As an early childhood educator my role in a child’s life is to help them grow and develop in a way that will help them succeed in the school system and beyond. Science has shown that a baby’s rate grows and changes at an astonishing rate of 700 new neural connectors every second (www.zerotothree.org, 2016). As an early childhood educator, my job is to help foster that development and guide the children to use that brain growth to grow socially as well as academically. Jean Piaget believed that children learned best through active experiences, so it is my job to provide the experiences that would best help the children grow and learn so their brain can continue to develop at that same amazing rate of 700 neural connections per second. Another theorist, Vygotsky, believed that children could learn anything through guidance and assistance. So my main role as an early childhood educator is to guide the children and help them to build on the things that they have already learned. This is called scaffolding and is the basis of how I teach (Laureate Education, 2015). I observe the skills the children already have and I provide new experiences that will build on those already mastered so the children can continue to grow and learn.
Laureate Education (Producer). (2015). Early childhood education history and theory [interactive media]. Baltimore, MD: Author
www.zerotothree.org. Brain development. Retrieved on November 20, 2016 from, https://www.zerotothree.org/early-learning/brain-development
