Becky Roth, MA, CIMI
Early Childhood Education

Office:  T12 C   (661)763-7772    broth@taftcollege.edu

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"We make a living by what we get; we make a life by what we give."   - Winston Churchill, British statesman

    I am the ECE professor at Taft College.  I have worked in Early Childhood Education for over 20 years and consider myself very lucky to have found a profession in which I work with children, families and students on a daily basis.  I have learned more from my time and experience with others than any book could teach.  The books and the classes are my guide, but people are my teachers.

     I received my BA in Liberal Studies from California State University Bakersfield in 1990 and an MA in Early Childhood Education in 1991.  During my time at CSUB I worked as an infant/toddler teacher, volunteered at the local shelter for abused and abandoned children with children from birth to 17, and was a camp counselor during the summers working with children age 6 to 17.  Immediately after college I was hired by Taft College to supervise their infant/toddler program and school-age program where I continued to work for eight years.  During that time I taught college part-time, gained certification in infant massage, the Program for Infant/Toddler Caregivers, and working with school-age children.  During the spring of 2002 I traveled to Reggio Emilia, Italy to attend a 8 day training on the Reggio Emilia Approach to infant/toddler and preschool education.  I am fortunate to have had many wonderful experiences to support my learning and teaching.

     I am currently a certified Infant Massage Instructor through the International Association for Infant Massage and offer several massage trainings yearly to pregnant and parenting teens, foster and kinship caregivers, and to parents court mandated to attend parenting classes. As well as the trainings, Taft College offers ECE 11C - Introduction to Infant Massage (1 unit) to students interested in gaining more information on the benefits of positive touch and/or interested in getting a specialization in infant development. 

Being touched and caressed, being massaged, is food for the infant.  Food as necessary as minerals, vitamins, and proteins."  - Dr. Frederick Leboyer

     If you think you might be interested in the field of Early Childhood Education or Child Development, I encourage you to take at least two classes, one of which will require you to work directly with children.  Early Childhood Education and Child Development are interdisciplinary fields of study and a degree in Child Development or ECE opens the door to numerous professions such as:  teaching infants and toddlers, preschoolers, and elementary school, teaching college, social work and counseling, special education, law enforcement, holistic and birthing programs, parent training and resource programs, recreation programs, etc.   Please feel free to contact me for further information regarding opportunities in the field, course suggestions and course information.  The following quote applies to learners of all ages:

    "Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."  - William Butler Yeats, Irish Poet