Living Stories (2019) Nontraditional College Students in Early Childhood Education
Susan Bernheimer takes us into her journey with a group of nontraditional college students. Bernheimer's struggle to find a meaningful approach to teaching the students about early childhood development and care is infused with the insights and wisdom that come from listening to, and valuing, the remarkable stories of her students' lives. This book offers a powerful, new road map for early childhood teacher preparation through a relational pedagogy that honors students' life experience and that leads to deep reflection and learning. The approach is embedded in students' strengths and knowledge and is successfully inclusive of an increasingly diverse student demographic. Bernheimer provides an inclusive model of education that builds upon the strengths of all our students.
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Expected publication October, 2019
Voices of Early Childhood Educators (2016)
This book presents powerful living stories of early childhood educators who work in a field that sits at the crux of historical, social, and political change in our society. Susan Bernheimer offers an in-depth exploration of students' stories as a way of expanding the scope of learning beyond textbook information, taking it into the depths of personal experience and the outer reaches of community, societal, and world dynamics.
These highly diverse stories teach more than techniques for dealing with the current challenges facing our field; they illuminate valuable insights into new forms of resilience and development. Through research, classroom experiences, and practical application of principles, Bernheimer takes educators on a much-needed journey to becoming an early childhood educator in today's world. Bernheimer invites students and their college instructors into the diverse worlds of early childhood professionals today. This book can be adopted in a variety of early childhood and childhood studies classes.
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New Possibilities for Early Childhood Education (2003) Stories from Our Nontraditional Students
This book speaks to the heart of an urgent task facing teacher preparation programs on today's campuses. How can college instructors work most effectively with a new generation of nontraditional students? How can we help as growing numbers of immigrants, single parents, and returning homemakers struggle to find their way in large and unfamiliar institutions?
For answers educator Susan Bernheimer went straight to the source, interviewing students in poverty who were aspiring to become teachers of young children. Revealing, poignant, and replete with practical insights about learning and inclusion, the students' words reflected their burning wish to become teachers -- a desire that lay hidden beneath their fears and silence. Their stories, a testament to courage and faith, remind us yet again of the pivotal role of the classroom teacher at all levels of education. Bernheimer blends research and interviews with her own classroom experience. She urges educators to integrate students' lives and voices into the curriculum. In a book filled with student narratives, classroom vignettes, and instructional strategies, the author shows rather than tells, inspires rather than judges. New Possibilities for Early Childhood Education offers an "inside" perspective and a new vision for all classroom teachers.
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