Adobe Captivate



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Welcome to module 1 of the Advanced Course on Emotional & Social Development and Family Engagement. Before beginning the module, please be sure that you completed the pre-learning activity. The pre-learning activity directions and article can be found by clicking the buttons with the purple headings on the slide. Press next to continue when you are finished with the activity. A 5-item pre-learning quiz will follow on the next 5 slides.

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This module is the first in a series of professional development modules on effective teacher practices supporting high quality supportive environments and nurturing, responsive relationships as they relate to the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development. This first module provides an overview of Foundations and a detailed description of the structure of the modules.

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The objectives of this module are to help early care and education professionals understand:

1. The structure of the professional development modules for practices that promote high quality supportive environments and nurturing and responsive relationships;

2. The relationship between the early learning standards and curriculum;

3. The relationship between the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten and the North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development;

4. The benefits of family engagement children, families, and early childhood programs and professionals; and

5. The teacher’s connection to the NC Infant/Young Child Mental Health Association’s Recommended Early Childhood Mental Health Competencies.

 

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Almost every state has developed early learning standards for prekindergarten-age children. North Carolina was one of the first when they developed the first North Carolina Foundations for Early Learning and Development in 2003. The Infant-Toddler standards were released a couple of years after the first preschool standards. Both efforts were cross-sector and collaborative. Planning efforts included people from universities, community colleges, school systems, child care, Head Start, families, and more. The breadth of Foundations contributors reflects the diverse partners that comprise North Carolina’s early childhood system.

 

During the Foundations’ revisions in 2011, the decision was made to combine the Infant-Toddler and the Preschool Foundations into one document and to showcase the developmental continuum that occurs across the span of time from birth to 60+ months of age for each goal.

The title of this document—Foundations—was selected because the Goals and Developmental Indicators described for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers are critically important to children’s success later in school. What children learn between birth and the time they start kindergarten lays the foundation for their learning and development for years to come.

 

The team of state leaders that revised Foundations carefully studied North Carolina’s Standard Course of Study, which includes both the Common Core State Standards and the North Carolina Essential Standards -- for what kindergarten children should know and be able to do. An overview of their crosswalk can be found on page 19 of the Foundations document.

The goal of the crosswalk was to ensure that expectations for children presented in Foundations aligned with the expectations for children in Kindergarten. This doesn’t mean that the skills and knowledge described in Foundations are exactly the same as those included in the Kindergarten standards. Rather, the focus in Foundations is on the early precursor skills that research suggests are important for laying the foundation for what children learn later.

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This Venn diagram shows the five developmental domains outlined in Foundations. Notice that the child is in the center of the diagram where domains overlap. This emphasizes that developmental domains don’t exist in isolation in children. Children, in their everyday activities and experiences and with their family cultures and languages, integrate skills and behaviors across the domains. The domains help professionals categorize children’s behavior and growth, often for assessment purposes.

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Before we continue, let’s take a moment to address our audience. We know that some of you are teaching staff or child care providers, others may be supervisors or administrators. Some of you are B-K licensed teachers and those of you who are not, may not be directly concerned with the NC Teaching Standards. We still want you to be aware of the connections to the Standards because the care you provide sets the stage for what children will learn when they get to kindergarten and beyond.

In our modules, there will be activities that put you in the shoes of either an administrator or a teacher. We hope this will help give you a look at both sides of Foundations; from hands-on provider to evaluator/principal. If you are a supervisor and are working through an activity that is classroom-based, feel free to modify the activity to meet your role as a supervisor. For example, if an activity asks you to “think about your classroom”, you can instead think about the most recent classroom you observed and proceed from there with the activity.

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Now take out your Foundations document and we’ll go on a treasure hunt! A digital version can be found by clicking the button at the bottom of the slide.

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Let’s make sure you are oriented to the document. The document provides information about the five developmental domains we showed you in the Venn diagram: Approaches to Play and Learning, Emotional and Social Development, Health and Physical Development, Language Development and Communication, and Cognitive Development. Each domain contains several sub-domains, which help us organize our observations of children’s development. Under each subdomain are a number of goals which we support children in achieving by the time they reach kindergarten. Look at page 29.

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Notice that four subdomains are listed under the domain of Approaches to Play and Learning. Notice that goals are listed under each subdomain. The goals are numbered consecutively within each domain. You may wish to put a sticky note or tab on page 29 for easy reference back to this list of subdomains and goals for Approaches to Play and Learning. Next go to page 51 to see subdomains and goals listed under Emotional and Social Development. Feel free to pause the module after each treasure hunt step so that you can find the page and tab them for future reference.

Next, look at page 69 for Health and Physical Development – place a tab there. Page 92 shows the subdomains and goals for Language Development and Communication – tab that page, and on page 119 you have the subdomains and goals for Cognitive Development. Did you see how the domains are color-coded? An overview of the domains, subdomains, and goals begins on page 8. Notice the typo on page 11 – Goals LDC-9 and LDC 10 were left out! On the next few slides, you will have 3 questions to answer. Look at the description of the treasure and search for the page number on which it can be found. If you have a printed Foundations document, you may also want to use sticky notes to tab pages for future reference.

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A few things to note about Foundations: Did you see how the age ranges overlap on page 5? Although development is a continuous process with a predictable sequence, its course is unique for every child.

The text boxes on page 7 warn against using the developmental indicators in Foundations as a checklist for child development. It is important to use appropriate tools for assessment that are designed for that purpose. They should include detailed age referencing that will help users understand and describe the child’s level of functioning.

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Goals are listed for each domain of Foundations with developmental indicators along the continuum of development from birth to 60 months of age. Please note the age ranges for each of the five age bands. The developmental continuum shows how skills emerge over time.

Let’s look at page 52 for an example. This is the domain of Emotional-Social Development. What is the sub-domain?

If you said, ‘Developing a Sense of Self’ you are right.

What is the goal? “Children demonstrate a positive sense of self-identity and self-awareness” is correct.

Notice the developmental continuum on page 52. As infants, children show awareness of their bodies by looking at their hands, feet, mouth, etc. When they move into the next age period they may recognize themselves in the mirror and point out their body parts. As older toddlers, they may then be able to recognize themselves in a picture. At the younger preschool period they develop a sense of self as demonstrated when they can tell you their first and last name. Finally, older preschoolers can tell you that they are a member of their family or a preschool class or an ethnic group.

These developmental indicators are examples of skills and behaviors children show at various age levels. Remember that sometimes our best source of information about what skills a child has developed is a child’s family, and schools/centers must work in partnership with families to gather this information. We know that many steps of learning and growth occur between the indicators. That’s why indicators may be used to guide instruction, but should not be used in the assessment process.

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Recently, a preschool teacher asked, “How do I use Foundations now that I’m using a specific curriculum and assessment program?” Her question reflected the concern many teachers may have about being asked to do ‘yet one more thing’ and the need for clarity about how the various ‘things’ fit together. One way to address this question would be to think about the relationships among the standards, the curriculum, and the ongoing/formative assessment practices that teachers are required to implement.

Let’s look at some definitions based on the work of Margaret Heritage (2013) whose writings on ongoing/formative assessment were seminal to the development of North Carolina's Assessment Learning Community's Online Network  (NC FALCON) and are guiding the development of the kindergarten entry child profile by the NC Department of Public Instruction.

For more information about NC FALCON, you can go to the link provided on the slide.

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First let’s look at standards. Standards are the areas of knowledge and skill children are expected to acquire. Standards are organized by age level, are based on research, and assume that children learn information and skills in order from simple to complex. Teaching standards embody best practices for early education, and while non-licensed teachers do not have standards such as these to follow, they are a good roadmap towards quality.

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While standards focus on what children should know and be able to do, the curriculum helps teachers help children reach the standards by providing a scope and sequence of instruction. The curriculum defines the scope – the breadth and depth of content teachers should cover, and the sequence – the order in which teachers should present the content, and activities to promote learning. There are many curricula available and depending upon what agencies your early care and education environment reports to, there are different guidelines.

For example, the NC Pre-K program states that staff must be knowledgeable about Foundations and use these early learning standards to guide their planning of developmentally appropriate, high-quality prekindergarten experiences for children.

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North Carolina’s definition of ongoing/formative assessment is based on the definition developed by Margaret Heritage (2010) for the Council of Chief State School Officers: “Ongoing/formative assessment is a process used by teachers and students during instruction that provides feedback to adjust ongoing teaching and learning to improve students’ achievement of intended instructional outcomes.”

Adapting this definition for our early childhood instruction, our definition reads: “a process used by teachers and children during play and learning activities that provides feedback to the teachers and children, so that teachers can adjust their teaching to meet the needs of children, and so that children can understand what is expected of them.”

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With these definitions in mind, let’s look at the relationship between Foundations and an objective from one of the assessment systems that is widely used in NC.

Let’s say we have a cognitive development objective called “persists”. Use your Foundations document or your Foundations At a Glance document to identify the Foundations for Early Learning and Development goal or goals in the Approaches to Play and Learning domain that align with this objective “persists”. Both of these documents – Foundations and At-A-Glance are available via buttons on the slide. Pause the module until you are ready to answer the question on the next slide.

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We may hear school principals ask, “How do the NC Foundations align with the NC Standard Course of Study?” They need to see the continuity between the standards for preschool and the upper grades – especially kindergarten. This slide shows how infant and preschool standards in English Language Arts lay the foundation for what is expected in third grade, fifth grade, and high school English Language Arts standards.

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This slide shows the early Mathematics standards that lead to “Arithmetic with polynomials and rational expressions” in high school.

It may have been a few years since you have taken algebra, so as a reminder, here are the definitions of these terms. A polynomial is a mathematical expression that can have constants (numbers such as 3, -2, 2/3), variables (such as x and y), and exponents (such as the 2 in x2) that can be added, subtracted, multiplied, or divided by a constant. Examples include 3x; x-2; 3x2+2x.

 

A rational expression is the ratio of 2 polynomials with one polynomial in the numerator and one in the denominator.

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Here are early learning and development standards that lead to “Understanding cells and organisms: Evolution and genetics” in high school science from basic precursor skills of exploring by using the body in infancy.

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Here we see the progression for one of the standards in the area of Social Studies.

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What would you tell your administrator if she or he asked how your early care or education classroom prepares children for kindergarten and the upper grades? Pause the module as you open Crosswalk from the button at the bottom of the slide, You will need to refer to it for this and the upcoming slide. This crosswalk shows indicators related to the goal “children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups” in the domain of Emotional and Social Development – and the related Kindergarten standards.

 

Now listen as I read this scenario.

 

Your principal or center director is observing your preschool classroom during playtime. You move to a group of children who are building houses with blocks on a rug designed to look like the layout of a town. You remark on the arrangement of the houses and ask if you can help. The children make room for you and one child shows you which blocks have not been used for building yet and are available for you to use.

You build a structure and ask children what they think it might be. One child says it is a house. One child says it is a school. A third child says it is a store. The children like the idea that the building could be a store and they begin to build stores near the building you built. You ask what children’s families often buy when they go to the store. Children talk about things their families buy, such as cereal and juice.

One child goes to the kitchen center and brings back some food items and says that her store is a grocery store. You ask about the other types of things besides groceries that they buy at stores. Children respond with their ideas.

Another child goes to the toy center and brings over a car and drives it around the block of houses. Other children bring cars to the block area. You ask children where they are going in their cars. They talk about going to the store and what they will buy.

You join the children in driving a toy car around the town and comment that you are going to visit a child’s house and that you’re bringing chocolate chip cookies for a backyard picnic. Children begin driving their toy cars to one another’s block houses while talking about what they might bring and do while visiting. You comment on the different plans children have for their ‘visits.’

After the observation, your supervisor asks you to share your thinking on how playing with the children helped them learn. You reply that – among other things - you were using and modeling strategies for joining children’s play that support their development of social interactions and assist them in expanding their ideas during play sequences. You add that this instructional practice supports and promotes one of the Foundations for Early Learning and Development standards: Children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups (ESD-5).

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The principal or center director then asks how playing with children is going to prepare them for Kindergarten. How do you respond? Look at the crosswalk document and notice that it describes the domain of Emotional and Social Development and the goal “Children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups”.

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The Foundations standards appear in the left hand column and the complimentary NC standards appear in the right hand column. What information can you take from the crosswalk to tell the principal about how helping children meet this goal prepares them for kindergarten?

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You could point out that the Common Core State Standards for Kindergarten English Language Arts Speaking & Listening Standards (SL) want to see that children can:

Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners about kindergarten topics and texts with peers and adults in small and larger groups. This involves the following skills:

Follow agreed-upon rules for discussions (e.g., listening to others and taking turns speaking about the topics and texts under discussion) and

Continue a conversation through multiple exchanges.

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You can then point out that the Early Learning and Development standard from the emotional-social domain – ‘children demonstrate the social and behavioral skills needed to successfully participate in groups (ESD-5)’ – helps prepare children to participate in groups, follow conversation rules, and understand the relationship between self and others.

You can also use the crosswalks to proactively advocate for what you are doing with your children, by initiating a conversation with your administrator about Foundations, how you are using them, and their alignment with the NC Standard Course of Study.

For example, a teacher might keep a bulletin board outside her classroom to show examples of children’s work that illustrate early learning and development standards. A teacher could make an appointment to meet with her principal to tell her about preschool and Foundations.

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As we saw in this example, when administrators observe preschool teachers in the classroom, they observe the teachers’ instructional practices. Through these modules, you will learn the tools and techniques to use to articulate how your instructional practices address the early learning standards for children -- and also how those practices demonstrate North Carolina’s Professional Teaching Standards. Supervisors may need assistance to make the connections between early learning instructional practices and teaching standards. You can also use what you learn in these modules to engage parents and other family members in conversation about what you do and why you do it.

This information can come in handy when a family member might ask you why the children “just play all day”. Such a situation gives a great opportunity to talk with families about child development and how children learn through play. Helping families understand the importance of play can encourage them to participate in their child’s play and to be available to their children to enrich their play at home. The Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge Center of Head Start has compiled a helpful resource titled “News You Can Use: Play” which gives ideas for discussing the importance of play with parents. The article can be found at the button on the slide.

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Throughout the modules in this course, we have included video activities that are meant to help you make the connections between practices, Foundations, and teaching standards. Let’s try out one of these activities. We’ll watch a 3 minute video of a teacher with two young children in the block center that showcases how to use naturally occurring situations to teach emotional-social skills.

This classroom had 14 children, a B-K licensed teacher, one full-time teacher assistant, and one-part time teacher assistant. Both of the teacher assistants were new to the classroom that school year. (If you would like to know more about the children and teachers in this video, please read the document available at the "Details" button on the slide.)

Here is the scenario. Prior to the part you will see in this video, the little girl had built a series of houses out of blocks all around the city block mat. The little boy came into the center to play. The boy engaged in play for several minutes, pushing his car around the streets and carefully avoiding the houses. He occidentally knocked over one of the small house and he tried to rebuild it. At the beginning of this clip you will see the boy knock over a row of block houses.

While you view the video, please look at your handout of the NC Professional Teaching Standards and note which of these standards you think the teacher is demonstrating. Think about what you see the teacher doing that reflects specific North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards. The Teaching Standards handout can be obtained at the button on the slide titled Standards.

Continue to the next slide to start the video.

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Did you see the teacher demonstrate these standards and their elements?

Standard 1: Teachers Demonstrate Leadership.

Element 1a - Teachers lead in their classrooms.

We observe in the video that the teacher has established a safe and orderly environment by noticing how the classroom materials are organized and stored in an orderly fashion. She also maintains a safe environment when the conflict arises by quickly addressing the situation before it escalates. The teacher encourages students to maintain a safe and supportive school environment by guiding the students through the process of resolving the conflict caused by the block houses being knocked over. She also encourages the children to work together to rebuild the houses.

Standard 2: Teachers Establish a Respectful Environment for a Diverse Population of Students.

Element 2a. Teachers provide an environment in which each child has a positive, nurturing relationship with caring adults.

(In dealing with the conflict, the teacher maintained a positive and nurturing approach to the situation by asking Emily’s permission before offering guidance and engaging Jonathon by calling his name and gently tapping him on the arm and shoulder.)

Standard 4: Teachers Facilitate Learning for Their Students.

Element 4a. Teachers know the ways in which learning takes place, and they know the appropriate level of intellectual, physical, social, and emotional development of their students.

The teacher demonstrates understanding of the developmental levels of students involved in the conflict and appropriately differentiates her instruction. For example, she guides Emily to communicate her feelings to Jonathon by moving closer and telling him how she feels about having her house knocked over. When Emily appears unsure of how to proceed, the teacher asks permission to help Emily think through how she feels about the situation, and what she needs to say to Jonathon. When she notices that Jonathon is not attending to the situation, she encourages him to recognize how Emily feels by looking at her face.

Element 4e. Teachers help students develop critical-thinking and problem-solving skills.

(The teacher encourages the student to analyze and solve problems by asking, “How can we fix this?” When he does not respond, she offers a suggestion for fixing the problem and redirects Jonathon’s attention to the houses that need to be rebuilt.)

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In addition to video activities, each module has been structured to include a variety of learning activities to support the implementation of each practice. There are pre-learning activities, such as reading assignments that provide research based information about the evidence based practice. The online training module contains videos and activities that help teaching staff actively identify the early learning and teaching standards observed in the instructional practice.

Finally, a post-learning assignment is provided to help teachers analyze and improve elements of their own instructional practices. There is also a glossary of terms that you can access at the "Welcome" slide of each module.

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Here’s why the modules are structured the way they are. When it comes right down to it, what is professional development meant to accomplish? Let’s look at the chart showing the relationship between professional development strategies and adult learner outcomes.

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The vertical axis shows levels of adult learning. Increasing knowledge is good, increasing skills is great, but what difference does it make unless the learner applies knowledge and skills in the classroom? Change in practice is the ultimate goal of professional development.

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Now let’s look at the horizontal axis. This is the complexity of professional development strategies from low to high. You’ll see all of these strategies in the seven modules. Getting to the ultimate goal -- change in practice -- takes all these strategies plus practice in the classroom. The post-learning activities are meant to extend new learning into the classroom.

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For best results, teachers need mentoring and coaching in addition to online learning opportunities. Collaborating with an administrator to establish a plan that will help support your skills, working with a more experienced colleague to share ideas, and establishing professional learning communities are a few ways to make this happen.

Some  communities and all Head Start and Early Head Start sites also have access to Infant/Early Childhood Mental Health Consultation (I/ECMHC) services that can include coaching to aid in the increase of new skills.  (I/ECMHC) is a mental health specialization that is distinct from other activities in which mental health professionals may engage (e.g., treatment, diagnosis, and training). I/ECMHC practitioners do several things: 1) strengthen families’ and early care and education professionals’ (including home visitors’) capacities to support the mental health of all children and families in a setting, 2) prevent mental health problems from developing or increasing in intensity; and 3) respond effectively to mental health concerns.” If you are interested in seeing the list of competencies, they are available via the hyper link on the slide.

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This course contains seven modules: 1) this overview, 2) Ongoing/formative Assessment, 3) Promoting Positive Relationships, 4) Classroom Design, 5) Behavior Expectations and Rules, 6) Schedules and Routines and 7) Directions and Feedback.

An additional 4 modules on Emotional Literacy and Empathy, Anger and Impulses, Problem Solving, and Developing Friendships are also available.

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We have enriched the Foundations content in Modules 3-7 by connecting it to the work of 3 entities: the Center on the Social-Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) ; the North Carolina Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten; and Head Start. The links to the 3 websites are provided on the slide and can be accessed by clicking the links.

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The Center on the Social-Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) has developed a teaching pyramid framework with three tiers. Tier I strategies have been linked with Foundations. Tier I consists of universal practices that are needed to support ALL children and promote children's healthy development. Tier II instructional practices are designed to prevent problem behaviors for SOME children who need extra support. Tier III practices provide intervention to young children who experience serious and persistent problem behaviors.

Research by CSEFEL indicates consistent implementation of these practices can prevent challenging behaviors and build social skills. For additional information on CSEFEL, please visit the website listed on the slide. Again - This course addresses Tier I strategies in Modules 3-7.

North Carolina has access to Healthy Social Behavior Consultants (HSBCs) who work with licensed programs in all counties and can provide coaching on the Tier 1 strategies. HSBCs are available through the Child Care Resource and Referral centers that serve each county. who work with licensed programs in all counties and can provide coaching on the Tier 1 strategies. HSBCs are available through the Child Care Resource and Referral centers that serve each county.

Positive outcomes of implementing these strategies with high-quality preschool programs includes (but are not limited to):

Reductions in children’s challenging behaviors;

Increased development of children’s social skills;

Increased satisfaction from program staff and families;

Reduced turnover in pre-school teachers and staff;

Increased competence and confidence from the teacher in supporting children;

Increased school-readiness skills for children transitioning to Kindergarten.

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The connections between Foundations and the North Carolina (NC) Standard Course of Study for kindergarten are emphasized in each module. These connections are important for all early care and education professionals to understand, as they outline the expectations for children’s learning and development when they leave our care and enter the elementary school system. If you are interested in looking through the Standard Course of Study for Kindergarten, the link is on the slide.

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Our third group of content experts who reviewed and edited the modules is a group of Head Start and Early Head Start leaders and practitioners. This group helped us ensure that these modules addressed the critical component of family and community engagement. Parents and families are a child’s first and most important care givers, educators, and advocates. They teach their children in both formal and informal ways starting before birth. Contributions of parents and families must be fully requested, respected, incorporated, and supported in the early formal education of young children.

Developing partnerships between children’s family members and out of home care providers and teachers to do what is best for each child should be the goal of all professionals working with young children. The Head Start Early Childhood Learning and Knowledge website has been provided if you want to explore its many useful resources.

The Head Start Parent, Family and Community Engagement Framework has been woven into the Foundations materials to guide early care and education professionals in connecting with families in a meaningful and reciprocal way. You can find a copy of the framework at the button on the slide or at the second hyper link provided.

Family engagement embraces a program-wide mission to ensure services to families are responsive to individual cultures, goals, and circumstances and that a broad array of comprehensive, engaging opportunities for support, involvement and leadership are available within the program and through collaborations with community partners. There are many ways to engage family members and Head Start reminds us that family engagement is not the responsibility of the teacher alone, but of everyone who plays a role in caring for and nurturing children.

Family engagement should be a holistic, systemic, and integrated process. Together, staff and families build trusting relationships and share in the responsibility of promoting child and family outcomes. Program leaders, all support staff, family members, and community entities all have resources, skills, and a duty to work together in a partnership on behalf of children. There is no one best way to do this, and there is much to learn from the experiences of North Carolina’s Race-to-the-Top Family Engagement Hubs. You can find this information at the third link on the slide.

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Now we would like to tell you about some of what you will find in each of the modules. Every module will provide “iPoints” documents.” iPoints” stands for– Instructional Practices Observed IN Teaching Standards. There are two versions of the iPoints. The ‘teacher’ version provides talking points for teachers to explain how their instructional practices address Foundations’ early learning and development standards and how those practices demonstrate North Carolina Professional Teaching Standards.

The ‘administrator’ version helps administrators understand how teacher practices that they observe in the classroom promote the early learning and development standards and demonstrate teaching standards. When you see this blue arrow on the presentation slide, you will find discussion about and activities using iPoints.

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Each module contains checklists for teachers and staff to use as a self-assessment or for observers to use to help them know what to look for and think about. For Modules 3-7, the checklists highlight instructional practices that were found by CSEFEL to be effective for increasing children’s social-emotional skills and decreasing challenging behaviors. Using the checklists for self-assessment can guide a teacher’s individual professional development plan and to document improvement.

Teachers can conduct ‘pre-assessment’ of their current practices prior to professional development to identify practices they deliver well and areas to target for improvement. After a period of time teachers may wish to conduct a ‘post-assessment’ that, with supporting documentation, can be used as evidence of movement toward their professional development goals.

Completing self-assessments as a teacher can increase self-awareness of classroom practices and aid in your ability to reflect on your teaching practices, interactions and impact on children and their families and their impact on you. When you see the icon of a black check mark in a circle, you will find an activity using one of the instructional practice checklists.

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The Division for Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) has developed a set of 66 evidence-based recommended practices to be used with young children aged birth through age 5, who have or are at-risk for developmental delays or disabilities.  The Early Childhood Technical Assistance Center (ECTA) identified the key characteristics, or the "active ingredients," of each subset of the recommended practices and created checklists with items that describe "what this practice looks like."

The Recommended Practices checklists and practice guidelines can be found on the ECTA website.  You will find that these resources align  well with the Instructional Practices Checklists we have provided in these modules. The link to the DEC Recommended Practices and tools for supporting the use of the practices can be found in the References and Resources handout for this module and on the slide.

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The importance of meaningfully engaging families in the early care and education of children outside of the home will also be discussed in each module. We will offer suggestions for strategies to make this part of what you do “as a rule” in your early care environment. Building authentic partnerships and fostering truly reciprocal communication between family members and early care and education professionals results in a better environment for children.

Through an authentic partnership and strong communication, everyone who cares for the child feels comfortable sharing information with one another. When you see the icon of the four little stick people holding hands throughout the course, you will find information and suggestions for engaging families.

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Think back to the Foundations pre-learning questions that you completed at the beginning of this module. Hopefully you heard information that addressed these questions and helped you to gain a little better understanding of those items of which you were unsure.

This brings us to the end of the Foundations overview. Lots more professional development is to come! Or, as Dr. Seuss would say, ‘The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you'll go.”

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Slide notes

On the next 3 slides, you will find some suggested activities for extending what you have learned in this module into your classroom. A document with these activities is available for you to print or reference later. These activities can be shared with colleagues who are also working through these modules or in a professional learning community if your school or center has these. They would also serve as openings for conversations with your supervisor.

This first activity asks you to “select a lesson plan you have recently taught or plan to teach in the near future. For each activity on the plan, identify the following:

 

What Foundations domains does this activity address?

What subdomains?

What goals and indicators would this activity meet?”

Slide 55 - Slide 55

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Slide notes

This second activity suggests that “After analyzing your lesson plan according to Foundations domains, subdomains, goals, and indicators, address the questions below. Be prepared to discuss your findings with your supervisor or colleagues.

What did this analysis of your lesson plan reveal?

Does the lesson plan cover some domains more than others? Which ones?

Which domain(s) did you feel your lesson plan covered well?

For which domain(s) did you feel your lesson plan could be improved?

What resources does Foundations provide to help improve lesson planning?

Slide 56 - Slide 56

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Slide notes

After analyzing your lesson plan according to Foundations domains, subdomains, goals, and indicators, propose how you will engage families when you share the lesson with them. Discuss your plans with a colleague or your supervisor

What information will you share?

What information will you request be shared with you?

What methods will you use to exchange this information?

Slide 57 - Slide 57

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Slide notes

You may access a list of references and resources mentioned in this module by clicking the button on the slide.

The next three slides will serve as a final module quiz that will help you identify what you have learned from this module

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