Playful Inquiry - that’s the student-centered approach discussed in this episode about re-imagining curriculum. Angela and Lauren welcome Soobin Oh, Co-Director of Teaching Preschool Partners (TPP), a nonprofit that engages with schools to nurture inclusive, inquisitive, and collaborative school communities. In the playful inquiry promoted by TPP, educators are encouraged to let go of control and instead to be flexible and listen, responding to each child’s interests, aspirations, cultural background, and linguistic capabilities. Classrooms become places for curiosity, joy, and possibility to thrive.
Families are ideally involved in this concept of curriculum with the cultural wealth that they can bring in dialogue with the classroom. The result is a curriculum that revolves around collaboration, a culturally relevant curriculum for all grade levels.
Resources -
Soobin Oh Discusses Anti-Bias Education in Early Childhood
Soobin Oh, an Early Childhood Teacher Nerd on YouTube
Funds of Knowledge, Norma Gonzalez, Luis C. Moll, and Cathy Amanti, editors
Cultivating Genius: An Equity Framework for Culturally and Historically Responsive Literacy, Gholdy Muhammad
