Early Childhood Education
Breffni, L., Morrison, G., Woika, M. (2022) Early Childhood Education Today, 15th edition. Pearson
My name is Emma Reames, and I am studying Elementary Education at Harding University. I have been working at the Boys and Girls Club going on three years. My goal as a teacher is to create a positive learning environment for young children.
I believe that children are the future and that my role is to assist students in finding their place and role in the world. A supportive environment for young children includes showing the kids that you are there for them and helping them find their roles in the world. My goal as a teacher is to show children their potential and give them the experiences they need to learn about the world. I believe that every child can do anything that they can put their minds to. The role of families and culture is to help teach children to learn more about the world and to help support the children in any way that they need. An early childhood professional should know that not all children learn the same. Children learn at different paces and in diverse ways. Professionals use philosophy to help them create strategies for children. This will help professionals to determine the way that students learn best. Professionals base their teaching off philosophy and following the guide, to provide support in the way they believe in the ability of children. The philosophy for education is beliefs that are based off the development of children and how they learn and explains what ways children should be able to learn. Teaching is difficult and cannot be taken lightly, but it is also a joyful experience.
Lev Vygotsky was a theorist, and one of his theories was his sociocultural theory. Sociocultural theory focuses its attention on relationships in children’s social and cognitive development. Vygotsky influenced cooperative and social forms of learning, as well as different techniques to assist the learning process for children. Another theorist is John Dewey. He had discovered the progressive education movement and had stated “Educate children for today—not tomorrow.” Dewey influenced classrooms today by making education child-centered and making education base itself on children’s interests. Maria Montessori’s theory was that knowledge comes from children’s sensory experiences. She also states the need for sensory-based materials that can be self-correcting for children. Friedrich showed that children’s learning comes through play. He founded kindergarten and nicknamed it “Garden of Children” because as the teacher, you are the gardener. John Locke said that experiences are the foundation of learning and that learning needs to begin early. A thing that Locke wants teachers to remember is that they mold the children. Vygotsky emphasizes that social collaboration is a priority with young children’s learning. Children want to be involved and interact with their peers, family, and the teacher. The interactions like media, motivates students to be active and want to be involved. Technology also allows children to observe the interactions of skills within the framework of social interactions with their peers and older peers. Children want to learn and be able to interact with the people they have around them. Felicia is an educational teacher that was invited from Explore and Learn Children’s Center to discuss their philosophy of education. Felicia had stated that children are important to the world and bring potential. The core beliefs that a professional has include what they believe about children.
Past ideas and theories are put back into the classroom. Old professionals continually influenced children in the early childhood education career. Ideas are rebirthed into education over the previous ten to twenty years. In the Common Core State Standards explains for schools and professionals to upgrade the education and achievement levels across the children of the Unites States. I believe that children are the future but need to learn about the past. My role as an educator is to influence students to their greatest ability.
After Covid, technology became embedded into the school curriculum. Schools had to turn into online classes due to quarantine and the inability to do in person classes.
Montessori’s theory is sensory learning based. Locke’s theory is based off environmentalism. Environmentalism is the theory that the environment will result in what children will be. He says that there are no innate ideas regarding nature and human learning. Locke states that the mind forms based off the environment that they are in. Due to contemporary issues, 3- and 4-year-olds are not prepared for school and are at a higher risk for failure in school. Locke and Luther created a focus called humanistic imperative in education. Rousseau chose to take a more natural step into education. Rousseau does not want to force education on children; he wants to follow their natural development. America tends to use Rousseau’s ideas in naturalism and to create a more family-like environment or create a more natural setting. Rousseau believes that natural education will encourage and promote qualities in children. An issue is digital divides. Digital divides separate students based on their ability to access the internet. Technology is a large part of society, but there are children that are unable to access Internet and Wi-Fi at home. Households with low income families are not able to afford the Internet and do not have resources to help. Households that have incomes under 30,000 per year do not all own phones, laptops, or Internet service. Households that have no Internet, making it difficult for students to complete their assignments is called a homework gap. Their advantage is that peers are able to complete the assignments due to higher income, but it is difficult for lower income families. There are two factors to getting the Internet, and it is affordability and availability, which separates advantage and disadvantage, children and families. There are two factors to getting the Internet, and it is affordability and availability, which separates advantage and disadvantage, children and families.
Elementary teachers face many different challenges in the classroom. A challenge is that all students need opportunities that are equal to one another, but every student learns different. No child learns the same as another. Schools do not have enough funding. Each school has a budget and it makes it difficult for teachers to need the needs and requirements that each student needs. Some families are not helping their children in the learning process. Some students are disruptive in the classroom environment and having multiple students in the classroom makes it challenging to meet the needs of all the students while trying to maintain a distraction free zone. There are many children that face hunger. Many families are unable to provide food for the family and school is the only meal that children are able to get.
A known association that has over seven thousand programs is the National Association for the Education of Young Children. Throughout all the childhood education programs, this is only a fraction. The staff, teacher, and the children create programs to help develop and cover the domains of linguistic, cognitive, emotional, physical, and social within the programs. The public wants higher quality programs for children making different expectations for childhood programs. The public wants to ensure the children are successful both in school and academically. Another is to provide inclusion in literacy and reading readiness in programs they are wanting children to read at grade levels one, two, and three. The public once programs to create environments let me every child's needs and promote national good whether it is a nation or politicians. They are wanting high returns on investment towards early care and education and programs to provide family stability and economic mobility. The programs need to involve the support from children and families and meet all of their needs. Students are able to use the G–Suite. Using this program, students are able to create shared slideshows, spreadsheets, and documents. They are able to collaborate anywhere at any time. For a science course, students use document cameras to focus on the different objects in front of them. Some of those examples are plants, insects, animals, rocks, and worms. On technology students are able to enlarge the object to see it closer and identify properties. This is a way for students to experience science in a different way.
United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) is a support system throughout the whole nation for children. United Nations Children’s Fund supports children that are more vulnerable. They provide help with nutrition, education, emergency relief, and health care.
Some of the services that they are wanting to be included in kindergarten and 1st grade classrooms are special education services and opportunities to be involved in groups. The public is wanting to encourage relationships collaboratively. The public is wanting to build and effective environment for children. They are wanting the services in to make sure that children what special rights are getting the services that they need to help them succeed. Everyone in the classrooms of team including the teacher and the students. The teacher is a valuable resource to help the children in additional support that they might need. Documenting the progress of children will help to ensure the children's learning is being influenced by the classroom environment in creating resources and supports that they are needing to learn. This is especially influential for children of divergent backgrounds abilities due to the individualized approach that the documentation offers to the children. Technology creates developmentally appropriate approaches when it comes to teaching and learning processes. More than 92% of one-year-olds have experienced and used mobile devices in their lives. Infants are adults, using technology and want to use it for themselves. The way that technology is appropriate for infants and toddlers is when using Skype or video call. Young children are able to learn more with physical experiences. Toddlers are more engaged when in a video chat interaction for a small amount of time with the use of parental support. It is important for her and toddlers to use video chatting when they have little interactions with relatives due to long distances video chatting promotes bonding between one another.
GOLD and assessment system 51 items which cover 38 objectives I can regulate emotions and can demonstrate listening and understand English. It is an online program that provides record keeping to aid teachers with maintenance and organization of portfolios for the children. It produces planning special and reports. Teachers are able to create profiles individualized for each child to answer what they know and what they can do. The online website is for children birth through kindergarten and create strategies for English learners. Head start programs are beneficial for families and children. Head start school is to allow children from low-income households to gain a “head start”. Head start is a program that was initially created for children to get on to their kindergarten experience and on life. Head start is for younger children and initiates growth and positive learning environments through numerous services. Some of these services include early learning health and family well-being. National head start programs have a budget annually of 8.9 billion dollars and serves one million fifty thousand Children from ages birth to five. Head start involves learning outcomes three central to success in school and life for the children. The programs in head start all work towards learning outcomes similar to other children. There is an increase of technology using the classroom. Technology changes the way that teachers teach and the way that children learn. It is being used in the classroom to increase the way children are learning, their communication, and collaboration. Teachers need to know how to use technology so that they can help children learn the curriculum content. Schools are integrating technology into the classrooms, and it is used for teaching behaviors, skills, and to provide children with more knowledge. Children are born into technology. Technology is creating the ability to multitask. Children are learning how to text and talk to one another all at the same time. Technology is used for entertainment and learning for children. Today are the youngest members of the touchscreen generation. Technology needs to be used to give children knowledge, skills, and behaviors that they will need to grow towards their future and life technology will use schools and households from today to the future. Schools will issue computers or tablets to the students to help them be successful in school. The technology provides different courses that the students need.
While technology is important in education, it is also a distraction for young children. It is helpful in many different ways and can help kids read and learn math in different ways that will help the child to be successful. When the pandemic happened, it was very helpful to have technology to be able to continue learning through the quarantine and being connected with the school and to help students to continue learning. One of the biggest issues is whether or not students have the Internet. Not all children have access to the Internet to be able to take online classes.
Early Head Start programs are tailored for infants and toddlers. The classrooms are designed to meet the needs of young children. There are no more than eight children in each classroom at a time to create a good ratio of four children to one teacher. Toddlers and infants are more neglected age. Early head start program provides higher quality programs for infants and toddlers. Technology creates developmentally appropriate approaches when it comes to teaching and learning processes. More than 92% of one-year-olds have experienced and used mobile devices in their lives. Infants are adults, using technology and want to use it for themselves. The way that technology is appropriate for infants and toddlers is when using Skype or video call. Young children are able to learn more with physical experiences. Toddlers are more engaged when in a video chat interaction for a small amount of time with the use of parental support. It is important for her and toddlers to use video chatting when they have little interactions with relatives due to long distances video chatting promotes bonding between one another.
Head start has a lot of preschool programs. Head start having AA or an AS degree in early childhood education or a higher degree. Head start child development and early learning framework and has a curriculum for preschoolers. It impacts what preschoolers learn in the programs not only in head start but other programs as well. Head start creates a positive impact on the experiences and readiness for preschoolers. The program concentrates on the literacy and language of preschoolers and giving them an increase in their vocabulary and letter to word identification. With iPads, teachers can take pictures of books and display them onto the iPad screens. Teachers need to use a document camera to get the images onto the tablets clearly and legibly. Tablets can display three dimensional images. Students can zoom images and text in and out to make it easier to see or read. The tablets place a three-dimensional picture onto the tablets creating them onto a larger screen.
Head start is valuable for picking runners because it gives them the experience on life itself . One of the main reasons for it starting was for children going into first grade that had not attended kindergarten, so they are prepared for school and have the experiences they need. Head start is made for younger children. Start supporting her and her growth and readiness for school. I believe that kindergarten is important. Official for children who are in kindergarten going into first grade to gain the readiness skills that they will need. In early childhood professionals should know a kindergarten teacher teaches children to be prepared for first grade and that not all children take kindergarten. My role as the teacher is to get children prepared for the next year in getting them ready to have a smooth transition into first grade. There’s a kindergarten teacher that uses iPads in the classroom. She uses iPads, which have her class books in it, and it helps children to reach their own pace. iPads have widgets. Have little quizzes to show her where her students are at. Tablets have multimedia and mobile apps that can help children determine the unit of sound. Kindergarteners are able to pick out images from a photo album to determine which match the sound that is assigned to them. They are able to create a slideshow on the iPads in a group or individually for projects. Students are able to save their presentations to a website their teacher has. Well, technology is important in education, it is also a distraction for young children. It is helpful in many different ways and can help kids read and learn math in different ways that will help the child to be successful. When the pandemic happened, it was very helpful to have technology to be able to continue learning through the quarantine and being connected with the school and to help students to continue learning. One of the biggest issues is whether or not students have the Internet. Not all children have access to the Internet to be able to take online classes.
Head start benefits to many children by the end of first grade. Information fades out or decreases over time. First, second, and 3rd graders are prepared for school to the head start program and assessments that they can do picking up the information from fading out. Head start gives positive outcomes and enhances children's skills. Lack of continuity will make it more difficult for children to remember information after a break at school. Using head start children are able to continue learning new and old subjects. First graders are able to write on shared documents. The tablets make it easier for students to highlight and take notes on documents. Second graders use more advancements on their technology whether they are using tablets or computers. Students can use the camera to record their participation in lessons. They’re able to save the video to a folder to view later and study. Third graders research projects using the Internet and they are able to create movies using slideshow pictures and saving them. After they save those photos, they can place them into an editing software from making movies. Once the third graders are finished with the movie they can share it to a folder with their sis teacher.