Journeys

By Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw, Fikile Nxumalo, Laurie Kocher, Enid Elliot, and Alejandra Sanchez

Inspired by the idea of documentation as a valuable tool for making learning visible, pedagogical narration offers an opportunity to move beyond checklists and quick answers to a more complex understanding of how children learn, and how teachers might facilitate and support that learning in innovative ways. The authors use stories they collected during a collaborative study to offer a range of possibilities for alternative childhood pedagogies. Cutting edge, yet practical; detailed in its analysis, yet inspiring, this book is a boon to the field of early childhood and primary education studies.

This is an exciting book that will add much-needed provocation to the conversation about children, childhood, families, and the learning and teaching that goes alongside them. -- Patrick Lewis, University of Regina This impressive collaborative effort critically explores the complexities of pedagogical narration in ways that demonstrate its potential to foster responsive, ethical, and social justice-focused approaches to early childhood education and care. Accessible and effectively organized, the volume enables readers to engage in critical thinking about the provocative narratives offered. The book will undoubtedly inspire the kinds of 'complicated dialogues' the authors invite child care professionals to engage in. -- Luigi Iannacci, Trent University Journeys offers a rich account of the collaborative work of a group of Canadian educators who have used pedagogical narration to question long-standing practices in early childhood education and care. Their journeys have produced a book overflowing with ideas that students, educators, researchers, and scholars can return to again and again to invigorate theory and practice. -- Rachel Langford, Ryerson University

List of IllustrationsAcknowledgementsBeginningLocating OurselvesHow to Use This Book1. Engaging with ComplexityCreating a Collaborative Critically Reflective CommunityConnections and Disruptions: Encounters with Diverse PerspectivesRethinking Professional DevelopmentCollaborative Action Research and Politicizing PracticeRethinking Quality in the Early Childhood Education FieldShifting Our Focus from Understanding Practice to Complexifying Practices2. Reflecting CriticallyBringing a Critical Perspective to Child DevelopmentWhat Do We Mean by Critical Reflection?Critical Reflection and Political IntentionalityTheoretical Tools for Critical ReflectionPedagogical Narration: A Tool for Critical ReflectionFrom Reflection to Diffraction3. Challenging AssumptionsImages of the ChildImages of the EducatorImages of the FamilyChallenging Assumptions Complexifies the Learning JourneyPedagogical Narrations in the Making: From Our Work with EducatorsPrincesses and PiratesThe TiaraBecoming RapunzelEntangled BodiesBuilding a Fort4. Thinking TogetherPedagogical Narration as a Tool to Complexify PracticesDocumenting Children's Learning across Three ContextsReggio Emilia: Pedagogical DocumentationThe McDonaldization of Pedagogical DocumentationPedagogical Documentation as a Discourse of Meaning-MakingPedagogical Narration as a Political ToolPedagogical Narration as a Vehicle for Public DialoguePedagogical Narration as a Materializing Apparatus of Knowing5. Opening to PossibilitiesEngaging with Pedagogical Narrations through Multiple LensesPostfoundational PerspectivesOpening to Multiple Perspectives Complexifies the Learning Journey6. Opening to EthicsInviting an Ethical Approach into Our PracticePedagogical Narration as a Nomadic Ethical ActCentring Ethical Potentials in Our PracticeStaying in MotionUnderstanding Our Language: A GlossaryAppendix: Project SummariesInvestigating Quality (IQ) ProjectBritish Columbia Early Learning Framework Implementation ProjectReferencesIndexBritish Columbia Early Learning Framework Implementation Project