Part 1 Focus on the Caregiver
Chapter 1: Principles, Practice, and Curriculum
Chapter 2: Infant-Toddler Education
Chapter 3: Caregiving as Curriculum
Chapter 4: Play and Exploration as Curriculum
Part 2 Focus on the Child
Chapter 5: Attachment
Chapter 6: Perception
Chapter 7: Motor Skills
Chapter 8: Cognition
Chapter 9: Language
Chapter 10: Emotions
Chapter 11: Social Skills
Part 3 Focus on the Program
Chapter 12 The Physical Environment
Chapter 13 The Social Environment
Chapter 14 Adult Relations in Infant-Toddler Care and Education
Programs
Janet Gonzalez-Mena started her early childhood career in a
cooperative preschool as a parent volunteer back in 1966. She then
became a Head Start volunteer and ended up as a teacher in a
preschool for Spanish-speaking children and their families in
1970s. She has also helped open several pilot programs including a
therapeutic child care program and a home-based bilingual preschool
program. When Magda Gerber came into her life in the mid-1970s,
Janet signed up for an internship with her at the Childrens Health
Council in Menlo Park, California. As a result of that experience,
later, when she became a child care director, she was able to
incorporate much of what she learned into her work and was
influential in expanding that program to include an infant center.
Training and teaching adults has always been sideline, even when
she was working with children and families. She worked as a Head
Start trainer and as adjunct faculty in 4 community colleges plus
the University of California Santa Cruz credential extension
program. She taught for 15 years as full time faculty at Napa
Valley College in the Child and Family Studies Program. Since 1991,
she has been part of the faculty for WestEds Program for
Infant-Toddler Caregivers (PITC) Training of Trainer Institutes.
Janet has been writing along with teaching for all these years and
is author of numerous articles and 13 books related to early
childhood, including Foundations of Early Childhood Education;
Infants, Toddlers, and Caregivers (with co-author Dianne Eyer); and
Diversity in Early Care and Education: Honoring Differences
(Formerly Multicultural Issues in Child Care). She wrote Dragon Mom
about herself as parent to help early childhood professionals
alleviate guilt when their parenting doesn't live up to their high
standards. Her latest passion is understanding more about the
Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary, where Magda Gerber came
from. It took her 30 years to get there after she first heard of
it, but her first trip to it in November of 2003 merely whetted her
appetite. She has made two more since and is planning for another
one. She is fascinated by the approach and is convinced that this
residential nursery is a model for the world. She is continuing to
learn more about how this approach can be used to improve
infant-toddler care and education programs in the United States.
She is also working with a group in Mexico to explore how the
approach might fit into their models of residential care for
infants and toddlers. Janet has a Master of Arts Degree in Human
Development from Pacific Oaks in Pasadena, California.
Tenured Professor of Early Childhood Education / Child Development
at Canada College since 1970, Department Coordinator since 1978
(and author of 30 courses within the ECE/CD Department). Dianne has
served on various college committees during the last few years
including the Articulation Self Study Committee and the Chairperson
for the College Council from 2002 to 2004. She received specialized
diversity training under Title V in 2002. In the late 1990s she was
a presenter at the Annual Conference of the National Association
for the Education of Young Children in Atlanta, GA and Washington
D.C. respectively. She is the co-author of Infants, Toddlers and
Caregivers, sixth edition, McGraw-Hill, released in 2004. Her
community experiences include: Task Force member for the Advancing
Careers in Child Development Project (Pacific Oaks College,
Pasadena CA); San Mateo County Consortium for Quality Programs; SMC
Partnership Council; and membership in SMAEYC. She has been
responsible for several grants within the ECE/CD Department
including: Foster Care Education, SAFE START/Violence Intervention
in ECE (Centers for Disease Control); and the Family Support
Program (a PSP and The Council collaboration). She is currently
coordinating a grant with First 5 San Mateo County to recruit and
retain quality ECE/CD teachers and providers in the field. She is
also a Professional Growth Advisor for the Child Development
Permit.
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