That Early Childhood Nerd

In Screen Aware Early Childhood: A Realistic Approach to Helping Young Children Thrive in a Digitally Complex World,  Patricia Cantor, Melinda Holohan, and Jean Rogers offer their Screen Aware for Early Childhood Framework (SAFEC) as an essential guide for “navigating the screenscape and making decisions about screen use.”

They join host Heather Bernt-Santy in this episode to discuss why this is such an important resource, and to share the four guiding principles of SAFEC: development centered, research informed, protection oriented, and relationship based.

Their message is centered on protective factors rather than risk factors and is a refreshingly hopeful contribution to an important conversation in our work with children and families.

Order the book here: https://www.tcpress.com/products/screen-aware-early-childhood_9780807787281

Find the Screen Aware Early Childhood Action Toolkit here: https://screentimenetwork.org/ECKit

Order Heather’s book, Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood, here: https://www.tcpress.com/products/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood_9780807783177

Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd

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Susan Engel is Class of 1959 Director of the Program in Teaching and a senior lecturer in psychology at Williams College, and the author of several books...all of which host Heather Bernt-Santy has read and LOVED! Her latest book, American Kindergarten: Dispatches from the First Year of School, is no exception. 

In this episode, Susan joins Heather to talk about the book--"an unexpected portrait of the first year of school for America's youngest learners," written after spending time in kindergarten classrooms across the United States. You'll love hearing her talk about the promises kindergarten can make to children.

Order the book here: https://a.co/d/0jjfd5pO

You can order Heather's book here: https://a.co/d/03frXV0a

Thank you for listening! Please consider leaving a review to help more people find the show!

It's time for another Nerd Study Hall! In this episode, host Heather Bernt-Santy is joined by Richard Cohen, Aaron Neimark, and Mike Huber to discuss an article written by retired professor and former community organizer William Ayers, titled "The Hope and Promise of Teaching." It's a beautiful, challenging, inspiring, and validating article and the conversation reflects all of these elements. 

Buy Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood here: https://www.tcpress.com/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood-9780807787243

Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd

Thanks for listening!

"When we think of being “gentle” we might think of it as being slow-moving, of having a soft voice, of being non-threatening. But how I view gentleness in the context of risky play looks like being emotionally and energetically attuned. Whether we are hanging upside down on a tree, or playing monsters in the yard, being consistent, being present, being attuned are all ways we can be gentle with one another even through the chaos of it all."

Mike Browne, in his article for the winter issue of Exchange, focused on protecting play, wrote about his experience as a Black man working with young children and takes the reader through his deeply thoughtful process of reflecting on his experiences. 

Find the article here: https://hub.exchangepress.com/articles-on-demand/70878/

Buy Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood here: https://www.tcpress.com/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood-9780807787243

Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd

Thanks for listening!

In her article for Exchange Press's special issue on protecting play, Carol Garboden Murray writes, "Those of us who care for young children practice a caring imagination daily as we see the possibilities for the vulnerable competent child, and teach in a way that supports their unique unfolding and original direction. As we care, we teach children to care. Through care, we plant the seeds for a moral imagination to grow; an empathetic intelligence, attuned to the needs of others, one that transforms children into agents of care. Care and imagination are intertwined, and these are not soft skills. Care and imagination are the seeds of our humanity, and they grow to become the source of our connection, joy, trust, and survival in a broken world. A caring imagination supports our commitment to one another, our commitment to care."

Carol is one of TECN's favorite guests, and you won't want to miss this opportunity to hear her connect imagination and care, both in the context of children's imaginative play and the ways adults use their imaginations in caring for children.

Find Carol's article here: https://hub.exchangepress.com/articles-on-demand/70819/

Buy Heather's book Using Schema Play Theory to Advocate for Free Play in Early Childhood here: https://www.tcpress.com/using-schema-play-theory-to-advocate-for-free-play-in-early-childhood-9780807787243

Join our new Patreon community! For just $5 a month you can support all the Early Childhood Nerdwork podcasts AND join our Discord server to chat with the hosts and others who are working for children, their families, and their teachers: https://www.patreon.com/cw/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd

Thanks for listening!