Professional Development That Works: Shifting Preschool Teachers\u27 Beliefs and Use of Instructional Strategies to Promote Children\u27s Peer Social Competence

This study examined the effectiveness of a professional development (PD) experience on preschool teachers\u27 instructional strategy development. Focusing on supporting young children\u27s peer social competence as a common interest, preschool teachers were guided to design the specific contents of the PD workshops and were offered an on-site facilitation opportunity, delineating teacher-driven and job-embedded approaches, respectively. Findings from this study suggest that teacher-driven PD workshops significantly increased teachers\u27 perceived feasibility of implementing instructional strategies, and their actual use of those strategies was significantly influenced by job-embedded facilitations. In addition, preschool teachers considered physical classroom environment and children\u27s language to be the most challenging factors in their instructional strategy implementation. Implications and directions for an effective PD model for preschool teachers are discussed

Sociocultural Influence on Children\u27s Social Competence: A Close Look at Kindergarten Teachers\u27 Beliefs

This study was conducted with White American kindergarten teachers from a southeast region of the United States to examine their beliefs about culture and social competence. Overall, from a sociocultural perspective, these teachers had limited understanding of young children\u27s social competence and showed varying degrees of cultural knowledge for different racial/cultural groups: African American, Hispanics, and Asians, from the most to the least. In addition, several insights, such as teachers\u27 personal beliefs about social competence, represented low-context cultural beliefs; teachers\u27 major source of cultural knowledge was professional experience; and teachers\u27 beliefs about multicultural education revealed color-blind teaching emerged through the qualitative individual interviews. Taken together, the findings of this study have implications for practice in early childhood teacher education, such that institutional support should be in place to provide teachers with opportunities to become aware of their own identities and beliefs. It is also suggested that teacher education programs should restructure the educational courses to embrace the sociocultural influence on child development and learning, as well as expand multicultural preparation courses, to enhance teachers\u27 multicultural knowledge and skills beyond the level of awareness

Young Children’s Racial-Cultural Identity Negotiation and Development:A Phenomenological Case Study

This article reports on a phenomenological case study following one Korean-American child’snegotiation and development of racial-cultural identity in the United States during the first three years ofschool. This study aimed to closely explore, understand, and explain the critical incidents experienced bya Korean-American child to recognize and negotiate her racial-cultural identity, and the strategies sheused to navigate through the school culture. As a result, four themes were identified with the followingmetaphors: (a) Just give me a sandwich – Avoiding attention; (b) I must have been a slave – Trying to fitin; (c) It is my cultural water – Speaking up; and (d) I can be both – Reconstructing flexible identities.This study offers a glimpse into a complex nature of a Korean-American child’s racial-cultural identitynegotiation and development in the United States calling for an expanded discourse around the issue, andsheds a light on what roles teachers and parents can play to collaboratively address and scaffold theexperiences

Supporting Early Childhood Teachers to Promote Children’s Social Competence: Components for Best Professional Development Practices

There is a growing recognition that young children’s social competence is critical because it is positively associated with their school readiness and academic success. However, professional development (PD) opportunities for early childhood teachers to enhance their roles in promoting young children’s social competence are limited. In this article, five key components of best PD on social competence for early childhood teachers are recommended. These include (1) identifying PD content based on participants’ contextual needs; (2) sequencing PD aligned with the positive behavior support framework; (3) providing opportunities for participants to receive feedback on their implementation; (4) guiding participants to reflect on their own practices; and (5) embracing socio-cultural perspectives throughout the PD

Young Children’s Racial-Cultural Identity Negotiation and Development:A Phenomenological Case Study

This article reports on a phenomenological case study following one Korean-American child’snegotiation and development of racial-cultural identity in the United States during the first three years ofschool. This study aimed to closely explore, understand, and explain the critical incidents experienced bya Korean-American child to recognize and negotiate her racial-cultural identity, and the strategies sheused to navigate through the school culture. As a result, four themes were identified with the followingmetaphors: (a) Just give me a sandwich – Avoiding attention; (b) I must have been a slave – Trying to fitin; (c) It is my cultural water – Speaking up; and (d) I can be both – Reconstructing flexible identities.This study offers a glimpse into a complex nature of a Korean-American child’s racial-cultural identitynegotiation and development in the United States calling for an expanded discourse around the issue, andsheds a light on what roles teachers and parents can play to collaboratively address and scaffold theexperiences

Words Can Help Manage Emotions: Using Research-Based Strategies for Vocabulary Instruction to Teach Emotion Words to Young Children

One of the key objectives of childhood education is to build empathy and understanding in students. Young children with the ability to comprehend and regulate their own emotions—and empathize with the emotions and experiences of others—go on to achieve greater learning outcomes and more positive relationships than children who do not develop these skills. Global citizenship education, which is being touted around the world as critical to a positive human future, emphasizes the role of empathy and compassion in students\u27 leadership and decision-making. However, respect for and public display of emotions varies widely across cultures. In cultures known as “low-context” (i.e., Germany, U.K.), emotions are deemphasized in decision making and public life, whereas “high-context” cultures, as in Japan and Egypt, consider emotions to be an important part of all interactions. In this article, the authors present research on emotion words and emotional literacy for children and provide suggestions for practical application

No Child Misunderstood: Enhancing Early Childhood Teachers’ Multicultural Responsiveness to the Social Competence of Diverse Children

As a result of rapid demographic changes in our society, more children from diverse racial/cultural backgrounds join our early childhood classrooms. The majority of early childhood teachers, on the other hand, are middle-class and of European-decent. This paper provides early childhood teachers with both theoretical and practical understandings about multicultural responsiveness, in order to understand and promote social competence of young children from diverse backgrounds. To accomplish this end, readers will be guided to consider actual classroom based examples and questions throughout the paper. First, the concept of social competence will be revisited from sociocultural perspectives. Next, we discuss advocacy for social competence of diverse children through the main themes of multicultural awareness, knowledge, and skills. Finally, we recommend several strategies to support teachers’ professional growth and development for multicultural responsiveness

Effects of Critical Thinking Intervention for Early Childhood Teacher Candidates

This study is based on an intervention designed to enhance early childhood teacher candidates\u27 critical thinking abilities. The concept, elements, standards, and traits of critical thinking were integrated into the main course contents, and the effects of the intervention were examined. The results indicated that early childhood teacher candidates\u27 dispositions toward critical thinking significantly increased after the intervention. In addition, their knowledge about critical thinking and ability to apply critical thinking in their own learning showed growth as well. Curricula implications for early childhood teacher preparation programs and instructional practices for teacher educators are discussed