Reflecting on Communities of Practice (CoP) and Circles of Support (CoS) for Early Childhood Education #ECE Continue reading
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Knuffle Bunny Inspires Reflection: Using Children’s Literature for Professional Learning
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
Where is Me? Reflecting on Self-Identity in Early Childhood Education
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
Updating Outdated Practices in Early Childhood Education
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
To Theme or Not to Theme: That is the Question
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
Zooms before Zooms: Professional Learning in the Early Years
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
The Wonder Filled Worlds of Wood for the Early Years
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
A Seasonal Pedagogy: Seeking Multiple Perspectives in Professional Learning
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. The York Region Nature Collaborative has been offering a series of Land as Teacher webinars. On February 13th, I had the honour of co-presenting Land as Teacher: Foundations for Early Learning, the fifth offering in the series. Rather than a presentation, it was a dialogue about contexts and perspectives between … Continue reading
A Seasonal Pedagogy: Documenting Stories within Stories
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. Stories spiral in and out of my mind when I visit the pond near my house. These stories are woven together by threads of relationships. There are stories within stories that relate to my professional and personal growth in my final season. The pond is the backdrop to a documented … Continue reading
Small Worlds in Early Learning: Now is the Time!
By: Diane Kashin, Ed.D, RECE. I think I have always been fascinated by small world play. As a child and as an adult. I have fond memories of creating miniature worlds especially outdoors. I used rocks, mud, grass, straw and sticks to form a world that I could play inside of. I was in control. … Continue reading
Technology Rich Inquiry Based Research 