginner’s Guide for American Teachers. St. Paul, MN: Redleaf Press (copublished with NAEYC). 142 pp. ISBN 1-929610-64-5. NAEYC #768. $22.
This thoughtful resource helps early childhood teachers bring the reflective, high-quality practices of Reggio Emilia to American programs. Based on an American teacher’s firsthand experience observing and working in the schools of Reggio Emilia, Italy, this engaging text emphasizes self-study and careful examination of your view of the child to bring your program into alignment with your values, the hallmark of Reggio practice. Interactive activities for individual or group reflection are included.
Titles are selected from the many new books received by NAEYC. Educator Gail Perry writes the brief annotations. The books are available from the publishers listed, your local bookstore, or online retailers.
Copyright © 2005 by the National Association for the Education of Young Children. See Permissions and Reprints online at http://www.journal.naeyc.org/about/permissions.asp.
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