PREAL Enlaces: Obama administration outlines plan for universal ear...

In a recent op-ed in the Washington Post, United States Secretary of Education Arne Duncan discussed a government proposal intended to make high-quality early education available to all four-year-old children, regardless of economic or social status. Duncan cites evidence that early childhood education has significant positive effects on high school graduation rates, employment, and rates of criminal behavior.

For additional perspectives on the issue, see PREAL post about President Obama’s State of the Union address, in which he discussed the proposal.

Visit the PREAL Blog for more links to outside events and publications, as well as expert analysis and discussion of education policy in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Hello all, I recently started to pay particular attention to ECCE. I think that children come to us with such energy and creativity at the ECCE level that one wonders what goes wrong when they enter the primary stage of schooling. There appears to be a disconnect between the how learner learns and how he/she is taught. I find too often children lose their enthusiasm for learning, as they become passive participant in the learning process. 

Dear Colleagues,

A group of community members is currently working through the ITEN Audio program "Critical Thinking for Teachers", which explores how to move students beyond memorizing information to the higher levels of thinking, such as analysis and synthesis, in Bloom's taxonomy. Pre-schoolers are naturally curious and ask a lot of "why" questions; how can we encourage them on the basis of this to explore and think?

Here is a description of the Morning Meeting, a method that is part of the Responsive Classroom approach. Perhaps you already do something similar, but this document has a well-articulated description of the principles and goals of the morning meeting.

https://www.responsiveclassroom.org/sites/default/files/pdf_files/S...

Please share with us how you encourage children to express their thoughts, ideas, and feelings. Will you apply some of the ideas from this document? How?

Warm regards,

Dan