Staff from WestEd’s Center for Child & Family Studies (CCFS) and Program for Infant/Toddler Care (PITC) will present at the 2019 National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) Conference on November 20–23 at the Music City Center in Nashville, Tennessee.
The conference is the largest early childhood education gathering in the world.
Join us at the following events and presentations:
PITC Reception: Thursday, November 21, 6:00 – 8:00 p.m. at the Omni Nashville, Legends G. PITC invites PITC graduates and other early childhood professionals interested in infant/toddler topics to meet with the staff and faculty for food, drinks, and conversation. Information on PITC trainings and materials will be available.
WestEd Sessions and Presentations
Wednesday, November 20
Session: Building tomorrow’s engineers by mindfully making and tinkering with toddlers and preschoolers today
Time & Location: 9:00 – 11:15 a.m., Music City Center, Room 205A
Presenters: Heidi Mendenhall, Dr. Jean Barbre
Description: Children develop engineering concepts through predictive developmental progressions. These developmental progressions can be supported through inquiry-based curriculum that provides rich opportunities to tinker and make in the environment and daily interactions. Presenters will share key strategies for using developmental progressions to scaffold and embed tinkering, making and engineering in the environment, routines and interactions of early childhood programs. Participants will experience these interactions, reflect and analyze their experience and develop individual action plans to increase opportunities for integrated tinkering, making and engineering learning in their program.
Thursday, November 21
Session: Family engagement with diverse families in preschool: Relationships, language, and culture
Time & Location: 1:00 – 2:30 p.m., Music City Center, Room 109
Presenters: Ann-Marie Wiese, Peter Mangione, Jenine Schmidt, Paulina Escamilla-Vestal
Description: This workshop will describe efforts to enhance the cultural and linguistic responsiveness of the Parent Involvement Project (PIP), a family engagement program in three San Francisco Bay Area school districts that currently serves approximately 600 families. Given the cultural and linguistic diversity of the children and families that PIP serves, a core aspect to implementing PIP is being responsive and sensitive to families’ experiences, needs, communication styles, and cultural ways of being. Presentation participants will engage in hands-on activities to connect presentation content to their own practice: 1) Participate in a “name story” activity linked to relationship-building 2) Create an “identity map” activity involving writing, drawing, and conversing about one’s own identity and cultural practices to better understand the concept of funds of knowledge 3) Formulate open-ended questions that deepen staff knowledge of family practices and that support parent reflection and 4) Explore materials used by PIP staff to engage families in home visits and as part of classroom participation.
Friday, November 22
Session: Moving from participation and engagement to true partnership: How to use formative assessment to build family partnerships for dual language learners in preschool and kindergarten
Time & Location: 3:00 – 4:30 p.m., Music City Center, Room 110A
Presenters: Tamarra Barret
Description: This presentation provides a review of research indicating the importance of family partnership for dual language learners’ academic success followed by a framework of strategies preschool and kindergarten teachers can implement to decrease barriers for family partnership and increase opportunities for dual language learners’ academic successes. Participants will learn strategies to utilize formative assessment with key family partnership and cultural competence research. Presenters will share free resources and provide time for small group discussion, and action planning.