Sparking Joyful Learning

Tori K. Flint is an associate professor of literacy and early childhood education at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and the co-director of the Louisiana Center for Research and Education on Languages and Literacies. She believes that education should be joyful and that we should listen to and learn from the brilliance of children.

Educators and scholars have always known that play is vital to children’s learning, but starting points for connecting play with reading may seem elusive. In Sparking Joyful Learning: A Teacher’s Guide to Connecting Play and Reader Response, Tori Flint invites us to facilitate responsive play?a perfect description for the joyful interactions with stories, language, and peers that young readers thrive on. Her expert knowledge and clear explanations guide readers through the practices and related observations and assessments that will bring children’s play and literary experiences to the forefront of classroom life.

• Foreword by Karen WohlwendIntroductionJumping into Playful Reader ResponseWhat the Research Tells UsBringing it All TogetherIgniting the SparkChapter 1: The Importance of Children’s LiteratureRead, Play, LaughThe Need for Quality, Diverse Children’s LiteratureResources ExamplesFinal ThoughtsChapter 2: Putting Play to Work: Implementing Responsive Play in the ClassroomThe Space-Time-Materiality ContinuumKey Components of Responsive PlayFinal Thoughts: Adjusting Responsive Play to Meet Your Classroom NeedsChapter 3: Connecting Playful Reader Response to Classroom Literacy GoalsConnecting to Personal Experiences and KnowledgeIntertextuality Developing and Practicing Literacy Skills and StrategiesFinal Thoughts: (Re)PlayingChapter 4: Observing, Documenting, and Assessing Literacy LearningObserving Children’s PlayDocumenting Children’s EngagementsAssessing Learning Final Thoughts: Self-EvaluationChapter 5: Play(ing) Across the DayPlayful WritingPlaying into the FutureFinal, Final ThoughtsReferencesAbout the Author