Early Childhood Field Experience : Learning to Teach Well

For many student teachers the prospect of facing their first classroom experience is overwhelming. This book presents a realistic view of what they will face in the classroom, but also provides them the skills they need to become reflective, professional teachers in their own right. Early Childhood Learning Experience: Learning to Teach Well is a combination of an informational text and workbook-like exercises that encourage self-reflection and ways for each student to get the most out of their fieldwork experience. It includes features from real student teachers as well as from current mentor teachers. Developmentally and culturally appropriate practices are woven throughout the text to ensure readers are aware of national standards for programs and practices.

The text moves seamlessly from one core topic to the next, guiding the next generation of teachers as they learn to put knowledge into practice The text addresses current topics and trends in early childhood education such as team teaching, observation and assessment, diversity, professionalism and ethics, curriculum and environment, and working with families. It is the only text to give in-depth coverage to team teaching and offer specific examples of the challenges of team teaching along with tips for working well with other adults. An entire chapter is devoted to Professionalism and Ethics, including key issues such as teacher evaluation, career preparation and advancement, guides for ethical behavior with scenarios for analysis, and new “Ethical Dilemmas” appropriate for every chapter in the text. Throughout this new edition, additional material on infant-toddler care, which is a growing trend in early care and education, has been added.

Written in an accessible and lively style, this text guides student teachers from the first days of getting started in their fieldwork through the many responsibilities they will encounter as they teach. Each chapter stresses thoughtful consideration and reflection - both in chapter content and throughout multiple activities that help students gain insight into their teaching experiences.

Kathryn Williams Browne is an Early Childhood Specialist who has been working in the early care and education field for more than 30 years. She graduated with honors from Stanford University earning a BA in Psychology/Child Development, and later received an MA degree in Early Childhood Education from the University of Michigan. Her teaching experiences include: preschool, parent-cooperative, full-day childcare, kindergarten, first grade, bilingual nursery school, and 15 years at Stanford’s Bing Nursery School. At the college-level, she has taught a wide-range of Early Childhood Education and Psychology courses at Stanford University, De Anza and Canada Colleges, and is currently a tenured professor leading the Early Childhood Education Department at Skyline College in San Bruno, CA.

Together with Ann Gordon, she has co-authored four additional textbooks: Beginnings and Beyond: Foundations in ECE, Eighth Edition (Cengage) and Early Childhood Learning Experience: Learning to Teach Well, 2e (Pearson), and Beginning Essentials, Second Edition (Wadsworth, 2011) and Guiding Young children in a Diverse Society (Allyn & Bacon).

Wearing many hats, Browne is currently involved in a myriad of Early Childhood Education related roles. Currently, she is the Coordinator of the Early Childhood Education Department at Skyline College and the San Mateo Region ECE Mentor Program; serves as the State Secretary of the California Community College Early Childhood Education Faculty Association (CCCECE); and is on the Steering Committee of CA Department of Education’s Competencies Integration Project (CIP).

Ann Miles Gordon has been an early childhood professional for more than 40 years, teaching young children, parents, and college students. She has taught in laboratory schools, church-related centers, private and public preschool and kindergarten programs. She taught at the Bing Nursery School, the laboratory school for Stanford University’s Department of Psychology where she was a head teacher and lecturer in the Psychology Department. Gordon also served as an adjunct faculty member at several community colleges, teaching the full gamut of early childhood courses. For 14 years, she was the Executive Director of the National Association of Episcopal Schools, where more than 1,100 early childhood programs were a part of her network. Semi-retired, Gordon is a hands-on grandmother of two.