By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D., RECE. For the past six months I have been writing, editing, revising, and rewriting a manuscript on professional friendships in early childhood education. When published, this book will be dedicated to all my professional friends, past, present, and future. Some of these relationships have stood the test of time, having spanned … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D., RECE. For the last six months, I have been thinking and writing about critical friendships in anticipation of new book on the topic for Redleaf Press. The experience has been transformational as I think back and think forward about professional friendships and children’s peer-to-peer relationships. The construct of friendship implies a … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D., RECE. Do you like being silly? For me, one of the greatest joys in life is being silly with children. It is also a common trait that I have with many of my professional friends. Being silly is being playful. Reflecting on the playfulness of children while thinking about our own … Continue reading
Reflecting on Communities of Practice (CoP) and Circles of Support (CoS) for Early Childhood Education #ECE Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Like, my grandchildren, I love Knuffle Bunny, a floppy stuffed rabbit, featured in a series of books by Mo Willems. I first became aware of, Knuffle Bunny: A Cautionary Tale when I was teaching a history and philosophy course to early childhood education students. The idea of using children’s books … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE As we begin a new year, my heart goes out to fellow early childhood educators who are continuing to struggle with caring for children and themselves during trying times. I am not surprised with the strength and resilience shown by educators and children. I have never underestimated the capacity of … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. The 21st century began on January 1st, 2001. Today’s children deserve learning experiences grounded in practices that are in keeping with a new era of play and learning. Now is the time to critically reflect on the practices that linger on from the previous century. I am a child of … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. When I first started work on my doctorate, about twenty years ago, I was determined to remain true to my early childhood education roots and to focus my research on issues that connected to my context of early learning. I wanted my research to reach early childhood educators to build … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. It was almost a year ago, May 2020, when I facilitated my first webinar for early childhood educators on Zoom. At that time, it was hard to imagine that almost a year later we would still be faced with the challenges of COVID, and I would have subsequently delivered over … Continue reading
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. What worlds to discover does wood hold for children? Made by nature, wood has so many benefits when offered to children. During the time of COVID, in group settings, there may be restrictions on the use of wooden toys and blocks, but I am confident in a post-COVID world that … Continue reading
Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research 