Teachers Values: Early Childhood Education
Objective: Learners are required to have knowledge of the Prekindergarten guidelines and enhance their understanding of this unique population by successfully completing this course expectations.
This module is for any candidate that will have a certificate that allows them to teach in an Early Childhood setting:
- EC-6 Core
- EC-12 SPED
- EC-12 Health
- EC-12 PE
- EC-12 Music
- EC-12 Art
- EC-12 Tech Aps
- EC-12 Theater
- EC-12 LOTE Spanish, German, French, Latin
Although you may not be planning on teaching in a Kinder classroom, your certification area allows for it and there are curriculum targets that must be addressed when working with the youngest school population.
The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are based on current scientific research about how children develop and learn; they reflect the growing consensus among early childhood professional organizations that a greater emphasis be placed on young children’s conceptual learning, acquisition of basic skills, and participation in meaningful, relevant learning experiences.
The guidelines outline the behaviors and skills that children are to exhibit and achieve, as well as instructional strategies for teachers. They provide information on responsive teaching practices, the physical arrangement of a prekindergarten classroom, professional development as the key to high-quality prekindergarten programs, the involvement of families for better school readiness of children, strategies for bilingual instruction, considerations for children with special needs and disabilities, and methods of monitoring children’s progress.
The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines offer detailed descriptions of expected behaviors across multiple skill domains that should be observed in four-to five-year-old children from the beginning to the end of their prekindergarten experience. The guidelines describe an average four-year-old child entering prekindergarten; it is well understood that due to age differences and previous experiences, not all children will show this level of development. Some children are at the beginning of the learning continuum while others are further along
The Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines are intended to be useful to a broad audience including school districts, Head Start programs, child care providers, and, most importantly, children’s families. Finally, the guidelines provide a means to align prekindergarten programs with the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS).
Finally, these guidelines are designed as a resource to help teachers make informed decisions about curriculum content and implement a comprehensive curriculum. Quality programs provide challenging but achievable curriculum that actively engages children in thinking, reasoning, and communicating with others. Such a curriculum helps to build connections among subject matter disciplines by organizing the large amounts of information children must learn into a set of meaningful concepts. Using the Texas Prekindergarten Guidelines, teachers can work across subject matter to provide many opportunities for children to achieve knowledge and skills through play and exploration experiences.
Experiencing the classroom life of Pre-K SEE VIDEO BELOW- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4KDE3CA6qo
Classroom Management SEE VIDEO BELOW-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VT7dkEjjkyc
Morning Routines- SEE VIDEO BELOW-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yn6-K4c3zHA
There are 10 skill domains covered by the guidelines:
- Social and emotional development
- Language and communication
- Emergent Literacy Reading
- Emergent Literacy Writing
- Mathematics
- Science
- Social Studies
- Fine Arts
- Physical Development and health
- Technology
For each of the ten skill domains, the state list specific outcomes for children by age, around 48 months, and the end of Prekindergarten with examples of behaviors and instructional strategies. The following video series outlines each of the ten domains and shares real life examples in an actual school setting.
Domains of PREK Guidelines in Action (Links to an external site.) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UOhHMwOqgI&list=PL25BCFA4D949277C3
The Prekindergarten Guidelines provide guidance on how to support and develop:
- English Language Learners
- Children with special needs
- The learning environment and what it should look like
- Successful techniques for monitoring language and development
- Strategies for promoting school readiness
- Professional development that leads to high-quality pre-kinder programs
The document also outlines three childhood outcomes (hint: see page 7) that all students should master as the learning outcomes for early childhood training and development.
You can find the entire document here: https://tea.texas.gov/pkg.aspx
Download the document and save to your TEACHER FILE for future reference.
TEA has also created an excellent resource for teachers in Early Childhood. Visit this site and bookmark it for future reference:
Early Childhood TexasLinks to an external site. https://earlychildhood.texas.gov/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=ect_launch&utm_term=twc
Assignment:
Read the following article, A Day in the Life of a PreK Teacher. This article gives you an overview of what a full day may look like in a PreK setting. While reflecting on the 10 skill domains that comprise the PreK curriculum, identify target skill areas where your personal strengths will suit you well and target skill areas where you might anticipate challenges with this population of students.