Early Childhood Studies: January 2012

Saturday, January 21, 2012

Observing Communication

I was allowed to observe the 3 and 4 year old class at my daughter’s school. I thought it was so interesting to see these little people interacting with each other. Some of them were best friends one minute, mad at each other the next and then hugging when it was time to say good bye. At one point one little girl came crying to the teacher “Maddie wants me to be in a friendship with her and I don’t want to be inside a friendship!”. The teacher smiled and asked the little girl if she knew what a friendship was. The little girl replied “no”. The teacher explained that being in a friendship simply meant that you are friends with that person. At that the little girl laughed and said “I do want Maddie to be my friend”. It was so funny how the children did not really understand what they were saying and must have heard it from adults at some point. This might be an overly simple example of communication but the teacher did a good job in explaining friendship and teaching the children that it was something good that they were already involved in. The child thought that a friendship was something bad or scary because she did not understand and now she is happy and has an understanding of another level of personal relationships. I believe the child’s self-worth was improved as she realized that the other child just wanted to be her friend.
I have always loved communication with children. Yes, sometimes it can be frustrating when you can’t seem to get them to understand a certain concept, but the honesty in which they communicate is precious. It brings humor into our lives when we get to see how they interpret the world around them and try to make meaning of what they see and hear. I think that for myself to be a better communicator I need to work on ways to explain meaning to children at the level they can understand and make sense of.

Saturday, January 14, 2012

Creating Affirming Environments

First I would like the entrance to be welcoming to any child and parent that enters the facility. Children and parents can both be pretty stressed at the prospect of being separated from each other and I believe this is an important first step in creating comfort. Having the sign in sheets individualized to each child might be a good first start. This could be as simple as having a family photo of each child laminated on top of the sign in/out sheets. Adriana has the one small cultural collection on her wall and this could also be something could help children feel more comfortable. Having something visible that reminds the child of their own home and culture could create a sense of belonging and assist the child in feeling safe.
Something else I have seen done is to have laminated pictures on the tables that the children use for eating and activities. At his eye level the children can easily see the photos of all the different families and share with each other about their own photos which stimulate diverse conversation.
There were several aspects of Adriana’s childcare that I did not agree with but some that I did. I did not like that she created a bed to have the children jump on when she knew that parents did not allow that at home. I believe this will confuse the children. Instead I would have some other diversion activity such as bubble blowing, play doh center or equally fun activity that could distract and capture the interest of the child. I do not think it is best for the child to be made to cry it out. In the video we were told that the children would be brought to a room to cry it out and express their emotions. I have to disagree with this. Children are scared and stressed to have a parent leave them. If a caregiver interacts, shows concern and love, it eases the child’s emotions and makes him or her feel more comfortable allowing the parent to leave. It also alleviates the anxiety and stress of the parent having to leave a crying child behind which can cause sadness and distress for the parent.
I love the idea of having activity centers separated into reading areas, arts and crafts area and a play area. My reading area will have bean bags for the children to relax in and be filled with books that any child can relate to. As the text book states “In response to the social justice efforts of many Americans, including early childhood teachers, publishers now pay greater attention to the social diversity of the children and families in their reading audience, and there are many books that combine fine storytelling, rich language, and beautiful artwork to depict diversity”. (Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 46). The craft area will have supplies of all colors and children will be free to create to their imaginative limits. The play area will have an array of toys from gender neutral to gender and race specific to represent each child.

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Established Contact with My German Childhood Professional

My contact actually changed from Tonya Schmidt to Thomas Volz. He studied in New York and Turkey. He taught school in Turkey and in Boveria at the Abuture, which they call the place of higher learning durin ghte first years. He also taught Turkish students to speak English for 4 years. He has 3 boys of his own that are 11, 12 and 15 years old. Whe I asked him to tell me about povery in Germany that he might have experienced and how it affects children, this is what he wrote to me:
"In Germany the federal social security system is (still) so comprehensive that you hardly notice any differences between rich and poor students in class. As (still) most of our schools end at 1pm, lunch, nutrition and healthcare is predominantly considered a private matter. People are very touchy about the government interfering in these questions. So it is left to health care providers to inform and teach the public on a voluntary basis. Of Course schools support this, but not as an integral part of the basic curriculum. The stress is on academic subjects".
"However, times are changing. More and more schools exand their lessons into the afternoon and the schools provide lunch. This is generally a cheap alternative to private lunch served at home. Here the schools monitor ingediences and nutrition very closely because many parents are very aware of this topic"
"The gap between rich and poor is, however, quite obvious on a higher academic level. Children that are academically supported at home are more likely to proceed to higher education and achieve better results on the long run. This more a question of how educated the parents/families are. But as education and income are unextricably entwined the link between academic achievement and income is a sad (German) fact"

Family Culture

I have been to many countries throughout my career and can appreciate the difference in culture. If I knew I was being evacuated and could never come home there would be no question about what items I would take. My first item would be my baby books. My daughter and my unborn baby are the center of our family. The baby books tell them the story of their lives as well as about their grandparents, aunts and uncles. I believe this would be important for them to have when they get older. My second item would be my hard drive that houses all our family photos. Family has always been the most important thing in my life and I would want those memories for myself as well as my child. All of our physical belongings could be replaced but not our family memories. The last item would be my address book so that I would not lose contact with any of my family or friends. If I were told I had to give up any of my items I would be extremely upset and would fight to keep them. The insight I have gained is how important family is and how we can do without our physical belongings as long as we have our family.

International Research

International research can be beneficial to the entire country if it is shared in a cooperative manner. The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php) website is researching the topic of “Networking” and the “ripple effect”. This study believes that for knowledge to be “relevant and maximally useful” it has to be shared and spread from person to person and not contained to one small area. Knowledge should not be contained in one country or area but should be shared and spread so that as many people can share what they have already learned and enable others to benefit from that same knowledge and experience.
This organization is unique in that selecting the participants they did not select solely on status, profession or graduate level participation but rather on community involvement. This is important because the knowledge needs to be spread to those in the community and at all levels. They offer continual education programs and seminars. They partner with the School of child and Youth Care (http://www.cyc.uvic.ca/). This site has so much information on issues related to early childhood to include pediatrics health, infant development, community programs and so much more. It is the epitome of serving a diverse population and supports inclusion to the fullest.
It is great to see an organization so dedicated to sharing information to the rest of the world and dedicated to improving their own communities to benefit their people, especially the children. There is great focus on educating those in childcare to ensure the knowledge is passed on to improve the early childhood field at every level.

Research that Benefits children and Families Week 3

If I could chose a research project with unlimited money, materials, and knowledge I would choose to study how children learn through play and how to increase imaginative lesson plans. This is the same topic of study I chose for my research simulations. With an unlimited budget my team would be able to set up a modern classroom designed around objects that interest young children and can also be used to asses developmental landmarks and promote learning. There are so many learning toys on the market now that could be beneficial in the classroom if the budget and policy allowed for it. I believe that a place that children are so excited to attend and may not even realize they are learning while having fun would benefit children and families. It would create a strong foundation for learning in a positive manner that would set the pace for future learning. This could also show families how to engage their children in fun learning and create a bonding experience for the parents to be involved in the child’s academic life.

Personal Research Journey

I have decided to research the topic of teaching and learning through play. We studied this topic in previous classes and it has been my favorite. Even with my own children I see howmuch more they learn if we canmake it a fun expereince of interacting and not just boring lecture that does not captivate their imagination or interest. So many studies prove the importance of development and learning through play and honestly I think it is so much common sense. If we have children of our own or are in a classroom I believe we can clearly see how important it is to incorporate play into learning. I would like to learn more aboutthe typesof play that assist with development and how to successfully incorporate this into the classroom with it being a "free for all" play period without the benefit of learning.

Week 7 Alternate Assignment

This week I did not hear from my German Liaison. I believe it is a school break when they take annual vacation right now. So, I explored the UNESCO site which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The goal of the organization is to promote education all over the world. They also intervene in child health issues such as educating on preventable diseases to help decrease death in children related to this. I had no idea that 10.5 million children a year die from preventable disease! It is very important to advocate for education in this arena when there are so many diseases that have no cure yet these deaths are senseless.
The Organization works extensively in Africa, Arab Countries, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean to promote education as well. In June of this year the organization is hosting a 5 day course in Africa to improve the quality of teacher education. They assist in teaching how to reform and rebuild the education system.
The organization just produced a 12 minute video of young people discussing education and human rights. It features youth from 10 countries speaking openly on issues of diversity within the education system. The video will be used in teaching forums to assist with educating on sensitive topics of diversity, violence and exclusion.

Week 6 Sharing Resources

For the past 2 months the Children’s Defense Fund has been focused on the recent budget issues in Congress. The newsletter is publishing urgent calls for constituents to contact congress stating: “The future and soul of our country is at stake this coming week in Washington. Now is the time to act to prevent Congress and the President from balancing the budget on the backs of babies and the poor. Congress has until Friday April 8 to pass a federal budget and negotiations are ongoing but uncertain. We could face a government shut down and devastating budget cuts for our children and families are looming”.
• 218,000 children would lose Head Start; 16,000 classrooms would close and 55,000 jobs would be lost.
• 11 million children and adults could be denied health care from Community Health Centers.
• Many of the 9.4 million low-income college students would have their Pell Grants eliminated or severely reduced.
• Cuts are also expected to be announced soon in Medicaid, Food Stamps and other lifelines for poor children and families

Obviously this issue is directly related to our studies as well as to my own government job. It seems unbelievable that the jobs of the United States Military could be on the line as well as the budgets in place to assist the children of our Nation. The newsletter as well as the main points on the website this week talk about multi million dollar corporations that are not even made to pay federal taxes, yet the government wants to take away the little bit of funding for underprivileged children in our country.

International Issues of Equity

This week my German contact talked with me about the issues of equity in his country: "Children with disabilities were normally educated in specially equipped and funded institutions tailored to the needs of the challenged. This however, has changed. Now the key term is integration. The special institutions are gradually disappearing because the aim is now to integrate everybody into the "normal" schools and nursery schools. The funds are attributed to these normal schools so that they can teach and educate the handicapped and students with special needs together with all the other students. They get money for social workers, wheel chair access, extra teachers training etc. On the other hand, excellence has always been neglected. Elite has always been sth like a taboo word. In contrast to challenged students specially gifted students still don't get a systematic programme that helps them to develop. That's a pity. But at least it has been acknowledged that there are faster learners that need more and different food for thoughts. There are many books about it but no master plan. Teaching to the test is the arch enemy of educational quality control in Germany. So test makers try to focus on general abilities that can only be developed on the long run. There are many prejudices among German educators about tests in general. They still cling to the ideas of great Humanists like Humboldt, Lessing, Herder and Goethe. It's the heart that matters. And the quality of this organ cannot easily be measured" This weeks resources outlined the gaps from home to earlychildhood programs and talked about how improving the programs can decrease this gap. I believe that we have a chance to make that difference for children and allow them the opportunity to learn basic developmental skills they might be missing at home. It should not be just an opportunity it should be our responsibility.

CDF Talk about Budget Cuts

The February Newsletter for the Childrens Defense Fund talks about a $66 billion budget cut that affects programs such as head start, the Child Care Development and Block Grant as well as the Title 1 education program for disadvantaged children. There is also an update on the No Child Left Behind Act that states "more than 60% of ALL children in grades 4,8 and 12 can not read! The CDF is working toward bettering education for children in poverty and other situations that hinder education and healthy development. The newsletter also provides a state by state statistical fact sheet on the well being of children. Lastly the newsletter gives an update on a program called the Black Community Crusade for Children that helps "confront the crises that black children in America face".

Week 8 Blog International Awareness

Three Consequences of studying about international early childhood are:

1. Every country has issues and trends that affect children no matter how far advanced they are

2. No matter how many organizations and education on poverty and childhood issues there are, there still is not enough help to pull all of these children out of poverty and afford them an equal opportunity to thrive and develop

3. Economists, politicians and lawyers are still not doing enough for children despite their need to boosts their own careers by showing interest in the issues related to early childhood and children.

A goal for international awareness would be that we learn from any solutions other countries may have implemented in taking care of their children and making them a priority. “Benchmarking” is used in so many professions rather than reinventing the wheel when there may be an awesome blue print already out there. For all my colleagues I hope and pray that we become part of the solution….