Progressive Teachers of Young Children: Creating Contemporary Agents of Change

Susan Matoba Adler, & Jeanne Marie Iorio

doi:https://doi.org/

Original article | International Journal of Progressive Education 2013, Vol. 9(2) 129-143

Progressive Teachers of Young Children: Creating Contemporary Agents of Change

Susan Matoba Adler, & Jeanne Marie Iorio

pp. 129 - 143 | Manu. Number: ijpe.2013.026

Published online: June 15, 2013 | Number of Views: 52 | Number of Download: 388

Save PDF

Abstract

This article describes how an Early Childhood Teacher Education program in Hawaii builds upon a history of progressivism in the field of early education in the U.S. to encourage students to become critical thinkers and agents of change. Reflecting through the historical lenses of educators such as Jane Addams, Patty Smith Hill and Lucy Sprague Mitchell, two progressive teacher educators call on their students to become ―transformative intellectuals‖ (Giroux, 1988) and move from being agents of surveillance to agents of change (Foucault, 1972, 1995). Student data from blogs and action research projects illustrate how students challenged habituated practices in the field of early child education (ECE), which has been rapidly moving toward a narrow focus on academic readiness and the standardization of children and programs as a consequence of No Child Left Behind legislation and the Race to the Top competition for federal funds.

Keywords: early childhood education, progressive pedagogy, online teaching, agents of change, critical analysis

How to Cite this Article?

APA 6th edition
Adler, S.M. & Iorio, J.M. (2013). Progressive Teachers of Young Children: Creating Contemporary Agents of Change . International Journal of Progressive Education, 9(2), 129-143.

Harvard
Adler, S. and Iorio, J. (2013). Progressive Teachers of Young Children: Creating Contemporary Agents of Change . International Journal of Progressive Education, 9(2), pp. 129-143.

Chicago 16th edition
Adler, Susan Matoba and Jeanne Marie Iorio (2013). "Progressive Teachers of Young Children: Creating Contemporary Agents of Change ". International Journal of Progressive Education 9 (2):129-143.

References

Adler, S. M. (2004). Home-School Relations and the Construction of Racial and Ethnic Identity of Hmong Elementary Students. The School Community Journal, 14 (2), 57- 75. [Google Scholar]
Biber, B. (1967). Lucy Sprague Mitchell, 1878 – 1967. New York: Bank Street College of Education. [Google Scholar]
Britzman, D. (2003). Practice makes practice: A critical study of learning to teach. Albany: SUNY Press. [Google Scholar]
Bruns, A. (2006). Uses of blogs. NewYork, NY: Peter Lang. [Google Scholar]
Caro-Bruce, C., Flessner, R., Klehr, M., & Zeichner, K. (Eds.). (2007). Creating equitable classrooms through action research. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press. [Google Scholar]
Cremin, L. (1964). The transformation of the school. New York: Vintage Books. [Google Scholar]
Dewey, J. (1897). My pedagogic creed. In Archambault, R. (Ed.) John Dewey on Education. (p. 427 - 439). Chicago: The University of Chicago Press. [Google Scholar]
Dewey, J. (1933). Experience and education. New York: Macmillan Publishing Company. Elkind, D. (1981/1988/2001). The hurried child. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley. [Google Scholar]
Foucault, M. (1972). The archaeology of knowledge. New York, NY: Pantheon. [Google Scholar]
Foucault, M. (1995). Discipline and punish: The birth of the prison. New York, NY: Vintage. [Google Scholar]
Freire, P. (1970). The pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Seabury. [Google Scholar]
Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: Continuum. [Google Scholar]
Gallagher, S. (1999). An exchange of gazes. In Kincheloe, J. L., Steinberg, S. R., & Villverde, L. E. (Eds.), Rethinking intelligence (pp. 69–83). New York, NY: Routledge. [Google Scholar]
Giroux, H. A. (1988). Teachers as intellectuals. New York, NY. Bergen: Garvey. [Google Scholar]
Greene, M. (1998). Introduction: Teaching for social justice (xxvii-xlvi). In W. Ayers, J. A. Hunt, & T. Quinn (eds.), Teaching for social justice. New York: The New Press. [Google Scholar]
Iorio, J.M. & Parnell, W. (In Press). A/r/tography and Action Research: Crisis, Empowerment and Learning in Early Childhood. NAPAR (chapter in edited text). [Google Scholar]
Lewin, K. (1946). Action research and minority problems. Journal of Social Issues, 2¸ 34-46. [Google Scholar]
Nager, N., Shapiro, E.K. (2000) Revisiting a progressive pedagogy: The developmental interaction approach. Albany: State University of New York Press. [Google Scholar]
Pelo, A. (Ed.) (2006). Rethinking early childhood. Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools. [Google Scholar]
Popkewitz, T., & Brennan, M. (1998). Foucault’s challenge: Discourse, knowledge, and power in education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press. [Google Scholar]
Project Zero & Reggio Children (2001). Making learning visible. Reggio Emilia, Italy: Reggio Children. [Google Scholar]
Snyder, A. (1972). Dauntless women in childhood education 1856-1931. Washington, DC: Association for Childhood Education International. [Google Scholar]
Sumsion, J. (2006). From Whitlam to economic rationalism and beyond: A conceptual framework for political activism in children‘s services. Australian Journal of Early Childhood, 31(1), 1–9. [Google Scholar]
Wolfe, J. (2000). Learning from the past: Historical voices in Early Childhood Education. Mayerthorpe, Alberta , Piney Branch Press. [Google Scholar]

Volume 9 Issue 2

June 2013

All Articles