Empowering Young Children: How to Nourish Deep, Transformative Learning For Social Justice

171 Pages·2022·9.948 MB·English

by  Wendy L. Ostroff

Empowering Young Children
This essential guidebook offers creative, exciting ways for teachers to
implement and support deep, authentic and transformative learning
in early childhood. Each standalone chapter identifies a key focus for
empowering children, exploring the research behind the habit, how it
stimulates deep learning and the ways in which it can help address
implicit hierarchies and disrupt oppression. Chapters feature hands-
on activities, ideas for lessons and events that teachers can try, along-
side techniques to involve parents and families, bringing this important
work beyond the classroom walls.
Wendy L. Ostroff is an applied developmental and cognitive
psychologist, and Professor in the Hutchins School of Liberal Studies at
Sonoma State University, USA.
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Advocacy for Early Childhood Educators: Speaking Up for
Your Students, Your Colleagues, and Yourself
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Grit, Resilience, and Motivation in Early Childhood:
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Identity Affirming Classrooms: Spaces That Center Humanity
Erica Buchanan- Rivera
Nurturing Students’ Character: Everyday Teaching Activities
for Social- Emotional Learning
Jeffrey S. Kress and Maurice J. Elias
Empowering Young
Children
How to Nourish Deep,
Transformative Learning For
Social Justice
Wendy L. Ostroff
Cover image: © Getty Images
First published 2023
by Routledge
605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158
and by Routledge
4 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN
Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business
© 2023 Wendy L. Ostroff
The right of Wendy L. Ostroff to be identified as author of this work
has been asserted in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical,
or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including
photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval
system, without permission in writing from the publishers.
Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks
or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and
explanation without intent to infringe.
Library of Congress Cataloging- in- Publication Data
A catalog record for this title has been requested
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 06575- 5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 032- 06506- 9 (pbk)
ISBN: 978- 1- 003- 20287- 5 (ebk)
DOI: 10.4324/ 9781003202875
Typeset in Palatino
by Newgen Publishing UK
This book is dedicated to the dearest, most dedicated
of Dads:
David Ostroff
For a lifetime of loving generosities, large and small
And for all he undertook for the Cooks Brook
Book Nook

Contents
Acknowledgments . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
About the Author . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xiv
Introduction to Empowering Young Children ................1
Respecting Children’s Unique Perspectives 2
Challenging Social Facts 3
What Is the Point of School? 5
Why Kids Need to Enact Social Justice 7
A Great Moment for Bold Imagination 8
1 Empowering Young Children to Be Social and
Collaborative: How to Nourish Empathy,
Understanding and Valuing Others ....................11
Evolutionary and Developmental History of
Collaboration 12
Synchrony: The Beginning of Empathy 12
How Collaboration Facilitates and Deepens Learning 15
Learning by Joining Communities 15
Solving Problems Together in “The Zone” 15
Collaboration Nourishes Social Justice via Empathy,
Understanding and Valuing Others 19
Sample Nourishment of Empathy, Understanding and
Valuing Others 22
In Sum 26
2 Empowering Young Children to Be Playful and
Joyful: How to Nourish Flexibility, Sharing
Power and Handling the Unpredictable ................33
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Play 34
How Play Facilitates and Deepens Learning 35
Play Enhances Social Skills: A Pathway to Social Justice 37
viii ◆ Contents
Free to Play 39
Play Is at Risk 42
How Playfulness and Joy Inspire Social Justice 44
Sample Nourishment of Joyful Flexibility, Sharing Power and
Handling the Unpredictable 46
In Sum 48
3 Empowering Young Children to Be Curious Inquirers:
How to Nourish Experimentation and Innovation .......53
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Inquiry 54
How Inquiry Facilitates and Deepens Learning: Curiosity
and Questions 55
Outcomes of Curiosity: Divergent Thinking and
Creativity 60
How Curiosity Inspires Social Justice 62
Sample Nourishment of Experimentation and
Innovation 66
In Sum 68
4 Empowering Young Children for Autonomy
and Agency: How to Nourish Freedom,
Self- Determination and Confidence ....................73
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Autonomy and
Agency 74
How Autonomy Facilitates and Deepens Learning 76
Harms of Surveillance (and Even Praise) 79
How Autonomy Nourishes Freedom, Self- Determination and
Confidence 81
Placemaking as Autonomy 82
Sample Nourishment of Freedom, Self- Determination and
Confidence 83
In Sum 85
5 Empowering Young Children to Take Their
Time: How to Nourish Patience, Presence and
Comfort with Discomfort .............................90
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Time in
Childhood 91
Contents ◆ ix
How Time Facilitates and Deepens Learning 92
The Faster Equals Better Myth 93
Too Much, Too Soon in School 95
Unstructured Time for Learning 96
Pausing, Incubation and Problem Solving 98
How Time Nourishes Social Justice 101
Sample Nourishment of Patience, Presence and Comfort
with Discomfort 104
In Sum 106
6 Empowering Young Children for Dynamic
Movement in Nature: How to Nourish
Embodiment and Ecological Attunement ..............112
Evolutionary and Developmental History of Moving,
Embodied Learning 113
How Movement Facilitates Deep Learning 113
Teaching for Embodied Cognition 114
Complex Thinking and Spontaneous Movement 116
Movement Outdoors 118
Walking 119
Nature 120
How Dynamic Outdoor Learning Nourishes Social
Justice 123
Sample Nourishment of Embodied, Ecologically Attuned,
Outdoor Learning 124
In Sum 128
7 Empowering Young Children to Value All Voices,
Practice Dialogue: How to Nourish Active, Deep
Listening and Critical Thinking ......................133
Evolutionary and Developmental History of
Dialogue 134
How Dialogue Facilitates and Deepens Learning 135
Children Ask the Most and the Best Questions 136
In the Present, Real- Time 138
Active and Deep Listening 139
How Dialogue Nourishes Social Justice 140
Children Need to Be Empowered in Education 141