Eastern Mennonite University touts its Early Learning Center<\/a> (ELC) as a \u201cchild-centered, developmentally appropriate preschool program\u201d whose \u201cemergent\u201d curriculum enables teachers \u201cto be sensitive to the cues of the children and their interests.\u201d<\/p>\n But that\u2019s only part of the picture, because the ELC is also a place where EMU students gain real-world education experience.<\/p>\n Elementary education students studying classroom management and organization meet in the college classroom twice a week, but for their third session spend time at the ELC, located in Park View Mennonite Church just blocks from campus.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can imagine how this sparks classroom discussion and brings deeper understanding of the educational theories we study together,\u201d said instructor Bonnie Yoder<\/a>. \u201cI would not want to teach educational theory any other way.\u201d<\/p>\n While many education courses at EMU have a practicum component, the ELC is unique, as it is EMU\u2019s \u201cvery own lab school,\u201d Yoder said. This means that Yoder and ELC director Rachel Diener<\/a> are \u201cequally invested in student progress and learning. We are colleagues and co-teachers, and share philosophy and goals,\u201d Yoder said.<\/p>\n The ELC experience challenges EMU students to think on their feet both responsively and proactively.<\/p>\n As students meandered to and from her table, Troyer invited one or two at a time to join in mixing blue and pink shaving cream on pieces of black paper.<\/p>\n Troyer had designed the lesson to help students explore what happens when colors are mixed, and to play with patterns. But with the ELC classroom\u2019s lead teacher Erin Williams<\/a> taking notes and giving feedback, Troyer was the one learning.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat could you do to help support her?\u201d Williams asked Troyer when one student hesitated at delving into the shaving cream mess.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you want a brush?\u201d Troyer asked the child. \u201cWhat happens when you put the paintbrush in there?\u201d and, later, \u201cWhat happens if you swirl it around on your paper?\u201d<\/p>\n The little girl laughed as she mixed the colors.<\/p>\n \u201cDo you still see pink and blue?\u201d Troyer asked her. \u201cDo you see purple?\u201d<\/p>\n With shaving cream now up the girl\u2019s arms to her elbows and over the edges of the paper, Williams reflected for Troyer: \u201cMaybe next time, use bigger paper,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Later, Troyer said that\u2019s one of the things she\u2019s learning: to notice even during an activity about what works \u2013 or doesn\u2019t \u2013 so she can \u201cmodify the lesson to make it run smoothly for the next student.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s also learning how to be careful with words.<\/p>\n \u201cInstead of giving empty praise and saying \u2018good job,\u2019\u201d she said, \u201cI\u2019ve learned to give more specific feedback, like, \u2018Wow, I see you\u2019ve covered your whole paper in paint.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Across the hall in the four-year-olds classroom, her classmate Cody Trumbo, too, was also teaching and learning.<\/p>\n He had prepared magazines, scissors and glue sticks on a nearby table for a collage-making project, and went to gather recruits from among a group of students huddled around the water play table.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to make a project today,\u201d he said. \u201cAre you okay with that?\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cUmm, no,\u201d one honest student replied.<\/p>\n Diener stepped in with some advice for Trumbo, suggesting that he not ask permission but instead tell the students it is their turn.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s all about phrasing,\u201d he reflected later. It\u2019s called \u201cpolite command,\u201d and it has to be clear and not indicative of choice when there isn\u2019t any.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is tougher than one might imagine, simply because we are forced to stop and think through every phrase we say and translate it into ways that the children totally understand,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019m trying to get used to it.\u201d<\/p>\n Trumbo said the types of things he and other practicum students are learning at the ELC are practical \u2013 like how to engage students with differing levels of motivation, or getting a sense of one\u2019s own teaching self in a real-life setting.<\/p>\n \u201cThis sort of opportunity is invaluable,\u201d he said. \u201cIt makes us feel more confident about the teachers we are becoming, and gives us an honest glimpse into what education can be like.\u201d<\/p>\n Diener said that \u201cwithout exception,\u201d practicum students in their weekly reflections report growing comfort with interacting with the ELC students. By the end of each semester, she said, \u201cI observe many positive gains in their self confidence and teaching skills.\u201d<\/p>\n In retrospect, too, past ELC practicum students \u2013 and there are over 500 of them, Diener said \u2013 value their time at ELC.<\/p>\n Alyssa Green, an EMU graduate who is now a kindergarten teacher in a nearby public school, said that her ELC experience taught her to be conscious of students\u2019 perceptions of her words and actions, and that simple language changes can promote student sharing and creativity. The ELC\u2019s emphasis on exploratory play, too, has shaped her instruction methods.<\/p>\n \u201cIt truly stuck with me that play is still so important for young kiddos!\u201d she said recently.<\/p>\n Senior April Shinsky said that the flexible structure in the ELC\u2019s two-year-olds\u2019 classroom is freeing for the children \u2013 and was for her, too. \u201cI loved being able to engage with the learners on their own terms,\u201d she said, \u201cand having a real hands-on experience in what it means to truly design curriculum that meets the learners\u2019 developmental needs.\u201d<\/p>\n Victoria Messick, also a senior, said that the child-centered learning environment embodied what she had learned in coursework: letting learners guide themselves. \u201cI recognized how important it is as a teacher to make meaningful connections between the child\u2019s lived experiences and learning,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n The other students in the ELC \u2013 the children \u2013 benefit, too. Yoder said that her own daughter attended there when she was four, and is now a college freshman studying to be a teacher.<\/p>\n \u201cAs a parent, I was grateful for the strong developmentally appropriate foundation the ELC gave my daughter,\u201d Yoder said. \u201cHer confidence soared that year.\u201d<\/p>\n Many students remain with the ELC for all of their three preschool years, and Diener, who has worked at the ELC since 1993 as an assistant teacher, teacher and then director, said that their daily engagement in the stimulating environment designed to meet their needs cultivates \u201cthriving as they happily and busily learn about their world.\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s \u201ca different kind of preschool,\u201d said Meg Hertzler, another EMU education student in the four-year-old classroom, where she had just read a book to students nestled in and around a clawfoot tub outfitted with pillows. \u201cIt\u2019s play and learn, not teach and learn.\u201d<\/p>\n The ELC was founded in 1977, when EMU\u2019s education department saw the need in its program for the early childhood education students to work more closely in an early learning setting. The department wanted the students to have opportunities to observe and work with young children in a learning environment appropriate to their developmental needs.<\/p>\n The ELC curriculum is based on the Developmental Interaction Theory of child psychology, which \u201cattempts to nurture the physical, emotional, mental, social, creative, and spiritual self of each child.\u201d Children are \u201cdeveloping human beings\u201d and learn most easily by actual, unhurried involvement with people, activities and the environment. The curriculum changes and evolves in response to cues and suggestions from students.<\/p>\n That translates into a wide variety of experiences for the students, from cooking and woodworking, field trips, painting, cutting and pasting, music, puzzles, outdoor play even in the snow and writing. Even dress guidelines in the parent handbook promote students\u2019 engagement: \u201cTheir actions should not be inhibited by clothing.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cDespite current trends to move academics down into preschool,\u201d said Diener, \u201cour mission of being a child centered, developmentally oriented program has remained the same since our founding.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"![\"\"](\"\/\/emu.edu\/now\/is\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/43\/2018\/01\/20171030-Early-Learning-Center-005-1000px-300x200.jpg\")
<\/a>The lessons<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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<\/a>What future teachers say<\/h3>\n
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<\/a>Appropriate foundation<\/strong><\/h3>\n
The history<\/strong><\/h3>\n