Young Children Tell and Act Out Stories: Imaginative Play Extended Through a Storytelling Curriculum
Presenter
Patsy Cooper, Queens College, CUNY
Session / Time
- Breakout Session II
- Thursday, April 26, 1:15 - 2:30 p.m.
- Amersfort Room
Description
Participants in this workshop will focus on the what and how of Vivian Paley’s “storytelling curriculum,” which helps young children extend their imaginative play through the combined activities of individual and original story dictation and dramatization. The impact of these experiences on children’s social-emotional and early literacy development will also be explored.
Goals / Content / Intentionality
The goals of this workshop are tri-fold. Participants will come to an understanding of the following with regard to practice:
- How to implement Paley’s play and imagination-based storytelling curriculum
- What challenges to expect, and how to avoid them
Participants will also come to an understanding of the following with regard to child development theory:
- How the storytelling curriculum supports the role of imaginative play in Vygotksy’s hierarchy of developmental accomplishments by the end of the kindergarten year
Participants will also come to an understanding of the following with regard to early literacy development:
- How the storytelling curriculum directly and indirectly supports young children’s acquisition of early literacy skills and sub-skills, from concepts of print to comprehension.
Patsy Cooper, Queens College, CUNY
Presenter Bio
Patsy Cooper, Queens College, CUNY
Dr. Cooper is an Associate Professor of Early Childhood Education at Queens College, CUNY, where she teaches in and co-directs the early childhood teacher preparation programs. She is a frequent consultant to public, private, and early childhood programs in New York City and around the country on issues, including socio-emotional and early literacy development.
Cooper began her career as a preschool and kindergarten teacher in Chicago, after which she founded and directed the Trinity School for Young Children, and then the School Literacy and Culture Project, a teacher education non-profit located at Rice University in Houston, Texas,
Cooper is author of two books and numerous articles and chapters on early childhood education, including The Classrooms All Young Children Need: Lessons in Teaching from Vivian Paley, and “Preparing Multicultural Educators In An Age Of Teacher Evaluation Systems: Necessary Stories From Field Supervision”
Cooper is a past editor-in-chief of the Journal for Early Childhood Teacher Education and currently serves on the Executive Board of AERA SIG Early Education/Child Development.
