EARLY CHILDHOOD
EARLY CHILDHOOD CLASSESBY JOSHUA GAY ON MAY 16, 2014
Nelson Mandela, former South African president and leader once said, “There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”
Early childhood teacher Betsy Mcdonald has been teaching at Rose since 1993. About 16 years ago, she and a teacher at Conley collaborated and got the classes started because they felt it was needed. In order to sign up for the class, in order to be apart of the class, one must undergo the application process based on average, behavior, age and other requirements. “You have to be at least 16 years of age, and you have to have a TB [tuberculosis] skin test,” Mcdonald said. “Also, you have to pass CPR as well.” For the class, students leave the campus for first and second period to work in childcare centers. Every student is assigned to his or her own classroom. Not only do the students care for the children, but they also have assignments. For the second part of class, the students come back to Rose for class time. Mcdonald feels that their field trips are the best learning experiences for the class because its best for the students to see it for themselves rather than to just tell them. “I like for the students to see many different varieties of child care centers,” Mcdonald said. “Whether its a church related child care center or a private child care center, I like for them to see all those things.” Senior Allieah Teel, who has taken the class her junior and senior year, says she enjoyed the class and that it was a learning experience. Teel says that she just loves kids and that is what really drew her to the class. “The class was fun and [was a big learning] experience for me,” Teel said. “I still sometimes go back to the daycare playgrounds and see the kids at times.” Teel said that in the class, students mostly do work until they arrive at the daycare center and can interact with the kids. They stay at the care center until lunch in order to learn the children’s morning routines. “Everyone should do the class, not only because its a learning experience but also because it is fun for everyone, yourself and the child,” Teel said. After taking the class a certain number of times, many of Mcdonald’s students get intern opportunities, some actually get jobs. Senior Deasia Brown who took early childhood development felt the need and opportunity to take her experiences to the next level, so she decided to get a job out of it. Brown says that one of the main reasons she even signed up for early childhood is because she took parenting and childhood development and it was fun for her so she wanted to learn more. After taking the class, Brown got a job opportunity at Cornerstone Child Care center here in Greenville. The reason Brown got the job was because she had been an intern for five months. In February Brown volunteered for two weeks then the director offered her a job. “It was really easy working with the kids,” Brown said. “it gave me a great deal of experience and will further help me with my future endeavors.” |
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