The Little Eagles Preschool at Naples High School allows students to teach the kids enrolled in the program. It gives the preschoolers proper education, while being a good opportunity for the high schoolers to get hands-on experience.
“In Early Childhood, there are rotations and groups,” freshman Delainey Beams said. “We do six sets of rotations: presentation, personal development, applied academics, lesson plans and teaching. Although it can be stressful and full of work, in the end I get it done.”
Students who teach preschoolers put in a lot of time and effort into teaching them. It requires a lot of work to teach little kids, but overall, they believe it is a great experience for both of them.
“The children learn basically what us high school students learn,” Beams said. “They learn all seven subjects: English, social studies, history, science, math, music and P.E. They learn really good and new stuff every week made by the high schoolers.”
Students make lesson plans that they teach the kids. Preschoolers are expected to behave well in the classroom and pay attention to what they are taught.
“The kids are very well behaved and they always are so respectful and kind, so many of them are sweet and do work efficiently,” Beams said. “Overall teaching them is a great experience.”
Despite proper behavior, high schoolers need to work with many students at once, which may be difficult.
“There are 16 kids we teach at a time,” freshman Chloe Zizzi said.
High schoolers also need to have strong time management skills to keep up with their work.
“My schedule usually looks very hectic to be honest, in weeks where I’m not teaching there’s work in place invoking children’s mental health or ideas for future teaching weeks,” Zizzi said. When it is teaching week, things get very complicated very quickly, so you have to be on top of your work.”
Even though the class is a lot of work and working with children can be challenging, the students and little kids have an amazing time working with one another.
“I think they really enjoy having different teachers each week, I think I definitely would if I was in their position”, freshman Beaber said. “I think it is a great opportunity to learn how to deal with young kids at such a young age.”
The program is great for those who are looking to pursue a field in education. The high schoolers learn how to deal with kids, and the preschoolers get to experience many opportunities.
“If the students taking this class want to pursue something in the childcare field, whether it is a pediatrician, a social worker, a preschool teacher, then this is a great program.” Beaber said.
