Early Education and Care

This article discusses the importance of childhood education and care, and provides a personal philosophy on childhood education. It also includes a curriculum planning format for a group of children, resources for teaching children with autism, and information on local community support agencies.

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Early Education and Care
Name
Institution

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Early Education and Care
Task I: My Personal Philosophy about Early Childhood Education and Care
As an upcoming educationist, I know for certain that learning is a progressive process
that begins right from childhood. Since I joined this course, I have come to know that childhood
education is the most important stage in pupil’s educational life. It is the main foundation on
which the entire education process is based.1 Therefore, if I was to come up with my own
philosophy of childhood education, I would emphasize that there should be a democratic,
learner-centered and individualized teaching for the early childhood learners.
According to this philosophy, a child is to be viewed as the main focal point of the
teaching and learning process. Meaning, it is the child who should be considered most and
regarded as the most important component of the teaching process. They should, therefore, not
be viewed as mere objects that are dominated, but given an opportunity to contribute as much as
the can. The children should be given time to play and interact with one another regardless of
their diversities. The philosophy also views children as dependent people who have to be given a
democratic space and provided with individualized and relevant teaching. It is, therefore, my
expectation that the children are provided with holistic education that can prepare them for life in
the same community where they belong. On the other hand, the philosophy views a teacher as a
guide whose role is to preside over the teaching and learning process, but not necessarily to
dominate it.
1 Blackwell, Courtney K., Alexis R. Lauricella, Ellen Wartella, Michael Robb, and Roberta
Schomburg. "Adoption and use of technology in early education: The interplay of
extrinsic barriers and teacher attitudes." Computers & Education 69 (2013): 310-319.

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The philosophy also considers childhood education as an inclusive process that should be
done by incorporating the contributions of everyone including the teachers, parents, curriculum
developers, and the community in general. Each of these stakeholders has a significant
contribution to make towards the delivery of life-long education that addresses the interests,
needs, goals, and expectations of each child.2 For example, whereas the teachers are directly
involved in the teaching of the learners, the parents and community are expected to chip in
introducing and inculcating the culture of morality and ethical compliance in the society.3 Each
of these concepts should be captured in the curriculum because it should be a true reflection of
the society. Hence, if they are included in the curriculum, the children would acquire the right
education that can make it quite easy for them to fit into the society from which they are drawn.
In conclusion, my philosophy of childhood education is an objective one. It
acknowledges early child education as the most important stage in the children’s education
process. At the same time, it views a child as an innocent creature that emulates virtually
everything that takes place in the immediate surroundings. In this regard, it should be the
responsibility of the education system to design an appropriate curriculum that emphasizes on
individual learning, child-centeredness, and advocates for the principles of democracy and
prosperity.4 However, to achieve all these, childhood education should be viewed as a process
that involves different stakeholders such as family, community, and other educationists.
2 Eliason, Claudia Fuhriman, and Loa Thomson Jenkins. A practical guide to early childhood
curriculum. (New York: Pearson, 2015). Pp. 12-15.
3 Blackwell, Courtney K., Alexis R. Lauricella, Ellen Wartella, Michael Robb, and Roberta
Schomburg. "Adoption and use of technology in early education: The interplay of
extrinsic barriers and teacher attitudes." Computers & Education 69 (2013): 310-319.
4 Eliason, Claudia Fuhriman, and Loa Thomson Jenkins. A practical guide to early childhood
curriculum. (New York: Pearson, 2015). Pp. 12-15.

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Task II: Design of a Curriculum Planning Format that you could be used for a Group of Children
A) Collection of Curriculum Formats
Format I
Grade Level Expedition 1 Expedition 2 Expedition 3
Title/Topic
Guiding Questions
Anchor Text(s)
Final Product
(Align to W.1/2/3)
Key Standards
(SS)
Key Standards
(Sci)
Reading Info
Standards
Reading Lit
Standards
Other Writing
Standards
Speaking and
Listening

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Standards
Language
Standards
Math Standards*
Art Standards*
Fitness/Wellness
Standards*
Fieldwork,
Experts,
Service Learning
Character/
Habits of
Scholarship
Connections
Format II
Learning Expedition Overview
Title
School
Grade level
Discipline(s)
Specific topic:

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Start & end dates
Author(s)
Summary
Guiding Questions
Standards Assessed in the Learning Expedition
Discipline Standards Long-Term Learning
Targets
Anchor Text(s):
Title Author Text Type Notes

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Case Study/Studies and Key Summative Assessments
1. Case study title
Case study content
Big ideas (broad
concepts)
Key standards that
drive the case study
Midpoint assessment
End of case study assessment
Additional summative
assessments
Case Study/Studies and Key Summative Assessments
2. Case study title
Case study content
Big Ideas/Broad
Concepts
Key standards that
drive the case study
Midpoint assessment
End of case study
assessment
Additional summative
assessments
Resources & Links
Project(s)

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Project Title Project summary Product/
Performance and
Audience
Connections to the Community and the Larger World
Fieldwork
Experts
Service learning
Expedition kick-
off
Expedition
culmination
Format III
Title
Grade
Discipline
Start and End Dates
Author
Standards and Long-Term Learning Targets Assessed
Standards Long-term Targets Summative Assessments
Duration Daily Targets Instructional
Plans
Meeting
Students’
Needs

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B) Analysis of the collected Planning Formats
i. As a profession who has had enough training on childhood pedagogy, I know what a good
curriculum looks like. The most important thing that I noticed is that each of the curriculum
formats reflects my view of the child and the educator. I am saying this because each of these
formats clearly-outline the lesson topic, short and long-term objectives, list of resources,
teaching strategies, instructional materials, roles of the learner, and teacher.5 It also addresses the
issue of assessment that the teacher seeks to undertake at the end of the lesson to enable him/her
determine the extent to which the objectives are accomplished.
ii. The other observation that I made in the formats is that they sought to capture the issue of the
learners’ interests, goals, and strengths. What fascinated me most is that the formats address both
individual and groups since it acknowledges that there are individual and group goals that should
be addressed during the lesson. Each of them has well-designed lesson outcomes that are
expected to be accomplished at the end of instructional process.6 However, these are not merely
listed, but accompanied by the instructional plans, measures, and the list of activities that will be
done to achieve each of them within the stipulated time duration.
iii. The other attribute that makes this curriculum formats suitable for the teaching of the early
childhood learners is that they specify they give room for the participation of each and every
5 Kazakoff, Elizabeth R., Amanda Sullivan, and Marina U. Bers. "The effect of a classroom-
based intensive robotics and programming workshop on sequencing ability in early
childhood." Early Childhood Education Journal 41, no. 4 (2013): 245-255.
6 Gerde, Hope K., Rachel E. Schachter, and Barbara A. Wasik. "Using the scientific method to
guide learning: An integrated approach to early childhood curriculum." Early Childhood
Education Journal 41, no. 5 (2013): 315-323.

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pupil who is in the classroom. In the list of activities, the format clearly outlines the list of
activities that each learner is supposed to do during the lesson. Here, a list of activities such as
playing, singing, note-taking, responding to the questions is listed. These are activities which
must be performed by learners both as individuals and groups.
iv. At the same time, there is a space for the family members to assess and evaluate the lesson.
Meaning, it is inclusive because everyone is involved. The way in which these formats are
designed makes them flexible, accessible, and easy to understand, interpret, and use by all the
staff as well as the family members who are involved in the instructional process.7 They use a
standard format as well as simple and clear language that can be easily comprehended by
everyone.
v. The other thing that makes these formats suitable for teaching is that they have space for the
educators to evaluate the lesson and assess what the learners, did, knew, said, and how well they
were done. This is commendable because such evaluations can be relied upon to make future
improvements in the teaching strategies for the learners.
C) Curriculum Planning Format
Title
Grade
Discipline
Start and End Dates
Author
Standards and Long-Term Learning Targets Assessed
Standards Long-term Targets Summative Assessments
7 Eliason, Claudia Fuhriman, and Loa Thomson Jenkins. A practical guide to early childhood
curriculum. (New York: Pearson, 2015). Pp. 12-15.

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Duration Daily Targets Instructional
Plans
Meeting
Students’
Needs
D) Outline Process
The curriculum is designed to address the needs of individual and group of learners in the
class. To ensure that this is achieved, the format should be designed well. Meaning, there should
be a proper plan on how to develop it. Once the plan is made, the design should be made as
planned. However, measures must be taken to meet the needs of each and every learner because
the teaching process must be learner-centered. The list of activities in the format must be done by
each of the learners. Meaning, each of them must get enough time to actively participate in the
lesson.8 At the same time, in the plan, there should be room for each learner to engage in
activities like playing because it is one of the practical activities that the early childhood learners
should engage in. last, but not least, in the plan, there should be enough space for the instructor
to assess the teaching process to determine its success. However, all these should be done for
each and every lesson that is administered by the instructor.
Task III: Electronic Data Base
A) Teaching Children with Autism
8 Blackwell, Courtney K., Alexis R. Lauricella, Ellen Wartella, Michael Robb, and Roberta
Schomburg. "Adoption and use of technology in early education: The interplay of
extrinsic barriers and teacher attitudes." Computers & Education 69 (2013): 310-319.

12
Teaching is a challenging endeavor because the instructors always have to deal with
learners from all sorts of backgrounds. A child who suffers from autism is considered as a
learner with special need. Hence, when teaching such a learner, the instructor must put more
effort because it entails a lot of activities that are not done when teaching the normal learners.
Autism is a mental disorder that affects the children and hinders them from leading a
normal social life like the rest of the ordinary children. The symptoms of autism are that it
impairs the child’s communication and social interactions. Meaning, it makes a child fail to
know and respond to his or her name, use facial expression, playing with others, engage in a
continuous conversation, speak normally, recognize non-verbal signs, and understand other
people’s feelings. Since the disease affects the communication, consciousness, understanding,
behaviors, and social interactions of the learners, it is upon the instructor to adopt an appropriate
teaching strategy that can help in addressing all the needs of the learners.9 For example, the
instructor should create enough time to encourage the learners to play, improve their verbal and
non-verbal communication, adopt social interaction skills, simplify the language, and comply
with the child’s interests. To do all these, the instructor has to acquire knowledge on teaching the
learners who have special needs.
Special education is a skill that is not possessed by all the instructors. Many instructors
fail to teach the learners with special needs like autism because they lack the knowledge that they
might apply to teach them well. However, there are many places where the teachers might get
such skills. For example, the teaching strategies for the learners with autism can be acquired
from Autism Spectrum Australia whose link is
https://www.autismspectrum.org.au/content/educational-outreach because it has got useful
9 Lewis, Rena B., John J. Wheeler, and Stacy L. Carter. Teaching students with special needs in
general education classrooms. (New York: Pearson, 2017). Pp. 22-27.

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information that can be adopted by the teachers. From such sites, the teachers can learn about
useful skills and technologies to use for visual support and assistive learning exclusively for
teaching the learners who suffer from autism.
B) Local Community access to Support Agencies
In my community, there are organizations which help in supporting the teaching of the
learners with special needs. These organizations have invested their resources because they
acknowledge that the individualization of the teaching and learning process can be quite difficult
because in a single classroom, a teacher has to deal with learners who have diverse interests,
likes, dislikes, strengths, and weaknesses. There are also some professional support groups which
offer assistance to the families with special needs. The originations include the Autism
Awareness Australia, Autism Spectrum Australia and Autism Educators Australia.
These organizations have been concerned about the welfare of the children with
special needs because they are worried about their future. As a matter of fact, disabilities can
create inequality in the education sector. Meaning, it might bring a huge gap between the
learners because while it is easier for the non-disabled learners to acquire knowledge, their
disabled counterparts find it extremely difficult to fit into the classroom and learn. Therefore,
these groups have come up to provide training and resources to the people who have children
with special needs in their homes.10 Such services have made it possible for the families to
embrace the children with special needs and provide them with the right education that suit their
conditions and can prepare them to be dependable and useful people when they grow up.
10 Lee, Frances Lai Mui, Alexander Seeshing Yeung, Danielle Tracey, and Katrina Barker.
"Inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood education: What teacher
characteristics matter." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 35, no. 2 (2015):
79-88.

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References
Blackwell, Courtney K., Alexis R. Lauricella, Ellen Wartella, Michael Robb, and Roberta
Schomburg. "Adoption and use of technology in early education: The interplay of
extrinsic barriers and teacher attitudes." Computers & Education 69 (2013): 310-319.
Eliason, Claudia Fuhriman, and Loa Thomson Jenkins. A practical guide to early childhood

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curriculum. (New York: Pearson, 2015). Pp. 12-15.
Gerde, Hope K., Rachel E. Schachter, and Barbara A. Wasik. "Using the scientific method to
guide learning: An integrated approach to early childhood curriculum." Early Childhood
Education Journal 41, no. 5 (2013): 315-323.
intensive robotics and programming workshop on sequencing ability in early childhood."
Early Childhood Education Journal 41, no. 4 (2013): 245-255.
Kazakoff, Elizabeth R., Amanda Sullivan, and Marina U. Bers. "The effect of a classroom-based
Lee, Frances Lai Mui, Alexander Seeshing Yeung, Danielle Tracey, and Katrina Barker. "
Inclusion of children with special needs in early childhood education: What teacher
characteristics matter." Topics in Early Childhood Special Education 35, no. 2 (2015):
79-88.
Lewis, Rena B., John J. Wheeler, and Stacy L. Carter. Teaching students with special needs in
general education classrooms. (New York: Pearson, 2017). Pp. 22-27.