In Between Teaching and Caring in the Preschool, John C. Pruit argues that preschool teaching is more than a set of roles and duties tied to institutional expectations. Drawing on two years of ethnographic fieldwork, twenty-three interviews and countless conversations with preschool teachers, and analysis of preschool documents, Pruit opens the black box of the preschool to show the complexity of the preschool teacher identity as it unfolds in everyday practices of teaching and caring. His analysis of preschool teachers’ talk and interaction addresses pertinent sociological and early childhood education themes, including classroom management, social control, emotions, and identity construction. He demonstrates there is more going on in the preschool than teaching young children and caring for them. Through practices of classroom management and teaching language, preschool teachers socialize children into education contexts and exert social control in and through teaching practices. By managing emotions, preschool teachers also manage impressions of themselves and the preschool. He also shows how preschool teachers use resources like Montessori pedagogy and their lived experience to construct authenticity. Pruit concludes that institutions, such as ECE, shape identities within and away from the institution.

Early childhood care and education (ECCE) settings offer an opportunity to provide children with a solid beginning in all areas of their development. The quality and efficacy of these settings depend largely on the individuals within the ECCE workforce. Policy makers need a complete picture of ECCE teachers and caregivers in order to tackle the persistent challenges facing this workforce. The IOM and the National Research Council hosted a workshop to describe the ECCE workforce and outline its parameters. Speakers explored issues in defining and describing the workforce, the marketplace of ECCE, the effects of the workforce on children, the contextual factors that shape the workforce, and opportunities for strengthening ECCE as a profession.

The "Caring for Preschool Children" program was designed as a personalized training program to help adults working with preschool children acquire the skills and knowledge needed to provide a high quality preschool program. This two-volume training manual is comprised of 13 modules corresponding to the areas of the Child Development Associate Competency Standards, each containing an overview, self-assessments, learning activities, answer sheets, and a glossary. The modules are: (1) "Safe," preventing, and responding to accidents and injuries; (2) "Healthy," including promoting wellness and reducing the spread of disease, and helping children develop habits that promote good hygiene and nutrition; (3) "Learning Environment," encouraging play and exploration, and planning and implementing schedules, routines, and transitions that meet children's needs; (4) "Physical," providing materials, equipment, and opportunities for gross and fine motor development and encouraging physical fitness; (5) "Cognitive," encouraging children to explore and construct knowledge about their world, and helping children to develop confidence in their ability to think and solve problems; (6) "Communication," helping children use language meaningfully and providing materials and experiences that support emerging literacy skills; (7) "Creative," encouraging exploration and experimentation, offering materials and activities, and showing respect for children's ideas; (8) "Self," developing positive relationships with children and helping them accept and appreciate themselves and others; (9) "Social," helping children develop social skills, get along with others, and express their feelings; (10) "Guidance," encouraging self-discipline and using positive methods to guide children; (11) "Families," sharing information with parents about their child's experiences and development, supporting families, and offering several options for parent participation; (12) "Program Management," learning about each child, following policies and procedures, and teaming; and (13) "Professionalism," assessing one's performance and applying professional ethics. The trainer's guide provides a detailed description of the trainer's role in guiding teachers through the learning activities and includes suggestions for providing feedback and encouraging teachers to extend their learning. Answer sheets and observation forms for assessment, and tracking forms to record each teacher's progress are included. Chapter 1 of the guide discusses the need for an organized system for staff development, the components of a professional development system, and the importance of linking training to professional development and program improvement. Chapter 2 gives an overview of the training materials, content, and approach. Chapter 3 presents suggestions for managing the training programs, including completing an orientation and providing feedback. Chapter 4 discusses strategies for effective group training sessions. Section 5 presents information on assessing teachers' progress through the modules. Appendices contain forms for the trainers' use. (KDFB)

Discover new, practical methods for teaching literacy skills in your early childhood classroom. Has teaching early literacy skills become a stumbling block to getting your preschool students kindergarten ready? Break out of the tired “letter of the week” routine and learn how to transform your lessons with fun and effective techniques. Teach Smarter: Literacy Strategies for Early Childhood Teachers will equip teachers to infuse every aspect of their teaching with exciting hands-on literacy teaching methods that engage students and help them build authentic connections with books, so that 100% of their students will have a strong literacy foundation and will be fully prepared for success in kindergarten and beyond. Respected author Vanessa Levin, veteran early childhood educator and author of the “Pre-K Pages” blog, breaks down the research and translates it into realistic, actionable steps you can take to improve your teaching. Features specific examples of teaching techniques and activities that engage students in hands-on, experiential learning during circle time, centers, and small groups. Offers a simple, four-step system for teaching literacy skills, based on the foundational principles of early literacy teaching Demonstrates how to build your confidence in your ability to get 100% of your students ready for kindergarten, long before the end of the school year Understand the problems with traditional literacy teaching and identify gaps in your current teaching practice with this valuable resource.

Clearly babies come into the world remarkably receptive to its wonders. Their alertness to sights, sounds, and even abstract concepts makes them inquisitive explorersâ€"and learnersâ€"every waking minute. Well before formal schooling begins, children's early experiences lay the foundations for their later social behavior, emotional regulation, and literacy. Yet, for a variety of reasons, far too little attention is given to the quality of these crucial years. Outmoded theories, outdated facts, and undersized budgets all play a part in the uneven quality of early childhood programs throughout our country. What will it take to provide better early education and care for our children between the ages of two and five? Eager to Learn explores this crucial question, synthesizing the newest research findings on how young children learn and the impact of early learning. Key discoveries in how young children learn are reviewed in language accessible to parents as well as educators: findings about the interplay of biology and environment, variations in learning among individuals and children from different social and economic groups, and the importance of health, safety, nutrition and interpersonal warmth to early learning. Perhaps most significant, the book documents how very early in life learning really begins. Valuable conclusions and recommendations are presented in the areas of the teacher-child relationship, the organization and content of curriculum, meeting the needs of those children most at risk of school failure, teacher preparation, assessment of teaching and learning, and more. The book discusses: Evidence for competing theories, models, and approaches in the field and a hard look at some day-to-day practices and activities generally used in preschool. The role of the teacher, the importance of peer interactions, and other relationships in the child's life. Learning needs of minority children, children with disabilities, and other special groups. Approaches to assessing young children's learning for the purposes of policy decisions, diagnosis of educational difficulties, and instructional planning. Preparation and continuing development of teachers. Eager to Learn presents a comprehensive, coherent picture of early childhood learning, along with a clear path toward improving this important stage of life for all children.

The long-awaited new edition of NAEYC's book Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs is here, fully revised and updated! Since the first edition in 1987, it has been an essential resource for the early childhood education field. Early childhood educators have a professional responsibility to plan and implement intentional, developmentally appropriate learning experiences that promote the social and emotional development, physical development and health, cognitive development, and general learning competencies of each child served. But what is developmentally appropriate practice (DAP)? DAP is a framework designed to promote young children's optimal learning and development through a strengths-based approach to joyful, engaged learning. As educators make decisions to support each child's learning and development, they consider what they know about (1) commonality in children's development and learning, (2) each child as an individual (within the context of their family and community), and (3) everything discernible about the social and cultural contexts for each child, each educator, and the program as a whole. This latest edition of the book is fully revised to underscore the critical role social and cultural contexts play in child development and learning, including new research about implicit bias and teachers' own context and consideration of advances in neuroscience. Educators implement developmentally appropriate practice by recognizing the many assets all young children bring to the early learning program as individuals and as members of families and communities. They also develop an awareness of their own context. Building on each child's strengths, educators design and implement learning settings to help each child achieve their full potential across all domains of development and across all content areas.

The Creative Curriculum comes alive! This videotape-winner of the 1989 Silver Apple Award at the National Educational Film and Video Festival-demonstrates how teachers set the stage for learning by creating a dynamic well-organized environment. It shows children involved in seven of the interest areas in the The Creative Curriculum and explains how they learn in each area. Everyone conducts in-service training workshops for staff and parents or who teaches early childhood education courses will find the video an indispensable tool for explainin appropriate practice.