Responsive Interactions and Guidance

Engaging families to become involved in their child’s early care and education sets the foundation for that involvement to continue throughout the child’s schooling. Helping families understand the importance of this involvement is critical. Families may not always understand how important they are in the education process, from early care onwards.

In this two-hour course, the learner will describe strategies for conducting orientations, holding formal meetings with families, discussing ways to support child development at home, encouraging parent involvement, and determining community resources available to help families and their children.

Knowing what children can do and what they know is powerful information that can guide early learning teachers to create appropriate learning experiences for their children. The purposes and types of assessments are examined.

This 4-hour course for early learning educators is designed to review the purposes of assessment, how to evaluate and interpret the results, and create a plan to share results with families.

A major component of completing the process for the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential is building your CDA Professional Portfolio. This portfolio contains all the documentation needed to meet the requirements of the CDA credential and will be part of your CDA Verification visit. This resource binder should be built to be used by you as you work with the children and families you serve.

In this four-hour course, the learner will be able to identify the essential components that must be included in the CDA Professional Portfolio, including the family questionnaires, the Reflective Dialogue Worksheet, the resource collection items, and the accompanying competency statement for each of the six areas required and the Professional Philosophy Statement. This binder will be part of the resources examined by the CDA Professional Development Specialist and used as a reflection tool during the CDA Verification Visit.

Each of us comes from a unique place in the world. No one else has shared the same experiences in the same way. These unique experiences and where we come from have an impact on how we teach and how we interact with our children. It is critical to be aware of how these experiences impact us. Awareness of its influence and ensuring we are providing opportunities for children to gain a positive sense of self and pro-social skill development is crucial.

After completing this 2.5-hour course, the learner will be able to describe the importance of adults modeling prosocial behaviors, describe the importance of self-esteem and self-regulation, and explain the impact of our cultural identity on our actions and interactions.

Supporting the development of language skills is a crucial undertaking for all early childhood teachers. Language is the foundation for verbal language to occur and can be developed throughout every minute of the day!

In this 4-hour course, the learner will be able to explain strategies to use in the classroom to support children’s language development, describe how to create a language-rich environment and how this supports children’s growth and development, and explain how dual language learners are supported through ECE best practices and why this support is essential.