EDUCATION FACULTY SPOTLIGHT

TANILLE ULM

As a faculty member in the Early Childhood Education program, Tanille Ulm shares her passion for childcare with her students, helping to prepare them for careers with preschool-aged children.

“I make sure my students leave Lake Land feeling equipped and ready to go in with themes and lesson plans,” Ulm said. “I hit ‘having a plan B’ pretty hard as a topic. Because that age group has such a short attention span, the students have to be prepared for just about anything.”

To increase this preparedness, Ulm has her students create a portfolio of content from the Child Development Associate®’s 13 functional areas, including safe, healthy, learning environment, physical, guidance, communication, creative, self, social, families, program management, professionalism and cognitive.

With in-person, online and hybrid class options, the Early Childhood Education program provides those interested a great deal of flexibility in scheduling, which Ulm said is one of the many benefits of the program.

“In this field, it’s not so much the income that matters, it’s the outcome,” Ulm said. “The best thing about this line of work is knowing that you can have a direct positive impact on children’s lives.”

According to Ulm, many Early Childhood Education students do not realize the importance of Gateways, which is a professional registry that keeps track of education hours and can offer scholarships and extra funding.

“My students can graduate from Lake Land after two years at a Level 4 status in Gateways,” Ulm said. “I bring in experts from the community to do trainings, and students can get DCFS credit for that. This can help increase their opportunities later on in the field.”

EDUCATION AREA OF STUDY

Business Education

Child & Family Services

Early Childhood Care & Education

Early Childhood Education

Elementary Education

Health Education

Mathematics Education

Nanny Child Care Provider

Paraprofessional Educator

Physical Education

Secondary Education-Biology

Secondary Education-Chemistry

Secondary Education-Physics

Special Education

Education Exploratory Area of Study

LEARN MORE

For more information or to get started in an Education Area of Study visit lakelandcollege.edu.