What If We Taught the Way Children Learn?

More Straight Talk About Bettering Education and Children′s Lives

Rae Pica

• Publisher: Corwin
• Year: 2020
• Print ISBN: 9781071803042
• eBook ISBN: 9781071803035
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Education General

Strengthen the connection between child development and learning

We often teach our children in ways contrary to what we know about their development. What if our learning environments honored children's natural inclinations and used them to enrich their lives? To help students experience joy and discovery, while also preparing them for future schooling, we need to understand the connection between how they develop and how they learn. Pica brings decades of experience in education to advocate for this change.  

Written as a follow-up to the bestselling What If Everybody Understood Child Development?, this book includes:

• 31 easy-to-read chapters on topics including disruptive behavior, creativity, self-regulation, screen time, and mental health
• Suggested next steps and resources in every chapter
• Real-life examples from the author?s and others' experiences 
• Evidence from brain science research
• Easy-to-read format perfect for PLCs, book studies, and parents

The straight talk in this book inspires readers to generate change so that children can have the lives and education they deserve. 

Table of contents

• Cover
• Acknowledgements
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• About the Author
• Introduction
• Part I Teaching With Children’s Nature in Mind
• Chapter 1 Giving Children the Positive Reinforcement They Want and Need
• Chapter 2 Seven Reasons We’re Seeing More Challenging Behavior in Early Childhood Settings
• Chapter 3 Commonsense Solutions to Behavior Challenges
• Chapter 4 Disruptive Children: Are Drugging and Dismissing Them Our Only Options?
• Chapter 5 Trouble-Free Transitions: They’re Possible If We Understand Child Development
• Chapter 6 Fostering Self-Regulation: Are We Doing It Wrong?
• Chapter 7 Logical Consequences Should Be the Norm
• Chapter 8 Screen Use in the Classroom: Why It’s Cause for Concern
• Chapter 9 Downtime: Necessary for Children’s Mental Health and 21st Century Skills
• Part II Teaching With the Body in Mind
• Chapter 10 Making a Mess of Human Development: The Terrible Impact of Our Choices for Children
• Chapter 11 This Just In: Young Children Don’t Get Enough Exercise
• Chapter 12 The Link Between Movement and Challenging Behavior
• Chapter 13 Teaching the Whole Child Means Addressing Physical Development, Too
• Chapter 14 The Magic of Cross-Lateral Movement
• Chapter 15 No Fine Motor Skills? What’s the Big Deal?
• Chapter 16 Fidgety, Wiggly Kids? Here’s What You Need to Know
• Chapter 17 Let’s Do Away With Crisscross-Applesauce
• Chapter 18 Five Ways to Sneak Movement Into the Curriculum
• Part III Teaching With Children’s Futures in Mind
• Chapter 19 “What Is That?”: How We Unwittingly Dampen Children’s Creative Development
• Chapter 20 Beyond “One Right Answer”: How to Promote Children’s Thinking Skills
• Chapter 21 Should We Be Talking About Sexism in Early Childhood Education?
• Chapter 22 “Be Careful!”: Teaching Children to Fear
• Chapter 23 School Shootings: What Does Early Childhood Have to Do With Them?
• Chapter 24 Life Lessons Learned From Lunchtime
• Chapter 25 Children Are Losing Their Connection to Nature and the Consequences Are Real
• Part IV Advocacy
• Chapter 26 Who Are We Protecting When We Ban Children’s Activities?
• Chapter 27 The Real Dangers of Childhood: How Do We Help People See Them?
• Chapter 28 Shouldn’t School Safety Drills Be Implemented With the Children in Mind?
• Chapter 29 Advocating for Children Can Be an Uphill Battle
• Chapter 30 What If Early Childhood Professionals Pushed Back?
• Chapter 31 ECE Advocacy: We Have the Numbers and the Tools
• References and Resources
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