For teachers of early childhood programs, the issue of effective teacher preparation becomes more important. It is envisaged that better program quality depends on better educated teachers.
Teachers must have a passion to learn with and teach things to children. Education is not a field in which one can go and be both successful and complete in their career.
Prospective teachers should have a passion for teaching young children. This excitement should reach beyond the fun of the playground, and focus on helping young children achieve developmental milestones.
Here are some factors which impact teacher quality:
Creativity
Creativity is needed to help children reach and learn, while guiding students to connect the dots and link lessons to their current stage of development.
Early childhood teachers should be able to adapt lesson plans to concepts that children can understand. Incorporating learning games and other learning techniques, can keep children engaged and focused throughout the day.
Flexibility
Even the best early childhood teachers get laid off all day due to unforeseen circumstances or learning hiccups.
While creating a lesson plan outlining the key concepts that should be addressed in the curriculum is important for any classroom, even the best plans sometimes don’t work out as we expected.
Being flexible can help reduce stress levels and keep things under control.
Communication Skills
Children at this young age are sponges, but they are also new to learning. Early childhood teachers should be able to communicate with young learners at their level, including being able to break down complex topics into easily digestible pieces.
They should be able to give parents details about class progress so that they are aware of their child’s performance and achievement level. Communication helps parents identify teachable moments in everyday situations and promote their child’s kindergarten readiness.
Understanding Diversity
Children come from different home environments and backgrounds, which can lead to different learning styles.
Early childhood teachers must be able to accept these differences and be prepared to work with different learning styles, to ensure that all students achieve the learning objectives identified in the classroom.