EC180 Externship – Quarter 1
Week 01 - Promoting Child Development and Learning
Focus: Conducting the Externship – the student will find and secure an externship site
where he/she will work with children in an educational setting within the field. The field experience
provides an opportunity to apply learning in a workplace where facts can gain meaning, roles can be
demonstrated, real challenges can be mastered, and the professional identity of you, the student, can
be developed.
The student will make sure the site supervisor and Rasmussen instructor has all the proper
paperwork needed on file. The student will need to have a clear understanding of the
expectations and requirements of his/her first quarter externship.
Week 01 Discussion - Best Practices for Implementing DAP and PILES
After exploring Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and PILES through your lecture
notes and readings, please share one best practice for how to include DAP and PILES when
educating young children.
Week 02 - Promoting Child Development and Learning
Focus: Child’s Play – Play, for children, has been said to be a child's form of "work." Through
play, children learn about and explore their world. It can even be said that anything can be learned
through play and that play is the best way that children learn.
Week 02 Discussion - Play Theories - The student will share one best practice on how to
encourage children who shy away from a particular type of play.
Week 03 – Diversity
Goal: Diversity Awareness within the Classroom - Before we can be aware of the
diversity within the classroom we need to first understand what diversity is. Diversity
awareness is accepting and respecting the differences between us. Diversity includes many
facets and includes more than just differences between races and ethnicities. Our
differences may lie in race, ethnicity, cultural traditions, gender, religion, language,
socioeconomic status, education, geographical location, developmental levels and abilities,
age, political beliefs, sexual orientation, and so forth. It is never too late to evaluate our own
biases and our own level of awareness and make positive changes.
Activity: Evaluating Diversity within the Classroom – the student will take an in-depth
look at the level of diversity within his/her classroom.
Week 03 Discussion - Supporting Diversity – The student will share one best practice
for how to support diversity in the classroom when educating young children.
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EC180 Externship – Quarter 1
Week 04 - Building Community Relationships
Goal: Teaching and Learning within a Community - Humans are social beings. Much of
our learning is dependent upon interactions with others. Part of what we find important to
teach children is strongly based on the community in which we live. What is considered
important in teaching children in rural Montana may vary from urban California.
Activity - An Evaluation of the Community and its Resources – As an early childhood
professional, it is important to be able to know what the local resources are in order to best
support the development of the children within your classroom(s). The student will assess
and locate community resources within the community that he/she are doing their field
experience.
Week 04 Discussion - Utilizing Community Resources – the student will share one best
practice for how to bring community resources to the classroom with educating young children.
Week 05 - Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support
Young Children and Families
Goal: Observing – the first or two weeks the student will be learning the importance of
observation: is what they observe inference or fact?
Activity - An Evaluation of the Community and its Resources – DUE THIS WEEK
Activity: Observing within the Classroom: the student will take time to observe one
student in his/her classroom.
Week 05 Discussion - Classroom Observation – with regards to the observations done
this week, the student will answer the following:
Why is confidentiality important when observing a child? What difficulties did you have in
conducting your observation and why? What ways could you better prepare yourself the
next time you conduct an observation?
Week 06 - Observing, Documenting, and Assessing to Support
Young Children and Families
Goal: Observing – this week the student will continue learning the merit in observing,
what to observe but also how to assess observations.
Activity - Observing within the Classroom – the student will complete a second
classroom observation this week, again noting inference or fact.
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EC180 Externship – Quarter 1
Week 06 Discussion - Assessment Strategies – the student will share one best practice
for an assessment tool that they would use within the classroom and explain why the
assessment strategy helps to promote child development and learning.
Week 07 - Teaching and Learning
Goal: Improving Your Teaching and Learning Abilities - One of the most important
aspects for properly educating young children is being able to self-evaluate your own
teaching. This requires you to reflect upon how well you are meeting the educational needs
of children. This week you will get the opportunity to do so. Let's look first at some
important factors of self-evaluation.
Activity: Self-Evaluation of Implementing Standards within Teaching – the student
will evaluate his/her performance, interactions and presence within the actual classroom for
purposes of true reflection for personal growth.
Week 07 Discussion - Professional Development within Your Teaching – the student
will share one best practice for developing their teaching practices/abilities through a form of
professional development.
Week 08 - Teaching and Learning
Goal: Expand the Thinking of Children - Extending children's thought processes while
they are learning concepts and the ways of the world can be done through a couple of
different techniques. Regardless of content or topic of the lesson plan, the approach that
you take is vital.
Activity: Self-Evaluation of Implementing Standards within Teaching – DUE THIS
WEEK
Week 08 Discussion - Extending Children’s Thinking – After exploring the importance
of extending children's though processes through open-ended questions and positive
reinforcement statements, the student will share an additional best practice that would also
extend a child's thinking.
Week 09 - Becoming a Professional
Goal: Being a Professional – This week we will be getting the chance to look more in depth
into the Early Childhood Education Code of Ethical Conduct and what it takes to be a professional.
Week 09 Activity - Evaluating the Code of Ethical Conduct – the student will present
an example of an issue that they have encountered while working with children, families, or
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EC180 Externship – Quarter 1
a coworker within their externship site where ethics were brought into play and relate it
back to the Code of Ethical Conduct.
Week 09 Discussion - Implementing the Code of Ethics – the student will share a best
practice that would help to promote one of the ideals in the Code of Conduct, and discuss how they
can monitor their own ethical conduct in the workplace.
Week 10 - Becoming a Professional
Goal: Professional Development - We are responsible for helping to form young minds and
develop children in all areas of PILES. It is an enormous amount of responsibility. If we are not
presenting and viewing ourselves as professionals, how can we expect other to?
Activity: Being an Early Childhood Professional – the student will be evaluating areas
of needed growth, where their strengths lie, and setting goals for improvement.
Week 10 Discussion - Professional Development within the ECE Field – the student
will be discussing how he/she can best demonstrate professionalism.
Week 11 - Implementing the Standards
Goal: Wrapping it all up! – This week, reflect on your externship experience and look to the
future. One important way to do this is through reflecting upon your areas of needed growth as well as
your strengths in order to set goals. Goals should be specific, achievable, realistic, measurable, and
time-limited. Make these goals personal and something you can invest in. This week you will get the
opportunity to set professional goals to take with you as you continue on your education journey.
Activity: Being an Early Childhood Professional – DUE THIS WEEK
Week 11 Discussion - Professional Development within the ECE Field – the student
will be discussing how he/she can best demonstrate professionalism.
Week 11 Final Time Sheet Submission - check the Course Calendar to make sure you
turn in your final time sheet on time.
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