Creative Materials and Activities for the Early Childhood Curriculum

Joan Packer Isenberg is Professor Emerita of Education at George Mason University, where she also served as associate dean in the College of Education and Human Development from 2003-2011 and as the founding director of the Advanced Studies in Teaching and Learning (ASTL) program from 1999-2003. She is past president of the National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators and was the 2006 recipient of the Early Childhood Teacher Educator of the Year Award from NAECTE/Allyn & Bacon. Isenberg also served as the first visiting scholar for the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards (NBPTS) from 2002-2003. For most of her academic career she has studied and written about early childhood curriculum, play, and arts integration, particularly as they affect children's learning and development. She has taught children from preschool through grade four in both public and private settings. Among her numerous authored or co-authored publications are Creative Thinking and Arts-Based Learning (6th edition 2014), Exploring Your Role in Early Childhood Education (4th edition, 2012), The Master's Degree in Education as Teacher Professional Development (2012, Rowman & Littlefield), and Major Trends and Issues in Early Childhood Education, (2nd edition, 2003). She currently is doctoral affiliate faculty with the Union Institute and University.



Jennifer L. Durham is a certified K-12 special education teacher. She is currently the Curriculum and Technology Coordinator at the Lab School of Washington. Dr. Durham is also a professor at American University in the School of Education, Teaching, and Health and a supervisor of student teachers. Her work at American University focuses both on formal and informal assessment and the preparation of special education teachers to be able to use multi-sensory, project-based, arts-integrated learning in their teaching practices. She received her bachelor's degree from Austin College in Sherman, TX; her master's degree from American University in Washington, DC, and her Ph. D. in special education and arts integration from George Mason University in Fairfax, VA. Dr. Durham has been a public school teacher, an owner of her own private educational consulting company, and has completed over 120 hours of professional development in arts integration through the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. With Professor Isenberg, Dr. Durham completed a four-year study of the effects of an arts integration program on school culture in selected schools in the Washington D.C. area. She has presented at several conferences on the Power of the Arts in everyday learning.