NERD 0430 Children's Behaviors and Children's Learning: Tools Over Tactics

One of host Heather Bernt-Santy’s favorite things is to find someone who takes something she is instinctively feeling and brilliantly putting that feeling into words. In this episode, her guest Amy Chiu has done just that.

Amy joins the show to talk about how easy it can be for early childhood practitioners to take the tools we have in our toolbox and use them as tactics for control or compliance. Listen to find out what she means when she says:

• Tools become tactics when the goal shifts from understanding children to controlling outcomes
• Taking deep breaths becomes a tactic when a child is expected to “calm down” on command
• Scaffolding becomes a tactic when participation matters more than agency
• Visual schedules become tactics when they leave no room for humanity, flexibility, or individual rhythms

Find more of Amy’s work at www.theworkofplay.com

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

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Thanks for listening!