One of the most important aspects to consider when planning a lesson is the age and maturity of the children you are teaching. Understanding the stages of child development becomes very important when deciding what book to read, projects to assign or assessments to give. Although it's healthy to give students material that challenges them, if the material is too far beyond their level of understanding they will become frustrated and won't be able to absorb the information you are teaching. Child development courses provide tools to help tailor educational lessons to the needs of each age group.
Discipline is necessary to maintain a positive learning environment. Classroom management classes focus on providing a future teacher with tools to help keep the classroom under control and modify negative behaviors by students. Course instructors model methods and strategies that help make good behavior attractive to children. For early childhood education, the use of a reward system for good behavior is often highly effective.
As an early childhood education teacher, it's common to encounter parents who are seeing their child off to school alone for the first time. This is an intimidating experience for many parents, and it becomes important for them to have a good working relationship with their child's teacher. Courses often focus on how to get parents involved in the classroom, as well as teaching understanding of cultural differences and diversity as they relate to education.
Courses on lesson planning help future teachers turn educational requirements into activities and discussions from which children can learn. For early education it's usually effective to plan lessons that incorporate a variety of learning methods, such as discussion, craft projects and reading. Most universities have students practice creating lesson plans and presenting them to college instructors and other students to gather tips on improving their presentation effectiveness.