Scaffolding Children S Learning

This book is an effort to introduce early childhood educators to Vygotsky's perspective, research on young children that has been stimulated by this perspective, and current educational practices emanating from it. The discussion is divided into seven chapters. Chapter 1 provides an overview of Vygotsky's life, the social conditions in which his ideas emerged, and factors influencing the spread of his work. Chapter 2 offers a detailed description of Vygotsky's perspective on development, including the notions of cognition as socially constructed and shared, and language as the critical link between the social and the psychological planes of human functioning. Chapter 3 focuses on Vygotsky's view of the development and significance of children's imaginative or make-believe play. Chapter 4 summarizes Vygotsky's perspective on children with serious learning and behavior problems. Chapter 5 compares Vygotsky's approach to other major theories of child development in this century, clarifying its profound implications for early childhood education. Chapter 6 addresses contemporary applications of Vygotsky's theory to teaching and learning in early childhood classrooms. Finally, chapter 7 considers Vygotsky's theory as a vision for early childhood education--one that resolves the debate over academic versus child-centered programs by advocating responsiveness to children's current capacities in ways that move development forward. Key themes of the Vygotskian approach to early childhood education are summarized. The book includes a glossary of the terms used, three resources on Vygotsky's life and contributions, seven resources on language and thought, and 13 resources on play. Contains approximately 420 references. (AA)

Children are already learning at birth, and they develop and learn at a rapid pace in their early years. This provides a critical foundation for lifelong progress, and the adults who provide for the care and the education of young children bear a great responsibility for their health, development, and learning. Despite the fact that they share the same objective - to nurture young children and secure their future success - the various practitioners who contribute to the care and the education of children from birth through age 8 are not acknowledged as a workforce unified by the common knowledge and competencies needed to do their jobs well. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 explores the science of child development, particularly looking at implications for the professionals who work with children. This report examines the current capacities and practices of the workforce, the settings in which they work, the policies and infrastructure that set qualifications and provide professional learning, and the government agencies and other funders who support and oversee these systems. This book then makes recommendations to improve the quality of professional practice and the practice environment for care and education professionals. These detailed recommendations create a blueprint for action that builds on a unifying foundation of child development and early learning, shared knowledge and competencies for care and education professionals, and principles for effective professional learning. Young children thrive and learn best when they have secure, positive relationships with adults who are knowledgeable about how to support their development and learning and are responsive to their individual progress. Transforming the Workforce for Children Birth Through Age 8 offers guidance on system changes to improve the quality of professional practice, specific actions to improve professional learning systems and workforce development, and research to continue to build the knowledge base in ways that will directly advance and inform future actions. The recommendations of this book provide an opportunity to improve the quality of the care and the education that children receive, and ultimately improve outcomes for children.

The untold story of the root cause of America's education crisis--and the seemingly endless cycle of multigenerational poverty. It was only after years within the education reform movement that Natalie Wexler stumbled across a hidden explanation for our country's frustrating lack of progress when it comes to providing every child with a quality education. The problem wasn't one of the usual scapegoats: lazy teachers, shoddy facilities, lack of accountability. It was something no one was talking about: the elementary school curriculum's intense focus on decontextualized reading comprehension "skills" at the expense of actual knowledge. In the tradition of Dale Russakoff's The Prize and Dana Goldstein's The Teacher Wars, Wexler brings together history, research, and compelling characters to pull back the curtain on this fundamental flaw in our education system--one that fellow reformers, journalists, and policymakers have long overlooked, and of which the general public, including many parents, remains unaware. But The Knowledge Gap isn't just a story of what schools have gotten so wrong--it also follows innovative educators who are in the process of shedding their deeply ingrained habits, and describes the rewards that have come along: students who are not only excited to learn but are also acquiring the knowledge and vocabulary that will enable them to succeed. If we truly want to fix our education system and unlock the potential of our neediest children, we have no choice but to pay attention.

Now in its third edition, this classic text remains the seminal resource for in-depth information about major concepts and principles of the cultural-historical theory developed by Lev Vygotsky, his students, and colleagues, as well as three generations of neo-Vygotskian scholars in Russia and the West. Featuring two new chapters on brain development and scaffolding in the zone of proximal development, as well as additional content on technology, dual language learners, and students with disabilities, this new edition provides the latest research evidence supporting the basics of the cultural-historical approach alongside Vygotskian-based practical implications. With concrete explanations and strategies on how to scaffold young children’s learning and development, this book is essential reading for students of early childhood theory and development.

Use storybook reading to build the early literacy competencies that young children need to become successful readers and learners. Strategies and sample interactions will help you to strengthen children's knowledge of written language, vocabulary, phonology, the alphabet, narrative discourse, and the world around them. Also included are lists of additional storybooks for use in the classroom. As you develop children's abilities and interests in these areas, you will ease their transition to more advanced levels of reading and learning.

The great Russian psychologist L. S. Vygotsky has long been recognized as a pioneer in developmental psychology. But somewhat ironically, his theory of development has never been well understood in the West. Mind in Society should correct much of this misunderstanding. Carefully edited by a group of outstanding Vygotsky scholars, the book presents a unique selection of Vygotsky’s important essays, most of which have previously been unavailable in English. The Vygotsky who emerges from these pages can no longer be glibly included among the neobehaviorists. In these essays he outlines a dialectical-materialist theory of cognitive development that anticipates much recent work in American social science. The mind, Vygotsky argues, cannot be understood in isolation from the surrounding society. Man is the only animal who uses tools to alter his own inner world as well as the world around him. From the handkerchief knotted as a simple mnemonic device to the complexities of symbolic language, society provides the individual with technology that can be used to shape the private processes of mind. In Mind in Society Vygotsky applies this theoretical framework to the development of perception, attention, memory, language, and play, and he examines its implications for education. The result is a remarkably interesting book that is bound to renew Vygotsky’s relevance to modern psychological thought.

The bestselling Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning helped tens of thousands of mainstream elementary teachers ensure that their English language learners became full members of the school community with the language and content skills they needed for success. In the highly anticipated Second Edition, Pauline Gibbons updates her classic text with a multitude of practical ideas for the classroom, supported by the latest research in the field of ELL/ESL. With clear directions and classroom tested strategies for supporting students' academic progress, Gibbons shows how the teaching of language can be integrated seamlessly with the teaching of content, and how academic achievement can be boosted without sacrificing our own vision of education to the dictates of knee-jerk accountability. Rich examples of classroom discourse illustrate exactly how the scaffolding process works, while activities to facilitate conversation and higher-level thinking put the latest research on second language learning into action.