Assignment: The History of Early Childhood Education in America
From the 1600s to today, the education of young children in the U.S. has changed dramatically and has been influenced by social, economic, and political events and trends. To develop a better understanding of these events, view the Early Childhood Education 101 Timeline.
a. Choose at least two events from the timeline that you feel have had the greatest impact on early childhood education: the Kindergarten movement, founding of the National Association for the Education of Young (NAEYC), Sputnik, etc.
b. Briefly summarize each event in your own words.
c. Explain how you think each event will impact your work in early childhood education.
d. Be sure to support your summary and explanation with a reference to the textbook. Include this reference in your post.
Current Issues and Trends
As an early childhood educator, it is important to stay up-to-date with current and emerging issues in the field. It is also important to be well-informed as you shape your viewpoints on these issues. For this journal, choose one of the following early childhood education issues:
• Technology and young children
• Obesity
• Poverty
• Cultural diversity
• Universal Pre-K Initiative
• Common Core State Standards Initiative
After you have chosen your topic, research the topic to learn more about the issue. One resource you may find helpful to review is the National Association for the education of Young Children's Early Childhood Education Topics. In a Word document, summarize the issue in your own words and explain how this issue will impact your work in the early childhood education field. Your summary should be between 300 to 400 words.
Aspects of Theories
After reading Chapters 3 and 6 in your textbook and viewing the ECE 101 Theorist Gallery Tour, it is likely that a few theoretical models are of interest to you. In this discussion you will explain the two theoretical models you related the most with and tell how the theorists' ideas align with your current beliefs about how children learn, grow, and develop. This will help as you work to understand who you are as an early childhood educator.
Theorists and Theories
Piaget: Theory of Cognitive Development
Vygotsky: Sociocultural Theory of Development
Gardner: Theory of Multiple Intelligences
Skinner: Operant Conditioning Theory
Bandura: Social Learning Theory
Freud: Psychosexual Theory of Development
Erikson: Theory of Psychosocial Development
Kohlberg: Theory of Moral Development
Initial post: Your initial post should include the following:
• Describe the two theoretical models you connect with the most. Explain your thinking.
oSummarize the models in your own words.
oExplain specifically how/why each model aligns with your belief about how children learn, grow and develop..
oDescribe a real-life example for each theoretical model. For example, if you have seen a teacher provide scaffolding, explain what you saw and how it aligns with Vygotsky.
Setting Up Your Weebly Website
For this assignment, you will set up your Weebly website that will be used in the Week Five Final Project. To create your Weebly account, follow the steps below or refer to Weebly Beginner's Guide tutorial.
• Go to the Weebly for Education website.
• Create a username and password and enter your e-mail address. Then read and accept the "Terms of Service."
View the tutorial for setting up your website. Then, create the following tabs (also called pages):
• Tab 1: My Profile
• Tab 2: My Philosophy
• Tab 3: My Practice
• Tab 4: Additional Resources
• Tab 5: References
For this first week you are only creating the actual tabs/pages, you are not writing any content.
If you need help creating your tabs/pages, refer to the Weebly Beginner's Guide tutorial. To make sure you have correctly set up your Weebly page, you can view the ECE 101 Sample Weebly.
Be sure that you have published your site and that you copy and paste a working link to your website into a Word document and submit it to your instructor via the Assignment Submission button.
If you are unable to create a page on the Weebly for Education website for accessibility reasons, please reach out to your instructor
Learning Environments and Developmental Domains
As we have learned this week, there are many different aspects to development that we need to know when working with children from birth to age 8. We must ensure that our classrooms help to stimulate the physical, cognitive, and affective development for all students. For this assignment, you will bring together your knowledge of theories, developmental domains, and learning environments to design a learning environment. The steps for the assignment are:
Step 1: Create your learning environment
• Choose an age group (birth to age 2, ages 2 to 5, or ages 6 to 8) to design a learning environment for.
• Go to the Classroom Architect website or to the Gliffy website. You will use this website to design the layout for the learning environment. When designing your layout, consider how the design you have created will support the developmental needs of your students based on the age group you chose.
• After creating your learning environment, take a screenshot of your design. Then, copy and paste your screenshot into a Word document. If you need help taking a screenshot, please view this tutorial.
Step 2: Written support for your learning environment design
• Access the APA template in the online classroom for assistance with the writing process, formatting, documentation, and citations in your written work.
• Introduction (one paragraph)
o Describe the learning environment that you have designed including the setting of your learning environment (school, home daycare, center, etc.) along with the age of children with whom you will be working.
• Physical Domain
o Explain how your learning environment design supports the physical development of the children with whom you are working.
o Include at least two specific examples from your design.
• Cognitive Domain
o Explain how your learning environment design supports the cognitive development of the children with whom you are working.
o Include at least two specific examples from your design.
• Affective Domain
o Explain how your learning environment design supports the affective development of the children with whom you are working.
o Include at least two specific examples from your design.
• Developmental Theories
o Discuss which of the developmental theories discussed this week are represented in the learning environment you created.
o Include at least two specific examples from your design.
• Conclusion (one paragraph)
o Summarize the main points of your learning environment design and how it will support the developmental needs of your students.
Step 3: Assignment Submission
• Submit your assignment as a two to three page Word document, not including the title and reference page.
o Your document should include a screenshot of your classroom along with the written support for your classroom design (answering all questions from Step 2 above).
• You will need to include your textbook as a resource.
o Be sure to mention your sources in the paper as well as including them on a reference page.
• If you need assistance with making sure that your paper or references are properly formatted in APA, please utilize the APA Guidance link that is located within the Learning Resources tab on the left hand side of the course or visit the Ashford Writing Center.
Learning Approaches
As you learned in your textbook, there are several different learning approaches that can be used in early childhood education. It is important that you are able to determine which approach to teaching you connect with the most, so that you feel confident about how you are teaching your students. This discussion will allow you to share your thoughts regarding different learning approaches.
To begin, take a few minutes to read the book titled "A Tale of Five Classrooms." When reading this book, you will encounter five different classroom scenarios. Each of the scenarios describes a classroom that follows one of the five main approaches (Creative Curriculum, direct instruction, High Scope, Montessori, and Reggio Emilia) that are shared in our textbook.
After reading "A Tale of Five Classrooms," you will:
• Determine which of the classrooms/learning approaches is most like the classroom(s) when you attended school. Did you enjoy being in this type of classroom? Why, or why not?
• Explain which classroom/learning approach aligns with the type of classroom environment you would like to create for your students by clearly stating at least three examples from the scenario that you would like to see in your own classroom. Make sure to include the name of the classroom/learning approach you are discussing (Montessori, High Scope, etc.).
• Use specific examples from the description as well as at least one scholarly source to explain why you believe the learning approach you chose would be an effective model for early childhood education.
Guided Response: Familiarize yourself with the Project Approach by reviewing section 4.7 of the course text. Respond to at least two of your peers. When responding to your peers, share one way that each of your peers could incorporate the Project Approach into the learning approach they discussed.
Learning Approaches, Theory, and Practice
Becoming a professional in the field of early childhood education requires you to become familiar with the various developmental theories as well as research that studies the effectiveness of various learning approaches. Throughout the last two weeks, you have learned about these different theories and approaches to learning. After engaging in discussions with your classmates, you now have ideas about which theories and approaches you would like to use in your work with children. Using the steps below, you will sort through these theories and approaches to shape who you are as a teacher and what you believe about how children learn best. This assignment will also help you prepare for your final assignment.
Prior to beginning work on this assignment, access the APA Template (available in the online classroom) for assistance with the writing process, formatting, documentation, and citations in your written work.
Step 1: Reflect back on your initial response in the "Aspects of Theories" discussion from Week Two and the "Learning Approaches" discussion from this week. Using the theories and approaches that were discussed, fill in the table below by ranking each according to how you connected with them ("most connected" at the top and "least connected" at the bottom. Be sure to delete the example row provided).
Theorists/Theories - Most connected to least connected Learning Approaches - Most connected to least connected
Ex: 1. Piaget - Theory of Cognitive Development Ex: 1. High Scope
Step 2: Using the table as a guide, research your top two theories and top two learning approaches. You will create a word document or a PowerPoint presentation that contains your responses to the points below as they are applied to each of your top two theories and top two learning approaches.
• Summarize the underlying principles or ideas for each of your two theories and for each of your top two approaches.
• Explain why your top two theories and your top two approaches are important to understand and how each will benefit your work with children.
• Discuss how your top two theories and your top two approaches will help you to be an effective teacher.
• Summarize the similarities you see between the theory and model of those you ranked first. For example, if Piaget's theory of cognitive development was your top theory and the Reggio Emilia approach was your top learning approach, share how these two ideas support one another.
Step 3: Submit your assignment to your instructor as a Word document or as a PowerPoint that contains your table from Step 1 and your responses to the questions from Step 2. Whichever option you choose, you will also need to follow APA format and include title and reference pages. In addition, the information in your assignment needs to be supported by the textbook and at least one additional scholarly source. Be sure to cite your sources in the Word document or PowerPoint and list them on the reference page/slides. If you need assistance with making sure that your paper or references are properly formatted in APA, please utilize the APA Guidance link that is located within the Learning Resources tab on the left hand side of the course or visit the Ashford Writing Center.
Carefully review the Grading Rubric for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.
Developmentally Appropriate Practice
As the authors of our text note:
Since its founding in 1926, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has been an influence on early education in the United States, but never so strongly as it has been since it began writing position statements in the 1980s. (Estes & Krogh, 2012, p. 98)
One of the position statements that NAEYC created focuses on developmentally appropriate practice (DAP). Understanding what DAP is and how it will influence your work with children is critical to being a quality early childhood educator.
To deepen your understanding of developmentally appropriate practice, spend some time exploring NAEYC's website. Pay particular attention to the section of the website dedicated to DAP. While exploring the site, you can learn more about what DAP is, read NAEYC's position statement on DAP, and learn how DAP can be implemented with different ages of children. When you are finished exploring the site, complete the following:
a. In your own words, explain what the term developmentally appropriate practice means to you.
b. Describe at least two personal connections you made with the DAP information you discovered on the NAEYC site.
c. Summarize three main things you learned from exploring the site. How will they impact your career in early childhood education?
Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers by sharing how one of the things they learned provided insight into your understanding of developmentally appropriate practice. For each response, suggest one resource on the website that you feel would be beneficial for your classmate to further explore, and explain why.
Learning Centers and Play
A highly debated topic in early childhood education is the role of play in the classroom. Although early childhood educators understand the importance of incorporating play into a developmentally appropriate curriculum, many parents have a difficult time understanding why their child is "playing" in the classroom. Watch the video, titled The Role of Play in the Overly-Academic Classroom.
Now, imagine that you have recently had several families in your classroom ask you about why their child is playing in the classroom. You have decided to write a letter to the parents to help them understand why play has been incorporated into your classroom and how it is benefiting the development of their children. Please post your letter as your initial response to this discussion. Your letter should include the following:
• A description of why play is an important part of a developmentally appropriate curriculum. Be sure to support your statements with at least one scholarly source.
• An explanation of how play can help to support a child's physical, cognitive, and affective development.
• An example of one play-based activity that demonstrates to parents how play supports their child's development. For instance, you could explain how playing a game of hopscotch can help a child with their gross motor skills (physical development) and counting (cognitive development). Please make sure that your play-based activity is an original idea or that if you use an idea from an outside source it is properly formatted according to APA as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center. Also, this should be a brief description of an activity. It is not a lesson plan.
Guided Response: Respond to at least two of your peers. In your response, imagine that you are a parent who was skeptical of play being used in the classroom and you just received this letter from your child's teacher. For each response, write a letter back to your child's teacher (your classmate) letting him or her know whether or not the letter has changed your perspective. Be sure to include specific reasons as to why you have or have not changed your point of view.
Self-Evaluation
Reflect on your learning throughout this course.
• How well did you accomplish the two goals you set in your introduction in week one? What were two or three things that had the greatest influence on the outcome of your goals?
• What were the three most important and/or exciting things you learned during this course?
• How will you utilize this new knowledge in your classroom or future classroom?
• How has this course helped you to see any additional career options you might have or reaffirmed your current path?
• Lastly, what is one thing you learned in this class that you feel is important but you need/want to learn more about as you continue on your education path?
ECE Careers and Dispositions
Wadlington and Wadlington (as cited in Estes & Krogh, 2012) explain, "Because of the strong connection between dispositions and teaching styles, it is desirable for individuals in the midst of becoming teachers to reflect and develop self-awareness of their own dispositions (p. 33). Subsequently, knowing which career you want to pursue is an important first step to tackling your job search and career goals. Exploring the requirements for your potential career path, assessing your current skill set, and identifying what action steps you can take to make your career goals more attainable is the purpose for this discussion.
To prepare for this discussion, reread the list of dispositions associated with effective teachers discussed in Chapter 2 (Table 2.1) and Chapter 10. Also view the video or read the description below the video, I am a Teacher. Lastly, read the Career Planning Step-by-Step article to better understand the importance of developing a clear career plan.
Once you are prepared, use the My Dispositions Target (Figure 2.1) from your text to organize and record the initial analysis of your dispositions.
For your initial post
• Describe which of the dispositions from your target you already exhibit on a regular basis. Also, discuss which dispositions are still emerging for you.
• Based on the discussion of career options in Chapter 10, identify at least two possible careers that interest you and that are a "good fit" based on your personal disposition reflection, as well as the qualifications you already possess. Explain why you would be a good fit for both of your chosen careers.
• Identify your long-term goals. Where would you like to be professionally, one to five years from now?
• Reflect on the following:
oWhat new skills, dispositions, knowledge, certifications, or trainings might you need to be successful? Identify the additional action steps you will need to take to be even more qualified for the position you would like to pursue. Be sure to set reasonable deadlines for these action steps.
oAre there any professional obstacles you may need to overcome to be successful? Are there individuals in your professional network who can help you?
The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)
As your text states, "the early childhood field takes very seriously the need to adhere to ethical behavior" (Estes & Krogh, 2012, pg. 285). For this reason, the NAEYC has provided guidelines to assist early childhood educators with the decisions made on a daily basis that have both moral and ethical implications.
To prepare for this discussion, view NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct and reread the NAEYC's Core Values outlined in Chapter 10 of your text.
For this discussion:
• Choose four of the Core Values from Section 10.2 of our textbook.
• For each Core Value you choose, discuss how you would implement it into your future classroom.
oFor example, if your chosen Core Value was "Respect the dignity, worth, and uniqueness of each individual (child, family member, and colleague", you might discuss changes you would make to a traditional holiday curriculum that would reflect this value.
• Explain how your knowledge and understanding of these values will help to make you a better early childhood educator and colleague.
Guided Response: Review several of your classmates' posts and respond to at least two of your peers. In your responses, provide your peers with further suggestions on how they can implement the NAEYC's Core Values into their practice. You may choose either the values they identified or any of the seven Core Values you feel are most important.