Early Learning Professional Experience

This paper covers my first-time experience as a professional in early childhood education. The main purpose of this practicum is to have a hands-on experience as a professional teacher. The practicum is set in a kindergarten where the population of the children to be served is average. It also focuses on the actual experience after placement and all the skills gained.

Running Head: EARLY LEARNING PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE 1
Early Learning Professional Experience
Student’s Name
Professor’s Name
Course
Date

Early Learning Professional Experience 2
1. Overview
This paper covers my first-time experience as a professional in early childhood
education. The main purpose of this practicum is to have a hands-on experience as a professional
teacher. The practicum is set in a kindergarten where the population of the children to be served
is average. I am attached to a mentor teacher so that he can guide me through where I may need
assistance. There also exist other teachers in such facilities that are involved in daily teaching of
the children. The Practicum aims at putting all the coursework learnt in class to a real-life
practical experience. This paper contains the necessary preparations for the practicum which
includes setting goals and plan of action for the exercise. It also focuses on the actual experience
after placement and all the skills gained. This paper also contains the summary where the whole
professional experience is discussed and the necessary adjustments made for a similar task in
future.
2. Goals
Main Goal: Managing the class to maintain focus in children
Sub-Goal 1: Setting out rules so as to prevent the problems as they transpire
Sub-Goal 2: Interacting with them socially for an effective learning
3. Plan of action
There is need of formulation of goals as the first step for a successful project
(Au.reachout.com, 2018). The set goals need to be reviewed so as to come up with an achievable
goal. These goals should have timeframes which indicate the deadline for each milestone.
Development of strategies on how these goals needs to be achieved is also vital. For this case,

Early Learning Professional Experience 3
one of the strategies to achieve this will be to set rules for myself and also the children. A plan
for each lesson is essential in order to make sure nothing is left out for a certain lesson.
Conducting lesson and lesson plan reviews will enable me to determine my experience progress
and also the children’s progress in learning. Below is a simple plan of action that will enable me
to achieve the above stated goal and sub-goals.
Goals People involved Start End
Socializing through
introductions
-The whole class -First day in class -First day in class
Setting rules -kindergarten
administration
-mentor teacher
-First week -First week
Lesson plans -Mentor teacher -First week -First week
Lesson plan reviews -Kindergarten
administration
-Mentor teacher
-Fellow teachers
-every first day of the
week
Last day of my
practicum.
4. Reflection
My main goal for this practicum was to be able to manage a class as a new professional
in this field. I believed this is the most difficult part yet the most crucial. Managing a class
becomes the most crucial part as it creates a conducive environment for effective interaction and
learning. I formulated some rules that would be practiced in my class upon which they had

Early Learning Professional Experience 4
consequences if broken. My other goal was to interact with the children socially so as to
understand their background. This would help me in designing a proper lesson plan which would
be effective in imparting knowledge to the children.
Goal Achievement Strategy
I was able to achieve my goal and sub-goals successfully. This is because I was able to
create a friendly environment with the children and my mentor teacher. By the establishment of
this environment, I was able to understand the children's backgrounds. I was able to identify that
most of the children had no prior school experience before and I had to start my professional
experience by teaching them the most basic things such as holding a pencil.
Reason for Achievement
The main reason for the achievement of my goals was the adherence of the simple rules
that I set out in the beginning. This put me in-charge and established a teacher-learner respect.
The kindergarten administration and my mentor teacher were very supportive also and I received
guidance of anything that I inquired.
5. Connection To A Theory
Jean Piaget Developmental Theory
Jean Piaget explained the different stages of development which has been of great
significance when it comes to early childhood education. The four cognitive stages of
development are guided by the thought that cognitive growth is influenced by biological growth.
Piaget argued that a person's intellectual development controls other aspects of development such
as social, moral and emotional (McLeod, 2017). Early childhood education usually takes place in

Early Learning Professional Experience 5
the pre-operational stage which is usually from two to seven years according to Piaget. This is
the stage where a child masters all symbols and uses them for communication in the early years
of this stage (Lepton, 2015). A child’s thought can only be understood through channels such as
experiencing, reading, listening and exploring the environment and the place they live in. in my
experience, I was able to put into practice all the channels named above in order to understand
children. I also put into practice much of the knowledge learnt in class so as to understand all the
children’s aspect.
The Value of Play
As the children continue to develop, they find the world more and more exciting where
they involve themselves in playing activities (Ginsburg, 2007). Play has been described by much
literature as the way that children have a chance to express themselves, explore their emotional
capability, enhancing imagination and therefore enabling them to develop mentally (Gray, 2008).
Play helps in the physical, emotional, social and intellectual development of a child which
prepares them for the adult life. An educator needs to consider the value of play in children and
incorporate creativity as part of teaching (Chen, 2016). I was able to use different forms of arts
such as music and theatrics that children were able to relate with for an effective learning. I
found this helpful in enabling me to accomplish my goal of being able to manage a class and
being able to address a problem before it arises.
6. Professional Experience Blog
My first professional experience was a success. It was interesting for me being part of a
big team that is dedicated to ensuring children are given the necessary basic education for a
better future. Seeing children eager to learn and enjoying my teachings gave me ultimate joy and

Early Learning Professional Experience 6
felt the need to continue being part of this team. My mentor teacher and other colleagues were so
supportive which made this a great team that I would like to work with anytime.
7. Summary
When joining other kindergarten staff for my practicum, I had several anticipations about
the whole experience as a professional. There were, however, matters that I had to consult with
my mentor teacher for me to be able to fit in the kindergarten environment. Prior to the
practicum, I had well-set goals and clues on how I would achieve them. I was, however, unable
to anticipate how the whole experience will be like during and after the practicum. Contrary to
my thinking, most of the children here had no prior pre-school experience. Most of the children
here were in their first year of school and therefore they needed more guidance than I thought.
The guidance was to start from the most basic issues like holding a pencil and how to use a book
from the first to the last page. Having had written a plan and strategies on how to deliver my
service, I had to adjust some of the plans and the strategies in order to match the standard of the
kindergarten. I had to also seek advice from my mentor teacher in making lesson plans that
would be more effective and useful in teaching.
My experience at the practicum was quite challenging at first but I was able to learn from
my mentor teacher and adapt to the new environment. It also made me explore my strengths
when it comes to relating to children and the teaching staff. My main strength in this field is
being social which is crucial when relating to fellow teachers and the children. This also makes
me work well with the rest of the team when carrying out activities that involve others. My
weakness was mainly on time management and meeting short deadlines. This was mostly
involved in the class work where teaching was interesting that it carried me away and sometimes

Early Learning Professional Experience 7
was not able to deliver according to my lesson plan. I, however, worked on improving my time
management and by the end of the practicum, I was able to make some improvements. For this to
be fully achieved, I will need to review my teaching strategies and also make the necessary
changes in my classroom planning.
My future experience will see a few improvements in the preparations that I may have
missed in my first experience. In writing my teaching strategies and lesson plans, I will need to
take the consideration of children that have no prior experience of pre-school. With the
experience gained from my first practicum, I will now be able to design lesson plans without
necessarily the help of my mentor teacher. I will also need to plan for more creativity and arts
activities for children relate better to these activities to reading and writing.

Early Learning Professional Experience 8
References
Au.reachout.com. (2018). How to set goals. Retrieved from https://au.reachout.com/articles/how-
to-set-goals
Chen, S. (2016). The Importance of Creative Arts in Early Childhood Education. Retrieved from
https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/importance-creative-arts-ece/
Ginsburg, K. (2007). The Importance of Play in Promoting Healthy Child Development and
Maintaining Strong Parent-Child Bonds. Retrieved from
http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/1/182
Gray, P. (2008). The Value of Play I: The Definition of Play Gives Insights. Retrieved from
https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/200811/the-value-play-i-the-
definition-play-gives-insights
Lepton, K. (2015). Jean Piaget and His Contributions to Early Childhood Cognitive
Development. Retrieved from http://www.sciography.com/jean-piaget.htm
McLeod, S. (2017). Developmental Psychology | Simply Psychology. Retrieved from
https://www.simplypsychology.org/developmental-psychology.html