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57th out of 86 books
—
6 voters
The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter
How does a teacher begin to appreciate and tap the rich creative resources of the fantasy world of children? What social functions do story playing and storytelling serve in the preschool classroom? And how can the child who is trapped in private fantasies be brought into the richly imaginative social play that surrounds him?
"The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter" focuses on t...more
"The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter" focuses on t...more
Paperback, 176 pages
Published
September 1st 1991
by Harvard University Press
(first published 1990)
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Vivian Gussin Paley, PhB’47
Author
Read the adaptation published in our Jan–Feb/12 issue:
http://mag.uchicago.edu/education-soc...
How does a teacher begin to appreciate and tap the rich creative resources of the fantasy world of children? What social functions do story playing and storytelling serve in the preschool classroom? And how can the child who is trapped in private fantasies be brought into the richly imaginative social play that surrounds him?
The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter focuses on...more
Author
Read the adaptation published in our Jan–Feb/12 issue:
http://mag.uchicago.edu/education-soc...
How does a teacher begin to appreciate and tap the rich creative resources of the fantasy world of children? What social functions do story playing and storytelling serve in the preschool classroom? And how can the child who is trapped in private fantasies be brought into the richly imaginative social play that surrounds him?
The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter focuses on...more
A deep dive into teacher Vivian Paley's method of fantasy play by preschool children that she stumbled into by accident but was theorized about long ago by Soviet psychologist Vygotsky. She has what appears to be an impressive corpus of actual fantasy play conversations which she has woven together to form a cohesive story, narrated by her thoughts and reflections.
I especially love Paley's meta reflections on her past and how, as a new teacher, she once was Jason, the loner child who does not un...more
I especially love Paley's meta reflections on her past and how, as a new teacher, she once was Jason, the loner child who does not un...more
This is the teacher I've been looking for: full of doubt and humility before the thing that is the Classroom, a teacher who listens (with a tape recorder, yow) and understands the weight her questions have in steering activity and talk, and the awesome leaps of poetry and profundity that are presented in the children's play.
It would be so easy to sentimentalize this -- to turn it into a "kids say the darndest things" -- but that's the farthest from what happens.
The questions and conversations in...more
It would be so easy to sentimentalize this -- to turn it into a "kids say the darndest things" -- but that's the farthest from what happens.
The questions and conversations in...more
This was my favorite of Vivian Paley's books. She describes in more detail exactly what she thinks about and how she uses stories and acting with preschool. Her insights into children's behavior and motivation are so interesting to me. I agree with so much of her thinking about listening to kids and figuring out why they do what they do.
read excerpts only: pg 1-26 151-163
Quite good at bringing your knowledge of story-telling to a child-like level, and not in a bad way. Paley does not try to dissect every single bit of what children say in their storytelling, but simply presents it in a way so that one can gain insight in to how important telling stories really is to her students.
Quite good at bringing your knowledge of story-telling to a child-like level, and not in a bad way. Paley does not try to dissect every single bit of what children say in their storytelling, but simply presents it in a way so that one can gain insight in to how important telling stories really is to her students.
One of my favorite books of all time. A great model of what preschool should be, written by a master teacher (and a great writer!).
Feb 17, 2013
Robin
added it
Interesting insight at times - I'm still not sure how I feel about the book as a whole. I need to re-read this.
I liked it much better the second time around. Still kept wishing I could have seen the whole classroom myself without her interpretation. Did like the way she resisted labels.
My personal favorite of all Paley stories...
This is a must read for anyone who works with children; especially children that learn or socialize in a different way.
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Recommended by Nancy K.
It's a good look into how children develop problem solving skills through fantasy play in the classroom. Recommended read for any one that is studying child psychology.
Paley's account of The Boy Who Would Be A Helicopter has stuck with me because it upsets the apple cart of special needs labeling in the very best way. A poetic glimpse at how symbolic imagery and language are used to achieve expression, connection and self-understanding by the unlikeliest child in her classroom. Through Paley's eyes, a boy who would be a helicopter is a metaphor for the confused and veiled attempts to cope through self-narration done by the rest of us.
Another inclusion story from a talented teacher who is one of my favorites. Her ability to carefully observe and understand children is inspiring. The world needs far more of those.
My students (UNC preservice teachers) really enjoyed this one too.
May 01, 2013
Wkd
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Apr 23, 2013
Jennifer
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Taylor
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Mar 28, 2013
Kendra Wheeler
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Mar 27, 2013
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