Lorayne Carbon

This course represents the early childhood fieldwork that students conduct in their first year, typically at Sarah Lawrence’s own Early Childhood Center (ECC). Students are placed in an ECC classroom for a yearlong placement of at least two mornings per week. In their placements, students have the opportunity to observe, get to know, and build relationships with the children in their host classrooms, as well as with their host teachers. Students will be observed in their practice each semester by the director of the Early Childhood Center; however, the ECC host teacher is the student’s primary supervisor, serving as a crucial mentor in this initial experience working with children in the program. Time is built into the day, after the children leave, for questions and discussion with host teachers and other students working in the classroom. Observation and documentation of children and their work and of teaching practice are essential in making meaning about teaching and learning. Students are expected to bring their work in classrooms to bear on course readings and class discussions in other courses, and their firsthand teaching experience will be central to many of the course papers that students will write across courses in the program.

This course represents the early childhood fieldwork that students conduct in their first year, typically at Sarah Lawrence's own Early Childhood Center (ECC). Students are placed in an ECC classroom for a yearlong placement of at least two mornings per week. In their placements, students have the opportunity to observe, get to know and build relationships with the children in their host classrooms as well as with their host teachers. Students will be observed in their practice by the Director of the Early Childhood Center each semester. However, the ECC host teacher is the student’s primary supervisor, serving as a crucial mentor in this initial experience working with children in the program. Time is built into the day, after the children leave, for questions and discussion with host teachers and other students working in the classroom. Observation and documentation of children and their work, and of teaching practice, are essential in making meaning about teaching and learning. Students are expected to bring their work in classrooms to bear on course readings and class discussions in other courses, and their firsthand teaching experience will be central to many of the course papers they will write across courses in the program.

The theme of the Advisement Seminar is to explore the connections among early-childhood education, childhood education, and the ongoing education of teachers in the content disciplines. The seminar begins with observations of the very youngest children to help us begin to frame continuities and differences. Faculty from the Early Childhood Center and the undergraduate liberal-arts faculty will help us think about learning as an ongoing process across ages and stages of development, leading sessions devoted to curriculum and its evolution both for children in classrooms and for us as teachers. We will consider intercultural perspectives and themes related to teaching in a diverse society; view videos and films of children, in classrooms, who are engaged in drawing, writing, reading, imaginative play, and social-studies explorations; read source material in the content disciplines; and engage in hands-on explorations.

Art of Teaching Graduate Seminar, taken in our students’ final semester, is designed to support the integration and synthesis of students’ inquiry into teaching and learning, conducted throughout their time in the graduate program, as they prepare to enter their own classrooms. Students will make connections and reflect across their experiences in Field Work, Student-Teaching, and other coursework. They will gain further insight into various areas of content, pedagogy, and professional topics in the field of education. The course is conducted in collaboration with our Early Childhood Center faculty and staff and offers the students additional opportunities to learn from them through hands-on, reflective workshops on a variety of topics in Early Childhood and Childhood Education. In addition, Sarah Lawrence College faculty, Art of Teaching alumni and other guest speakers will lead sessions on topics within particular content-area disciplines. Students will also use the course as a primary space for collaboration and feedback (in addition to individual advising) on the development and preparation of their Masters Oral Thesis presentations.