Anderson, G. T. (2005). Introductions in early childhood teacher education: Reflections on practice. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 26, 91-95.
While I was pondering how to approach my teaching philosophy assignment, I read this article from my chosen teaching journal. To my amazement and delight, the author shares her teaching philosophy, and she talks about classroom strategies to teach and encourage pre-service early childhood teachers to use similar strategies when they work with young children. This is a vivid description of the layers of learning I was trying to explain to you in our class: the professor teaches the early childhood teacher; the early childhood teacher teaches the child. Or in my case, the professor teaches the hope-to-be professor how to teach the teachers who teach the children!
Anderson brings to life theories of education by employing them in the classroom. She starts the semester by asking the students to work in small groups to present textbook chapters to the class. The groups use their own learning strengths and multiple intelligences (theory of Howard Gardner) to support and scaffold each other (theory of Vygotsky) to complete the work and present their learning. These methods incorporate the theories of Howard Gardner’s multiple intelligences, Lev Vygotsky’s social interaction, and Jean Piaget’s theory that links retention to student interest and understanding. The author’s hope is that her students are so excited about learning using her strategies that they will use similar strategies to teach children.
