Intro to Early Childhood

Intro to early childhood edu Assignment #1
I believe the purpose of education is to provide children with the basic academic skills that they will need to succeed in life. Some of the academic skills include math, so they understand how much fifty cents plus fifty cents is, writing, so they are able to fill out job applications and write checks out for bills, or simply spell their name, and how to read, so they understand the job applications they are filling out. I believe educating children will help them to discover areas for which one day they will become passionate about. If seeing numbers in a math class excites them, it’s possible that one day they may become a math teacher. I believe the purpose of education is to teach children to be responsible citizens. Being a responsible citizen is being courteous to other people, being honest, and being kind to one another. I believe the purpose of education is to prepare our children for the job market. Our children are our future doctors, lawyers, and teachers. Educating them today will impact everyone’s lives in the future. I believe that children learn best when they are taught under certain conditions. These conditions increase the amount of time children are in the classroom. If a child steps onto a school bus at 5:30am and doesn’t reach his or her classroom until 7:30am that is two hours of wasted class time and two hours of wasted study time for the two hour commute home. Teachers should recognize student’s accomplishments and discuss with the student what a good job he or she is doing. This encourages a child to continue his or her good work. Teachers should organize class trips to museums to really make history come alive and make learning more fun and interesting. The best approach for children learning is the hands on approach. Hands on is usually the most effective method because the child is actively involved instead of just sitting in front of a board listening to a teacher talk or reading alone out of a book. The curriculum- all of the activities and experiences- of my classroom should include certain “basics” that contribute to children’s social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development. Those “basics” include playing organized games such as checkers, dodge ball, go fish, will help with social skills. Emotionally I will teach my children that it is okay to make mistakes and it is okay for them to cry when they fall down or someone calls them a bad name. Intellectually I will help my children learn problem solving skills and help develop their learning patterns. Physically I will do as many activities with them as possible such as taking them outdoors for walks, playing catch, teaching the girl’s double dutch and having my children as involved in as many community actives as possible. Children learn best in an environment that promotes good learning. Features of a good learning environment are adequate and safe space and also a large outdoor area to play sports and socialize. It’s also important that I make sure I’m readily available for my students at all times.
Children have certain needs that must be met if they are to grow and learn their best. Some of these basic needs are physical needs. A physical need is air, water, and sleep. The emotional needs are love, trust, and security. Social needs are important as well. Companionship is an example of a social need, someone to talk with or someone to show and receive affection. Intellectual needs are learning new things that stimulate the mind, and help develop a child’s learning abilities.
A teacher should have certain qualities and behave in certain ways. Qualities I think are important for teaching are all teachers must like and respect all children. Teaching shouldn’t be done just for a pay check, it should be done for the love of children. I believe all teachers should be honest and trustworthy. Students should feel as if though they can tell their teachers anything, and trust them with anything. Teachers should be patient and understanding. Not all students learn at the same pace therefore teachers might have to spend extra time with certain students to help them with their difficulties. Teachers should be passionate about the area of which they teach. An art teacher who gets excited about teaching the colors of the rainbow to her class, a math teacher whose eyes light up when he can finally teach fractions to his second grade class. If a teacher is passionate about the subjects then the students will be passionate about learning.