Reaching Toward the Possible

Published In

Disrupting Early Childhood Education Research: Imagining New Possibilities

Document Type

Book Chapter

Publication Date

1-2016

Subjects

Early childhood education -- Qualitative research, Early childhood education -- Curricula, PEarly childhood education -- Research

Abstract

During the toddler years, ages one to three, language is one of the most obvious developmental tasks that the child is undertaking, giving the teacher many opportunities to scaffold a child's use of spoken words. This chapter explores understandings of narrative research and considers possibilities for narrative methods in teacher research in a toddler classroom. Research with toddlers relies heavily on observation of action and behavior as most children of this age are transitioning from a nonverbal to verbal way of life during this period. Narrative inquiry offers seemingly unlimited possibilities for producing data as narrative researchers generate and interpret a variety of texts. The chapter considers how one might move away from the spoken and written word to engage in narrative teacher research with very young children. Visual narrative analysis offers yet another avenue for positioning the language of the toddler body in such a way that the voices of young children in classrooms can be heard.

Rights

Copyright © 2016 Taylor & Francis Group

Persistent Identifier

https://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/27935

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