Principles and Theories of Early Childhood Education

Philosophy Assignment

1.         A. I believe the primary purpose of quality early childhood care and education is to provide the best care possible for young children and their families.  The life of a child is a gift from God.  It needs to be molded and nurtured by everyone it encounters.  It is easy to just change a diaper, give a child some food, and turn on the television you don’t even have to talk to them, but if you don’t you are holding that child back from having the essentials that they will need to meet their own potentials and fulfill whatever they want to in life.  You are also missing out on an amazing and exciting opportunity to discover a young mind and all the remarkable faces voices and conversations you may easily encounter just by asking a simple question like “What do you want to talk about today?”  The first three years of a child’s life shapes who they will become as adults.  Everything you say or do in front of a young child could stay with them forever.   When you are going to work with a young child you are not dealing with a product like money, or a computer.  You are caring for some ones life.  You are helping a child develop personality traits and social skills.  You are challenging their strengths to keep them strong and you are developing their weaknesses to give them the best chance at life that they can possibly have.  When you are trying to provide the best care in the world for a young child you must include their family.  I believe that a child’s family is the most important thing in their life and you need to include that in everything that they do.  In the early childhood education business you are not just caring for the child you are caring for their families as well.  Our families shape us into who we will become and no one knows best like a mother or father.  Parents need to feel involved in their child’s life at home and at school.  The parents and teachers need to work together as a team to create the best learning experience possible for their child.

            B.  I believe that children learn best when they are taught under certain conditions and in certain ways.  Some of these are letting a child do everything that they can do for themselves.  Children gain confidence in themselves by accomplishing challenging tasks.  Tasks like throwing away a paper towel.  To you this may seem like a common sense habit and it may be much easier to throw it away yourself but for a toddler it is like winning a gold medal, you can tell by the look on their faces.  I believe that children need to be encouraged to use their language in any situation.  It is important for the teacher to be a facilitator rather than a dominator.  Observe the child and let them unfold life as it appears to them.  If they have a question or need help you can be there for assistance, but encourage them to figure things out on their own.  Children remember things much easier when they work through the process on their own.  Give them that opportunity.  A teachable moment is stepping back and letting children experience life at their own level.  Explore their interests and bring that into the classroom in any way shape or form.  If there is a child who has a sibling on the way and is starting to ask questions about babies, then take your classroom for a field trim to the infant room.  Let them observe the babies crying, laughing, being changed and being fed.  Then add life like baby dolls to your classroom and bring in something new every day that will help the children identify what a baby is and needs.  You can be there standing by to ask open ended questions about the child’s learning process.  Maybe the child’s mother could bring in the baby and speak to your classroom.  Bring as much life to your room about the subject as possible.  You need to account for every type of learner and developmental level in your classroom.  Some children learn by hearing so make up a song about babies, some learn by the process so have them practice changing a doll’s diaper, some learn by pictures so bring a colorful book to explain how to feed a baby.  There are a thousand ways that a child can learn and you need to incorporate all of them into your classroom.

            C. The curriculum of any early childhood classroom should include certain “basics” that contribute to children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development.  My curriculum/program would include different segments throughout the day that will help develop all of these areas.  I believe that there are core parts of a child’s day that should be added into their schedule and become a routine for them.  There should always be some type of morning sit down time everyday where you can acknowledge the presence of every child by the use of their name letting them know that you are happy they are here today and they are part of a group.  This time will be very beneficial for developing emotional skills.  I believe that a child day should include family style meals and let the children serve themselves.  I believe that children should always have the opportunity to go explore the outdoors and experience their physical body.  Even in the winter children need to get some outside time.  They could build a snowman or dig through the snow with shovels.  This will help their physical development.  I believe that there should be some type of daily teacher directed age appropriate activity that should be previously planned but also very flexible and easy to change if necessary.  In this activity you can focus on the different areas of development like a group activity for social where the children work together to paint a mural, or a more one-on-one activity where the teacher can be there to assist the child in writing a daily journal for intellectual.  I believe the most important core part of a child’s day is play.  Every basic development is fulfilled in daily free time.  The teacher needs to set up a harm free inviting environment where play can take place.  All of these daily events should occur because they help to develop the “basics.”  Circle time activities help develop emotional skills because the child is being recognized by name and made to feel important in front of a group, which is forming their self -esteem and self -concept.  Outside time helps a child’s development because the child has a big space where it’s okay for them to run jump, pedal a bicycle or climb up a ladder to go down a slide.  These are all skills that strengthen muscles in the body that are needed for the body to grow strong.  

Group activities in the classroom help develop social skills because the children are working together and learn how to talk to each other and to convey their own ideas in a group.   One-on-one time is important for intellectual development in children because it gives them an opportunity to let you know how much they know and what they want to know more about so you can help them work on that area.  Children learn through play because they encounter many learning experiences.  They may work together to form a grocery store in the dramatic play area or they may be learning math skills as they maneuver the small manipulative center.        

            D. Children learn best in an environment that promotes learning.  Some features of a good learning environment are the basic learning areas.  These include dramatic play. An area that is loaded with dress up clothes a small but life like kitchen area with food  and items that can be added in weekly depending on your theme.  This is a good area for children to use their imaginations.  Another area is the block area.  It should include a variation of blocks, cars, little people and also items that can be added in.  In this area children can build and create their own masterpieces.  There should also be a quiet, or reading area away from a lot of noise where the children can go at any time of the day to be alone or with a friend.  There should be books available for the children to access easily and soft pillows or couch’s for the children to rest on.  My favorite area is the discovery or science area.  In this area different parts of the outside world should be incorporated in the classroom.  You could have a class pet for the children to observe and take care of.  You could bring in a container full of dirt and grass for the children to explore.  We must not forget the creative art area.  Art is a very important area to some children.  Make sure that the chidren can access markers, paper, and glue so that they can create something special whenever they want to.  You can also add many materials to this area.  If your theme for the week is things that fly, you can add a tub of feathers to the art area.  Your environment should include a cubby for each child where they can put in their own personal items for the day.  It should also include a table that is big enough for you to sit down with your class for meals and activities.

            E. A teacher of young children should have qualities and behave in certain ways.  Qualities that I think are important for teaching are a deep love for children.  If you love being a teacher than any qualities that you have will work in the classroom.  Some of the important qualities are fairness, sensitivity, fun, creative, goofy, calm, loud, quiet, enjoyable, social, messy, neat, reassuring, comforting, and a big one is patience.  You can make any of these qualities work with you in a classroom.  But you must remember that most of all your actions and words are being monitored and observed by many little minds and they will model your behavior.  It is important to always talk in a developmentally appropriate manner in front of the children.  Little eyes are always watching and little ears are always listening. 

These qualities are important because they can all be used in a positive way.  Each person has their own strengths and if they love the children their strengths will be beneficial.  If you are a have a loud goofy personality know when it’s time to be calm.  Children will respond to goofiness, but some won’t.  If you try to use all of the qualities in your classroom you are adapting for all the different types of learners in your classroom, and you will make your job a lot easier and fun.

 2.Final Conclusion

             I believe that your child’s life is a precious gift and the most important thing to you.  If I get blessed with the opportunity to work with your child I will do my best to help them reach their full emotional, social, intellectual and physical development.  I believe that the first years of a child’s life are the most important and I would be honored to be a part of those developing years.  I would include you in every aspect of your child’s growth and success in our program because I know how much it means to you to be involved.  I believe that family is the most important aspect of a child’s life.

My Philosophy has developed through many influences including mentors, childhood experiences, work experiences, and a deep feeling of love in my heart for this field and those who work in it.  I started babysitting at a young age and loved every minute of it because I tried to put myself in the children’s shoes.  I understood where they were coming from and therefore they were drawn to me.  When I realized that children always wanted to be around me and I always wanted to be around them I got into the childcare business by working for Sony Crane from my church.  She had a home childcare and she was the first big influence in my philosophy.  She helped me to develop good teaching skills and most of all she helped me to communicate to the parents.  Since then I have worked in three other childcare centers that were good and bad experiences.  I choose what I believed was the negative aspects of my experiences of what not to use or do with children in the future, and I took all the positive experiences and molded them into the type of teacher I want to be.  The Early Childhood Program at Southeast as helped me fine tune my beliefs and even change a couple.  There isn’t one class that I’ve taken in three years that has not helped me with my philosophy on children.  I believe that continuing education is important in this field and I will always take classes or attend training to better my philosophy.