Posted Thursday, July 09, 2009 by Cecelia Westby
Developing Minds of Young Children
"The future of any society depends on its ability to foster
the health and well-being of the next
generation."
As early childhood educators, we know that young children come into this world without their brains fully developed. This is both our opportunity and challenge--to provide high quality early childhood environments that promote development in all domains. And, as the quote above indicates, doesn't our future depend on it? Ttoday's children are tomorrow's parents, citizens and workforce.
Building Brains Over Time
Our goal is to nurture--much like we may do in our gardens over the summer--toward the healthiest outcome in each and every child. Let's talk about what children need to nurture their brains:
- Health and wellness through pre-natal care;
- Understanding and acting on the brain research that indicates most of the brain's connections are made after birth and during the first three years of life;
- Experiences we provide have a significant impact on how these brain connections are made;
- A 3 year old 's brain is much more active than an adults--an adult brain becomes much more efficient;
- The baby's brain grows in spurts with "primetimes" in developmental domains;
- "School" begins for a child at birth (not in kindergarten!)
- C hildren need loving care and quality experiences to promote their development.
Loving and Learning are Intertwined
We can build brains by giving lots of loving and nurturing to the children in our care. And, children need hands on learning! The opportunities to discover and explore. Babies need to experiment; they need to try things that are challenging.
A saying by one of my favorite ECE authors puts it succinctly: Loving and learning are intertwined. When children are loved and cared for, they feel confident going out into the world to explore, discover and experiment. By providing the love and learning, we are helping to build baby's brain. Now, that's meaningful work!
|
|
|
Posted Tuesday, June 09, 2009 by Regina Jackson
Previously on Smalltalk blog, we discussed and defined the achievement gap. We also stated that early childhood education can play a significant role in reducing the achievement gap. Let’s look a little closer at what we as early childhood professionals can do to reduce the achievement gap. According to National Association for the Education of Young Children Position Statement (2009), here is what has been shown to help shrink the achievement gap:
• ECE programs need to start early with proactive vocabulary development (describing children’s actions and narrating their experiences—calling attention to print and language)
• Familiarize young children with alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness (literacy foundations)
• Emphasize mathematics education in the ECE years (numbers and their sequence—make math a part of the everyday routine and environment)
• Support children in gaining social and emotional competencies (independence, responsibility, self-regulation, and cooperation)
• Emphasize self-regulation in the early years is a key indicator in later functioning (problem-solving, planning, focused attention and metacognition)
• Provide ALL children with high quality programs through your own interactions, decisions and actions (research indicates that the most powerful influence is the teacher’s interactions)
In summary, creating a developmentally and culturally appropriate classroom along with supportive teacher interactions, decisions and actions can make a BIG difference in reducing the achievement gap.
|
|
|
Posted Tuesday, March 10, 2009 by Michelle Beedle, MA
As I finished a lecture on Guidance last week in my Foundations of Child Development class, I closed by telling the students that if they were to walk away that night impacted by only one thing, my wish was that it would be their attitude towards working with children. Attitude is defined as a “mental state involving beliefs and feelings and values and dispositions to act in certain ways.” Teachers’ attitudes SHAPE their classroom. Specifically, if we believe that each child and family is valuable and good; if we believe that every child is in the process of learning appropriate behaviors; if we believe that children deserve acceptance and belonging, we are laying the foundation for growth and development in our classroom.
The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s guideline for “creating a caring community of learners” supports what I am talking about in regards to teachers’ attitudes. Creating a caring community of learners involves developing a positive relationship with each child. It is where teachers accept all children and show all children that they belong. In this community, teachers use guidance techniques—namely viewing children’s conflicts and misbehavior as mistaken.
Some little things every teacher can do to SHOW that you accept all children and that they belong:
· Greet every child as they enter your classroom
· Get down at their level when you talk to them
· Have a space for every child to keep his/her things when at school
· Use inclusive language like “our class, our friends, and we”
· Give children opportunities to interact, play with, and help each other
· Have pictures and posters up in your classroom that are representative of all the children’s lives
· Take time to get to know every child and family
· Listen to what children have to say—value their ideas
· View mistakes and conflicts as opportunities for children to learn
· Model positive relationships
|
|
|
Posted Monday, January 12, 2009 by Regina Jackson
Oh great, what am I going to do with these infants and toddlers? If I do an art activity with them, they're going to put it in their mouth, throw it on the floor, rip it, crumple it or better yet waste paper by coloring only a small portion of the construction paper.
Have any of these thoughts ever crossed your mind? Then you're not alone.
So why bother doing art with infants and toddlers? Infants and toddlers naturally are curious and want to explore the world around them. Why not support their growth and development by providing simple everyday art experiences. Developmentally appropriate art activities allow infants and toddlers to safely and freely explore materials through their senses. When we provide a variety of materials for infants and toddlers to try things in their own way, we encourage learning. So, get messy and have fun-- bring out the pudding (finger painting), gelatin mix (makes for nice water coloring), or come up with something new.
|
|
|
Posted Monday, November 10, 2008 by Tammy Hopps
When students learn about DAP (Developmentally Appropriate Practice) and its components of child development, individual variation, and social/cultural contexts, they often ask about the pre-made curriculum that we may see in our early childhood settings. Can premade curriculum be developmentally appropriate? For example, can we say that a preschool curriculum for 4-year-olds would be developmentally and culturally appropriate for all 4-year-olds across the board? Well, not exactly, but it can be a good place to start.
Analogy: Why make brownies from scratch when Duncan Hines has already provided the brownie mix for us?
That pre-made curriculum is based on the first component of DAP (child development). The activities within are centered around the developmental milestones for a specific age group. One thing that separates those who educate young children from those who simply care for young children is the understanding that to truly be developmentally appropriate, the curriculum must be tailored to meet the needs and promote the development of a particular child or group of children. Individual variation and social/cultural contexts must be considered in addition to child development.
If you have the opportunity to use pre-made curriculum, take it and run with it. No need to start from scratch unless you want to. Just take the brownie starter from Duncan Hines and add the extras that make it the perfect dish for your audience.
|
|
|
Posted Tuesday, November 04, 2008 by Michelle Beedle, MA
As part of Rasmussen College's Early Childhood Education mission statement, we claim that ‘we foster and advocate developmentally and culturally appropriate practice among early childhood professionals. “ It is fundamental to understand the concept of developmentally and culturally appropriate practice. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) profoundly effected early childhood education through the publication of its position statement titled Developmentally Appropriate Practices in Early Childhood Programs (Bredekamp & Copple, 1997). This position statement has become central to the field of early childhood education and is endorsed by most at “best practices” in our field. Bredekamp & Copple’s book has become a well-known resource for early childhood education. Developmentally appropriate practices (DAP) are guidelines that are based on what is known about children and their development, what is known about individual children, and what is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live. Developmentally appropriate practices are guiding principles that help early childhood teachers facilitate growth and learning. Developmentally appropriate early childhood classrooms involve teachers supporting children through observation and assessment of individual development, and as a result, offering appropriate materials (based on what is known about child development) to meet the needs of each child. For instance, if a toddler teacher observes a particular child using mostly one-word phrases to communicate his needs, she will first know that this is within the range of normal development for a toddler (knowledge of child development). She will also recognize that communication through one-word phrases precedes communication through two-word phrases and sentences. The teacher will respond to the child by supporting his language development and offering opportunities to practice building his language. The teacher will facilitate growth by modeling two-word phrases and sentences. The teacher will also provide opportunities for the child to communicate about things that interest him. Culturally appropriate practices are a part of DAP. They involve teachers using knowledge of the individual child’s social and cultural context to ensure experiences provided to that child are meaningful, relevant, and respectful. In the above example, the teacher would use her knowledge of the child’s family life and home language to nurture the child’s growing verbal skills. She would offer the child picture books with familiar objects for him to build his language skills. She would be meeting his individual needs with respect to his culture while using her knowledge of child development. Developmentally and culturally appropriate practice is responsive education. It is not a precise curriculum. It is a way of thinking about educating young children. Developmentally and culturally appropriate programs are child-initiated, child sensitive, and concentrate on the development of the whole child.
|
|
|
Posted Monday, October 27, 2008 by Cecelia Westby
Rasmussen College's Early Childhood Education Advisory Boards consist of community members, parents, current students and graduates, teachers, adjuncts and full time faculty. Our goal at the fall meeting was to hear stakeholders describe the ideal teacher candidate. Our hope was to put their ideas into a mission statement to guide our program. Following the meetings, program faculty met and developed the following mission statement. We hope this represents our commitment to children and families in the community!
Rasmussen College's Early Childhood Education Program prepares early childhood educators to serve young children, their families and communities. We foster and advocate developmentally and culturally appropriate practice among early childhood professionals. We value diversity, inclusion, professionalism, collaboration and research-based practice. We strive to provide young children with meaningful experiences that provide a foundation for a productive life.
|