Liberated Learning

Whose Narrative Are We Feeding?

If we fall for the lie that there is a singular voice of authority, what stories do we miss? Kisa and Mike talk about the reciprocal nature of exchanging ideas. We all construct the knowledge and wisdom that inform our actions based on the stories we tell. That means we need to seek out multiple stories. If you’re the smartest one in the room, you need a different room. 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Did you know you can support the hosting costs of The Early Childhood Nerdwork on Patreon, and get Discord access to talk nerdy with like-minded folks too? https://patreon.com/EarlyChildhoodNerdworkbyThatEarlyChildhoodNerd   
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL014 Home Grown Crossover

This week, we share an episode of The Home Grown Podcast where Bethany Corrie and Melinda Marshall talk to Kisa about...well, everything.
 
The Home Grown Podcast can be found at https://thehomegrownpodcast.podbean.com/ 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL013 The Most Studied and the Least Taught

Listen...when we hear perspectives that are different from our own, we can get defensive or dismissive. But if we are serious about changing anything— about shifting the conditions we say we care about—then that pattern has to be interrupted. 
Not later. Not when it’s convenient. Now. 
Listen... 
 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL012 Fire Keepers

What is required of a fire keeper? On today’s episode, Mike and Kisa unpack what it means to tend to the children in our village long before any of them feel the need to burn it down just to feel its warmth.
They know If they try something and fail, they are loved.  
If they try and succeed, they are loved.  
If they act out in anger, they are loved. 
Even if they don’t get the red plate today, they are loved. 
There is always a road back because we can solve problems together. 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL011 When You Change Your Mind

Liberating yourself starts with dreaming of what you want in the world. It’s not about ignoring the challenges but imagining a way through them. Kisa tells Mike about her writing process working on her new book, "We Are the Ones We’re Waiting For." Kisa and Mike both find that writing is less about coming up with new ideas and more about connecting the threads of the ideas that keep popping up.  
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL010 Small Is All

The first 1,800 days of life remind us that the micro shapes the macro. The smallest moments—how we respond, how we care, how we show up—matter more than we often realize.  On today’s episode, Mike (also known as Mildly Helpful Mike) and I talk about small steps toward the liberation of self and others, and what might be possible if we chose to show up in mildly helpful ways a little more often. 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL009 Care and Cooperation

LL009 Care and Cooperation 
When we focus on our community of children and educators rather than each child as an isolated individual, we find an infinite number of ways children show up as a helper, speaking up for themselves and speaking up for others. Too often, the culture of early childhood education tries to foster “self-help skills” with the goal of independence. But most children show their “self-help” skills more readily when they use them to help others. In addition, when we foster care and cooperation in our early childhood communities, we foster cohesion as a group and a sense of agency and belonging in individuals. 
What if we dared to make caring for one another visible by viewing our grand gestures through the lens of humanity?  On today’s episode, Mike and I unpack care and cooperation. We talk about avoiding performative acts of service — and why you should never be afraid to do good for others, even if it’s misunderstood.  
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL008 Diversity Even In Homogeny

Liberated Educator Job # 1: Make it normal for each child to appreciate every other child. Create a space where everybody understands that everybody is different. Even in a homogenous space, everyone brings a different cultural context because culture is multi-faceted. 
What if every child in a room that looks the same still saw their unique culture, identity, and experience as something to be celebrated — not just tolerated? 
 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL007 Boys II Men

What if we've been moralizing play in ways that quietly shape who gets to hold power later? What if we let children play the way they want to play? What if let each child learn about themselves by trying out multiple ways to play and ultimately, multiple ways to be in the world? 
 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness 

LL006 Play is Play

There are so many neurotypical assumptions in the field of early childhood that cause many of us to see neurodivergent children through a deficit lens. Kisa and Mike wonder what would happen if we viewed these same children with a lens of curiosity and celebration. Some children may play differently than most children, but play is play. 
Mike references the article Including Autism: Confronting Inequitable Practices in a Toddler Classroom by Emmanuelle N. Fincham and Amanda R. Fellner  
https://educate.bankstreet.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1307&context=occasional-paper-series 
You can hear Mike and Heather Bernt-Santy talk to the authors of the article on That Early Childhood Nerd, episode 221 
 
Kisa can be found at The Playlab Foundation and Mike at Inclusion Includes Us, on Instagram and Facebook. Their books are available at https://www.redleafpress.org/ 
Theme music by John's Black Dirt https://johnsblackdirt.bandcamp.com/album/horrible-moments-of-upness