Getting Back on Track: The Importance of Play and Storytelling in Young Children's Development

In this interview, Vivian Paley describes how her curiosity and love of young children led her to work in early childhood education. She shares some of her own learning experiences with children that eventually resulted in her writing 13 books. As children go to school earlier, there is less and less time for play. This dramatic play and re-enactment is critical for children and constitutes an "original level playing field" in classrooms with wide diversity in culture and language. Finally, she explains that the most important characteristic of an excellent early childhood teacher is that of valuing kindness, in order to create a classroom that is fair and inclusive.