Your Top 5 Goals as an Early Childhood Educator: Inspiration for New ECE Students


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Your Top 5 Goals
as an Early
Childhood
Educator:
Inspiration for
New ECE
Students

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 What's your role as an early childhood educator? Exactly how
big an impact will you have on young children's lives?
 Probably far greater than you can imagine, especially if you're
just starting out and don't know much about the field.
 The truth is, preschool and daycare teachers play a huge part in
how kids develop—socially, academically, even physically and
emotionally.
 They literally change lives and shape futures. As parents, and as
a society, we place a huge trust in early childhood educators
(ECEs) to help grow the next generation of learners and citizens.

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Cont.
 Exactly what goes into this process? How
do ECEs prepare babies and toddlers for
the next stage of their life journey?
 It all starts with these 5 essential goals.
These are the key objectives you'll be
working toward, each and every day, as an
early childhood educator.

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1. BUILDING
TRUST WITH
YOUR NEW
LITTLE
STUDENTS
 This is absolutely a top priority for early
childhood educators—some would say,
your most important goal.
 If you're running a daycare or preschool,
you'll be working with children as young as
3-6 months, and as old as four or five.
 These are such impressionable years,
where kids will decide how they feel about
schooling and teachers, and of course,
when they'll be reaching some key
cognitive, physical, and emotional
developmental milestones.
ECEs must first gain their
students' trust, so each child
feels safe, supported, and
ready to learn

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 ECEs must form positive relationships with
their little students, ensuring this very first
classroom is a safe, welcoming, nurturing
place.
 You'll be working hard to build rapport,
establish routines, and earn respect—
which are essential for achieving your next
4 ECE goals...

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2. HELPING
KIDS MAKE
FRIENDS &
WORK
TOGETHER
 For most youngsters, daycare or preschool
is their first opportunity to really mix with a
lot of other kids from different walks of life.
 In many ways, this is their first exposure to
a real community (other than their own
families and close friends). They'll need a
specific set of skills to integrate, make
friends, and learn how to work in pairs and
groups.

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Some of the most
important social
skills you'll be
helping kids learn
as an ECE include:
 how to share
 how to resolve conflicts
 how to express their thoughts, opinions,
and feelings in effective ways
 how to solve problems in a group
 how to deal with bullying (and not be a bully
themselves)

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 The basic communication and collaboration
skills little kids make at this stage lay the
groundwork for how they'll fit into society
later on.
 This is why early childhood education
training always includes courses in
psychology and development, and a wide
range of socialization techniques and
activities for young children.

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ECEs play a crucial
role in teaching
children to respect
one another, and
show kindness and
compassion—the
building blocks for
forming healthy
relationships as
they grow.
Early childhood educators
teach kids to respect
diversity, build friendships,
and work together to solve
problems

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3. WORKING ON
FINE & GROSS
MOTOR SKILLS
 These are the skills they'll need to:
 tie their own shoes
 feed themselves
 zip or button their own coats
 climb on a play structure (coordination and
balance)
 put together a puzzle
 grip small tools or toy pieces
 bathroom skills
 catch and throw a ball
 hit a target (eye-hand coordination)
There are also quite a few
practical goals you'll work
toward every day as an
early childhood educator.
One of these is helping
kids develop their fine and
gross motor skills.

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Children reach so
many important
physical
development
milestones during
the preschool
years! It's truly
amazing how
quickly they evolve.
Crafting is an ideal way to help children build fine motor skills,
while learning to share space, materials, and creative ideas

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 When ECEs plan activities for young kids,
they are always thinking about working on
these motor skills—monitoring progress,
and providing appropriate challenges for
children of different ages under their care.
 Something as simple as building with
blocks, or drawing a picture helps toddlers
gain control over their bodies and improve
coordination.

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4. HELPING
KIDS BUILD
SELF-
CONFIDENCE &
INDEPENDENCE
 The more you offer your young students
opportunities to grow and thrive, and praise
them for their efforts, the more those children
will embrace new learning challenges.
 The goal is for children to leave your care
ready for the next stage of their development
at kindergarten. This is a big transition. To
make it successfully, kids need confidence in
their own abilities, and readiness to pursue
new adventures on their own.
 Early childhood educators are nurturing, and
will hold a child's hand when necessary—but
they also encourage kids to become more
independent and self-empowered each day.
 It's a fine balance to achieve, and the mark of
a truly skilled educator.
Self-confidence and
independence are
characteristics that develop
slowly over time, in
enriching and supportive
ECE settings.

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In daycare and preschool young children take their first steps toward becoming independent
learners, and making friends on their own

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5. PREPARING
CHILDREN FOR
FUTURE
ACADEMIC
SUCCESS
 For example, in a quality daycare or
preschool, children learn:
 how to sit still and concentrate on a task for
a set period of time
 how days are divided into work, play,
snack, lunch, recess, clean-up, etc.
 how to listen to and follow instructions
 how to be apart from their families for much
of the day
 to trust and respect teachers, teachers'
aides, and their own classmates
This last (but certainly not
least) ECE goal includes
academic essentials, like
language, problem-solving
and basic math skills—but
also the structures and
routines children need to get
used to before starting
kindergarten.

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These are all "readiness" skills—they
combine to form the profile of a young
child who is ready for the next phase
of academic and social development.
Can you imagine a more important
job? Apart from parents and
guardians, early childhood educators
are the very first teachers a child
knows. They set the tone for an entire
lifetime of learning, personal
development, and relationships.
This is why when parents find a truly
talented, skilled, and devoted ECE,
they treasure that person—and
recognize the huge impact this
teacher will have on their child's life.
And of course, it's why early
childhood educators love what they
do!
ECE's are a child's first teacher outside of the home,
and set the tone for future academic and personal
growth

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https://blog.herzing.ca/your-top-5-goals-as-an-early-childhood-educator-inspiration-for-new-ece-students