It can start out innocently enough. The teacher raises her voice to get a child’s attention and guess what? He stops what he’s doing and turns to listen. At this moment, the teacher’s behavior is reinforced and soon it becomes what she does every day, all day. Teachers of young children may shout in the […] The post Turning Down the Volume: Effective Communication Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers appeared first on BAM! Radio Network ..read more

As adults, we always have the safety and well-being of young children in the forefront. The result can be the desire to constantly instruct, guide, and hover. Adults feel compelled to teach children the “right” way to do things and worry that children will make mistakes if left to make their own choices. They want to prevent any negative consequences that could arise from poor decisions. Adults may feel that by making decisions for them, they can control and minimize risks. However, without the chance to make choices, children may become overly dependent on adults for direction and decision-m ..read more

  It’s been one surprise after another for 11 months straight.  Now we’re 18 days away from releasing a documentary that aimed to understand how the education community is balancing the need to move fast and slow with artificial intelligence — at the same time.  We’re grateful to the exceptionally diverse group who opened their doors, their minds, and their hearts to help produce this eye-opening film. It’s called Blindsided by AI: The bigger picture, and it tells a story that words alone cannot.  It premieres with a session at ISTE on June 24th in Denver and will be stream ..read more

As child care providers get caught up in the day-to-day, sometimes they can become focused on classroom management. They become fixated on certain things about children- often misbehavior in all its forms- aggression, biting, breaking rules… the whole gamut. When this happens, the classroom environment changes. Soon, the children who are not doing these things start to become invisible. And teachers start to have false beliefs- that they are managing the class well, supporting child development, understanding each child, and that they are doing their best. Every child is one of a kind, one in ..read more

With a simple Google search, early educators can pull up scores of training organizations. Some have fancy websites with videos and testimonials. Others are simple with no frills and cheap prices. There may be professional affiliations listed, although many are unfamiliar, but impressive, nonetheless. After a few minutes, it can seem overwhelming. They all start looking the same and, unfortunately, the distinguishing features of the trainings often boil down to lowest price and shortest length of time to complete. Potential students may conclude that if a training organization has a website, s ..read more

  As we dive headfirst into generative artificial intelligence, among the looming big questions is what measurable effect will GenAI have on student learning? As the first trickle of research on Generative AI in education starts to flow, we checked in with world-renowned researcher John Hattie, author of the groundbreaking meta-study on visible learning. His recently updated book synthesizes more than 2,100 meta-analyses drawn from more than 130,000 studies involving more than 400 million students worldwide. He talked with us for the Blindsided by AI documentary on GenAI in education. Exc ..read more

Whoa nelly, I bet that ai generated banner really grabbed your attention. I don’t even have a cat, but my ‘purpose or ‘intention was to catch you off guard, just a bit, figuring you’d expect one of my usual motivational reading photos. I breathe reading and writing, what’s with this drastic change from your expectations? Here’s my thought process. Change is coming so fast, keeping up is a challenge. When “Read Across America” morphed from its original intent to celebrate Dr. Seuss’ birthday, every March 2,  that was jolting. I have at least twenty-five titles here, and years of fun expe ..read more

Being an early childhood educator is rewarding in many ways. It’s exciting to witness growth and development and make a positive impact on so many little lives. Educators can also foster a love for learning, build relationships, and have an opportunity to express their creativity and flexibility. In addition, they can become a positive role model for children and families and have an opportunity to continue their learning and growth as an educator. When teachers are in training, they are often given a rosy picture of what it will be like to be an early childhood educator. Oftentimes, they are ..read more

Singing and moving with preschoolers is a staple of the early childhood classroom. But I’ve heard from many teachers who care that too often preschool teachers don’t always use these skills to the children’s best advantage. For example, some have complained to me that teachers don’t let children pick songs that they like. Some years ago, I learned from special education teachers that having cards with pictures on one side and lyrics on the back allowing children to pick which song they wanted to share. So, never one to pass up stealing a great idea, I created such cards from index cards, pasti ..read more

Coming right up! Feb. 7, 2024 “World Read Aloud Day”! I wish we could celebrate every day! I’ve put together some of my thoughts and ideas, activities, resources you can use right away to promote the joy of reading. Reading makes me so happy! I love to read out loud, and I love being read to, whether by a child, friend, colleague or family member. I think it’s more important now than ever to share and model our love of the written word, a playful, joyous romp through a literary celebration. World Read Aloud Day gives us so many ways to celebrate love of reading. And because too many of our chi ..read more