The Discipline of Hope in Early Intervention
Closing Keynote: Dr. Andrew Stremmel
What is the discipline of hope? As a lifelong teacher, and teacher educator, this has meant a refusal to accept limits on learning or on what I, as a teacher, can do to facilitate learning. Providing hope is the major challenge for anyone who works with children and families. To offer hope you must be hopeful, and you must believe that all children can learn and develop and have the right to do so. It means listening to the voices of families and children, beginning with their knowledge, interests, experiences, and questions; dialoguing rather than telling; respecting and honoring different social and cultural backgrounds and communication; and negotiating (moving between possibility and vision).
About Dr. Stremmel:
Andrew Stremmel, Ph.D., is Professor Emeritus of Early Childhood Education in the School of Education, Counseling, and Human Development and former department head in Teaching, Learning, and Leadership in the College of Education and Human Sciences at South Dakota State University. His scholarly interests focus on early child development and learning, mentoring ECE professionals, curriculum and pedagogy, and family engagement. He has published over 60 refereed journal articles and book chapters and co-edited or co-authored five books. His most recent co-edited book, Seven Crucial Conversations in Early Childhood Education (2024, Teachers College Press) is a critical dialogue among distinguished early childhood and child development experts on the past, present, and future of early childhood education. He is an executive editor of Voices of Practitioners, the leading journal of early childhood practitioner research.
