“Resources” – it’s one of the things I’m so thankful for. It’s a lot of work but believe me they are so handy and they help a lot! The resources I’m talking about are the ones that you make. The teacher gives you all the resources and then you have to colour them, cut them, laminate them and then cut them again or cut them in felt or pass them into interfacing and then colour them and then cut them. This resources are the actual material you use in your practicum and forever, this are the activities, felt board stories, math activities, etc, that you will use with the children.
But those kinds of resources are only one of many resources you do in ECE. I think most of your homework are resources that you will use throughout your program and can use in the field. Some of the resources you develop in the program are practical things that you are going to use in the ECE field. Some are not necessarily activities for the children to use, but some are more for you to learn, key things you will use in the ECE field. All the handouts could be used as a resource, to go back to when you have any doubts and then some resource files that you put together. Some of them require a lot of work and some require less work but is a lot of information that you have to organize and put together.
There’s, for example, one picture file that you have to put together, it’s not hard because the only thing you have to do is find the pictures but it takes time looking through magazines and cutting the pictures and gluing them in cardstock and putting them in page protectors and then in the binder that is going to be the picture file. But this kind of resource is very helpful as an ECE because you need a lot of visuals with the children and the more pictures and variety of pictures you have the better because when you are in the field you already have your file and saves you time looking for pictures that you want to use with the children because you already put it together, so the better you make your picture file, the most helpful will be, it will be already ready to use for when you need it and believe me every resource you make in or outside of the classroom are very useful, you will use it for sure.
Other resources are harder to make and they take more time like the art file for example, because you have to have samples or at least a picture of all the finished art that you have in your file. But this as well is very useful, especially the samples or pictures of the finished art because if let’s say along the road you would like to do an art from your art file and you can’t remember what to do or how to do it, you have written all the materials you need and the steps to do it and of course how your finish product would look so you at least know how it should be.
So all the resources you do in the class and the homework, that the majority are resources you’ll use too, are very helpful you will definitely use them!
Although I recommend you that you start right away with the resources that the teacher gives you, even at the begging of the school because it’s a lot of work and you cannot leave it for the end, for your own sanity. So try to do all your homework and resources right away, don’t leave it to the last minute, this way I think school work will be more smooth!! : )
Check out a video of Early Childhood Educators career.
