Used successfully in early childhood programs all over the country since its inception, this unique and mainstay text looks at children’s development in every domain, preparing students to become skilled observers, with concrete detail about how to record what is observed, how to interpret the data, and to become adept at using the observations to plan for learning.
The new edition of Jan Beaty’s best-selling book has undergone an extensive revision. The book’s original features and organization remain, while new research, issues, and more extensive coverage of observation is included in the new edition. Chapters 1 and 2 were reorganized and expanded to include the basics of observation. The text itself has become more streamlined, more reader-friendly, with fewer chapters (12 instead of 14), yet with many more boxed ideas. Other examples of observation tools that have been added include running records, rubrics, rating scales, portfolios, documentation panels, and other forms of visual documentation. Strategies for working with dual language learners are included throughout the book. The reorganization and restructuring of the text improves on its past success; the simplification and improvements will appeal to students and instructors alike. What emerges is the most current observation text on the market, modernized to reach today’s population of early childhood education students.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1 Observing to Assess Children’s Development
Chapter 2 Recording and Collecting Observational Data
Chapter 3 Self-Esteem
Chapter 4 Emotional Competence
Chapter 5 Social Competence
Chapter 6 Physical Development
Chapter 7 Cognitive Development
Chapter 8 Spoken Language
Chapter 9 Emergent Writing and Reading Skills
Chapter 10 Art, Music, and Dance Skills
Chapter 11 Dramatic Play Skills
Chapter 12 Sharing Observational Data with Families
About the Author :
Janice J. Beaty is a professor emerita, Elmira College, Elmira, New York. Dr. Beaty is not only a writer of many college texts for early childhood educators, but also a traveler. Her books for Pearson include Skills for Preschool Teachers, 9th ed., 2012, Early Literacy in Preschool and Kindergarten with L. Pratt, 3rd ed., 2011; 50 Early Childhood Literacy Strategies, 3rd ed., 2013;and 50 Early Childhood Guidance Strategies, 2006. She developed a training program for CDA trainers and led training workshops at Elmira College, Elmira, NY, in Columbia, SC, and Orlando, Fl. She has visited early childhood programs in China, Russia, Poland, Bermuda, and pueblos in New Mexico, Arizona, and many in central Missouri where she does training of Foster Grandparents who work in the classrooms. She has been a keynote speaker at early childhood conferences in Montreal, Chicago, Oshkosh, WI, San Antonio, and New Orleans. When she is not at her computer in her office on a Cape Coral canal, you might find her “out west” in one of the National Parks creating another “Jarod and the Mystery of….” juvenile books for middle school children.
