Engaging All Learners Through Quality Early Childhood Teacher Education

Author(s):  
Lynn Ellen Cohen ◽  
Angela Kalthoff

This chapter guides early childhood teacher educators, teachers, and policy makers to use appropriate technological tools in early childhood classrooms. It begins with learning theories related to computational thinking with a discussion of Seymour Papert and presents Marina Bers' framework. The chapter includes a professional development model for teachers and teacher educators. Technological apps and computational thinking are offered for use with face-to-face, hybrid, and remote instruction in early childhood settings. Many of the digital tools described in the chapter have numerous suggestions and resources available for teachers, teacher educators, and students to create a platform to begin using digital tools and evaluate how to select and use digital media. Changes can be brought about by reimagining classrooms and reshaping pedagogy with continued professional development.

Author(s):  
Lea Ann Christenson ◽  
Janese Daniels ◽  
Judith Cruzado-Guerrero ◽  
Stephen T. Schroth ◽  
Marisa Dudiak ◽  
...  

Teacher education programs serving early childhood education teacher candidates have unique challenges and need to work to ensure that each future educator be exposed to a variety of settings and practices throughout their preparation in order to best prepare them to serve the needs of their future young students. A solid background in human development, a well-rounded complement of methods courses grounded in developmentally appropriate practice and experience in a diverse variety of Professional Development Schools (PDS) will go far in meeting this goal. In Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms early childhood teacher educators can significantly shape these competencies through their choice of, support for, and use of PDSs.


2019 ◽  
pp. 1083-1104
Author(s):  
Lea Ann Christenson ◽  
Janese Daniels ◽  
Judith Cruzado-Guerrero ◽  
Stephen T. Schroth ◽  
Marisa Dudiak ◽  
...  

Teacher education programs serving early childhood education teacher candidates have unique challenges and need to work to ensure that each future educator be exposed to a variety of settings and practices throughout their preparation in order to best prepare them to serve the needs of their future young students. A solid background in human development, a well-rounded complement of methods courses grounded in developmentally appropriate practice and experience in a diverse variety of Professional Development Schools (PDS) will go far in meeting this goal. In Pre-K through 3rd grade classrooms early childhood teacher educators can significantly shape these competencies through their choice of, support for, and use of PDSs.


2012 ◽  
Vol 16 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Barbara C. Storandt ◽  
Lia C. Dossin ◽  
Anna Piacentini Lacher

Research conducted in various settings suggests that preparation and support for online instructors should be considered separately from efforts to prepare face-to-face instructors. However, very few studies outline the ways in which preparation to teach online should differ, and only a handful link these practices to measurable outcomes that help define what is meant by effective. PBS TeacherLine’s professional development model presents an opportunity to examine a comprehensive, well-established effort that has undergone regular refinements over the past 11 years. Results from the yearlong study presented in this paper showed that PBS TeacherLine’s professional development model contributes positively to instructor satisfaction, retention, high quality online instruction, increased instructor reflection, and learner outcomes such as an overall positive course experience. These findings reveal promising best practices for online faculty professional development that are specific to the online environment.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 199-205
Author(s):  
Samara Madrid Akpovo ◽  
Lydiah Nganga

This colloquium problematizes the use of early childhood international field experiences as a tool for professional development with Euro-Western pre-service and in-service teachers. The authors critique experiences where minority-world educators teach or implement internships within majority-world contexts. It is critical for Euro-Western teacher education programs to provide pre-service and in-service teachers with opportunities to expand their global views of the early childhood professional through international field experiences. But how can this be done when conceptions of the “professional” are constructed in Euro-Western images, ideas, curricula, ideologies, and privilege? The authors make a call for early childhood teacher educators to reconsider, deconstruct, and re-examine themselves and their pre-service and in-service teachers’ rationale for engaging in international field experiences.


2009 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 240-259 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher P. Brown

As neoliberal polices that emphasize governing the modern state through market-based principles expand across the globe, they are altering the training of early childhood teacher candidates. This creates a range of challenges for those teacher educators who are critical of this reform process. This article presents an instrumental case study that examined the impact of neoliberal education reforms on the development of a sample of early education teacher candidates. Analyzing this case of teacher development offers teacher educators the opportunity to consider the practical and critical steps they might take to better prepare their candidates for these reforms. Doing so will help teacher candidates develop early learning experiences for their children that teach them to become engaged democratic citizens rather than compliant consumers within the neoliberal state.


Author(s):  
Cristina Honrubia Montesinos ◽  
Pedro Gil-Madrona ◽  
Luisa Losada-Puente

Physical education in early years makes a unique contribution to the learning experience of children and support physical, cognitive, and social development. Teacher plays an essential role, but early childhood teacher professional development remains unclear. Literature review has shown that it is influenced by individual and social factors. Teacher professional development may have an impact on student motor development in this stage. The objectives of this chapter were to study early childhood teachers' professional development in PE and to analyze the influence and impact of early childhood teachers' professional development on their students' motor development. This chapter describes the results and conclusions of two different studies which have been developed. They highlighted that the variables that affect professional development are initial training and professional development, external perception of physical education, and personal perspective. Furthermore, findings have revealed that these three variables condition their students' motor development most.


Author(s):  
Lynn Hartle ◽  
Diane Bales ◽  
Katherine Gardner ◽  
Kelsey MacLeod ◽  
Megan DeFluri ◽  
...  

Early childhood (EC) teachers need ongoing professional development (PD) to use information and communications technology (ICT) intentionally with young children. This chapter bridges the existing literature on PD best practices with additional interview data from EC teachers and higher education faculty. Three frames of influence on EC teachers' uses of ICT are discussed: personal – beliefs and comfort with technology; institutional – mandated curriculum, affordances of equipment, and ongoing personalized support; and societal – pervasive reliance on technology and influence on young children's future careers. The chapter concludes with PD recommendations for ICT that is content- and pedagogy-focused, based on research and policy, provides options for PD types and timing with follow up supports, and includes EC teachers in shared decision making for appropriate ICT practices in their classrooms.


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