Applying Positive Psychology in Early Childhood.

The purpose of this paper is to introduce a framework for applying positive psychology in elementary classrooms. The target age group is children in grades K-3 (ages 5 to 8) because this age group can benefit the most from an early introduction to strategies that promote positive development (Cowne & Hightower, 1989; White, 1996). The following sections will: (a) introduce constructs of positive psychology; (b) present developmental data on how these constructs can be applied to children ages 5 to 8 years; (c) present ideas for incorporating positive psychology practice into K-3 classrooms; (d) present strategies for incorporating positive psychology with multicultural considerations; and (e) present ideas on how to implement strategies based on positive psychology that are compatible with grade level standards and sociopolitical teaching expectations.

Naturalizing Immigration Imprisonment

Only recently has imprisonment become a central feature of both t across every level of government and involving civil and criminal law enforcement tools. Examining the population as a whole provides crucial insights as to how we arrived at this state of mass immigration imprisonment. While political motivations — parallel to those that fueled the rapid expansion of criminal mass incarceration — may have started the trend, this Article demonstrates that key legal and policy choices explain how imprisonment has become an entrenched feature of immigration law enforcement. In fact, legislators and immigration officials have locked themselves into this choice, as there are now literally billions of dollars, tens of thousands of prison beds, and innumerable third parties invested in maintaining and expanding the use of immigration imprisonment. Using the literature on path dependence and legal legitimacy, this Article explains the phenomenon of immigration imprisonment as a single category that spans all levels of government. Rather than continue further along this path, the Article concludes by suggesting that policymakers should seek a future reflective of immigration law enforcement’s past when imprisonment was the exception rather than the norm.