Early Childhood Education Program - Term Paper Example

Early Childhood Education Program The Early Childhood Education Center presents this proposal to cater to the development of an early childhood educational program. This program is designed to foster and care for the students with the best education through dedicated teachers, appropriate curriculum and healthy classroom environment for children aged three to eight. These students will be taught and molded with comprehensive developmental center that offers programs and activities to ensure the bright future of the students. Early Childhood Education Center will accept and serve toddlers to preschoolers with ages three to eight with the mission to positively mould these children to become well developed persons. This center has a goal of providing the best training and education for eight hours a day operation. For ages three to five years old, the curriculum will be conducted for four hours and five days a week. This is to ensure that the development of the children of this age will be observed. This center is very essential to provide the positive impact and nurture on the children within the community. As a center designed to provide quality education for infants and toddlers as well as preschoolers, this school is important in the community. Vision To be the best in providing the children the finest life and career skills using the comprehensive classroom technology plan. To be committed to provide true service where teachers and educators are knowledgeable and responsible and who truly care to their students. We believe that we can offer and develop the learning and innovation skills of the students. We desire to inspire to our valued students the importance of learning the information, media and technology skills by providing the best classroom environment and teaching plan that suits every need of the students. We dedicate all our gifts, efforts and power to its realization. With God’s help, this vision will be upheld. Mission To offer the excellent education that is rightfully available to all the students. To provide the best foundation for life-long learning of the students through premiere standards and assessments. To develop a syllabus and instructions of a classroom that fits the needs of the students. To be able to instil the value of classroom development and provide the best learning environment to the students for the common good. Philosophy Children are the most precious gifts to parents. For a teacher, a second most valuable guide to each student, teaching is a very essential job that contributes to intellectual growth and future of a child. Subjects and activities included in each curriculum are expertise of the teacher. The students should be moulded into active participants of a learning process through classrooms equipped to teach the students and a well organized curriculum to fit the needs of the students. In the end, the students should meet the premiere standards and assessments. The proposed vision, mission and philosophy are based on the Constructivist Theory of child development and learning. This theory was popularized by Jean Piaget, Maria Montessori and Lev Vygotsky who believed that interaction of young children with their environment and their peers greatly influence their learning and development (Theories of Child Development and Learning, n.d., par.6). According to this theory, it is thus important that physical environment and curriculum must be given importance and utmost groundwork. Thus in the vision, mission and philosophy, it has been reiterated that the best classroom environment and curriculum must be provided as fundamentals for excellent education. The stated vision, mission and philosophy were founded on my belief that education is the foundation of a child’s learning and intellectual growth. Thus, teachers must be capable of the expertise when instilling values and learning to children. Aside from giving the best environment and curriculum, it is also of equal importance that the children must be assessed with the best standards to ensure that whatever lessons were provided to the children. The mentors should dedicate their talents and knowledge with passion, love and care for the children so that they would always look forward to learn. The curriculum model is based on theory of constructivism that states that learning is best understood, accumulated and applied when the student or the person develops his own mental model of the information (Vogel-Wallcut et.al 135). There may be several approaches to this philosophy but they all believe in one common idea that learning is best developed when the student or learner actively and profoundly incorporate what they learned with their prior knowledge (Vogel-Wallcut et.al 135). Students in a constructivist approach are very active such that this kind of education depended on action. Students have to draw knowledge based on their experiences that have meaning and importance to them. The role of the students is to involve themselves in manipulating materials with the community of learners or peers (The Constructivist Theory, n.d.) In Piaget’s concept of constructivism, learners are the main and most important subject and not the learning. The students therefore must go through first in their stages of development before they can fully understand and learn. The Classroom Environment and Set-up Classroom set-up has very important impact on children’s attitude and habits of learning. It is really important to consider this environment on where the children will acquire knowledge for them to learn effectively. The environment must be structured, interesting, and comfortable so that the students will never get bored of learning. There must be a really good layout and available materials. It is very important to set-up the classroom appropriately for the development of the students. Crosser (n.d.) quoted Kostelnik (1992), "...developmentally appropriate classrooms are active ones in which both teachers and students learn from one another." The classroom environment is very vital that it must be able to cater to the interest of the children because this is going to be their community on which they learn (Crosser, n.d.). The children are the highlight and not the teacher, thus it is important to set-up a classroom that facilitates development of skills, interests and independence (Crosser, n.d.). In a developmentally appropriate classroom, children are said to lead rather follow the teacher and speak than to just listen to what the teacher says (“Developmentally”). They solve their problems than solve the teacher’s problems, the children move than wait, and the children most often ask questions than answer the teacher’s questions (“Developmentally”). The floor plan depends on the grade of the students. This should be maximized and must reflect the teaching style of the school. There must be different learning areas which include a reading area, play center, art center and technology center (“Creating”, n.d.). Though there are different areas, the following should be taken into consideration: a) the room dividers are low to make it visible for the teacher, b) the quiet areas where students read and study should not be next to play area, and c) art or messy areas must be near the sink (“Creating”, n.d.). The physical environment of the classroom must cater to involvement of children into group as well as individually (Crosser, n.d.). There should be a presence of interest centers which invite the children to explore such as play areas which contain the seeds of learning (Crosser, n.d.). According to Crosser (n.d.), play areas must have blocks, books, puzzles, table games, woodworking, puppets and large muscle activities to provide for the diverse needs and temperaments of the children. It is very important that the children are provided with appropriate supplies and materials which they can use to try their own creative ideas. The classroom must therefore have a library area where students can quietly read a variety of books including fiction, nonfiction, poetry and magazines individually or in group (Crosser, n.d.), This area must be cozy with a good and appropriate lighting. There should also be area for music and movement where the students can dance and sing. A good clean-up area must also be included in this classroom environment. This is where students are taught to be responsible and independent by letting them fix and clean their mess. This will create a good sense of cooperative teamwork (Crosser, n.d.) The classroom decor is also very important. It is encouraged that the students make contributions to the decorations of the classroom walls that makes it inviting for them and give them responsibility for its maintenance (“Creating”, n.d.). The wall must have interesting visual aids such as bulletin boards containing birthday celebrants, top performers and updates. The wall decorations must also be relevant to the current class work because this is effective in encouraging them to study and learn(“Creating”, n.d.). The wall decoration must represent all the diversity of the study as to prevent gender and race issues (“Creating”, n.d.). The updates and posts must be readable and inviting to the students. This type of classroom environment caters to the vision, mission and philosophy of the school. The classroom caters to the diversity of the students and their own needs. It is very effective to have several learning areas for the students to develop their interests. The students are our focus and providing them the classroom with complete facilities and tools for learning is the best way a school can offer for their effective learning. The teachers The teachers of the early childhood center vary in levels of responsibility for the development, plan and implementation of the curriculum and programs in the classroom. These teachers are responsible in creating and implementing classroom programs designed to develop children’s philosophy and goals through imparting knowledge in intellectual, social, kinesthetic, emotional and physical development. The Early Childhood Master Teacher The Master Teacher acts as a team leader for the teachers and assistants in one or more early childhood classrooms. The Master Teacher is the role model of the developing, planning and implementing the curriculum as well as acts to oversee the completion of the developmental programs and assist in overall operation of the center. Qualifications Educational background: Bachelor’s degree or higher level of education specializing in child development or early childhood education. Must possess teacher’s permit. Knowledge: Knowledgeable and competent to develop, plan and implement a curriculum for early childhood education. Must also have the knowledge relevant to state and federal regulations relating to daily operations of the center. Experience: Must have completed the required units of supervised field experience. Master Teacher must have atleast 4 years of experience including staff supervision. Additional requirements: Passed health screenings and background checks. Certification in pediatric CPR and first aid is preferred. The Early Childhood Teacher The early childhood teachers work hand in hand with the Master Teacher in developing, planning and implementing the curriculum for the children. They are in charge in the planning of the daily activities, lessons and objectives and especially maintaining and updating the development of the children. They have hands-on instructions and experience with the students. Qualifications: Educational Background: Associate’s Degree or higher level of education in child development or education is preferred with possession of teacing permit. Knowledge: Must be knowledgeable in planning and implementing age appropriate curriculum. Must also be well-informed with relevant state and federal regulations relating to the daily operations of the childhood center. Experience: Must have completed the required units of supervised field experience. Possess at least 1 year experience. Additional requirements: Must have passed health screenings and background checks. Certification on standard first aid training and pediatric CPR is a plus. Early Childhood Associate Teacher The Associate Teachers assist teachers in the implementation of the daily curriculum and activities as well as in setting the learning objectives and preparing the assessments to check the development of the children. Qualifications: Education and Knowledge: Must have completed at least 12 units of child development or early childhood education. Experience: Must have at least four months of relevant experience. Additional requirements: Must have passed health screenings and background checks. Certification on standard first aid training and pediatric CPR is a plus. Communication of Teacher and Parents There will be a parents-teacher association and a board wherein there will be scheduled monthly meetings with the parents to ensure that development and concerns are well addressed by both the staff and the family. The center will release a monthly report card to parents which includes the assessment, developments and progress of the children. This report card will serve to inform the parents of the detailed progress of their children in the center. Staff to Child Ratio There have been proposals to the government to set a standard staff to child ratio in early childhood development programs. Our center believes that best quality education is obtained by making sure that children are well guided in their development by ensuring that the ratio between the teacher and the children is at optimum standard. In this center, we believe that the optimal ratio ranges from 1:3 to 1:7. Therefore, for every staff, the number of children handled is from 3 to 7. Health, Safety and Nutrition Children tend to follow what they see. Thus it is very important that the center develop policies and procedures to incorporate basic practices that may help the child understand to value health, safety and nutrition. It is said that learning of children can be easier if they are woven into their daily activities. One important procedure is incorporating exercise in daily activities of the children. This procedure can be woven into musical activities. The importance of god nutrition can be emphasized during snack breaks wherein teachers will stress the importance of eating healthy food. The importance of hand washing can also be joint with art and playtime activities. By incorporating these procedures to daily activities of the children, they will understand the value of health, safety and nutrition in their personal lives. These children are known to learn more often in what they see from teachers and parents than what they are told to do. Thus the center and parents must cooperate in setting as good examples to these children. References: Creating an Effective Physical Classroom Environment (n.d.). TeacherVision. Retrieved 3 May 2012 from http://www.teachervision.fen.com/classroom-management/decorative-arts/6506.html?page=2 Crosser, S. (n.d.). The Butterfly Garden: Developmentally Appropriate Practice Defined. Earlychildhood News. Retrieved 2 May 2012 from http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/article_view.aspx?ArticleID=115 Developmentally Appropriate Classroom Environment (n.d.). Earlychildhood. Retrieved 2 May 2012 from http://earlychildhood.pccs.k12.mi.us/sites/earlychildhood.pccs.k12.mi.us/files/shared/2010-2011/DAPpresentation.pdf Early Childhood Teacher Series. The California State University System. Retrieved May 17, 2012 from http://www.calstate.edu/HRAdm/Classification/E99/Early_Child_Teacher_Series.pdf Health, Safety, and Nutrition: An Introduction, (n.d.). Early Child Education Del Mar. Retrieved May 15, 2012 from http://webtools.delmarlearning.com/sample_chapters/marotz_ch01.pdf The Constructivist Theory. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.sullivan.leon.k12.fl.us/LTT/Constructivism.html Theories of Child Development and Learning. (n.d.) North Central Regional Educational Laboratory. Retrieved April 19, 2012 from http://www.ncrel.org/sdrs/areas/issues/students/earlycld/ea7lk18.htm Vogel-Walcutt, J. J., Gebrim, J.B., Bowers, C. C., Carper, T. M. , & Nicholson, D. D. (2011). Cognitive Load Theory vs. Constructivist Approaches: Which Best Leads to Efficient, Deep Learning?, Journal Of Computer Assisted Learning, 27(2), 133-145. Read More