ExchangeEveryDay Past Issues

Dear Exchange Community,

When Ann Pelo and Margie Carter wrote their popular book, From Teaching to Thinking, they invited early childhood administrators, educators, and advocates to explore two questions: “What kind of people do we want to be? What kind of world do we want to live in?”

Little did they know that a global pandemic would add increased urgency to these explorations.

Soon after the launch of Ann and Margie’s book, we at Exchange began publishing follow-up books, called the Reimagining Our Work (ROW) Collection. In this series, innovative educators share real-world examples of what it means to successfully reimagine our work.

Here is what Ann and Margie wrote about Bridgette Towle and Angela Heape, authors of the first ROW book, Cup: “These two masterful teacher researchers illuminate the full-hearted, deeply thoughtful work of education. We listen as they consider what compels the children about the cups, and how they might join the children’s dance with cups as active participants inquiring alongside the children.” With each of the additional ROW books, You Can’t Celebrate That, Treasures in the Thicket/Tesoros en El Monte, and recently A Can of Worms, diverse voices have been added to the conversation, and the work of Early Childhood Practitioners is being lifted up.

Out of this effort, a conversation with members of the Exchange Leadership Initiative led to a project to connect powerfully diverse voices throughout our field to deeply Reimagine Our Work together. Over 400 people have now signed up to participate in important discussion/action groups. Might the start of 2021 be a time you’d like to join this effort? We welcome and need everyone’s voice. Find out more.

The times we are living in right now offer both an opportunity and an urgency to explore the final question Ann and Margie pose in their inspiring book: “What is the purpose of education, and how do we go about achieving it?”

If this difficult year has helped push us to make the early childhood field more equitable, impactful and authentic, then perhaps we will remember that as an opportunity born of challenge.

We are grateful for your courage and resilience,

Nancy Rosenow, Exchange Publisher, on behalf of our entire Exchange team

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