Many programs have shifted to hybrid or online teaching models for the foreseeable future. This presents unique opportunities and challenges related to fostering relationships and building community and preparing students for virtual teaching and interactions. This session will open with tools and strategies for cultivating instructor-student and student-student relationships. Significant time will be spent on strategies and opportunities to provide college students with supported practice that will enable them to build meaningful connections with both young children and families. A highlight will be the participation of Marie Kohart, a talented early childhood educator who will share examples of ways in which she builds, sustains, and individualizes relationships in a virtual classroom. Strategies suitable for both synchronous and asynchronous environments will be shared.Presenters: Danielle Savory Seggerson (Lansing Community College, Michigan) and Marie Kohart (University of Kansas, Kansas)
Early childhood instructors at community colleges know better than anyone how tremendously the knowledge base and learning styles of their students can vary. Issues of culture (e.g., language, working individually vs working collectively), general education requirements, and benchmark exams (e.g., PRAXIS) may also require additional planning and differentiation of instruction. This webinar will share examples of evidence-based practices for supporting each and every student or learner, including practices that support English Language Learners and students with disabilities through the framework of Universal Design for Learning (UDL).
Presenter: Paul Luelmo, San Diego State University
Recent emergency measures have forced many early childhood instructors to shift to online instruction. The purpose of this webinar is to provide ideas and supports to help in making those shifts. We’ll offer ideas for content resources, share options for ways to use technology (e.g., to hold large and small group discussions), and suggest possibilities for alternatives to assignments (e.g., observation using videos instead of classrooms).
Practice-based assignments bridge coursework and field experiences, but it can be challenging to design assignments that work for the wide variety of community college field placements. This webinar will share tips for structuring practice-based assignments, helping students know what to expect, designing rubrics, grading efficiently, and overcoming resistance.
Presenter: Kathleen Artman Meeker, University of Washington
The early childhood teacher’s role as a cooperating/mentor teacher is an important one that is critical to the ability of practicum students to learn how to become an effective teacher of young children. This webinar will address key roles and responsibilities of effective cooperating/mentor teachers, as well as the competencies and supports that cooperating/mentor teachers need to provide effective support to novice teachers. Finally, this course will outline how cooperating/mentor teachers should use NAEYC’s Code of Ethical Practice to guide their work with student teachers.
Well-designed and thoughtfully executed online courses can effectively engage adult learners in high quality, engaging individual, small group, and whole group learning. This webinar will provide examples of how to develop and deliver content, support interaction including small group activities, promote reflection, and manage assignments as part of an online course.
Effective assignments need to provide learners with opportunities to both acquire and apply new knowledge and practices. This webinar will share new examples of tools for examining your assignments for these important dimensions and will feature multiple examples of assignment makeovers. Emphasis will be placed on preparing learners to support children of diverse cultures, languages, and abilities and their families AND to using evidence-based practices.
