End of course Effective Programs and Practices

I am coming to the end of my third course.  I have learned a lot and hope that my next course, Issues and Trends in the Early Childhood Field, continues to impart me with knowledge.  Thanks to all my classmates for their support and collaboration. Stay Tuned!

My Supports

This week we are focusing on the importance of inclusion for every child in early childhood programs.  Inclusion could mean children creating environments for children that are not only "ability  diverse" but also those that have different cultural or linguistic backgrounds.  Part of this assignment is for me to think about how factors in my daily life support me and what it would be like for me if those supports were gone.

The first factor I thought of was a practical/physical one:  stools.  I am not very tall, barely 5 feet, so I need help reaching the tall cupboards and shelfs in my home.  If I didn't have my stools, I would have a really hard time getting things up or down!  Stools are very helpful to me.  I am also grateful I can pull my seat up in my minivan so I can drive.  If I could not drive, I would go crazy!  What does drive me crazy are the things in the store or supermarket on the very top shelves that I cannot reach without assistance.  

Emotionally, I have great supports.  My husband is a good provider and very supportive of me working on my master's degree and helps with the kids so I can get work done.  My children, though they don't know it, are my motivation and support me with their unconditional love.  I know also that the rest of my family is behind me and I can go them whenever I need something.  If my emotional support was gone, it would be a lot harder for me to get motivated.  Not that I couldn't, because I am not co-dependent and I do not rely on others in that way, but when one is alone and has no one to encourage or love them, it may be hard to see the reasons to keep pursuing your goals and ambitions.  

The other part of this assignment is to imagine myself with a specific disability and the supports I would need.  I am going to try to imagine what I would do if I was blind.  The most important of our senses is our vision.  We are visual creatures and we live in a world that is meant to be seen.  If I could not see I would need to rely on someone or something almost all the time.  Other than my family support system, I would need a dog, a cane and a really good sense of hearing, touch, smell and orientation.  I would also need a good sense of humor and a positive outlook on life.  Having such a disability could be very depressing and I would not be able to meet that challenge if I had a negative attitude.  

Children with disabilities are unique, because they grow up with them.  They do not know life any differently.  I think that is a blessing.  To go from having something such as the ability to walk, talk or see and then not be able to would be a much different challenge than having that be the way life has always been.  As educators, we need to able to view children as the people they are, not the challenges they have in life.  We will need to educate ourselves in the special accommodations and supports they may need to succeed in our programs, but have to remember after that they are much the same as every other child.  

My Connections To Play

When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.
~Fred Rogers

American Children's Television Host

Pausing to listen to an airplane in the sky, stooping to watch a ladybug on a plant, sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over the quayside—children have their own agendas and timescales. As they find out more about their world and their place in it; they work hard not to let adults hurry them. We need to hear their voices.

~Cathy Nutbrown

Contemporary British educational theorist

The quotes above represent play in my childhood.  Playtime was a time for me to do what I wanted to do, how I wanted to do it.  I was left relatively unsupervised and to my own devices, which suited me just fine.  I learned a lot about society and my role in it through my play, and built my understanding of the world as well.  

Growing up, my toy of choice was my baby dolls and my barbie dolls.  I spent hours playing mommy and dressing and undressing my barbie dolls.  I LOVED to play house.  I read and colored all the time.  When I wasn't confined indoors, I was outside, running around, playing with my sisters and neighborhood kids exploring or playing at whatever we could conjure up.  Even though it was 30+ years ago, I remember my childhood playtime fondly.  

Growing up, my siblings and I weren't allowed to be in the house when it was nice outside.  My play in childhood was supported by parents and grandparents who understood the value of just being outside and exploring, but also that toys lent something to play as well.  I had toys, but I seem to remember not having the ones I really wanted (or maybe I just wanted what my friends had).  Even so, I still had lots of Barbies and baby dolls and whatever else my mother could offer me that nobly served their purpose in my play activities.  

MY 3 ESSENTIAL PLAY ITEMS:

"GET OUTSIDE!"  Playing outside was a big part of my youth.  

Dream Date Barbie-I loved this outfit. Of all the Barbies, this is the one I remember the most.  

My first Cabbage Patch (not my actual doll).  She looked just liked this, her name was Trudy, and she was my cherished friend.

I am always amazed at the way play has changed in the last 15-20 years.  Sometimes I wonder at the fact that up until recently childhood was not relegated to learning toys, electronics and ready made activities.  We didn't have all that, and neither did the generations before us, and we all seemed to have done alright.  My goal for my children is the love of the basics of play,  toys that they have to figure out how to work and how to be outside and run around, something they are actually good at.  They are learning that the best things in life don't have to be expensive toys or electronics.  

As adults, we do not often get the opportunity to play like we did as children, but we can still do it.  Playing WITH children can be very enjoyable.  Building Lego cities or playing soccer with them are great ways to teach children the value of play and that grownups like it too.  Fun and relaxation are very important to adults for decompressing and building relationships with others.  We should always remember to keep play in our lives.  After all "All work and no play, makes Jack a dull boy".   

Relationship Reflection

"No man is an island entire of itself, each man is a part of the continent, a part of the main". 

~ John Donne, 1624. 

This week we are discussing the importance of family relationships and partnerships.  Relationships and partnerships are important because, as John Donne said so eloquently, we are all part of a larger system.  There are many instances in life where we cannot function as just the individual, we need others. Human nature compels us to form relationships, which help society function.  The partnerships and relationships I have in my life are few in number, but that is okay.  Each has a give and take that provides me with something I need and something the other person needs.

The first, and most important, relationship in my life is with my husband.    We have not just a relationship, but a partnership.  We work together to raise our children and support our family, financially and emotionally.  My husband is my friend and partner and an essential part of my support system.  What makes our relationship a partnership is that we are working together toward a common goal as parents and spouses, which makes it different from most of my other relationships.

Another relationship that is important to me is the one I have with my mother.  She has always been there for me and did her best to raise me and my sisters to be competent, independent women.  We now have a relationship that is mutual in that she can ask me for advice and I feel fine offering it to her.    

The other significant relationship in my life is with my sisters.  We have been able to form friendships over the years as we left childhood and school behind, got married and started raising families of our own.  Though we all live in different states, modern day communication allows us to stay in touch and support each other.  As the oldest, it has always been my job to take care of them, but it is nice to now be able to have mutual relationships where they can help me now, too.  

Leaving home and forming adult relationships outside of my family was a difficult experience for me at times.  It took time and maturity, but I have learned that the relationships we form in life, while some are temporary and others are long lasting, each have something to contribute to us as individuals.  Just like a garden, relationships and partnerships require care, attention, and maintenance.  

Professionally, the best experience I have had in learning about partnerships and family relationships has been in working with children and their families.  I am constantly learning how to navigate the intricacies of each individual family's dynamic and how to adjust to their comfort level when it comes to building relationships with them.  

New Course-EDUC 6161 Effective Programs and Practices

I am now in my third course of my master's program, Effective Programs and Practices.  Here I will be discussing issues which effect early childhood programs in policy and practice, and what they mean to me.  Enjoy! :)

When I think of child development...

I am now in the last week of my second MSED course, Early Childhood Development.  I want to share a few quotes and ideas I think are important when thinking about child development.

"Free the child's potential and you will transform him into the world." ~Maria Montessori

Image courtesy of Salvatore Vuono/FreeDigitalPhotos.net

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." ~Frederick Douglass

While Frederick Douglass was not a child development expert, he was a man who saw the best and worst in humanity.  Douglass was born a slave in Maryland in 1818, but, with the help of friends, was able to escape to freedom in Pennsylvania around the age of 20.  He knew something about good people and bad people.  I believe this quote from him is very relevant to the importance of proper love, nurturing and education of children.  

Finally, the video below talks about how the science of early childhood development is showing the importance of early intervention in early childhood.

InBrief: The Science of Early Childhood Development (Video)

The Whole Child

In today's academic environment, when it comes to evaluating children, the mostly widely used method is the standardized test.   Standardized tests measure a child's knowledge in a certain subject.  This is fine in theory, but in reality the methods for testing are unreasonable and the results are questionable.  Standardized tests do not take into account students learning styles or test taking abilities.  Instead all children are expected to perform at the same level regardless of aptitude.  And are these tests measuring success of the child or the school?  Generally, the school.  How this is supposed to measure a child's true potential and success is a mystery to me.  If we are to give standardized tests, then should they not be given at the beginning and end of the year to measure what is known against what they learn throughout the year?  Teaching to the test has taken priority over teaching to standards.

One teaching method that has been recently developed is Whole Child Approach.  Launched in 2007, the Whole Child Initiative is an effort to change the conversation about education from a focus on narrowly defined academic achievement to one that promotes the long term development and success of children (The Whole Child, 2013).  The approach integrates the individual social, cognitive and emotional needs of learners into daily teaching. Seeing the child as a whole person with faceted needs and abilities, not just a student to be taught facts and figures to, is what is needed in our education system today.


In Taiwan, junior high school students prepare to take high school entrance exams in hopes of scoring high enough to be admitted to a prestigious high school, and then prepare for national university entrance exams so they can attend four year university.  If they don't score high enough, they can't apply to these schools (Huang, n.d.).  That is much different in the U.S. where entrance exams are not taken until applying for college and entrance exams are required, but students are not precluded from applying to most colleges by their scores.


References:

Huang, K. (n.d.).  Taiwan and U.S. education comparisons.  Retrieved from    http://sitemaker.umich.edu/huangk.356/standardized_testing

The Whole Child. (2013).  The whole child approach.  Retrieved from http://www.wholechildeducation.org