| 2. A commitment to student learning and achievement. |
| Philosophy: Main Idea |
| Overall, I believe that all students can learn in a supportive environment. It's the teacher's job to manage a classroom so that everyone can learn. Special Education Early Childhood |
| 2. A commitment to student learning and achievement. |
| Entry-level Standards: |
| Philosophy: Early Childhood |
| The goal of early childhood education should be to develop the whole child. It should focus on each development area: physical, social/emotional, language and cognitive. When all areas are continuously developed, the child will be ready for anything�including school. |
| Early Childhood Instruction |
| Focus is on developing the whole child so instruction is varied and centered on play, especially in preschool (2-5 years) settings. Each activity should be developmentally appropriate, meaning that it is suitable for each child. Activities should be simple enough to develop even the most basic of skills but able to be adapted for more advanced learner. To do this, activities are open ended to suit a variety of skill levels. In an early childhood setting, teachers should not focus on whole-group instruction. As children develop, teachers can encourage longer attention spans by doing interesting whole-group activities alternating with individual, group, or free choice activities. Later, emphasis should be placed on reading, writing, and building number sense because children are more developmentally ready for such symbolic concepts when they start school. Education of school-aged children should still be in each area of development because each is equally important to developing the whole child. |
| Early Childhood Safety |
| The early childhood setting should be safe and learner-centered. Children should be able to test their limits and explore, but educators need to be able to step in and ensure the safety of all children. While no teacher can provide everything, supports should be in place to help children in need. Teachers should be knowledgeable about local, state, and national resources to aid families and children. |
| Early Childhood Assessment |
| Part of being aware of each child�s needs is assessment. Teachers need to be aware of where children are developmentally so they know what to teach and that all children are developing. This can be done through informal assessment and more formal assessments like systematic observation. The duration and frequency of certain behaviors can help teachers find out who may need special help and can show the true nature of a behavior. Teachers may want to conduct classroom-based assessment, collect work samples that show growth in a particular area, and take pictures or video of children. In some instances, standardized assessments may be necessary. If used for �high-stakes� decisions, norm-referenced tests should always be used in conjunction with other evaluations and never serve as the sole representation of a student.
Early childhood education is different for every child. Teachers and caregivers should pay special attention to the needs and development of every child. Children should want to come to school and should benefit from being there. Teachers and staff should be knowledgeable about a variety of assessment tools and instructional activities and should be there for every child. It does take a community to raise a child, and that community has to develop the whole child, not just a small part of one person. |
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