Raising The Stakes

According to Bredekamp (2014, p. 19), “growing attention to early education primarily results from impressive research demonstrating its effectiveness in improving outcomes for children”. Throughout this research, the organization “National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)”, has established a set of standards for early childhood educational programs (Bredekamp, 2014, p. 5). These standards were created specifically to help families determine which preschool, kindergarten or child care program would be best for their child (“The 10 NAEYC,” n.d.). Each of these standards set forth by NAEYC are important in their own way to ensure the quality of early childhood education facilities.

As an early childhood educator I believe each child is an exceptional unique individual that needs to be provided a secure and loving environment in which they are able to grow emotionally, physically, socially and intellectually. My longing is to help each and every one of my students explore their creativity, understand their emotions and learn self-regulation along with social skills and the best of academics that I can possibly provide. The role I have as an educator is to guide my students while allowing them to explore their curiosities about the world around them and academics to blossom while teaching respect and caring for others.

My philosophy of Early childhood education is based on research that indicates that a child’s growth is developmental. Every child is unique in terms of life experiences, developmental readiness, and cultural heritage. A high quality early childhood program that provides a safe and nurturing environment, which promotes physical, social, emotional, language and cognitive development will ensure a positive continuation of the child’s education process

Today, we have advantaged schools and disadvantaged schools. Due to so many biases in the educational sector today, some schools are well equipped with the right resources and state-of-the-art infrastructure. Usually, these learning institutions are located in the rich neighborhoods or are privately owned by individuals. The opposite is the case for schools that are located outside this neighborhood. They are branded as poor schools, and they are left with poor infrastructure with less resources and sub-standard education because there are not enough teachers. Technology in these kinds of schools is too obsolete for students to benefit from it. The future of education depends on the responses or support from the government. The government needs to step in and improve the current state of our schools and equip them to increase the quality of education. Government needs to step up the need for teachers and encourage teachers in order to solve the problem of attrition rate in the public schools. The future of education in the United States of America is bright, but this entire problem, especially the attrition rate, will become a stumbling block to the growth of education. The budget allocated to the department of education should be increased enough for the school district to be able to counter the problem of attritional rate between teachers. The government should ensure all technology and infrastructures are up to date. The teacher-to-student ratio has to be brought down to a very reasonable figure by employing more teachers and building new classes. Technology is rapidly increasing and changing so e –learning should be incorporated into school curriculum to ensure future education is secured in the area of online studies. E-learning should be introduced into school curriculum in such a way that students will be able

As professionals, the process of learning is an ongoing practice; new technological methods and approaches arise that can be beneficial within the work field. As a result, this highlights the importance of recurring staff development. Staff development is imperative across all work fields in order to learn new approaches in the respective field and be a successful organization. As professionals, it is essential to keep an open mind to new and different strategies; a quality that can prove to be beneficial to the field. As an early childhood educator, one must be ready to implement various methods of teaching and be ready to serve as one of the students’ resource. In order to accomplish this, however, one must have recurring

The first area that I would like to address is curriculum standards. According to the National Council of Teachers of

The NAEYC statement on developmental practice indicates change and continuity and change in the early childhood education field is vital due to the fact that their main commitment is excellence and equity. Nevertheless, all new knowledge gained over time has been advanced and increased. This means that with understanding, it has allowed us to revise and refine ideas for promoting children's development and learning. With developmentally appropriate practice, meeting and enabling the children are required. This means that teachers should get to know them well and push them to reach goals that may be a challenge but are achievable for them.

By believing that instructors are the most important influence in a child’s education, teachers are given an unrealistic responsibility. Many policymakers believe that holding educators accountable for student success is the best way to improve public education. This asks educators to overcome these outside variables that are far outside of teachers’ control. Policymakers suggested linking teacher evaluations to student achievement, measured by standardized tests. This is not a beneficial way to hold teachers accountable because of the many outside factors that affect student achievement. A better way to hold teachers accountable is to stem out of a realistic perspective on what teachers can and should do for their students. Each part of society holds an important responsibility in increasing student achievement. Teachers should not be asked to be responsible for more than they can handle.

Teachers, receiving training from universities to enhance this new trend for early childhood education was good for the movement. However, as a potential college student and someone

Parents and society as a whole are realizing the importance of the first five years. They are realizing that “school readiness” is important and that we can do better for our children. As an industry, that has given early childhood the opportunity to grow both in a business sense and in an educational sense. It has given schools, like Lily Academy, the opportunity to grow the brand and has also forced all early childhood educators to reevaluate their mission and their vision for what they do and how they do it. Because of the demand for early childhood education by parents, the industry continues to grow.

Standards are a precarious topic of discussion. They are given to us for assistance in organization and being on one accord, however, they can be very limited. Mike Rose brings up many interesting and challenging points about standards that made me question whether or not they were necessary and how I would apply them to my classroom when I become a teacher. As the examples in “Why School” gave the audience insight on those educators who live too much up to the standards of education and those who are passive about them, I came to the conclusion that a medium has to be met.

Think about your early childhood education (or your child’s early education), was it flexible to suit individual learning experiences or were children required to conform to the teacher’s methods of teaching? If you answered the latter, do you think the former would improve the quality of education? The initial years of education are crucial to learning, development and growth, during these first years children’s experiences shape their learning methods and they are able to learn rapidly, for this, early childhood educators must use teaching methods that are suitable for each child. Teachers must consider the attitude they bring to the classroom; how it affects children’s learning and the value, of the information and knowledge that

The education of the young mind is an important step in preparing the child for future learning experiences. The evolution of early childhood education has changed how adults and parents view the importance of offering stimulating and exciting opportunities to the very young. Early childhood Education offers the young child learning experiences that benefit them throughout their educational career. They soon embark on a whole new world of learning. These children are not only experiencing standard brain growth, but verbal and physical skills as well. Early childhood education teachers use a variation of techniques for instructing. They use lesson plans, worksheets, and even teacher resources for these young minds.

The effort teachers contribute in a child’s early development are often misapprehended as being simply hands on, without anticipating that it involves appropriate communication techniques, the use of numerous structured strategies and adhering to set of guidelines set by governed bodies such as department of education.

Every builder knows "A house is only as strong as its foundation". They also know that they have to evaluate and become familiar the land before beginning to work. This rationale can be used as a guideline for teachers across the world, especially with the children in the early childhood stage, ages 2-6, because how teachers assist children in this stage will serve as the foundation for the life ahead of them. A child develops physically, cognitively and socially. It is important for the teachers to know how the child is developing in order for them to effectively teach the students because they lack of understanding can lead problems for the child. Additionally, if the teacher is aware of how the