By Jaime Thomas
For the ninth year in a row, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College will host the Early Childhood Conference, one of the largest of its kind in the state.
“Our goal is to provide quality training for people working in childcare and preschool teachers,” said Martha Page, program coordinator and assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education at ECTC.
The conference will be held Saturday, April 18, with the theme of “Ready Set Go! School Readiness Birth to Preschool.” It’s a full-day event that includes keynote speakers and workshop presentations, all with the objective of helping prepare children to be successful in school. “It begins in the cradle,” Page said.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Nicki Patton Rowe, early childhood consultant and trainer. Rowe will discuss what learning looks like inside the brain and how the brain processes text, among other things. Also speaking will be former Governor Paul Patton, who will describe when he first learned how the brain develops and how that changed his perspective of what teaching and learning should look like during the first five years of a child’s life.
The workshop presentations consist of training on such subjects as infant massage, signing with infants and toddlers, language development and autism spectrum disorders, as well as other areas of child development. “We have to provide high quality training for employees at childcare and preschool centers if we expect them to provide a high quality experience for students,” Page said. “Not only are conference participants receiving pertinent information, they also have an opportunity to collaborate with other professionals in their field with similar concerns. They can trouble shoot problems in a face-to-face, interpersonal format.”
The conference has space for 275 participants and those interested can sign up until the day before the conference or until all spaces are filled. “It’s open to the general public, but our audience objective is students majoring in early childhood education, those working in childcare and preschool teachers,” Page said.
She also said that by attending, childcare providers can earn five of the required 15 training hours they must have each year.
The cost to attend the conference is $25 and includes lunch. The conference will have educational vendors and agencies within the community and region on hand to provide information and items for purchase. “Participants have an opportunity to network with the respective organizations and see how those constituents can assist in the field of early childhood education,” Page said.
With the conference, ECTC strives to include very competent presenters to ensure that young children and their families are receiving the professional best, regardless of where they attend school or their unique stage of development.
“It is so important that child care providers no longer assume that young children fit a mold or develop at the same rate,” Page said. “Each child must be given opportunities to reach his/her highest potential.”
For more information, contact Martha Page at (270) 706-8499 or mpage0003@kctcs.edu.
For the ninth year in a row, Elizabethtown Community and Technical College will host the Early Childhood Conference, one of the largest of its kind in the state.
“Our goal is to provide quality training for people working in childcare and preschool teachers,” said Martha Page, program coordinator and assistant professor of Interdisciplinary Early Childhood Education at ECTC.
The conference will be held Saturday, April 18, with the theme of “Ready Set Go! School Readiness Birth to Preschool.” It’s a full-day event that includes keynote speakers and workshop presentations, all with the objective of helping prepare children to be successful in school. “It begins in the cradle,” Page said.
This year’s keynote speaker will be Nicki Patton Rowe, early childhood consultant and trainer. Rowe will discuss what learning looks like inside the brain and how the brain processes text, among other things. Also speaking will be former Governor Paul Patton, who will describe when he first learned how the brain develops and how that changed his perspective of what teaching and learning should look like during the first five years of a child’s life.
The workshop presentations consist of training on such subjects as infant massage, signing with infants and toddlers, language development and autism spectrum disorders, as well as other areas of child development. “We have to provide high quality training for employees at childcare and preschool centers if we expect them to provide a high quality experience for students,” Page said. “Not only are conference participants receiving pertinent information, they also have an opportunity to collaborate with other professionals in their field with similar concerns. They can trouble shoot problems in a face-to-face, interpersonal format.”
The conference has space for 275 participants and those interested can sign up until the day before the conference or until all spaces are filled. “It’s open to the general public, but our audience objective is students majoring in early childhood education, those working in childcare and preschool teachers,” Page said.
She also said that by attending, childcare providers can earn five of the required 15 training hours they must have each year.
The cost to attend the conference is $25 and includes lunch. The conference will have educational vendors and agencies within the community and region on hand to provide information and items for purchase. “Participants have an opportunity to network with the respective organizations and see how those constituents can assist in the field of early childhood education,” Page said.
With the conference, ECTC strives to include very competent presenters to ensure that young children and their families are receiving the professional best, regardless of where they attend school or their unique stage of development.
“It is so important that child care providers no longer assume that young children fit a mold or develop at the same rate,” Page said. “Each child must be given opportunities to reach his/her highest potential.”
For more information, contact Martha Page at (270) 706-8499 or mpage0003@kctcs.edu.