Episode 72 - How can we use approachable language to communicate the importance of early education to parents? Parents don't always have an opportunity to explore the advantages of early learning in the business of working lives. Amanda Morgan explores how approaches in early education can also be applied to parenting. She advocates for creating simple links between teachers and parents and ensuring that parents without a background in early education can still recognize the value of the field.

How can educators embrace educating parents on early learning? Parents can feel pressure to encourage their children to meet milestones (reading, toilet training) earlier and earlier. How can we give children space to learn and support parents in approaching early education with spaciousness? Listen and find out.

Episode 71 - How can we ensure policymakers are informed about child development and brain science? Zero to Three advocates for high-quality childcare, paid family leave, healthy environments and access to early infant mental health programs. We know that 62% of mothers return to the workforce within the first year, and more than 6 million children in the U.S. spend some part of their day in child care. "We are hindering the development of young children by not providing them access to high-quality child care".

Myra Jones-Taylor explores why access to quality care is critical, and what policymakers can do today to support child care advocacy now. In some states, infant care costs more than University! Without childcare assistance for low and moderate families, we are already harming families before their children are three years old. Jones-Taylor tells The Preschool Podcast audience why it's so critical that families and educators get involved in advocacy work, and includes some examples of practical language you can send to policymakers so they hear directly from experts like you.

Resources: Find out more about Zero to Three and get involved here.

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Episode 70 -Scott McLeod provides some tactical case studies on what new, innovative school and education approaches look like. To McLeod, there are 4 big shifts that need to happen:

1) A focus on low-level, procedural driven education to deeper higher level learning.

2) Giving kids more agency of their own work.

3) How do we make schoolwork more authentic and connected to the real-world?

4) How do we use technology in robust ways to make the first 3 shifts happen?

Show Notes

You can find Scott's book on Amazon.

Resources

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Episode 69 - This week we speak to popular education blogger Vicki A Davis of the Cool Cat Teacher blog about the nuance of language, our shared understanding of these terms, and how a current trend in early education - social-emotional learning - can be directly connected to STEM. Vicki asks those of us in preschools and K-12 to define how they will implement an SEL program and not just use these popular taglines without deploying it effectively.

Resources

Check out Vicki's Cool Cat Teacher Blog

Find out more about HiMama's early childhood educator app