The Teacher's Role
The teacher's role within the Creative Curriculum is based on a cycle. It is always in motion and consists of observing children, guiding their learning, and assessing learning needs of each individual child. The component of observing will help build relationships with each child. The teacher observes where the children like to play and take mental note of conversations throughout the day. It is important to be cognizant about observations; only include what you see and hear when recording observations. Do not make assumptions that the child is angry or upset because it will mislead you later when you refer to your notes. You should also define what and who you are observing prior to the observation to maintain focus. Once complete with the observations, whether informal or formal, it would benefit the teacher to resource the checklist and note where the child is during that given checkpoint. The second component it is guiding the learning of children in the classroom. According to The National Research Council report, Eager to Learn: Educating Our Preschoolers (2001) states that preschoolers benefit from a vast array of instruction; there should be child-directed and direct teacher instruction intertwined. When children initiate their learning, they are actively learning. They are able to choose what and who they play with. When instruction involves concepts such as counting or the letters it is best to use teacher-directed instruction. These are the concepts that children are not going to learn incidentally through play. Children also need direction when it comes to safety concerns. The last component of the cycle is assessing the learning of children. This is compiled by collecting the work of children in a portfolio throughout the year to look at the progress that has been made. Observations also provide a window for progress when administered correctly (Dodge, 2002).