The Council is excited to announce that later this year we will release the newly-revised third edition of the landmark textbook Essentials for Child Development Associates Working with Young Children. The new Essentials will provide all of the most current research, information, ideas and strategies needed by entry-level early childhood professionals. The textbook will be organized around each of the thirteen Functional Areas, along with new information about reflection, intentionality, observation, documentation and other key topics of interest to contemporary teachers and caregivers.

In our last article  we reflected on "Functional Area 7 – Creativity." Please see below, the many responses we received about this topic from members of the national CDA community. This month we focus on... Self

Here is an advanced sneak peek of "Chapter 8: Self" for you to reflect on...

As a caregiver, one of your most important roles is to get to know and appreciate each child as an individual. We know that young children are motivated to learn when their interests, preferences and backgrounds are reflected in the curriculum. Caregivers can only do this well if they genuinely take the time to know children at a deep level.

At the same time that you are getting to know children, you want to do all that you can to support their development. You can help children feel good about themselves by reinforcing who they are as individuals. One of the main ways you do this is by helping children to appreciate the characteristics that define them – such as their temperament, their strengths and their approaches to learning. Beyond this, you also want to support children in valuing who they are as members of a family, as members of a culture and as citizens of a society.

Your goal as an educator is to help each child reach her maximum potential. This happens when children have a solid sense of self and feel empowered to take on challenges. You need to extend yourself to the child and her family in order to work together in support of the child.

There are five basic tasks involved in helping children develop a strong sense of self. These include:

1. Appreciating each child

2. Promoting children's sense of self

3. Assisting children in expressing their feelings

4. Helping each child achieve success

5. Helping each child to flourish

Please take a moment to reflect on your own teaching practices. What else might you add to the above list? What do you think are the most important goals to remember in supporting young children's self concept development? What tips and strategies would you share with others?

Send your thoughts, along with your first name, last initial, city and state, to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Next month, we'll share with you all of the wise responses we received from across the national CDA community. In addition, we may also print your name and reflection in the new Essentials textbook and share your great ideas with all of the CDA-seeking community college students around the country who use Essentials as their primary textbook!

Send your thoughts to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Next month, we'll share with you all of the wise responses we received from across the CDA community. In addition, we may also print your name and reflection in the new Essentials textbook and share your great ideas with all of the CDA-seeking community college students around the country who use Essentials as their primary textbook!

CDA Community Reflections on our last topic... "Creativity"

 

Last month, we asked the CDA community to send us their thoughts about the topic of the last article, "Creativity," to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Thank you to everyone who responded. Here is one very wise response we received:

It is really important to be creative. I love to read stories to my 3 year old class, and, to get their attention, I make my stories come alive and get the children involved.

There are stories in the lives of young children, which you cannot read often enough to them. They talk more about the story, discover more details in the pictures and it makes them more excited for other new stories and books.

I hope that many of the younger teachers today use their creativity to get children excited in what they are learning or doing. Enjoy yourself – wear a princess crown or a fire helmet in class, build a boat with blocks and sail around the world, go fishing for a shark, become a pirate. Get down on the floor with the children and become a child too, just for a while, and you will see the difference creativity makes in your classroom.

I really love my job!

         -Ingrid Emmett

           Powell, TN