foundation for her teaching and leadership work with Head Start children, families, and educators.
Goeson’ s story interweaves historical events of oppression and genocide against Native peoples with the assets and strengths of her family’ s story and her own childhood memories.
I attended Head Start as a child, on the reservation where I would later teach. The image of“ school” spilled into my early childhood education at Head Start. The teachers there were themselves students of the boarding schools.
As I look back on the program’ s outdoor environment, or what was commonly called the“ playground,” it felt confining / inhibiting and artificial in contrast to the openness, freedom, and interesting challenges I have experienced in the natural environment.... [ T ] he memories that stay with me the most into adulthood are the rich experiences of the day as I freely explored the natural environment: the senses I recall, the warmth of the air, the feeling of the grass beneath me, the aroma of the honeysuckle and sage, the power of the beautiful environment, and the sacred bond of learning with my childhood friends and relatives.( 14)
Goeson’ s earlier work with narrative inquiry at South Dakota State University, under the mentorship of Andy Stremmel, provided an inquiry frame for her reflective and historical story. It supported Goeson to ask the simple yet deep question“ What does it mean to educate young children within my culture?”( 2014, 16). As a trainer and technical assistance provider for Region VI-American Indian and Alaska Native Head Start Programs, Goeson’ s story provided a new frame and way forward for reconceptualizing Head Start programs to integrate Dakota community and family traditions and practices. In turn, Goeson’ s article offers other practitioners one possible pathway for creating an arts-based approach that melds writing, art, and photographs into an evocative inquiry story. It stands as an example of what comes to fruition from an early childhood professional committed to inquiry, reflection, collaboration, and change.
Supporting Educators’ and Children’ s Critical Consciousness
A more recent example is“ Discovering the Brilliance and Beauty in Black,” by Patricia Sullivan( 2020b), which was adapted from a chapter she contributed to a book focused on nature education( 2020a). The article recounts a story from Baby Steps Nature School, a family child care program that Sullivan owned and taught in for many years. Sullivan, an experienced African American early childhood educator, focuses on an interaction with one child that she turns into an engaging inquiry story that examines colorism and racial bias. Her careful reflection and actions offer insights for supporting children’ s critical consciousness regarding biases and stereotypes at the intersection of color, race, and development. Sullivan uses the power of story to analyze and reflect upon the teaching and learning implications of this engaging narrative.
Like all good storytellers, Sullivan entices readers into the collaborative inquiry with the children and her co-teachers with spare text and dialogue:
“ Let’ s go feed the squirrels,” I say just after seven in the morning, leading David( 3 years old) to the back door and the shelves where we keep the wild animal food. David doesn’ t like to be the first child to arrive at school: he anxiously watches the door and waits for his friends... to arrive. To distract him every morning, we feed the feral cats, the birds, and the squirrels... David likes Steller’ s Jays because they have cool mohawks and blue eyebrows. The jays sometimes watch us from the tree and mimic a hawk’ s call to scare away the squirrels from the nuts. When actual hawks appear, the jays dash for the trees, warning everyone in earshot of the danger. As we watch them now, suddenly all of the jays
94 Young Children
Spring 2026