Maritza Rosas’s Profile

The EC field, par­tic­u­larly in the US, is one fraught with a his­tory of in­equity that can be ad­dressed and dis­man­tled with your aware­ness and ac­tions. Over the course of the se­mes­ter, we’ll ex­plore the lives, con­texts, and con­tri­bu­tions of EC pi­o­neers, and lessons that you can apply to your own grow­ing iden­ti­ties as EC teach­ers. Over the course of this month, I want you to un­der­stand your role as ad­vo­cates for chil­dren and fam­i­lies that don’t al­ways have a seat at the table, re­gard­less of where you sit.

The EC field, particularly in the US, is one fraught with a history of inequity that can be addressed and dismantled with your awareness and actions. Over the course of the semester, we’ll explore the lives, contexts, and contributions of EC pioneers, and lessons that you can apply to your own growing identities as EC teachers. Over the course of this month, I want you to understand your role as advocates for children and families that don’t always have a seat at the table, regardless of where you sit.

This course is de­signed to de­velop prac­ti­cal and ev­i­dence-based knowl­edge for teach­ing lit­er­acy and en­able stu­dents to demon­strate com­pe­ten­cies teach­ing young chil­dren. It re­quires su­per­vised par­tic­i­pa­tion in an as­signed early child­hood ed­u­ca­tion set­ting and at­ten­dance at a weekly sem­i­nar. Stu­dents will ex­plore prin­ci­ples, meth­ods, and ma­te­ri­als for teach­ing emer­gent lit­er­acy within a de­vel­op­men­tally ap­pro­pri­ate, in­ter­dis­ci­pli­nary and cul­tur­ally re­spon­sive cur­ricu­lum. Cur­rent re­search re­gard­ing speak­ing, lis­ten­ing, read­ing and writ­ing ex­pe­ri­ences of young chil­dren will be crit­i­cally ex­am­ined. Prac­ti­cal class­room ex­pe­ri­ences will pro­vide op­por­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents to make con­nec­tions be­tween the­ory and prac­tice, de­velop pro­fes­sional be­hav­ior work­ing with young chil­dren and their fam­i­lies, and build a com­pre­hen­sive un­der­stand­ing of bal­anced lit­er­acy in early child­hood class­rooms. Stu­dents will de­sign, im­ple­ment and eval­u­ate ac­tiv­ity-based lit­er­acy learn­ing ex­pe­ri­ences for young chil­dren with di­verse learn­ing styles and needs, with strong em­pha­sis on child cen­tered, play-ori­ented ap­proaches to teach­ing, learn­ing and as­sess­ment, and knowl­edge of cur­ricu­lum con­tent areas.

This course is designed to develop practical and evidence-based knowledge for teaching literacy and enable students to demonstrate competencies teaching young children. It requires supervised participation in an assigned early childhood education setting and attendance at a weekly seminar. Students will explore principles, methods, and materials for teaching emergent literacy within a developmentally appropriate, interdisciplinary and culturally responsive curriculum. Current research regarding speaking, listening, reading and writing experiences of young children will be critically examined. Practical classroom experiences will provide opportunities for students to make connections between theory and practice, develop professional behavior working with young children and their families, and build a comprehensive understanding of balanced literacy in early childhood classrooms. Students will design, implement and evaluate activity-based literacy learning experiences for young children with diverse learning styles and needs, with strong emphasis on child centered, play-oriented approaches to teaching, learning and assessment, and knowledge of curriculum content areas.