Submitted photo
Two ECLC children look at fossilized turtle shells at the Tate Museum.
By Natalie Benson
At the Early Childhood Learning Center on the Casper College campus, children are the ones who determine their learning content and environment.
According to Emily Calmes, director of the ECLC, the center follows a Reggio-style curriculum where the teachers observe the children and then base their teaching off of the children’s interests. The teachers conform to the individual needs of the children instead of following a curriculum where each child is forced along at the same pace, despite the possibility of some not being ready. The Reggio curriculum is even used in the infant room, with teachers focusing on how the infants are learning about their playmates and the world around them. They use regular observations to form a curriculum for each child, and with what materials and resources it would be best for them to learn with. With this approach, Calmes said the curriculum can vary wildly from semester to semester.
One thing that doesn’t change, however, is how ECLC works with both the campus and various teachers on campus.
“We definitely follow the kids’ leads,” Calmes said, “On that, the classroom I’m working in right now is very into our college community, and so we’ve gone on multiple field trips.”
Trips to the college library and cafeteria are a proven favorite, along with the agriculture pavilion and the Tate Museum. ECLC also occasionally makes trips to specific classes on campus, like as the dance classes.
“Their [the kids’] desire for that is really what leads that, so we’re trying to do something once a week that gets us out on campus,” Calmes said.
ECLC’s approach to curriculum is also helped by the diversity of staff members. While the lead teachers of each class have education degrees, there are both part time and work study employees who can be anything from technology majors to biology majors.
Odalys Osorio, an elementary education major, said, “You can be literally in any field and come work here. You just have to be willing to like, learn with the kids and love just being with kids.”
This means that the children have a variety of sources to learn different things from as well, especially as older students graduate and newer students come to work.
How much the teachers are able to affect this curriculum differs. Osorio explained that the lead teachers are the ones with the most control over the curriculum, doing observations and adjusting their curriculums for each child accordingly. Part time workers also do logged observations, and have communication with the teachers on what the kids are doing and need, but have less direct control over that curriculum. Work study students, despite engaging with the children and working closely with them, are not required to do observations or add to the curriculum. Instead, they follow the lead teacher and part time worker’s guidance during the daily schedule with the kids.
While ECLC is not one of the louder organizations on campus, it is a very important one, ensuring parents are able to go to classes knowing that their children are safe and watched, and learning more and more about their world, their environment, and their campus day by day.