Mac H. Brown

The Expression of Care in the Rough and Tumble Play of Boys.

Abstract Rough and tumble play (R&T) is widely researched in relationship to social affiliation and the cognitive benefits to the participants. One less-researched aspect of R&T is the affective dimension, more specifically, the way in which boys care for one another through R&T. This qualitative study examined pre-adolescent boys participating in R&T and the ways in which they expressed care and intimacy as a result of their participation. The subjects were videotaped while engaged in their favorite R&T play in their natural surroundings, and were asked to view the videotapes and offer their personal interpretation of the R&T experience. The participants in the study were clear on where and when it was appropriate to express care and intimacy for one another, which often is contrary to traditional ideas about play and recess. The need for teachers and administrators to reconsider the importance of R&T as one way boys express care, fondness, and friendships toward each other is emphasized.

Shared book experiences in kindergarten: Helping children come to literacy

Repetitive shared book experiences provided by public school kindergarten staff were used to improve literacy competence and preparation for formal first-grade reading instruction. The entire 1983–1984 kindergarten population (N = 228) of a rural, racially mixed, southeastern school district in South Carolina received eight shared reading experiences for each of three classic childrens books. The shared book experience is defined as the situation in which a group of two or three children sit close enough to an adult to see the print as a book is read. Readings were provided by teachers, teacher aides, school volunteers, older students, and audiotapes. The children were individually administered the South Carolina State Department of Educations mandated Cognitive Skills Assessment Battery (Boehm & Slater, 1974) during the first 3 weeks of first grade. The control group, composed of the 1982–1983 kindergarten population (N = 269), had 73% of its children at or above the state cutoff for first-grade readiness, and the experimental group had 83% at or above the cutoff. (T = 22.2, p < .01). In addition, the school district staff reported a 10% increase in the number of children being placed in “top” reading groups. Repetitive, personal shared book experiences were found to enhance literacy awareness and competence, to improve preparation for formal first grade, and to broaden childrens literacy interests.

RECONCEPTUALIZING ROUGH AND TUMBLE PLAY: BAN THE BANNING

Rough and tumble (R&T) play is a well-researched form of play fighting that contributes to children’s academic and social success. Some continue to believe it inevitably leads to bullying and aggression, but this chapter makes that case that R&T should be reconceptualized and supported by creating settings that welcome and encourage consenting players’ participation. R&T can be supported by creating an emotionally safe environment where children are empowered to choose whether or not to join in, by the provision of wide-open spaces, adequate time, and adults who will provide a physical and emotional safety net at arm’s length.

An Authentic Approach to Assessing Pre-Kindergarten Programs: Redefining Readiness

I n the wake of No Child Left Behind (NCLB), academic achievement, including school readiness, has come to be redefined as children’s ability to earn a passing score on required standardized tests. By relying on test results to tell us if children are ready for school, it is easy to explain achievement gaps and low test scores as being caused by poverty, family circumstances, or other outside factors. In short, families and children may be ”blamed” for children not being ready for school. Several years ago, the state of South Carolina’ turned to experts in early childhood education to address the school readiness issue for its K2 schools. Rather than asking, “Is this child ready for school?,” the state created a program assessment system that reframed the question of school readiness by asking, ”Is this school ready for all children?” This approach avoided on-demand tests, and focused instead on a school’s ability to meet research-based criteria shown to enhance children’s growth, development, and learning-that is, their chances for school success. As a result, the state’s kindergarten and 1st-grade performance-based authentic assessment instrument, which is based on the Work Sampling System (Meisels, Jablon, Marsden, Dichtelmiller, & Dorfman, 2001), has been left intact and uncompromised. This article begins with a short history of assessment, focusing particularly on issues related to the assessment of young children and their school readiness. It then describes the Conditions of Learning assessment system and the results from its initial implementation. We conclude with recommendations about how this approach might be replicated to protect children from readiness assessments that expose them to inappropriate tasks that tell us little of value about what children know and are able to do.

THE CHILDREN’S CENTER’S SURVIVAL BRINKMANSHIP, PERSISTENCE AND CREATIVITY

The University of South Carolina’s child development lab school faced extinction because of campus renewal projects and shifting priorities. Shrinking state budgets ended subsidies for small-scale programs at the same time the university was privatizing non-essential services. It became apparent that we needed to forge new partnerships and explore innovative funding strategies if the center was to continue providing quality childcare on our research university campus. Our five-year-long struggle has culminated with the creation of a unique public/private partnership linking the management expertise and investment capital of a for-profit childcare provider with the resources and professional knowledge at the state’s flagship university. After the framework for the public/private partnership had been created the state’s Department of Health and Human Services and Educational Television joined to create a center of excellence that will be a demonstration site for the entire early childhood community. We believe the partnership we have created is a sustainable solution to the campus childcare dilemma, one that will keep quality childcare and related research and teaching on our campus. The partnership we have created can serve as a sustainable model for other programs faced with shrinking budgets, eroding support, and threats to their existence.

Play and the young hospitalized patient

As a result of continuous and oftentimes dramatic improvements in medicine during the past several decades, the prospects of restoring a hospitalized pediatric patient to the highest possible level of physical well‐being are better than ever before. Attending to the emotional vulnerability to which young hospitalized children are susceptible is only now receiving the attention it deserves. Attention is as important to preventing and treating psychological morbidity as is treating physiological disorders. One of Britains most eminent professors of pediatric medicine has asserted that the provision of play is one of the top priorities in providing for a sick childs recovery and well‐being [Brimble‐combe, 1980]. In this article, the importance of play for the pediatric patient is described, and considerations associated with the successful implementation of play intervention for children in hospitals are advanced.

A constructivist in the lecture hall? helping pre-service teachers claim their voice

Abstract ‘EDUC 402: Teachers and Teaching’ and its practicum are required for all who anticipate pursuing teacher certification at the University of South Carolina. The authors describe the constructivist approach they have used to work successfully with large sections of diverse students. Shaped around the five propositions of the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards, the authors share power and control with students actively involved in learning. Professors use lecture, guest speakers, cooperative learning teams, reflective journals, small and large group discussions, case studies and technology projects to achieve their goals. Students contract for grades. Portfolios are used for self-evaluation. Close ties between lecture and practicum experiences, which are conducted in Professional Development Sites, are an additional distinguishing feature of this course.

Cultural sensitivity: How important is it for effective home visits?

The implementation of home visits as a technique for involving parents has recently resurfaced. This educational trend has received additional emphasis as the nation attempts to meet the national education goals — particularly the first goal, which states, “By the year 2000, all children will enter school ready to learn.”