ABSTRACT
This chapter examines teaching practice and children’s empowerment through narrative research in one early childhood classroom. Through teacher research, practitioners explore the foundational dynamics of an emergent social justice curriculum in a Pre-Kindergarten context. This chapter follows the story of one class and their two teachers as they embark on social justice work around water accessibility and the ways in which young children effect change on global issues. Using the program “Word Wizard,” teachers examine language in the classroom, and the ways in which children can harness the power of language, criticality, and resistance through their active writing and rewriting of words and their nuanced meanings. This chapter also delves into the balance between teacher facilitation and children’s empowerment in a co-constructed curriculum, exploring the experiences of teaching into the unknown.
