Nancy K. Freeman

Service Learning in Preschool: An Intergenerational Project Involving Five–Year-Olds, Fifth Graders, and Senior Citizens

Service Learning is a powerful form of experiential pedagogy that is gaining popularity in classrooms from preprimary settings through graduate school. It involves students in activities that explicitly and intentionally integrate community involvement with appropriate academic objectives. This article describes an intergenerational service learning project that brought together preschoolers, golden-agers, and at-risk elementary-aged students. Lunch Time Book Buddies—Pass It On included both direct service and indirect service and made valuable contributions to young childrens developing literacy, social-emotional, physical, and cognitive abilities.

Nurturing Peaceful Children to Create a Caring World the Role of Families and Communities

Kevin J. Swick is Professor and Nancy K. Freeman is Assistant Professor, College of Education, University of South Carolina, Columbia. Nurturina Peaceful Children To Create a Caring World The Role of Families Com m u n i t ies and W ith the constant reminders of wars and other human degradation going on in the world, education for “caring” is more critically important than ever to our future (Noddings, 2002). Televised accounts of the war in Iraq leave most caring people devastated. Civilian and military deaths and casualties challenge people’s faith in a peaceful and meaningful future. Clearly, love and peace must be a priority for everyone. Although less intense than war, the everyday abuses carried out by the thoughtless, the cruel, and the antisocial also convey the urgency for more “caring education” across all cultures (Elshtain, 1999). Violence occurs in many forms, including physical, psychological, social, and verbal. Recent research on the impact of this violence on children during their early years should prompt a call to action for all citizens. Indeed, without caring intervention, children’s brains will be physically altered not only by the violence they personally experience but also by the violence they observe (Groves, 2002). We know, for example, that exposure to stress can elicit physiological responses, including the release of cortisol, the steroid hormone that plays a role in suppressing the immune system and slowing physical growth (National Research Council and Institute of Medicine, 2000). Cortisol release associated with stress has been shown to change brain activity and, eventually, alter the structure of the brain itself. Most at risk is the hippocampus, the region of the brain involved in learning and memory. Additionally, exposure to cortisol affects other regions of the prefrontal cortex, particularly in ways that make it difficult for children to accurately interpret and respond to social situations-it colors their interactions with both peers and adults (Gunnar, 1998). This means that constant exposure to violence may elicit hyper-responsive syndromes. Children tend to overreact to all stimuli because they have not learned how to differentiate helpful behaviors from those that are harmful (Lally, 1997). The early years of life are the most responsive time in which to nurture a caring and loving approach to life (Swick, 2001). And the most powerful message that children receive about caring is how they are cared for themselves during the earliest years of life (Kitzrow, 1998).

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.

Look to the East to Gain a New Perspective, Understand Cultural Differences, and Appreciate Cultural Diversity.

Childrearing and educational practices accurately reflect cultural values. Cross-cultural experiences highlight some ways attitudes about early childhood, parenting, and teaching are influenced by cultural experiences and expectations. The authors experiences in China illustrate interesting ways these programs are very different from their American counterparts. Some of the differences revolve around practices such as residential programs for young children, the nature of classroom interactions, and contrasting approaches to teaching the arts. Identifying and understanding the reasons for some of those differences can sensitize readers to broader issues of cultural pluralism and help teachers celebrate cultural diversity as they work with families from varied backgrounds.

SERVING AND LEARNING ATA UNIVERSITY LABORATORY SCHOOL: STUDENTS FROM BIRTH THOUGH ADULTHOOD BENEFIT WHEN SERVICE LEARNING IS INTEGRATED INTO THE PRESERVICE CURRICULUM

Service‐Learning (S‐L) pedagogy is attracting increased attention in teacher education. This article describes the implementation of S‐L in the preservice early childhood curriculum, which placed students in a birth‐5 years setting. It identifies a continuum of learning to care, which begins in infancy, as caring capacities emerge, through to adulthood, when preservice teachers learn from experienced mentors how caring characterizes their interactions with learners of all ages. Students’ journals indicate they believe S‐L experiences contribute to their personal, academic and professional development. Carefully implemented S‐L experiences validate students’ caring interactions, give them first‐hand experiences with young children during which they can apply theoretical constructs, provide experiences which help them clarify their own career goals, and make them feel better prepared to manage instructional and classroom management dimensions of working with young children.

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.

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.

THROUGH OUR EYES: HELPING EMERGING TEACHERS SEE THEMSELVES

Preservice teachers benefit from opportunities to intentionally and systematically evaluate their practice. Teachers Observational Tools (TOTs) described in this article are useful instruments that effectively guide teaching interns’ and their coaching teachers’ observations. They give education students opportunities to draw conclusions and evaluate their own work rather then relying on coaching teachers’ opinions. These tools are appealing to constructivist teacher educators. These observational techniques have been used effectively by students preparing to teach young children, but could be used effectively by those working with students of all ages. They are popular with preservice teachers and their supervisors and have, additionally, made an important contribution to our Universitys professional development school partnerships.

Among the Periodicals: Keeping Assessment Authentic in an Era of High-Stakes Testing and Accountability

Technology and Young Children-Ages 3 Through 8 h t tp://naeyc. o rg/resou rces/ position-statements/pstech98.htm Parents, Educators, Publishers (PEP) www. microweb.com/pepsite/ AskERIC: Educational Technology Information and Resources http://askeric.org/cgi-bin/res.cgi/ Educational-Technology ERIC Clearinghouse on Information & Technology: Educational Technology Information and Resources www.ericit.org educationaltechnologyshtml The ERIC Clearinghouse on Elementary and Early Childhood Education (ERlC/EECE) contributed this column. Abstractsof ERICdocumentsandjournal articles can be read on ERIC microfiche and on CD-ROM, which are available in many libraries. The ERIC database is also available online. For online locations to search the ERIC database, visit the ACCESS ERIC Web site at www.eric.ed.gov. Most ERIC documents can be ordered in paper copy oron microfiche, and many recent documents can be ordered on the Internet, from the ERIC Documeat Reproduction Service (EDRS). For complete ordering information, contact EDRS at 800-443-3742, http://edrs.com, or serVice@edrs.com. An availability source is indicated for those documents summarized in this column that are not available from EDRS. For journal articles cited in the column, refer directly to the journal, or contact article clearinghouses such as Ingenta (800-296-2221) for ordering information. Further information is available from ERIC/EECE, Children’s Research Center, Univers i t y of Illinois, 52 Gerty Drive, Champaign, 1L 62820-7469; phone: 227-333-1386 or 800-583-4235; Email: ericeece@uiuc.edu; URL: http:/ lericeece. org/.