The knowledge base and conceptual
framework of the Undergraduate Early Childhood Teacher
Education Program is congruent with Gallaudet’s mission
of educating deaf and hard of hearing leaders who serve our
local, national, and international communities. While
Gallaudet’s mission focuses on challenging candidates and
faculty to reach their fullest abilities through innovative,
intellectually challenging teaching, the UG ECE program is
aimed at preparing early educators who see the full potential
of young children (deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing), and
their families, and who teach in a way that maximizes this
potential.
To achieve this mission the UG
ECE Program focuses on preparing candidates to make the
following kinds of connections:
1) Connections between best
practice in general education and deaf education.
Gallaudet’s UG ECE Program
prepares our candidates to be exemplary teachers of young
children. It does so by teaching content, modeling practice,
and coaching skills in high quality early childhood pedagogy.
The Program is based in the belief that learners share many
commonalities in how they learn (Bransford & Brown, How
People Learn, 1999) high quality programming for all
young children has in common some key features, regardless of
whether the child is hearing or deaf (Peisner-Feinber, Culkin,
Howes & Kagan, 1999; Bowman, Donovan, & Burns, Eager
to Learn, 2000).
2) Connecting local,
national and global perspectives.
While it’s imperative that
high quality early childhood educators bring to their work the
knowledge of their field, this knowledge is not enough to
educate the increasingly diverse young children of 2000 and
beyond. If educators are to meet the needs of their students,
they must also reach beyond their own individual and even
professional perspectives, to learn from and about the
families and communities in which early childhood education is
embedded (Shonkoff & Phillips, From Neurons to
Neighborhoods, 2000).
Just as we in early childhood
education must become more knowledgeable about local contexts,
we must also understand the larger contexts that impact
families and communities as well as early childhood education.
These contexts include national and global needs, resources,
and interconnections. Early childhood educators must,
themselves, understand these broader perspectives so as to be
advocates for and allies with families, communities, and the
profession of early childhood (Jensen & Hannibal, Issues,
Advocates and Leadership in Early Childhood Education,
1999).
3) Connections to tradition and
innovation
More than ever, the field of
early childhood education is recognizing the need to be able
to draw from a "continuum of teaching strategies" (Bredekamp
& Copple, 1997) in order to support the learning and
development of children. While many of these strategies are
innovative and reflect new ways of thinking about early
learning, many, such as play and experiential learning, are
also time-honored in the field of early education. Through the
Program, candidates learn foundational traditions upon which
ECE is based, as well as contemporary knowledge and skills
that will enable them to use pedagogically sound methodologies
(Biber, Shapiro, & Wickens, 1971; Katz & McClellan,
1997).
4) Connecting theories and
practice
Our current understanding of
the ways in which people learn through active construction of
knowledge has made it clear that theory and practice cannot be
separated (Schoen, !983, Richardson, Constructivist Teacher
Education, 1997). Theories are only learned when
candidates have the opportunity to test them in teaching and
learning interactions in a variety of settings. Beginning with
our introductory course, in which students apply pedagogical
knowledge in a mini-lesson taught to peers, and continuing
throughout the professional education courses, each of which
include field experiences in varied early childhood settings,
students are constructing theories in and through practice.
5) Connecting curriculum to
continuous learning through reflection and inquiry
Reflection and inquiry are
critical to high quality early childhood education. Early
childhood educators inquire into children’s learning through
careful, ongoing assessment coupled with thoughtful
reflection, alone, and with other adults who are significant
in the child’s life. Gallaudet’s Program also prepares
candidates are committed to continuous learning by adopting
"knowledgeable, reflective, critical perspectives on
their work." (NAEYC, 2000)
Bibliography: UG
ECE Conceptual Framework
Biber B, Shapiro E, Wickens D. Promoting
Cognitive Growth: A Developmental Interaction Point of View.
Washington DC: National Association for the Education of Young
Children; 1977.
Bowman, B. : Donovan, M.
Suzanne, & Burns, M. Susan; Eager to Learn,
National Research Council, Commission on Behavioral and Social
Sciences and Education, 2000.
Bransford, J. & Brown, P.; How
People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School: Commission
on Behavioral and Social Sciences and Education, 1999.
Bredekamp, S. and Copple, C.
Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood
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Jensen, M. A.; Hannibal, M. A.;
Issues, Advocacy, and Leadership in Early Education
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Study Go To School, Executive Summary, June 1999.
Richardson, V. (1997). Constructivist
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