The PRESCHOOL Project
Preschool Fine Arts Lesson Plans
About
The Project
This website was designed to house the lesson plans created for a mini-research project by a Educational Studies Senior at Arizona State University. As an Educational Studies Major, senior students are required to conduct a academic year long service-learning project at a site with a service need. This project was conducted at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Preschool and is focused on intern efficacy when it comes to teaching the arts as well as their knowledge of the arts standards. To accomplish this, the project is a research study that follows the use of mini-curriculum "tubs" that have multiple activities, the lesson plan/directions, as well as the standards the activities are based off inside. The interns will fill out a pre-survey, followed by a training, and then will individually implement the activities inside the "tubs" while being observed. Those observing will be taking notes on their perceived comfort to compare to that of the interns claimed comfort. After implementing the curriculum, participants will fill out a post-survey so that their growth in comfort and knowledge can be compared.
This project not only has a pre-designed curriculum, but it offers interns an opportunity to take a leadership role in the classroom and get more direct teaching experience. Many times, interns aren't able to take a teaching role and are instead simply there to help out the teacher and interact with the children, which is great, but for many of the interns they chose a school as their site because they want to be teachers and gain classroom experience. The idea behind the program is that it will do not only that, but also empower the teaching community at Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College Preschool to be more comfortable and knowledgeable when it comes to teaching and implementing the arts standards into their classrooms.
The Preschool
Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College believes in creating a learning experience where there is a balance of intentional teaching and child-initiated play. Their curriculum and teaching activities support all areas of development including oral and written language, motor, social, emotional and cognitive. They create and share innovative, evidence-based practices through community collaboration, advocacy, and interdisciplinary teaching and learning. The population served is preschool age children ages 3-5 who are both typically developing and children with special needs (inclusive preschool classrooms).
The special support of the preschool children in the inclusive environment supports the families in the community and the young children's success in moving on to Kindergarten with the skills they need to thrive. Working with children in preschool, while their brains are developing at a rapid rate, positively impacts all of society.
About Me
My name is Megan McLeroy and I am currently a senior (Class of 2016) attending Arizona State University, majoring in Educational Studies with a focus on Educational Policy! During my time at ASU, I have been involved in many leadership organizations dedicated to serving my local community and the ASU community as a whole. I have also logged more than 300 hours of community service served in the valley. I am dedicated to making a difference for those in need and this capstone gave me the perfect opportunity to do so on a bigger scale than ever before, and I am so excited for this journey! My ultimate goal is to attend graduate school and get either my Masters or PhD in Education Policy and then have a career working in either a state or the federal government helping create policies to help better the education system and create more equity in education. Education is my passion and I strive to ensure that every student is getting the education and educational opportunities that they deserve: an exceptional one.