All too often, race and equity are not discussed in early childhood contexts for fear that children are too young or innocent to grapple with such topics. In this yearlong action research study, I examine how children's literature can be used to implement an antiracist pedagogy in early childhood classrooms. Through the enactment of a critical…

Young learners often are enchanted with the world, fascinated by the ordinary, and absorbed in the present moment. We explore interconnected ideas about how young children's natural proclivity toward being curious and noticing differences among people should be harnessed toward socially just ends. We consider ways in which joyfulness in learning…

Learn how to enact justice-oriented pedagogy and foster students' critical engagement in today's history classroom. Over the past 2 decades, various scholars have rightfully argued that we need to teach students to "think like a historian" or "think like a democratic citizen." In this book, the authors advocate for cultivating…

In our interconnected world, what does it mean to teach global environmental issues to young children? Using theoretical foundations from the social justice learning community and child-directed, inquiry-based learning best practices, this practitioner reflection details a seven-week, student-centered, interdisciplinary learning experience…

In this paper I reflect on the dilemma critical early childhood research finds itself in today. In order to distinguish and distance ourselves from the certainties and seemingly unquestionable truths of post-political, mainstream, "normalised" research and its entanglement with neoliberal agendas and corporate interests, have we rendered…

Issue 41 of Bank Street's Occasional Paper Series features a collection of papers by authors with a shared affinity for the work of critical mathematical inquiry (CMI). Essays in this issue include: (1) Teaching for Social Justice through Critical Mathematical Inquiry (Steven Greenstein and Mark Russo); (2) Re-designing Mathematics Education for…

This guided inquiry launched a year-long study centered on social justice issues and people who have championed change in our communities and nation. The article, offers resources and activities that highlight Patsy Mink's congressional achievements and experiences, and push young students to think about the institution of Congress with a gendered…

This qualitative case study documents pedagogical changes from a traditional teacher-centred instruction to an inquiry-based integrated literacy/science instruction in an urban second grade classroom. Social constructivist learning, where teachers and learners engage in discussion, argumentation, shared collective discourse, guided practice and…

Most practitioners and scholars agree that critical and reflective early childhood and elementary teachers are foundational for children's holistic growth and development. Yet current policies focused on elevating testing and performativity are contributing to student and teacher anxiety and alienation. This book offers a counternarrative to…

This paper explores how to develop teacher leaders across the career span. It offers a conceptual framework with three central tenets of teacher leadership: an emphasis on inquiry, a social justice imperative and an expanded understanding of teachers' roles in schools, communities and society. This model foregrounds the primary role that teachers…

Early childhood education has recently been heralded as the cornerstone of a brighter future for the United States, playing an important role in the healthy development of our youngest children (Perry, 2015; Bornfreund, 2015). However, the teachers of these children face multiple challenges in the profession, including unlivable wages, low morale…

The concept of social justice and critical thinking are prevalent topics in conversations about early childhood education. Usually, critical conversations around these practices tend to involve academics in discussion rather than include practitioners. In today's world, young children are frequently confronted with the realities of violence and…

An emerging theoretical perspective is that emotions are a verb or something we do in relation to others. Studies that demonstrate ways to analyze emotions from a performative stance are scarce. In this article, a new analytical tool is introduced; a critical performative analysis of emotion (CPAE) that draws upon three theoretical perspectives:…

Developing leadership among early childhood professionals has become increasingly important as investing in children's early years has been championed as a public and private national and international priority. Two case studies present how oral inquiry and specifically, the Prospect Center's Descriptive Review of a Professional Dilemma of…

As new standards require that teachers and schools move to incorporate argument writing beginning in the earliest grades, young children's interactions with opportunities to formulate claims require further investigation. This article, part of a yearlong ethnographic study of a first-grade class, examines young children's practices of argument…