My Personal Philosophy of Early Childhood Education

Belief Statement The home and the early childhood education center happen to be the most important places for the socialization of the child.   As a matter fact, both the home and the early childhood education center are responsible for developing the child – a complete individual.   The child represents the future of my nation and the world at large.   What I want children to be is therefore identical to my vision of an ideal society.   As an early childhood educator, I want to provide the best possible education for my students so they would create the ideal society we all have collectively envisioned. Philosophical Statement All students are capable of learning.   Even so, every child is an individual with learning needs that differ from the needs of his or her peers.   As an early childhood educator it is important to me to teach children with respect to their developmental stage.   At the same time, however, I do not overlook the fact that some of my students could be slower than the rest, while a few may even be gifted.   Nonetheless I would like all my students to get to love learning as much as I do.   For this reason I believe that educators must continue to conduct research on the art and science of teaching, and develop themselves so as to help their students learn as effectively as possible. I further believe that hands-on learning in early childhood education centers is crucial to the development of children.   Human beings learn by doing.   All the same, certain children seem to need more time to reflect on the activities that are assigned in the classroom.   I do not discourage individuality in the classroom, even as I realize that hands-on activities help most students with their social and linguistic skills. In my classroom there are 28 students and the room is not big enough to accommodate center areas.   However, we have made adjustments.   Centers are done at their tables.   Every day, each table does a new center.   (I create 5 per week).   I also have other activities for my students, such as white boards, phonics puzzles, ABC's on cookie sheets, and activities that are exclusively available in dishpans that we refer to as buckets.   When students are done with assigned activities, they get a bucket and find a spot on the floor.   It seems to be working well, as they are learning. I additionally trust the fact that young students need to learn by watching.   I model for my students before we can practice together, after which they complete the activities on their own.   It amazes me how quickly most children are able to learn by watching.   Moreover, it empowers me as an early childhood educator seeing as I am able to influence their thinking in profound ways.   This is the very reason why ethics play a vital role in early childhood education.   Indeed, the early childhood educator must be careful to teach the young only that which he or she would like to experience in the outside world. Raw minds of little children must be nurtured with great gentleness and care.   I consider this a significant issue to discuss with the parents of my students.   After all, early childhood education cannot be complete without the environment that the child is exposed to outside the classroom.   Thus, I am confident that the advice and support of parents helps to make early childhood education more effective.