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Move from Teaching to Thinking
May 10, 2017
You cannot get through a single day without having an impact on the world around you. What you do makes a difference, and you have to decide what kind of difference you want to make.
-Jane Goodall, primatologist

"We tend to fling questions at children, one after another, a rapid-fire sequence of queries that bear little relevance to a child's pursuits and that hold little interest for us or for the child," writes Ann Pelo in her article "Finding Questions Worth Asking" that inspired an Out of the Box Training Kit of the same name. 

"Our intention is to teach, but our verbal quizzes reduce learning to a recitation of superficial facts.

"When we reshape our intention, though, from teaching to thinking, our exchanges with children change. They become authentic conversations, and we ask our questions with the mutual aims of understanding a child’s thinking and of supporting a child's search to make meaning — a search to know, rather than to learn...

"We act with regard for children’s human dignity when we:

  • Listen with our full attention.
  • Learn the languages that children speak.
  • Join our attention to their attention.
  • Allow space and time for exploratory thought.
  • Relax our urgent push to teach."




Out of the Box Training Kits

Use coupon code IMPACT
to get $5 off any one Out of the Box Training.

Out of the Box Training Kits are ready-to-use professional development programs on a variety of contemporary topics to support and improve the skills and pedagogy of those who work with young children.

May not be combined with any other offer.
Sale expires February 18, 2022, at 11:59 pm PST.

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Comments (1)

Displaying 1 Comment
Lori · May 10, 2017
Pennsylvania, United States


Conversation and care are at the heart of early childhood. Just enjoy having normal conversations with the children---this is how children have learned for generations--no fancy curriculum necessary.



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