Kathy Brodie is an author, Early Years Professional and Trainer specialising in online training and courses. She is the founder and host of the Early Years Summit and Early Years TV, weekly Professional Development for Early Years practitioners and educators.
Kathy Brodie on February 20, 2015.
Whenever I visit settings to do training, or ask practitioners what would make their job role more satisfying, the usual response is “less paperwork”. I have been discussing this with Catherine Lyon, an experienced nursery owner, who has developed her own solution for this problem.
In this guest blog, Catherine explains the rationale for her software as well as its benefits.
Kathy Brodie on February 6, 2015.
I was really excited to be asked to review a new book about science in Early Years.
Science is an often overlooked part of the early year’s curriculum, but most children are natural scientists. They investigate, try new hypotheses, experiment and are tenacious. They are curious, and not yet biased by what is ‘supposed’ to happen, willing to accept the evidence.
However, very few practitioners seem to plan for or develop science in their setting.
Kathy Brodie on October 13, 2014.
Sustained Shared Thinking is fundamental to good Early Years practice.
It costs nothing, yet research (via the EPPE project) has shown that it improves outcomes for children by supporting their deep level learning and holistic development.
This book clearly explains what Sustained Shared Thinking is and examines the skills and expertise needed to initiate, encourage and facilitate it. It explores the attitudes, knowledge and understanding that a practitioner in any setting should adopt in order to start or develop successful Sustained Shared Thinking.
Click here for more »Kathy Brodie on September 29, 2014.
The first thing that I noticed about this new, fourth edition, of this book is the full colour illustrations and beautiful layout. This makes it almost impossible not to pick up and look through, as well as giving prominence to the reflection points and practical suggestions.
Kathy Brodie on September 18, 2014.
It’s the start of the new academic year and I’m getting the usual increase in questions about suitable text books. This year there’s been more questions about third year degree (Level 6) books.
It is very difficult to make recommendations because the books you will need will depend on your third year choices, possibly your choice of dissertation subject matter and the modules or units that your University offers in the third year.
So I have chosen five books here, which I think will cover a wide range of subject areas, whilst being academically at Level 6. They also happen to be personal favourites of mine as well.
Kathy Brodie on June 18, 2014.
I’m thoroughly enjoying the new series from Critical Publishing books. The latest one, Developing as a Reflective Early Years Professional, deals with the highly elusive and complicated concepts of reflective practice and reflection.
Chapter 1 is by Carol Hayes and is all about reflective practice. There are some great examples of a range a reflective models and how these link to early years. One of Carol’s thoughts struck me particularly – the use of the word practitioner suggest ‘doing’. We all know settings (whether Nursery, childminder, nanny or teacher) are all about doing, but maybe there should be times when we consider ourselves thinkers, reflectors or researchers.
Kathy Brodie on May 11, 2014.
This week I have been reading all about the different aspects of the Characteristics of Effective Early Learning, in a book of the same title. This is an excellent book, edited by the very knowledgeable and enthusiastic Helen Moylett.
The book has 8 very different chapters, based around the Characteristics of Effective Learning as described in Development Matters (the underpinning knowledge of child development for the EYFS in England). There is a chapter on each of the 3 characteristics: playing and exploring; active learning and creating and thinking critically.
Kathy Brodie on April 23, 2014.
I have written a couple of posts already about the excellent Linda Pound books – How Children Learn Book 1 and Book 2. I am frequently asked if there are any more, so I’m very pleased to say that there are also 2 further books in this excellent series:
Kathy Brodie on March 18, 2014.
Twitter and your CPD
As time goes on I’m finding more and more that I’m turning to Twitter for my CPD for the latest news, reviews, reports and information.
Twitter has 6 distinct advantages over traditional ‘Googling’ or checking websites obsessively:
Kathy Brodie on June 12, 2013.
I was very excited to receive my pack of SEN resources from SEN Assist, which are designed to teach literacy, brought alive through fairy tales.