Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood - Paperback

by Emily Brown Hoffman (Author), Colleen Whittingham (Author)

Emergent Literacy in Early Childhood Education is informed by up-to-date research on how children learn to read, write, and speak from birth through age five. The developmental stages of literacy are presented in chronological order to prepare future educators as they guide children. Featuring colorful graphics and flow charts, this text is structured to integrate theory with hands-on practice, with authentic vignettes, case studies, example lesson plans, and practice activities that empower readers to visualize how theory is implemented. Chapters 1-3 lay the foundation for the importance of literacy, and chapters 4-13 take a paired approach where each theory chapter is followed by a chapter on methods for application. Age Group Reviews provide students with real-world situations and in-depth applications. Setting the Scene shows emergent literacy in action. Integrating Technology offers scenarios of how a child is likely to interact with technology at a very early age. Inclusive Classroom offers resources to guide future educators to consider all students, families, and communities. Positionality challenges students to face their own potential biases and offers ways to be inclusive of all students and families. Let's Read! suggests diverse books to incorporate into classroom libraries to represent all students. Family Connections give students ideas for incorporating families into a program in a sensitive, community-based way.

Author Biography

• Emily Brown Hoffman, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education at National Louis University in Chicago. She earned her National Board for Professional Teaching Standards Certification in Literacy: Reading-Language Arts/Early and Middle Childhood while teaching Kindergarten in Chicago Public Schools. She lives in Logan Square, Chicago with her husband Jason and two children, Scout and Theodore.
• Colleen E. Whittingham, Ph.D., is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Teaching and Learning at Loyola University Chicago. She holds a Master's Degree in Literacy, Language, and Culture from UIC, a Bachelor's Degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Dayton, and is a licensed Reading Specialist and Early Childhood Educator (0-8) in the state of Illinois. Dr. Whittingham founded Cardinal Education Group, LLC., a consulting organization that supports early literacy development in racially and linguistically diverse communities. She has three children, Grace, Emmett, and Benjamin, with her husband Kevin, who predicted this textbook multiple lifetimes ago.
• Hoffman and Whittingham met while pursuing their doctorate degrees in Literacy, Language, and Culture at the University of Illinois at Chicago. The pair sustained parallel graduate assistantships under Dr. Bill Teale, the Director of the UIC Center for Literacy and the Chair of both Hoffman and Whittingham's dissertations. The strong mentorship Teale provided to Hoffman & Whittingham is evident in their continued dedication and commitment to the field of emergent literacy. Since 2013, Hoffman and Whittingham have collaboratively made several contributions to the evolving field of emergent literacy education. The pair has circulated 17 collaborative publications, including articles in literacy-centric journals such as the Journal of Early Childhood Literacy, Literacy, and the Reading Teacher as well as literacy-focused articles in education journals including Peabody Journal of Education, National Head Start Association Dialog, and Early Childhood Education Journal. The pair has also written book chapters for the edited volumes Multimodal Literacies in Young Emergent Bilinguals: Beyond Print-Centric Practices (Brown & Hao, 2022) and Pivotal Research in Early Literacy (Cassano & Dougherty, 2018).
• Hoffman and Whittingham also frequently present together, having co-authored 29 joint presentations on emergent literacy teaching and learning, consisting of professional development workshops and regional, state, and [inter]national research conferences. Most recently, their 2023 presentation titled The What and how of emergent writing: Materials, curriculum, and developmentally appropriate instruction for children ages 0-5 drew an audience of 332 early childhood educators. Hoffman and Whittingham have contributed to the advancement of emergent literacy work as invited guests on podcasts, creators of professional development videos, co-authors of white papers, and blog posts.