Engagement Of Every Child In The Preschool Classroom

How engaged are your students? Making some simple adjustments in the classroom environment could be the key to increasing children's levels of active engagement and preventing behavior problems caused by restlessness and boredom during transitions between activities. This extremely practical, accessible book offers a strong, evidence-based approach to promoting engagement in preschoolers. Readers will find detailed, concrete strategies—field tested in more than 30 preschools—to help them

• reduce wasted time and misbehavior during down time and transitioning from one thing to another
• make the most of natural learning opportunities and encourage developmental goals
• maximize classroom efficiency and engagement with included diagrams of classroom set-up suggestions
• assess child functioning in daily routines to ensure progress
• write functional classroom goals with tips and problem-solving suggestions for implementing interventions
• integrate therapy into classroom routines so teachers and therapists can learn from each other

This much-needed book has a highly structured format that teachers can easily follow to create an optimal learning environment and foster goal-oriented behavior in any preschool classroom—with or without children with special needs. Each user-friendly section serves up key points, examples of real-world situations, discussion questions, and room for writing down notes and ideas. Engagement of Every Child in the Preschool Classroom gives early childhood educators the tools and know-how for successfully launching lifelong learners.

See which domain of school readiness in the Head Start Child Development and Early Learning Framework this book addresses.

- reduce wasted time and misbehavior during down time and transitioning from one thing to another

- make the most of natural learning opportunities and encourage developmental goals

- maximize classroom efficiency and engagement with included diagrams of classroom set-up suggestions

- assess child functioning in daily routines to ensure progress

- write functional classroom goals with tips and problem-solving suggestions for implementing interventions

- integrate therapy into classroom routines so teachers and therapists can learn from each other

Dr. McWilliam is the Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Development, and Intervention at Siskin Children’s Institute. He is also a professor of education at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and an adjoint professor of special education at Vanderbilt University. He has formerly been a professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, a senior scientist at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute, and a professor of education at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Dr. McWilliam’s research centers on infants, toddlers, and preschoolers with and without disabilities, with a specific focus on child engagement, service delivery models, and collaboration with families. He has provided consultation, training, and technical assistance across the United States and in some countries overseas on providing early intervention in natural environments and on the Engagement Classroom Model. His Routines-Based Interview (RBI) is a widely used method of assessing families’ needs and developing individualized family service plan (IFSP) outcomes and individualized education program (IEP) goals.

Ms. Casey is the Project Coordinator for two engagement grants, Improving Engagement in Preschoolers With Disabilities and The Engagement Classroom: Developing a Model for Inclusion, at the Vanderbilt Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt University Medical Center. She trains preschool teachers on developing classroom schedules, using incidental teaching, and rating children's engagement.

1. What Is Engagement and Why Is It Important?
   

1. Creating a Classroom Environment that Supports Engagement
   
2. Planning Activities that Encourage Engagement
   
3. The Zone Defense Schedule
   

1. The Routines-Based Interview
   
2. Developing Functional Outcomes and Goals
   
3. Embedded Intervention
   
4. Integrated Specialized Services
   

1. Measuring Opportunities for Embedding Individual Goals
   
2. Measuring Classwide Engagement with the Engagement Check II
   
3. Measuring Individual Engagement
   

1. Putting It All Together