Some error occured while loading the Quick View. Please close the Quick View and try reloading the page.
Early childhood educators are skilled in supporting and promoting children’s friendships. But adult professional friendships, sometimes known as critical friendships, are also integral to early childhood education, giving educators daily support and collaboration, nurturing their professional and pedagogical growth, and—not to be discounted—making the job fun! Enhance your joy and practice as an early childhood educator through professional friendships.
This book is an invitation for you to:
- Reflect on the big ideas of professional friendships.
- Consider how to apply the theories of professional friendship to practice.
- Articulate what you value in a professional friend.
- Focus on yourself to describe your own identity.
- Communicate the expectations that you have for your professional friends in your current and potential relationships.
—Carol Garboden Murray, author of Illuminating Care: The Pedagogy and Practice of Care in Early Childhood Communities
Being an educator is a rich, complex, and often challenging vocation, and Diane Kashin honors and celebrates the relationships we all need to sustain the ups and downs of our professional life. She expertly weaves theory and practice throughout the pages, intertwining child development and stories of her own professional relationships, while offering concrete strategies to form and enhance our own friendships. I found myself reflecting deeply about the professional friendships that have sustained and held me throughout my career and the powerful role they played in my evolution as an educator. More importantly, Diane’s words can inspire us to reflect on how we can be a better professional friend to those in our lives. Thank you for the gift of this book, Diane!
—Lisa Burman, pedagogical consultant and author of A Culture of Agency: Fostering Engagement, Empowerment, Identity, and Belonging in the Early Years
This book is a must-read for educators and parents as it is filled with ideas for making friends and understanding friendship. I wish it had been available for me as I began my own journey into education. Kashin’s focus on professional friendship includes questions, reflections, and research to help readers better understand their own friendships while also demonstrating how the development of friendships impact both adults’ and children’s continuous well-being.
—Deborah Shein, PhD, early childhood education consultant and author of Inspiring Wonder, Awe, and Empathy: Spiritual Development of Young Children and Nurturing Spiritual Development in Children by Understanding Our Own Spirituality
Diane Kashin opens this book with reflections on the value of professional friends—those people who lift our spirits while championing our causes and challenging our thinking. Diane encourages the reader to seek out those who support and encourage us, love us, and help us find our voice. Throughout the book, we learn about the effects of this type of friendship—to help us see through diverse lenses, to reflect on big ideas, and to grow in our thinking. Professional friends are essential to our development, and this heartfelt book explains why. A must-read for those who long to be in a deep, reciprocal professional relationship that puts joy and learning into our work days.
—Susan Stacey, Pedagogical consultant and author of Inquiry-Based Early Learning Environments: Creating, Supporting, and Collaborating and Pedagogical Documentation in Early Childhood: Sharing Children's Learning and Teacher's Thinking
Acknowledgments
Introduction Reflecting on Professional Friendships
Professional and Critical Friends
Learning from Giants
Child and Adult Friendships Compared
You Deserve a Professional Friend!
Love and Layers
The Seasons of Friendship
Beginning with Gratitude
Chapter One Forming Friendships: The Birth of Peer-to-Peer Relationships
Hello, Friend!
The Act of Reflection
Spheres of Friendships
Professional Interests
The Power of Professional Friends
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Identity
From a Basis of Trust
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Friend: Cindy
Chapter Two Forging Friendships: Engaging the Heart
Hello, Friend!
Friendships Take Time and Effort
Listening to Our Emotions
Listening to Our Friends
The Languages of Professional Friendships
Professional Friendship and Self-Doubt
Professional Friends Empower
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Values
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Friend: Rosalba
Chapter Three Forging Friendships: Reaching the Spirit
Hello, Friend!
Parallels between Children and Adults
Coming to the Edge of the Circle
Applying the Seasonal Pedagogy to Play
Power, Language, and Relationships
Spiritual Perspectives
What, Then What, So What, Now What?
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Reciprocity
Names and Knowing Each Other
Invitations from Mother Earth
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Friend: Hopi
Chapter Four Forging Friendships: Activating the Mind
Hello, Friend!
True and Lasting Friendships
When Friendships End
Disagreements as Opportunities
Time for New Friendships
Somersaulting with Friends
Thinking in a Circle
The Healing Value of Play
Filling Your Empty Cup
Playing to Empower
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Play
Playing Tea Party
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Friend: Suzanne
Chapter Five
Constructing Friendships: Making Connections
Hello, Friend!
Perspective Taking Involves Trust
Agency in Professional Learning
Be the Power
The Yin and Yang Perspective
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Shared Interests
Sharing Feedback
Slowing Down
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Friend: Miriam
Chapter Six Circles of Friends: Communities of Support
Hello, Friend!
Building Friendships to Last a Lifetime
Cultivating Cultures of Friendship
Making Friendship Visible
Calling a Circle of Friends
Find the Power
Big Ideas of Professional Friendships: Legacy and Giving Back
Thank You for Being a Friend
Four Questions for My Circle of Friends