That Early Childhood Nerd – Details, episodes & analysis

"Your image of the child, regardless of whether it is the first time you have reflected upon it, defines and determines the way you approach every interaction you have with children," writes Ron Grady in his book Honoring the Moment in Young Children's Lives: Observation, Documentation, and Reflection. Ron joins Heather in this episode to dig deep into a phrase ("image of the child") that is becoming more and more common in our field. What does it really mean? Why does it matter so much? Find more of Ron here: https://www.childology.co/Support Heather's work with a one time donation, or membership levels with even more content, here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/heatherf Thanks for listening! Save 10% on professional development from Explorations Early Learning and support the show with the coupon code NERD. Like the show? Consider supporting our work by becoming a Patron, shopping our Amazon Link, or sharing it with someone who might enjoy it. You can leave a comment or ask a question here. Click here for more Heather. For a small fee we can issue self-study certificates for listening to podcasts.

Listen in as host Heather Bernt-Santy, and fellow ECE Nerds Bethany Corrie and Mike Huber, talk through the article When Boys Won't Be Boys: Discussing Gender with Young Children, where authors Hannah Katch and Jane Katch discuss the ways Jane is seeing gender roles enacted in her classroom.  Thanks for listening! Save 10% on professional development from Explorations Early Learning and support the show with the coupon code NERD. Like the show? Consider supporting our work by becoming a Patron, shopping our Amazon Link, or sharing it with someone who might enjoy it. You can leave a comment or ask a question here. Click here for more Heather. For a small fee we can issue self-study certificates for listening to podcasts.

Have you ever noticed that most of the theorists and philosophies in our early childhood textbooks are the same handful of men-plus-Montessori? Heather got curious….who are the women (past and present) who are influencing and informing the work we’re doing with young children. This episode is the third installment of a new tradition–episodes in May that invite some of my favorite women in early childhood to talk about the women who guide our work. In this episode, Heather is joined by Krystina Tapia and Kisa Marx to discuss how bell hooks, Emmi Pikler, and Lisa Murphy inspire them. 

Sometimes it seems like "mindfulness" in our work with young children has become more of a product than a process. Bethany Corrie and Richard Cohen join Heather to talk about how we can bring back its authenticity. 

Richard Cohen joins Heather for another episode on teaching ECE in higher education. How can we break away from traditional teaching models to provide spaces and experiences that teach critical thinking? 

Lisa Murphy and Heather discuss the difference between having 30 years of experience teaching and having one year of experience 30 times. What are the implications for the profession and for children?

An all star Nerd Panel comes together in this episode (Lisa Murphy! Sam Balch! Lizz Nolasco! Mike Huber! Richard Cohen! Heather!) to look at real examples of phrases heard in early childhood programs that demonstrate a disconnect between theory and practice. 

Mobile STEM teacher Laura Weilert has some thoughts about real STEM experiences, play and those google-search-volcano-science-experiments. 

ECE advocate and school director Rixa Evershed joins Mike Huber and Heather to talk about the language of "achievement gaps" and how capitalism and deficit approaches to children and families fuel policies and practices that have a negative impact on the people they claim to be helping.

You may have seen child care center director Cori Berg's interview with NPR--it went viral fast! Cori joins the show, along with Richard Cohen, to talk more about the "special kind of hell" the pandemic has created for directors and for families.