ELO Sample Early Childhood Education/English
ELO Title: ELO Early Childhood Education, ELO Survey of English Genres (*Note: This coursework spanned 2 semesters for this student, and incorporated two separate lines ELO courses.)
School: Strafford Learning Center’s ELO Hub
Essential Question:ECE: “What knowledge and skills do I need to obtain a career in the field of early childhood education?” and English: “What types of writing (and speaking) must I be proficient in to organize and conduct a fund raising event?”
Area(s) of study: Elective, English
Type & amount of credit: 1 elective credit, 1 English credit
Competencies:
Competencies for Early Childhood ELO
1)Student shows an understanding of basic brain anatomy and development over a child’s first five years of life.
- I understand the way a typical child’s brain develops over the first five years of life.
- I understand factors that impact brain development over the first five years of life.
- I can create a lesson plan for a teacher to support a specific aspect of a young person’s development.
2)Student shows an understanding of how external factors such as environment and stimuli can impact the cognitive development of a young person.
- I understand how a young person’s environment impacts social, cognitive and emotional development.
- I can predict how a variety of stimuli can impact the social, cognitive and emotional development of a young person.
3)Student shows an understanding of how internal factors such as diet, heredity and emotional development can impact the cognitive development of a young person, particularly a young person with disabilities.
- I understand how a young person’s internal factors, such as diet, heredity and emotional development can impact the development of a young person, particularly a young person with disabilities.
- I can identify potential risk factors to a child’s development.
4)Student can develop career awareness and readiness as it relates to working with special needs children in early childhood education.
- I am aware of a variety of different career opportunities in the field of early childhood development.
- I have identified the steps I would have to take to pursue a career in early childhood development.
- I established a plan to pursue a career in early childhood development.
Student activities:
-Over the course of 2 semesters, the student planned, organized, and carried out a 5k road race to raise money for the Autism Speaks organization.
-Twice weekly internship at an alternative elementary school program.
Early Childhood Education:
-Ongoing research around Autism and how children with Autism develop in comparison to how typical students develop.
-Weekly communication with teachers at her internship site.
-Periodic (every 2-3 weeks) reflections on her work with children at her internship.
-Small assignments and mini-projects on brain development and factors that influence development.
-Research career opportunities in the field of Early Childhood Education, and create a plan to obtain a career in the field.
Survey of English Genres
-Learn how to write professional letters seeking donations and send them out.
-Learn how to writethank you letters, and send numerous thank you letters out.
-Utilizing multiple modes of communication (phone, email, text message, etc.) with stakeholders while planning a large scale fund raiser.
-Create and promote advertising for the event.
-Communicate through multiple forms of media (social media, e-mail, newspapers, etc.) to promote and gather support for the event.
Community Partner(s): Strafford Learning Center’s John Powers School and Strafford Learning Center’s Hope program, as well as Idlehurst Elementary School in Somersworth.
Community Partner Responsibility for this ELO: The community partners trained the student on the skills and knowledge she would need to work with the specific students she was assigned to. They also worked with the student to set and reach goals related to her research of careers in the field. They also gave feedback on the student’s performance in her internship role twice each semester (at the mid-point and at the end). Finally, the employees at each school that the student worked at were always willing to give her feedback on any of her research or academic work to ensure that she was on the right track.
Assessment: Student was assessed independently on her assignments for the Early Childhood Education course, but I met with the staff at the John Powers School to get their input into whether or not they felt she reached each competency, as well. There was not a formal assessment for this course.
For the Survey of English Genres course, the student was assessed on their ability to effectively communicate through different types of writing, and across different media platforms. She was asked to write and go through the revision process, and was assessed on her ability to use the writing process to create effective messages to a variety of audiences.
Connection to student’s measurable postsecondary goals: This student does not have an IEP, but she has set the goal of attending a college to study early childhood education, and these courses and this project, which arced the two courses, reinforced her desire to pursue that goal, while also giving her a jump start on some of the skills and knowledge she will need to reach that goal.
Comments and suggestions for other schools implementing a similar ELO:
This project was fantastic, BUT it was an enormous undertaking, which required a lot of commitment from not just the student, but the student’s parent, and the ELO Coordinator. The student did raise over $1,000 for Autism Speaks, though. I would recommend that if you have a student who does an event like this that you START with the donation letters, even before you have the course laid out, and the date set. This was a cumbersome process, and getting the letters out early would have made it much easier. There were a lot of businesses that were willing to help, but they needed more time.
Are you willing to be contacted by another school interested in developming something similar to this? Yes. Phone (603) 988-1322 or (603) 692-5472 e-mail:
Supporting Material: Attached.
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