New Possibilities for Early Childhood Education: Stories from Our Nontraditional Students

By Susan Bernheimer, Janice A. Jipson, susan-bernheimer

This book speaks to the heart of an urgent task facing teacher preparation programs on campuses at the beginning of the twenty-first century: How can college instructors work most effectively with a new generation of nontraditional students that includes growing numbers of immigrants, single parents, and returning homemakers struggling to find their way in large and unfamiliar institutions? Susan Bernheimer went straight to the source for answers, interviewing impoverished students aspiring to become teachers of young children. Revealing, poignant, and replete with practical insights about learning and inclusion, the students' words reflect their desire to become teachers - a desire hidden beneath their fears and silence. Their stories, testaments to courage and faith, remind us of the pivotal role of the classroom teacher at all levels of education. In a book filled with student narratives, classroom vignettes, and instructional strategies, Bernheimer shows rather than tells, inspires rather than judges. She blends research and interviews with her own classroom experience and urges educators to integrate students' lives and voices into the curriculum. New Possibilities for Early Childhood Education offers an inside perspective and a new vision for all classroom teachers.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0820452963
• ISBN13: 9780820452968
• Release Date: January 2006
• Publisher: Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publi
• Length: 132 Pages
• Weight: 0.50 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 7.0" x 10.0"

Customer Reviews

New possibilities for us all

The stories of the women in this book offer hope for women who are struggling to overcome obstacles to their growth and change their lives. This book challenges our system of education, particularily adult education, to change how we teach. It shows how when a teacher makes a program accessible and safe for learners to learn, and teaches them from the inside out--from who they are--then you open up a whole new world of possibilities to education and to our society. We are wasting vast amounts of human potential by ignoring and overlooking what matters most in the classroom.

Reaching all of our students

As a former community college instructor, and a teacher of adults who did not have early school success, I was very interested in Susan Bernheimer's work on non-traditional students. She describes her personal journey of transforming her teaching style to meet the needs of adult students returning to school to study early childhood education. She allows them to bring their experiences from lives of poverty and racism into the classroom and integrates these stories into her teaching, broadening our understanding of child development theory and developmentally appropriate practices. Her writing and teaching stand out as honest, authentic, and filled with integrity. This is an inspiring work for teachers and social service workers who want to challenge themselves to support and include all of their students and clients while enrichening their curriculum.