1. Why are you here?
REALLY…..

2. Praxis I test ~ NEW test Pre K 4 ~ Pre K 4 & Special Education
Pre-service Academic Performance Assessment (PAPA) Reading, Writing, & Math ***(starting 4/2/12) Replaces Praxis I (but Praxis I can be used for current students if test has already been taken. After 4/2012 all students should be advised to take the PAPA).
Praxis II: Fundamental Subjects Content Knowledge (#0511)   
***Pennsylvania Educator Certification Tests (PECT) Grades PreK-4: Core and Professional Knowledge (Modules 1, 2, 3)
Pre K 4 & Special Education
Pre-service Academic Performance Assessment (PAPA) Reading, Writing, & Math ***starting 4/2/12 Replaces Praxis I (but Praxis I can be used for current students if test has already been taken. After 4/2012 all students should be advised to take the PAPA).
Praxis II: Fundamental Subjects Content Knowledge (#0511) 
***Pennsylvania Educator Certification Tests (PECT) Grades PreK-4: Core and Professional Knowledge (Modules 1, 2, 3)
***SPED Specialty Test: Modules 1 & 2

3. The candidate will prepare a two (2) page, well written and grammatically correct, word processed essay that includes the following components:
A statement of the candidate's reasons for wanting to be part of the teaching profession.
A description of the candidate's  "teacher identity", highlighting relevant experiences and personal strengths.
A description of the candidate’s beliefs about teaching and learning and the theories that support those beliefs.
A discussion of how the candidate will be an intentional teacher of diverse students, incorporating ways to meet the needs of all learners.
A description of the candidate's goals for continued professional development to be completed prior to student teaching.

4. BEO: Beginning Educator Outcomes
BEO Checklist
4 ARTIFACTS (B,C,D)
BEO listed – Is this the correct match??
Rationale –
1) What is the artifact, when, where?
2) How did this artifact help you understand or demonstrate your understanding of the BEO above??
What is important to know and be able to do….everyday as a Teacher!

5. Understanding and Applying Developmentally Appropriate Practices
Chapter 3

6. Developmentally Appropriate Practice
Framework for organizing basic knowledge about early childhood education
Evolved over time
Defining principles and guidelines

7. What is DAP? Developmentally appropriate practice is teaching that is:
Attuned to children’s ages, experience, abilities and interest
That helps them attain challenging and achievable goals
Focus on how children develop and learn optimally:
Age-related
Individual human variation

8. Position Statement Summary of the field’s best thinking
A defense of its valued practices
An advocacy tool for improving programs for young children

9. Meeting Children where they are
Continuous Observations
Decision making:
Plan curriculum
Adapt teaching strategies
Continual progress
Reaching Challenging and Achievable goals

10. Intentional teachers Have a purpose for everything that they do
Are thoughtful and prepared
Can explain the rationale for their decisions and actions to other teachers, administrators, or parents
An Intentional ESU Pre K 4 teacher is a Reflective and Deliberate Decision Maker

11. Making Informed Decisions
Age appropriate ~ Consider what is known about development and learning of children within a given age range
Individual Child ~ Consider what is known about each child individually ~ personality, strengths, interests, abilities ~ each child takes away something different
Culturally appropriate ~ Consider what is known about the social and cultural contexts in which children live
Knowledge is substantial and changes over time!

12. Knowing Children
What is it about children that should inform our teaching practice?
Study Groups: Read # & # - Make sure you understand meaning!

13. Principles of Child Development and Learning that Inform Practice
All the domains of development and learning are important, closely interrelated and one domain influences what takes place in other domains.
Many aspects of children’s learning and development follow documented sequences, with later abilities, skills, and knowledge building on those already acquired.
Development and learning proceed at varying rates from child to child, as well as at uneven rates across different areas of a child’s individual functioning.
Development and learning result from a dynamic and continuous interaction of biological maturation and experience.

14. Principles of Child Development and Learning that Inform Practice
5. Early experiences have profound effects, both cumulative and delayed, on a child’s development and learning; and optimal periods exist for certain types of development and learning to occur.
6. Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or representational capacities.
7. Children develop best when they have secure, consistent relationships with responsive adults and opportunities for positive relationships with peers.
8. Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.

15. Principles of Child Development and Learning that Inform Practice
9. Always mentally active in seeking to understand the world around them, children learn in a variety of ways; a wide range of teaching strategies and interactions are effective in supporting learning.
10. Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation as well as for promoting language, cognition, and social competence.
11. Development and learning advance when children are challenged to achieve just beyond their current mastery, and when they have many opportunities to practice new skills.
12. Children’s experiences shape their motivation and approaches to learning, such as persistence, initiative, and flexibility; in turn, these dispositions and behaviors affect their learning and development.

16. Role of the ECE Teacher Five interrelated dimensions:
Creating a caring community of learners
Teaching to enhance learning and development
Planning curriculum to meet important goals
Assessing children’s learning and development
Establishing reciprocal relationships with families

17. “Widening the Lens” Move beyond either/or thinking
To BOTH/AND THINKING when solving problems or making decision about practice
Rejects simple answers to complex questions
Requires diverse perspectives
Consider several possible correct answers
Complexity and interrelationship among the principles that guide ECE practice

18. Research base
Well grounded research forms the basis of NAEYCs position statements on developmentally appropriate practice
Provides a solid guidance for early childhood educators
DAP Research show gains in:
Social-Emotional Development
Learning

19. Knowing children + Knowing how to teach + Knowing what to teach +
= EFFECTIVE PRACTICE