Crossing boundaries: A variety of perspectives on preschool stories

 

 

Jeanne Marie Iorio; Hema Visweswaraiah

 

 

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ABSTRACT

Emergent curriculum is present in many early childhood classrooms but sharing the deep thoughts, reflections and actions of young children engaged in emergent curriculum is often hindered by the use of traditional report cards. Through the use of year-long preschool stories, teachers write about these young children using the children's thought processes and experiences as the central data source. This practice illustrates trust of the child and the child's daily actions as critical in understanding the child. The purpose of this paper is to re-visit previously written preschool stories from multiple perspectives including the child featured in the story, the family of the child, the creator of the preschool stories, and a co-teacher within the community. This re-examination offers another way to consider the preschool stories, opening the work to revision and rethinking.

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About the Authors

 

 

Jeanne Marie Iorio, Ed.D., is an Assistant Professor in Early Childhood Education at the University of Hawaii, West Oahu. As both an educator and artist, Jeanne Marie has intertwined the arts and education, focusing her research on child-adult conversations as aesthetic experiences.

Jeanne Marie is currently working on a documentary depicting the stories of LGBTI (Lesbians, Gays, Bisexuals, and Transgender Intersex) adults and their early childhood experiences. Her research interests include arts research methodologies, power differences between children and adults, preschool stories as documentation, action research, gender and early childhood, and democratic education.

Jeanne Marie serves as the program co-chair for Critical Perspectives on Early Childhood SIG for the American Educational Research Association and the co-chair of University of Hawaii Commission on the Status of LGBTI Equality. She completed her doctoral work at Teachers College, Columbia University. E-mail address: Iorio@hawaii.edu

 

 

Hema Visweswaraiah received her MA in Early Childhood General and Special Education from Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, and worked for several years as a preschool teacher at the Rita Gold Early Childhood Center at TC. Currently, she is the Associate Director of the Fisher Early Learning Center at the University of Denver (DU).

Hema has conducted research with colleagues regarding the significance of child-adult conversations and the role of the teacher in an early childhood setting. She has also explored perspectives on gender and alternative assessment while further analyzing her own role as a teacher-researcher in the early childhood classroom.

Hema's role as a teacher-researcher has been fueled by her interest in better understanding - through play, conversation and careful observation - young children's perceptions of their world. Through doing so, she hopes to provide them with an optimal environment for learning and growing.

Hema completed the Buell Early Childhood Leadership Program at DU (May 2012) and has focused her action research on promoting inclusive practices in early childhood settings. She oversees the Fisher Inclusion Team (which serves children with special needs) and the Night Owls Program (which provides respite care for families of children with special needs). In her work as an educator and administrator, Hema strives to promote inclusion and to convey the importance of "best practice" when addressing each child's strengths and challenges.