WHAT: “How I Came to Love Children’s Fantasy Play: A Life of Surprises in the Early Childhood Classroom” Vivian Gussin Paley, 75, longtime educator and the only teacher to have won a MacArthur Award, will present a lecture on teacher education at New York University. Paley is being hosted by NYU Steinhardt’s Department of Teaching and Learning.

WHO: Vivian Gussin Paley, author of more than 10 books including You Can’t Say You Can’t Play, White Teacher, and The Boy Who Would Be a Helicopter, that teachers have come to depend on. Paley challenges reforms in early childhood education relevant to the No Child Left Behind Act in her most recent book, A Child at Work: The Importance of Fantasy Play, by holding the view that young children learn best through fantasy play as opposed to skill-based learning.

This is Paley’s first appearance at NYU; the event is free and open to the public.

WHEN: THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 3, 7 p.m.

WHERE: KIMMEL CENTER, NYU, 60 Washington Square South, 10th Floor, Rosenthal Pavilion (Between Thompson and LaGuardia)

For more information or to attend the event, contact Jennifer Zwiebel, NYU’s Office of Public Affairs, Steinhardt School of Education at 212.998.6797 or jennifer.zwiebel@nyu.edu.


Editor’s note

NYU’s Steinhardt School is a rich source of ground-breaking scholarship on issues of national and global significance and innovation in research, teaching, practice, and performance. The School prepares students to be educators, health professionals, counselors, and psychologists, academics, musicians, artists, communication specialists, and policy analysts. The Steinhardt School values its location in New York City, where it is engaged in research, partnerships, and community service aimed at improving urban life and the city’s institutions.

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