It Takes a Village
By Hillary Rodham Clinton
A friend has recommended me Hilary Clinton’s book, It Takes a Village awhile ago and I just never had the time to sit down and read it, but I was reminded about it when in one of our week’s discussions or assignments we were asked about that what that phrase means, “It takes a village”. I am not a very political person so this has nothing to do with her views on politics but rather, just education. I’ve only had a chance to read a little past the introduction, but I’m very interested in learning more about her insight and work in the early childhood field in connection to her family. I especially how love part of the title says “other lessons children teach us”. How true is it, that while we are technically the educators, we are also learning SO MUCH from the children we teach.
The Project Approach
Dr. Sylvia Chard
From last weeks research, I also found Dr. Sylvia Chard’s development on The Project Approach incrediably interesting, and I believe I was the only one who chose to learn more about her in our discussion boards (although I know some chose Lilian Katz who Chard frequently works with so some of you may be familiar with her). The Project Approach refers to a set of teaching strategies that help teachers develop topics. Her webiste about The Project Approach is very informative and resourceful, giving examples and special topics on what she teaches about to teachers. Below is a link to The Project Approach website, I feel that it would be beneficial to many.
I have stated it a lot in our discussion boards and our intros to each other that I am a very hands-on learning teacher and while my curriculum doesn’t allow the full on-project approach style of learning, I try to kind of take a minimal version of this in my small group introductions of learning materials or new themes, especially in our science center. It was also interesting to me that I found I was sort of doing this approach without realizing it, since I had honestly never heard of Sylvia Chard or the Project Approach during my studies in college on early childhood education.
http://www.projectapproach.org/
Teaching In Today’s Inclusive Classroom: A Universal Design for Learning Approach
Richard M. Gargiulo, Debbie Metcalf
This book is also a great resource for a classroom. I had used an earlier version of this in college and it was a great tool getting used to inclusive classroom enviroments. Inclusion is awesome for students, but it can be a struggle sometimes for the teachers; either getting used to it or juggling the different needs of their students or anything else. This book had a lot of great examples of “what do do if” or “how to…” scenerios and is a great help for people who may not have a special education background and don’t always know how to deal with actions or problems but want to be prepared. My college degree was only early childhood/elementary education so I am one of those people who don’t have a full knowledge of special education (we were only required to take one Intro to Special Ed course) but have an inclusive classroom, so this is great help for me. There is ALWAYS more to learn about but I personally feel the best way to learn is to be thrown into the situation and figure out how to react. Experience is the best practice you’ll get, but having a book like this for tips & scenerios will definitely help out!
Brittany's Blog: Teaching with Ms. Pyle 
Hello” It Takes a Village” sounds very interesting I’m wondering if the book about everyone coming together to take care of our children, there once was a saying my grandmother used to say “It takes a Village to raise a child” this meant to me and others that everyone in the community helped each other out when it came to the kids.I will pick up a copy of that book, Thanks for informing me about it.
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I need to go to the book store and try to find It Takes A Village! Your third resource sounds very interesting to me, too. I feel that it would help me work through a lot of scenarios that I face in the classroom! Thanks for informing me of these!
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Teaching in Today’s Inclusive Classroom sounds very helpful! I love the idea that more and more teachers are recognizing the need to address being inclusive in their classrooms. This book is sure to help teachers who are starting to show their students how to be inclusive. Thank you for sharing.
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Hi Brittany,
Thank you for adding the book by Clinton to your resources. This is my first time reading about the book and it will be added to my resources now. I love that we both have resources that involve project approach and that there is a universal understanding of the importance that children learn through play. Your resources are ones that I will be adding to my own at work.
-Leesa
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Brittany, Thanks for adding the resource it takes a village. This is true because everyone working together can have a major impact on an individual. Thanks for sharing!
Natalie
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Hi Brittany,
Hillary Clinton’s book seems very interesting to read. I have always heard “it takes a village to raise a child”. As for the portion on the cover that says, “other lessons that children teach us” has really sparked my interest. It’s not every day that we have the opportunity to learn from a child. We have to remember that children see things differently than we do. Their perspective could teach us a valuable lesson we may have forgotten over time.
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