ECHS 1801 - CDA Credential Preparation

Credit Hours: 3.00

Objectives:

1. Understand principles of child development and learning.
2. Plan a safe and healthy learning environment.
   1. Safe: provide a safe environment to prevent and reduce injuries.
   2. Healthy: promote good health and nutrition and provide an environment that contributes to the prevention of illness.
   3. Learning Environment: use space, relationships, materials, and routines as resources for constructing an interesting, secure, and enjoyable environment that encourages and fosters trust, play, exploration, interaction, and learning.

Outcome 2: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to build family and community relationships.

Objectives:

1. Building productive relationships with families.
   1. Families: establish a positive, cooperative relationship with each child’s family, encourage their involvement in the program, and support the child’s relationship with his or her family.

Outcome 3: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to describe how to observe, document, and assess to support young children and families.

Objectives:

1. Observing and recording children’s behavior.
   1. Assessment: understand the goals, benefits, and uses of assessment, including its use in development of appropriate goals, curriculum, and teaching strategies for young children.

Outcome 4: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to use developmentally effective approaches to connect with children and families.

Objectives:

1. Support children’s social and emotional development.
2. Advance children’s physical and intellectual development.
   1. Physical: provide a variety of developmentally appropriate equipment, learning experiences, and teaching strategies to promote the physical development of children.
   2. Cognitive: provide activities and opportunities that encourage curiosity, exploration, and problem solving appropriate to the developmental levels of each child.
   3. Communication: actively communicates with children and provides opportunities and support for children to understand, acquire, and use verbal and nonverbal means of communicating thoughts and feelings.
   4. Creative: provide opportunities that stimulate children to play with sound, rhythm, language, materials, space and ideas in individual ways and to express their creative abilities.

Outcome 5: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to use content knowledge to build meaningful curriculum.

Objectives:

1. Support children’s social and emotional development.
   1. Self: provide a warm, positive, supportive relationship with each child, and help each child learn about and take pride in his or her individual and cultural identity.
   2. Social: help each child feel accepted in the group, help children learn to communicate and get along with others, and encourage feelings of empathy and mutual respect among children and adults.
   3. Guidance: provide a supportive environment and use effective strategies to help all children learn and practice appropriate and acceptable behaviors as individuals and as a group, and effectively provide support for children with persistent challenging behaviors.
2. Advance children’s physical and intellectual development.

Outcome 6: Upon completion of this course, the student will be able to show professional growth.

Objectives:

1. Managing an effective program.
   1. Program Management: use all available resources to ensure an effective operation; a competent organizer, planner, record keeper, communicator, and a cooperative coworker.
2. Maintaining a commitment to professionalism.
   1. Professionalism: make decisions based on knowledge of researched-based early childhood practices, promote high-quality child care services, and take advantage of opportunities to improve knowledge and competence, both for personal and professional growth and for the benefit of children and families.

• Communication: The graduate can communicate effectively for the intended purpose and audience.
• Critical Thinking: The graduate can make informed decisions after analyzing information or evidence related to the issue.
• Global Literacy: The graduate can analyze human behavior or experiences through cultural, social, political, or economic perspectives.
• Information Literacy: The graduate can responsibly use information gathered from a variety of formats in order to complete a task.
• Quantitative Reasoning: The graduate can apply quantitative methods or evidence to solve problems or make judgments.
• Scientific Literacy: The graduate can produce or interpret scientific information presented in a variety of formats.

Week 3. Observing And Recording Children’s Behavior
Competency Standard 2: Advancing Physical and Intellectual Competence
Planning Lessons Based On Observations
NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct-Responsibility to Children
Statement of Competence 1 Due

Week 4. Maintaining An Emotionally Healthy Environment
Adult-Child Relationships
Relationships with Coworkers
Competency Standard 3: Supporting Social and Emotional Development and Providing Positive Guidance
Statement of Competence 2 Due

Week 5. Working With Families
Understanding Families of Today and Their Challenges
Competency Standard 4: To Establish Positive and Productive Relationships with Families
NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct-Responsibility to Families

Week 6. Working With Families, Continued
Effective Communication Strategies
Epstein’s Six Types of Parent Involvement
Statement of Competence 3 Due

Week 7. Community Resources
Developing a Family Resource Guide
School and Community Relationships
NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct-Ethical Responsibility to Community and Society
Statement of Competence 4 Is Due

Week 8. Management
Competency Standard 5: To Ensure a Well-Run, Purposeful Program That Is Responsive To Participants Needs
NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Conduct, Ethical Responsibility to Colleagues
Recordkeeping Strategies
Child Portfolios

Week 9. Family Questionnaires
Strategies for Distribution and Collection

Week 10. Professionalism
Advocacy
Ethical Dilemmas
Competency Standard 6: Maintaining a Commitment to Professionalism
Statement of Competence 5 Is Due

Week 11. Professionalism, Continued
Networking
Professional Development Opportunities
Writing a Philosophy Statement
Statement of Competence 6 Is Due
NAEYC’s Statement of Commitment

Week 12. Preparing Your Professional Portfolio
Completing and Collecting Activity Plans
Practice Quiz

Week 13. Professional Portfolio Continued
Bibliography of Children’s Books
Collection of Resource Items RC I-1, 2, and 3, RC V, RC VI-1, 2, and 3