Book description:
The classroom environment is vital for children to get the most out of learning experiences. Early Learning Environments that Work explores how you can use furniture arrangement, color, materials, storage, lighting, and more to encourage learning. Classroom spaces and activity centers that support children's independence and decision-making allow them to make the environment their own. Each chapter gives you detailed illustrations and photographs to help you set up or arrange your learning environment.
 

Book description:
Written for practitioners who must supervise staff from a wide variety of educational and cultural backgrounds, this pioneering volume was the first to provide guidelines and practical suggestions for staff training and development in early childhood settings. Now this important resource has been completely updated to reflect the many notable changes that have taken place in the early childhood field. The new Second Edition includes:

• Special attention to issues of diversity
• A number of promising new staff development and evaluation practices
• Greater emphasis on career ladders and lattices
• A focus on the importance of collaboration among staff, and between supervisors and staff members
• Relevant NAEYC accreditation criteria at the end of several chapters
• A new chapter on "Caring, Knowing, and Imagining"

The previous edition has also been widely adopted as a textbook.

Review:
"In the first section, there is a discussion of the 'Myths of Supervision.' Many of the myths encouraged me to confront my images of what the 'ideal supervisor' should be. The book then looks at a developmental perspective of supervision. I learned that just as with children, doing the same for each teacher, is necessarily not the best practice. The book helped me to think about how such things as age, experience, and education play into the employee's expectation of their supervisor helping to define the relationship.

The dance between supervisor and supervisee as describe in this book helped me to reach new depths in my search for continuous improvement. As a supervisor, I have become more mindful of my supervisory practice. As I implement supervisory changes, I have encouraged teachers to truly become 'Reflective Practitioners.'

One of the great lessons learned from this book is the similarity between best practices with children and best practice as a supervisor. This parallel awareness helped me to understand that supervisors who help teachers maximize their potential will focus on: the relationship, allow teachers to learn from mistakes, ask pivotal questions to deepen understanding of topics they are exploring.

I recommend this book to Early Childhood professionals, who have supervisory responsibility, including: Principals, Head Start Managers, Child Care Directors and Head Teachers who may supervise. Many of us assumed these roles without formal training, yet this book will give us things to implement and much to think about."