Wisdom from Exchange Authors

05/03/2021

If you look at what you have in life, you'll always have more. If you look at what you don't have in life, you'll never have enough.
Oprah Winfrey

Dear Exchange Community,

Since the pandemic hit in March 2020, Exchange has begun creating lots of new video content for our Ed.Flicks Training Videos on Demand online platform. We’ve recently added some new observation videos, which so many of you have requested.

And we now have a great collection of "words of wisdom" interviews from many popular Exchange authors. Here are a few of their insights that I enjoyed recently and hope you will, too:

Here’s Nick Terrones, author of A Can of Worms: Fearless Conversations with Toddlers, talking about the unfairness of the phrase "terrible twos":

"There’s nothing terrible about them. They’re terrific because they’re coming into themselves. If you want to see a personality in action, blossoming - toddlerhood!"

From Carol Garboden Murray, author of Illuminating Care: The Pedagogy and Practice of Care in Early Childhood Communities:

"Care is education. Care is not subordinate to education. Those of us who work with young children know that the moments we find ourselves engaged with children in the caring response... whether it be at meal time, rest time, dressing...are important. Our young children are vulnerable and they need us to be their care partners. Those moments matter. Education and care are united."

Rebecca Giles, author of A Young Writer’s World: Creating Early Childhood Classrooms Where Authors Abound, believes that too often we separate the mechanical process of writing from its purpose of communication. She told the story of when her son was in preschool and used a sticky note to ask her to get him a marker. She explained:

"Children discover the power of writing by writing for real and relevant purposes the same way they have seen adults write. I often used sticky notes to make lists. He [her son] was imitating that behavior on a sticky note in the form of picture writing and environmental printing and kid writing, but in a way that the message was clearly received. When children experience being able to communicate their thoughts and ideas in print, it’s very affirming. It’s also very motivational for them to continue to want to write."

And Holly Elissa Bruno, author of Happiness is Running through the Streets to Find You: Translating Trauma’s Harsh Legacy into Healing, referenced her own difficult childhood experiences to help educators support children facing challenges:

"Any teacher or director working with a traumatized child, whether the child admits it or not, can use these three points to help: 1. Listen to the child. Please just listen...2. Create a sanctuary with that child so she feels safe with you...3. Enable self-expression. Offer her a way to express what she’s feeling [through art, for example]."

I hope these insights from authors will remind you how important you are. Whether you work directly with children, or support the people who do, you are most definitely making our world a better place!

With much appreciation,
Nancy Rosenow

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