Experienced Early Childhood Teachers as Graduate Students: A Process of Change

This paper explores perceptions of professional identity among experienced early childhood educators (ECEs) who are novice students in a new master’s degree program in ECE. We sought to examine the changes experienced by these educators. The study used qualitative content analysis, which included an open-ended questionnaire that was administered twice to the participants: at the beginning of their first year of study and at the end of the second year. The findings indicate a change in the participants’ perceptions of their multi-dimensional professional identity. They began to examine the early childhood educational system with a critical point of view based on their academic and pedagogical conceptual vision, and became aware of the contingent political consequences. We believe this study will enable us to advance the ECE system and promote academic research conducted by professionals.     

Primary Caregiving as a Framework for Preparing Early Childhood Preservice Students to Understand and Work with Infants

Research Findings: This qualitative study explored the process through which a small group of preservice early childhood teachers engaged in primary caregiving as a framework for learning about early care and education with infants during an infant practicum course at a university-affiliated early childhood center in the United States. Based on multiple data sources, findings revealed that the participants found the primary care system to be beneficial to both infants and teachers. The student teachers gained a better understanding of the uniqueness of the infancy period, experienced the emotional rewards of a special relationship with an infant, and learned to provide individualized and relationship-based infant care and education, while the infants received the benefits of this care. The integration of hands-on practice enacting a primary care system in a responsive infant room, ongoing supervision, and a theory-to-practice seminar created an effective professional learning process for the student teachers, which helped them to grow as both infant teachers and early childhood professionals. Practice or Policy: These findings are a 1st step toward looking more deeply at 1 strategy as a promising practice for the future, offering implications for early childhood teacher education and new insight to the field.     

Against the Unchallenged Discourse of Homelessness: Examining the Views of Early Childhood Preservice Teachers

Abstract

Because of the link between teacher training and higher‐quality classroom practice, early childhood researchers and professional organizations have placed an increasing emphasis on all early childhood teachers—including those in early care and education (ECE) settings—obtaining a minimum of a Bachelor's degree as part of their professional development. Given the differing licensure requirements for ECE teachers, the variety of settings early childhood teachers work in, and the creativity needed to respond to the changing roles teachers play in those settings, however, this paper offers an additional perspective that is sometimes left out of the discussion regarding what teachers need: that of the early childhood practitioner. Using conversations with both a certified, public school teacher and a non‐certified teacher in a private ECE setting in New Jersey, this article reports on these teachers’ professional development experiences, as well as the implications of their experiences for future considerations of what teachers need in order to enhance their growth as educators.     

Using the Scientific Method to Guide Learning: An Integrated Approach to Early Childhood Curriculum

Researchers and practitioners have become increasingly interested in how early childhood programs prepare young children for science. Due to a number of factors, including educators’ low self-efficacy for teaching science and lack of educational resources, many early childhood classrooms do not offer high-quality science experiences for young children. However, high-quality science education has the potential to lay an important foundation for children’s knowledge and interest in science as well as reinforcing and integrating critical language, literacy, and math readiness skills. This paper examines the current research on science in preschool classrooms and provides suggestions on how to teach science that supports children’s development across domains. Using the scientific method to explore science with young children provides a systematic model for engaging children in observation, questioning, predicting, experimenting, summarizing, and sharing results. These processes encourage children’s use of language, literacy, and mathematics skills in authentic ways. Suggestions are provided for teachers to use the scientific method as their guide for generating scientific discovery in their classroom.     

Preservice Teacher Learning within a Kindergarten Internship: Insights for Early Childhood Teacher Educators

This study is an examination of early childhood preservice teachers' kindergarten internship experiences to identify the supportive and challenging conditions for their learning and explore in what ways those conditions are productive or unproductive for them, based on ecological perspective as a theoretical framework. Qualitative data were collected from weekly seminar notes and field notes by the researchers, a focus group with the preservice teachers, and course evaluation feedback. Through a constant comparative analysis approach, the findings indicate that both supportive and challenging learning conditions were created by collaborating teachers, preservice teachers, and the university supervisors. The findings illuminate the complex responsibilities of early childhood teacher educators to develop horizontal expertise for both themselves and preservice teachers so they can negotiate the best practices from research and the reality of school contexts.     

增进学前教育大学生实务能力之课程规划与实践探讨

文章主要探讨如何透过课程改进,增进幼儿保育系(1)大学生之教保实务能力,并与教保机构建立连结,使幼儿保育系学生能结合理论与实务,成为符合教保业界所需之人才,顺利就业。南台科技大学幼儿保育系透过爱德华兹·戴明的PDCA质量管理循环订定改进课程制度,融入志愿者服务学习之课程等实务活动,增进学生实务能力。其成效在学生参与竞赛、产学合作、学生实习补助津贴上,皆获成长。     

Investigating the Unit of Study Approach as a Way to Teach Writing to Early Childhood Education Preservice Teachers

The purpose of this study was to better understand the learning opportunities within a university writing methods course centering on a unit of study experience. Specifically, we wanted to investigate what early childhood education preservice teachers (PSTs) learn about poetry and the writing process when engaged in a poetry unit of study. Our findings revealed that a unit of study format: (a) served as a vehicle to deconstruct and develop new genre awareness; (b) helped PSTs live process aspects of writing instruction; and (c) supported PSTs in developing genre-specific knowledge through the use of mentor texts.     

Developing Teachers' Classroom Interactions: A Description of a Video Review Process for Early Childhood Education Students

This article describes a video review process for providing feedback to students and documents students' teaching practices using the CLASS in a practicum course and student teaching. Students videotaped themselves in their field-based settings and then met with the course instructors and classmates in small groups to review strengths and challenges of their teaching using the CLASS framework of teacher–child interactions. These videos were also coded by trained CLASS observers across 10 dimensions in the areas of emotional support, classroom organization, and instructional support. Results from preservice teachers' CLASS ratings indicate a pattern similar to national data sets using the CLASS, higher scores in the emotional support and classroom organization domains than in the domain of instructional support. Also, findings from the current study revealed that CLASS scores declined from students' practicum placement to the end of student teaching in the domain of emotional support and specifically in the dimensions of regard for student perspectives and behavior management. The process of using videos for providing feedback in field-based experiences is discussed as well as implications for teacher development in light of students' CLASS scores and changes in CLASS scores.     

Impaired Students: Applying the Therapeutic Process Model to Graduate Training Programs

This article updates and adds to the literature on graduate trainee impairment provided by L. Forrest, N. Elman, S. Gizara, and T. Vacha‐Haase (1999) in their comprehensive literature review. Based on recommendations by Forrest et al., a program model for dealing with impaired trainees is proposed. The 5‐step therapeutic process model includes (a) informed consent, (b) intake and assessment, (c) evaluation, (d) treatment planning and follow‐up, and (e) termination. Each step is explained within the context of graduate training programs, and key points to consider are discussed.     

Using Deliberative Inquiry to Assess Future Needs for a Graduate HRD Curriculum: A Case Study

The many changes in today's workplace argue for equivalent changes in educating human resource development (HRD) professionals. The need for HRD curricular changes to be thought out fully and future-focused warrants the use of systematic methods for formulating, solving, and learning more about how to formulate and solve curriculum problems. Deliberative inquiry is such a method. This research methodology is directed toward curricular decision-making as it occurs within a specific context and, simultaneously, toward learning how to formulate and solve such problems. This study focuses on how faculty members in one university department used the problem formulation phase of deliberative inquiry to assess future needs for their HRD specialization. The article first overviews the research methodology of deliberative inquiry and then describes the systematic approach-subject matter analysis-that was used to structure the problem formulation relative to HRD curricular needs. The problem formulation process clarified stakeholders' values. It also resulted in reframing the situation, which led to new insights about the issues facing the HRD curriculum and ways to address them.     

The Multiple Meanings of Play: Exploring Preservice Teachers' Beliefs About a Central Element of Early Childhood Education

This basic qualitative study explores preservice teachers' beliefs about what constitutes play. Research for this study focused on 7 preservice teachers enrolled in an early childhood through Grade 4 practicum course at a small private university in south central Texas. The findings of this study indicate that both on an individual and group level the 7 preservice teachers seemed to believe that play had multiple meanings. Even though commonalities existed among some of the attributes used by the preservice teachers to describe play, no two preservice teachers used the same combination of attributes to define play. Instead, based on the influences that had shaped their beliefs, they strung these attributes together in unique ways. Thus, for each of the preservice teachers, play seemed to have an individualized meaning consisting of multiple parts.     

Learning to Teach with Mathematics Textbooks: How Preservice Teachers Interpret and Use Curriculum Materials

This study investigates how four prospective teachers interpret and use textbooks while learning to teach mathematics during university coursework and practicum teaching. Results indicate that prospective teachers had varied approaches to using textbooks ranging from adherence, elaboration, and creation. Factors influencing how they engaged with texts include their practicum classroom setting, access to resources, and their understanding of mathematics. Preservice teachers' attempts to modify textbook lessons raised pedagogical, curricular, and mathematical questions for them that were not easily answered by reference to the textbooks or teacher's guides. Findings indicate that the practicum can, however, challenge preservice teachers to be creative and flexible users of curriculum materials.     

Using a Group‐Centered Approach to Observe Interactions in Early Childhood Education

This study examined the value of using a group‐centered approach to evaluate process quality of early childhood education and care (ECEC). Is observed support of group processes a different aspect of classroom quality, and does it predict children's collaborative play in ECEC in the Netherlands? In two play situations, 37 teachers and 120 two‐ to four‐year‐old children were observed with the Classroom Assessment Scoring System (CLASS) Toddler and two new measures. In a two‐level structural equation model, teachers’ support of group processes was positively related to the CLASS domains and to children's collaborative play, over and above the effect of children's cognitive ability and social competence. These findings suggest that ECEC quality evaluation could be enriched by adding group‐centered indicators of classroom quality.     

基于多模态话语分析的跨境电商课程改革探索

跨境电商是高校电子商务、商务英语等专业的重要课程。文章以多模态话语分析理论为依据,从改变现行的教学模式和考核评价方法等方面,探讨培养学生跨文化交际背景下多模态输出能力的途径,提高电子商务、商务英语专业学生综合运用多模态进行输出、与电商平台受众开展沟通的能力,提升学生价值。     

Monitoring Classroom Behavior in Early Childhood: Using Group Observation Data to Make Decisions

Monitoring and evaluating classroom behavior in early childhood for the purpose of improving teaching and learning is critical. There is a clear link between social behavior and academic learning. Classrooms where students are following expectations, engaging academically, and transitioning effectively between activities are classrooms where students spend more time accessing instruction. In order to make efficient and effective decisions for class-wide supports, data should be collected on the class as a whole. With accurate data, interventions can be implemented for the whole group that will increase instructional time. In this paper we propose quick and efficient data collection methods for three key behaviors: following expectations, engaging academically, and transitioning amongst activities. With minimal disruption and effort, teachers can collect data that will enable them to support appropriate behaviors, ensure that students understand behavioral expectations, maintain an organized environment, improve positive interactions, and decrease the number of students needing intensive, individualized supports.     

Examining Response to Intervention Using a Framework of Best Practice from Early Childhood Special Education

I believe that the integration of people with disabilities is one of the most critical issues that the field is currently facing. It is an issue in which there is little agreement over what integration is, whether it is desirable or not, and to what degree it should occur as a policy and on an individual level. My co-authors and I strongly support the integration of people with disabilities into all aspects of society and that empirically based intervention strategies are needed to ensure that quality programming is provided for successful integration. Starting inte- gration in early childhood settings is an important point to begin efforts because children become used to having peers of differing abilities and are then more likely to be accepting of others as they get older if they receive this exposure at an early age. I highlight two important points of our article.     

Implementing a Physical Activity Curriculum into the School Day: Helping Early Childhood Teachers Meet the Challenge

In Fall 2006, North Carolina kindergarten teachers were charged with the task of meeting the NASPE guidelines for providing daily physical activity to their kindergarten students. In turn, the teachers researched resources and consulted experts to design and develop a developmentally appropriate physical activity and physical play environment for their students. The purpose of this article is to disseminate useful information one group of kindergarten teachers believed would help other teachers in similar situations. The article discusses the planning process, suggestions for activities and necessary equipment for program implementation, and vignettes regarding the experiences the teachers and students have had during the physical activity and physical play program’s inaugural year.