One of the surefire ways to keep my attention is to salt and pepper your book with the importance of curiosity and how it fuels discovery and connection. In A Way of Seeing, Ron Grady positions curiosity not just as a trait of photographers, but as an essential mindset for anyone working with young children. By inviting readers to reflect on the why and how behind each image, A Way of Seeing encourages educators to consider how images shape relationships and to see photography not just as a method of documentation, but a powerful tool for connection, understanding, and intentional practice. 

—Lisa Murphy, MEd, author, speaker, and early childhood specialist

Ron’s book is a compelling and deeply thoughtful exploration of photography, not simply as a tool, but as a relational, ethical, and meaning-making practice. Written with palpable passion and enthusiasm, the text is grounded in a profound respect for children and the experience of childhood, inviting educators to reconsider both how and why they take photographs. 

—Jen Selbitschka, Teacher Education Program Director, Boulder Journey School

Take care, dear reader, to allow this book to work its magic on you. If we understand ourselves as engaged in an artistic endeavor along with a documentary practice, how might we be changed, how might the role of the educator be reimagined? Grady suggests if we slow down and remain reflective, photography can deepen understandings of ideas, people, places, histories we have not yet recognized. A Way of Seeing can help us find our way to a new world, a new sense of agency as educators who are both archivists and changemakers. 

—Margie Carter, coauthor of Art of Awareness, Designs for Living and Learning, and The Visionary Director

Ron Grady's work focuses on the social worlds and peer cultures of young children and wonders how lived experience both is constructed within and revealed throughout play, the creation of art and narrative, and through interaction with/production of visual artifacts such as photography and film. Ron's work also strives to invite educators into practices rooted in reflection, inquiry, and creativity. Ron is pursuing a doctorate at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and prior to his studies, worked as a preschool teacher in New Orleans. He also holds a Master's in Early Education from the Erikson Institute and a Bachelor's in Psychology from Stanford University.