May 05, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

ECED 255 - Generalist Practicum


PREREQUISITES: Program Chair Approval, must be taken at the home campus
PROGRAM: Early Childhood Education
CREDIT HOURS MIN: 3
PRACTICUM HOURS MIN: 9
DATE OF LAST REVISION: Fall 2021

Provides opportunity for practical experience through observation and supervised participation and assessments in an early childhood setting.  Students will develop and implement appropriate program plans and activities.  Requires 144 hours of field experience. Students are required to complete observations and field experiences with children as related to this course.  Students must seek placement for practicum directly with the Program Chair during the semester before the practicum begins. This course must be taken at the home campus. Students are required to meet personnel requirements for child care licensing which may include, but are not limited to:  FBI fingerprints, 5 panel drug screen, TB test, physical/vaccination history, criminal history checks, CPS registry checks, reference checks, Covid-19 protocols, and completion of the ILEAD mandatory training modules- Health and Safety Modules 1-4, Intro to the Indiana Early Learning Foundations, and Child Abuse Prevention and Detection.

MAJOR COURSE LEARNING OBJECTIVES: Upon successful completion of this course the student will be expected to:

  1. Engage in and reflect upon experiences, activities, and projects that promote the mission of the agency. (6a, 6e)
  2. Demonstrate and practice professional knowledge, skills, and dispositions while upholding ethical standards and guidelines when involving oneself with the early childhood field. (6a, 6b)
  3. Engage in communication with families or clients and model respect for diversity and family/client differences. (2a, 2b, 4a)
  4. Establish professional relationships with administrators and become familiar with their roles, responsibilities , and leadership styles. (4a, 6a, 6c)
  5. Read and review topical literature as related to professionalism and/or the mission of the agency. (6a, 6c, 6e)
  6. Reflect on experiences from the setting in terms of one’s own professional development. (6e)
  7. Develop and implement various techniques, tools, survey instruments, interview processes, or other appropriate assessment methods. (3a, 3b, 3c)
  8. Recognize and use Indiana’s Early Learning Foundations and Indiana Academic Standards as a basis for planning developmentally appropriate and challenging activities for children.  (4b, 4c, 5a, 5b, 5c)
  9. Complete the NAEYC Key Assessment #3-Child Assessment Portfolio.


COURSE CONTENT: Topical areas of study include -  

  • Field experience in an administrative capacity
  • Administration roles and responsibilities
  • Leadership styles
  • Professionalism
  • Diversity
  • Activities and projects that promote the mission of the agency
  • Extensive self-reflection

 

2021 NAEYC Professional Standards and Competencies for Early Childhood Educators

STANDARD 1 

Child Development and Learning in Context

NAEYC Standards covered in this course

INTASC Standards Alignment

1a: Understand the developmental period of early childhood from birth through age 8 across physical, cognitive, social and emotional, and linguistic domains, including bilingual/multilingual development.

   

1b: Understand and value each child as an individual with unique developmental variations, experiences, strengths, interests, abilities, challenges, approaches to learning, and with the capacity to make choices.

   

1c: Understand the ways that child development and the learning process occur in multiple contexts, including family, culture, language, community, and early learning setting, as well as in a larger societal context that includes structural inequities.

   

1d: Use this multidimensional knowledge-that is, knowledge about the developmental period of early childhood, about individual children, and about development and learning in cultural contexts-to make evidence-based decisions that support each child

   

STANDARD 2 

Family-Teacher Partnerships and Community Connections

 

2a: Know about, understand, and value the diversity of families.

x

3 a,c,f

2b: Collaborate as partners with families in young children’s development and learning through respectful, reciprocal relationships and engagement.

x

 

2c: Use community resources to support young children’s learning and development and to support families, and build partnerships between early learning settings, schools, and community organizations and agencies.

   

STANDARD 3 

Child Observation, Documentation, and Assessment

 

3a: Understand that assessments (formal and informal, formative and summative) are conducted to make informed choices about instruction and for planning in early learning settings.

x

 

3b: Know a wide range of types of assessments, their purposes, and their associated methods and tools.

x

 

3c: Use screening and assessment tools in ways that are ethically grounded and developmentally, ability, culturally, and linguistically appropriate in order to document developmental progress and promote positive outcomes for each child.

x

6.a,b,c,d,e, 7a, b

3d: Build assessment partnerships with families and professional colleagues.

   

STANDARD 4 

Developmentally, Culturally, and Linguistically Appropriate Teaching Practices

 

4a: Understand and demonstrate positive, caring, supportive relationships and interactions as the foundation of early childhood educators’ work with young children.

x

3 a,i,o, 4d

4b: Understand and use teaching skills that are responsive to the learning trajectories of young children and to the needs of each child, recognizing that differentiating instruction, incorporating play as a core teaching practice, and supporting the development of executive function skills are critical for young children.

x

 

4c: Use a broad repertoire of developmentally appropriate, culturally and linguistically relevant, anti-bias, evidence-based teaching skills and strategies that reflect the principles of universal design for learning.

x

3m, 4d,f,g,i

STANDARD 5 

Knowledge, Application, and Integration of Academic Content in the Early Childhood Curriculum

 

5a: Understand content knowledge- the central concepts, methods and tools of inquiry, and structure-and resources for the academic disciplines in an early childhood curriculum.

x

 

5b: Understand pedagogical content knowledge-how young children learn in each discipline-and how to use the teacher knowledge and practices described in Standards 1 through 4 to support young children’s learning in each content area.

x

 

5c: Modify teaching practices by applying, expanding, integrating, and updating their content knowledge in the disciplines, their knowledge of curriculum content resources, and their pedagogical content knowledge.

x

 

STANDARD 6 

Professionalism as an Early Childhood Educator

 

6a: Identify and involve themselves with the early childhood field and serve as informed advocates for young children, families, and the profession.

x

10 p,r,s,t

6b: Know about and uphold ethical and other early childhood professional guidelines.

x

3 p,q,r, 9 d,e,f,g,i,j

6c: Use professional communication skills, including technology-mediated strategies, to effectively support young children’s learning and development and to work with families and colleagues.

x

 

6d: Engage in continuous, collaborative learning to inform practice.

   

6e: Develop and sustain the habit of reflective and intentional practice in their daily work with young children and as members of the early childhood profession.

x

 

STANDARD 7 

Field Experiences

 

7a: Opportunities to observe and practice in at least two of the three early childhood age groups (birth - age 3, 3-5, 5-8)

x

 

7b:  Opportunities to observe and practice in at least two of the three main types of early education settings (early school grades, child care centers and homes, Head Start programs)

x

 

GRADING POLICY
 

100 - 93%    A

92 - 85%    B

84 - 75%    C

74 - 71%    D

70 -   0%    F

 

PORTFOLIO DEVELOPMENT: 

All degree-seeking students will be expected to present examples coursework that they deem suitable for a cumulative portfolio that will be reviewed prior to graduation.  The portfolio will contain several artifacts and reflection pieces as evidence of the students’ demonstrated understanding of early childhood principles as outlined by INTASC and NAEYC standards.  The cumulative portfolio should document each student’s dispositions and competencies reflected in assignments throughout their coursework.  Creating a portfolio has value to students, the Ivy Tech Community College early childhood education program and potential employers.  Students should select from a variety of assignments and are free to confer with their instructor about alternate choices of material.

 
Course Addendum - Syllabus (Click to expand)