Focus on New Training
Planning With Intention - Infants/Toddlers
Intentional planning is a phrase used to discuss quality in programs as it relates to ensuring desired outcomes for children as they progress along developmental pathways toward Kindergarten and beyond. Practicing this skill starts at a child's earliest age - when she/he is an infant and toddler.
This workshop is designed for infant/toddler teachers, providers, home visitors, and those who support families with children ages 0-3.
Participants will learn what "intentional planning" actually means, understand how to do it, and have the opportunity to practice the skills in a supportive setting.
Intentional planning involves creating a vision based on observation, information from families about children, using the observation information teachers gather, and then pulling it all together to create a plan.
One of the necessary skills is setting priorities:
- How do we know which skills we should use as a focus?
- How do we do that appropriately for infants and toddlers?
We know that planning for this age is different than planning for older, more mobile and more verbal children. This is where observation and knowing skill progression becomes extremely important: learning to look at observations and, using a backward design, plan with "the end in mind" as suggested by Stephen Covey.
To read the complete article click
here.
Register for the training
here.
What are Competencies and Why are They Important?
We talk a lot about using competencies when planning professional development. We understand this idea can be overwhelming in the midst of all you are managing.
Here's some information to give you more insight on why they are important in your choices for planning your professional development.
T
he Delaware Competencies for Early Childhood (or School Age) Professionals are meant to give guidance to
a
ll staff who work in early care and education.
Early care and education professionals can choose professional development based on their desired learning goals by looking for the competency areas in which they most need support in increased knowledge and application of learning.
For example, if you would like to add to your skill set in the social emotional competency, you would plan to take training sessions that would build and enhance your knowledge. As a reference, a
ll of the competencies are included
here.
Additionally, the competencies assure those who access the services of providers (families and community) that staff in child care settings are holding themselves accountable to skills and practices that ensure quality.
Finally, the DIEEC Professional Development team uses them as guidance in creating and instructing workshops to align with learning goals. The training sessions are all developed with the intent of teaching skills that teachers, administrators, and support personnel need to provide quality early care and education.
Professional Development Planning
With the training calendar recently updated, now is the time to develop a professional development plan. A plan will help keep you accountable to your goals.
To facilitate planning, we have provided training by county for the next couple of months.
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Summer Hours
Please note that Professional Development is currently on a summer hours schedule.
The schedule is:
Monday - Thursday 8-4:30 p.m.
Friday 8 - 12:30 p.m.
Don't hesitate to call if you have any questions.
Be sure to l
eave as many details as possible so we can be responsive to your needs.
Please allow us two business days to respond to your inquiry.
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Keep up with our Quality Assured training sessions by following us on Facebook.
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Provider Spotlight: Tender Loving Kare Child Care & Learning Center - Middletown Site
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Curriculum & Assessment Pays Big Returns for Staff and Students
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Tender Loving Kare Child Care & Learning Center (TLK) in Middletown, Del. is a "happening place" with more than 200 children from infant through school age actively engaged with close to 40 staff members.
Although each classroom percolates with different activities, all the learning has one thing in common - it has its roots in the effective implementation of Creative Curriculum.
"We invested in Creative Curriculum about four years ago," said Julie Johnson, owner and site administrator. "And we have worked to ensure that each teacher fully embraces it."
This "work" includes providing the staff with many supports and opportunities to understand and become familiar with the curriculum. "We help teachers to link the 'why' of the curriculum to the outcomes for our children," said Caitie Malone, the site's curriculum coordinator.
"They have intentional orientation systems in place and have the administrators do classroom observations to support the teachers," adds Jen Potts, Delaware Stars Curriculum & Assessment Technical Assistant.
To read the entire article click
here.
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| Curriculum & Assessment (C&A) Support |
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Technical Assistant - Meet Linda Farmer
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Linda Farmer is the newest member to the Curriculum and Assessment (C&A) team. She supports programs in Kent and Sussex counties with curriculum and assessment-related quality improvements. Linda transitioned to this position in January after serving in various roles with Delaware Stars: ERS Assessor, ECERS-R Specialty TA, and most recently Generalist TA.
Prior to joining Delaware Stars, Linda taught Kindergarten at a private school for six years. The Kindergarten program did not have a specific curriculum so she and her teaching partners were responsible for creating hands-on learning activities tied to standards and learning outcomes. As a result, she gained firsthand experience with using backward design, which means starting with the end goal in mind, when lesson planning.
Linda says that the most rewarding part of her job is building longstanding relationships with the administrators and teachers. She sees her role as partnering with programs to support their curriculum and assessment goals in a systematic way.
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Stars Resources
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Curriculum & Assessment (C&A)
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Technical Assistants
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Stars has a team of C&A Technical Assistants who are available to support you in all aspects of curriculum and assessment.
More details are included here.
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| Tiered Reimbursement Rates Increase |
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Rates Align With 2018 Market Rates
Effective July 1, Tiered Reimbursement Rates have been increased to reflect the 2018 market rates! To access the new rates, click
here.
Ages & Stages Questionnaire (ASQ) News
School Districts Partnership Supports Screenings
The Department of Education, Office of Early Learning is pleased to announce that beginning in the Fall of 2019, each and every child in Delaware will have the opportunity to receive a free developmental screening.
Improved access to screening through strong partnerships between early care and education programs and school districts will lead to earlier identification and better meeting the needs of our children and families, allowing us to meet our goal of better child outcomes.
This infographic (
ASQ Flyer), partnership summary (
ASQ Overview), and inclusion guide (
Inclusion Guide), provide information about how early childhood educators can support the developmental screening process. This fall, school districts early childhood personnel will be reaching out to all licensed child care programs within their feeder pattern to share the online ASQ access that child care educators should share with parents.
To learn more or for questions, please contact Cindy Brown at the Office of Early Learning at 302-735-4295 or
Cindy.Brown@doe.k12.de.us.
Staff Recruitment Support
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| Delaware First Paperless Transition Complete |
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Delaware First is Completely Online
Effective August 1, Delaware First will no longer accept paper applications.
Here's what you need to know:
- An online application website was created in 2018 for the Delaware First Qualification Program.
- In order to access the online application website you will need an IMS (Identity Management System) Account.
- Request and receive your IMS Account by visiting: https://pubapps.doe.k12.de.us/sso/petitionacctdpec.aspx
- After initially setting up an IMS account, you must subsequently log in to the application and complete/verify the profile information, even if you are not applying for qualification at this time.
- You will need to create a profile and use the online application to apply for any early learning teaching qualification.
- New information entered in your online application profile must be supported by an uploaded document.
For complete instructions about how to apply online click
here.
If you need help:
Community Conversations Report Summary
Year Two Highlights
For the last two years the Office of Early Learning has hosted frequent forums for early learning professionals and community members called "Community Conversations," to exchange ideas in the pursuit of high quality early education.
This
report contains year two's highlights.
Opiod Crisis Educational Flyer Available
Delaware's Department of Education, Office of Early Learning partnered with the Division of Public Health to produce this
Opioid flyer. The flyer's objective is to educate Delaware's early learning professionals and families with information to help address the opiod crisis.
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Still Time for Summertime Fun
August and September Calendars
We know that just because summer is winding down you're still in full swing with your program. To help you refresh your planning, we've provided activities for the next couple of months.
Please note more activities have been added to the August calendar.
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