Renowned educator Vivian Paley on the hidden curriculum that reinforces feelings of inadequacy.
Educators speak often about the need to cultivate empathy and to create a classroom of acceptance and tolerance. While this is much easier said than done, MacArthur Genius Grant recipient Vivian Paley reframes a common situation in her classroom and found some incredible results. Here’s the excerpt and audio from This American Life:
Author and kindergarten teacher (and MacArthur Genius Grant recipient) Vivian Paley tells the story of an experiment she conducted in her classroom to make children less cruel to each other. She instituted a rule: “You can’t say ‘You can’t play.'” In other words, if two children are playing, and a third child comes over and wants to join them, they can’t tell him or her to get lost. They can’t reject him or her. This is the cause of unending pain in most classrooms and playgrounds. The experiment was a remarkable and immediate success. (11 minutes)
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