Embracing Pedagogical Multiplicity: Examining Two Teachers' Instructional Responses to the Changing Expectations for Kindergarten in U.S. Public Schools

The purposes of kindergarten have been changing rapidly in the United States. Kindergarten teachers are facing many new demands; in addition to meeting children's needs across all developmental domains, they must also move their young students toward mastery of a variety of mandated academic skills. This article presents findings from a recent qualitative study of two kindergarten teachers' efforts to respond to these new demands and to establish practices that are responsive to the needs of their students, to the requirements of their state, and to the myriad obligations and expectations shaping their professional context. These teachers' practices, portrayed in vivid narrative vignettes, reveal the value of pedagogical multiplicity in the creation of kindergartens in which mandated content is taught in developmentally appropriate ways. Because kindergarten has become so complex, having access to a variety of instructional approaches and choosing among them flexibly and freely increases teachers' ability to be successful.