When Stories Come to School: Telling, Writing, and Performing Stories in the Early Childhood Classroom

This incredibly witty and insightful book is an indispensable guide for teachers looking for that voice of experience and common sense to help them navigate a career in early childhood literacy. Amid the familiar systems of cookie-cutter curricula and standards-based testing, Cooper suggests how we might recognize the special experiences young students bring to the classroom and how encouraging them to relate those experiences-often through play-opens the way for learning, independent thinking, and creative expression. There are six chapters in this book and excellent appendixes of transcribed student "writings," a children's stories list, and related classroom activities. "In a style remarkable free of clich and jargon, this is a book for every classroom teacher and parent who refuses to accept the bandwagon approach to learning." -Vivian Gussin Pale, author of Wally's Stories.