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Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education
Spirituality is frequently avoided in the public school classroom in an attempt to prevent controversy. However, by ignoring, preventing, or discounting spirituality, educators can also inhibit children's spiritual development. Based on qualitative research and interactions with both children and adults, Jennifer Mata argues that educators should be responsible for addressing children's spirituality in the classroom and for re-introducing these topics into early childhood education. By surveying the existing literature on spirituality, Mata offers a working definition of spirituality as an essential characteristic of humanness, which helps connect individuals to themselves, others, and to the transcendent. The book portrays stories and descriptions of four kindergarten children in their classroom setting, exploring their different modes of expressing and experiencing spirituality. Finally, Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education offers a review of pedagogical strategies to nurture spirituality, for both teachers to implement in the classroom and teacher educators to facilitate in teacher preparation programs.
Cover; Title; Copyright; DEDICATION; CONTENTS; List of Tables and Figures; Acknowledgments; Introduction; PART I Making the Case for Spirituality; 1 Why Spirituality?; 2 What Is Spirituality?; 3 Spirituality-How Can It Be Nourished?; PART II Through the Spiritual Experiences of Children; 4 Studying Children's Spirituality; 5 Ellen: "I Can Spell Your Name!"; 6 Anna: "You Can't Do That! Can I Help?"; 7 Mark: "Uhm, Uhm, Uhm, Dance to the Music."; 8 Matt: "I Don't Know."; 9 Looking for Commonalities and Differences in Children's Spirituality.
PART III What Does This Mean for Early Childhood Education?10 Answering Guiding Questions and Relating Back to Theory and Research; 11 What Needs to Be Done by Teachers and Early Childhood Education Programs?; References; Appendix A Semi-Structured Individual Activity Protocol; Appendix B Photographs Presented in the Individual Activity; Appendix C Semi-Structured Group Activity Protocol; Appendix D Questions Guiding Informal Conversations; Index.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Spiritual Experiences in Early Childhood Education : Four Kindergarteners, One Classroom