I still have not heard back from any of my international contacts, so I continued working on the podcast alternative for the assignment. This week, I reviewed the World Forum Radio podcast featuring George Forman (http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/current-work/world-forum-radio/). Forman is the Co-founder of Videatives, Inc., which is a company that helps educators understand children's play by video recording children during play and then providing a narrative description about what the child is doing and what the child's thinking process could actually be. Forman has extensively studied Piaget's theories on play, writing several books about the topic. During an child observation, Forman discovered that children may actually be learning about their environment from an active, verb-focused viewpoint. Instead of looking at how things are in the world, children look at their environment and see what everything is doing. The little boy in Forman's observation was playing with a log. He stopped walking and set the log in a vertical position. We would normally say that the log looked like a tower, which is a noun-based conclusion. Forman concluded that the boy was excited to see the log stand on end because it was standing, not falling, which is a verb-based conclusion. I really like Forman's view of thinking in terms of focusing on the world through a verb-based lens. Children are often engaged in play, so they are always manipulating objects and determining what their actions do to the objects.
I also took the opportunity to review Harvard University's Global Children's Initiative website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/). One thing that I was able to relate to was when reading the Initiative's fact sheet, I noticed that they are focusing on improving mental health resources for children around the world. In my classroom and in our program, we have noticed a significant increase in the number of children and their families who have needed mental health serviced due to a variety of factors in their lives. For example, we have an eighteen month old child whose mother is in prison for drug consumption and possession and the child has displayed an increasing amount of biting behavior in the classroom. Through observations, we cannot find any specific triggers that provoke the biting, so we have called for mental health services to help us assist the child with working through this behavior. A variety of factors can influence mental health behaviors that need to be addressed and it seems that the Global Children's Initiative agrees. Another insight that I gained from the website was the impact that malaria and other health issues are having on the educational experience for children in Zambia. The overall life expectancy for the population of Zambia remains below fifty years, due to the impact of poverty and illness. Educators understand the importance of early childhood education and care practices and how it can improve a child's life expectancy and performance, which is why they are focusing on improving the malaria treatment and prevention practices in Zambia. By helping children receive a healthy start in life, advocates hope to improve the children's education performance and increase life expectancy. I also followed the link to the ACEV: Mother Child Education Foundation (http://www.acev.org/en/anasayfa). The ACEV is based in Turkey, but has partnered with organizations in thirteen other countries. They focus on strengthening the relationships between the mother and child and the father and child in needy homes, understanding that healthy relationships are a key component to a child's childhood experience. ACEV provides a variety of professional development trainings for educators to assist families with improving early childhood experiences in the needy families of Turkey and Turkish immigrants around the world. I found it reassurig that other educators around the world share the same aspirations for early childhood education as we do in the United States.
Thursday, April 4, 2013
Saturday, March 30, 2013
Sharing Web Resources-Update
As I continue to explore the website for Child Care Aware of America (http://www.naccrra.org), I am learning more about the various resources that they have to offer for child care providers. For providers who wish to continue working on professional development, Child Care Aware of America offers a professional development training center (http://naccrra.smarthorizons.org/index.html). In the training center, there are numerous courses available, depending on the goals that the provider is looking to accomplish. For example, a provider can work on their Child Development Associate (CDA) initial certification and their renewal. Providers can also take specialized courses that are geared toward certain curricular areas that their students may be struggling in. Some of these specialized courses include child-directed activities, early literacy, and music activities. There are also professional development trainings that are geared specifically toward center-based or family-based child care providers, which can be beneficial since general trainings may not necessarily include topics or issues that are more relevant to center-based or family-based environments.
One article from the website that gained my attention was Child Care Aware of America Supports the Child Care Protection Act of 2013, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/news-room/press-releases/2013/3/child-care-aware®-of-america-supports-the-child-care-protection-act-. This particular bill that was recently introduced would require comprehensive background checks for all child care providers. As of right now, this process is only mandated in 13 states in the U.S. Since in Ohio, we are required to submit to regular fingerprinting for background checks if you work with children (I had to do this when I was a lifeguard for my local YMCA), I was shocked to hear that this is not a mandatory process for all individuals who could be working with children. This truly scares me to think that I could move to another state and place my children in a child care program where the staff could potentially be sex offenders or have been convicted of child abuse!
It took me a little while to search the website for an example of the support of early childhood education provided by someone other than educators and the federal government, but I did come across an article from New Mexico that described the movement to amend the state constitution to allow for funding toward pre-Kindergarten programs (http://coreissues.usa.childcareaware.org/latest-news/amendment-would-boost-early-childhood-education/). Even local business owners, such as Victor Limary-owner of Talin Market, support the move to provide state-funded preschool. The article states that by investing in the education of young children, the state is investing in the future of the local businesses by increasing the talent pool. This act is still in the making though because there are still several opposing groups, such as a local chamber of commerce that does not currently see that a current investment in the state's young children will bring a greater economic return in the future. I am curious to see if this amendment ends up passing!
One article from the website that gained my attention was Child Care Aware of America Supports the Child Care Protection Act of 2013, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/news-room/press-releases/2013/3/child-care-aware®-of-america-supports-the-child-care-protection-act-. This particular bill that was recently introduced would require comprehensive background checks for all child care providers. As of right now, this process is only mandated in 13 states in the U.S. Since in Ohio, we are required to submit to regular fingerprinting for background checks if you work with children (I had to do this when I was a lifeguard for my local YMCA), I was shocked to hear that this is not a mandatory process for all individuals who could be working with children. This truly scares me to think that I could move to another state and place my children in a child care program where the staff could potentially be sex offenders or have been convicted of child abuse!
It took me a little while to search the website for an example of the support of early childhood education provided by someone other than educators and the federal government, but I did come across an article from New Mexico that described the movement to amend the state constitution to allow for funding toward pre-Kindergarten programs (http://coreissues.usa.childcareaware.org/latest-news/amendment-would-boost-early-childhood-education/). Even local business owners, such as Victor Limary-owner of Talin Market, support the move to provide state-funded preschool. The article states that by investing in the education of young children, the state is investing in the future of the local businesses by increasing the talent pool. This act is still in the making though because there are still several opposing groups, such as a local chamber of commerce that does not currently see that a current investment in the state's young children will bring a greater economic return in the future. I am curious to see if this amendment ends up passing!
Saturday, March 23, 2013
Getting to Know Your International Contacts
The past few weeks have been very educational for me, even if I have not received any feedback from any of my international education professionals. I often find myself browsing the Internet looking for various education programs from around the world and explore their websites for any similarities or differences to education programs in the United States. One of the things that I have learned during this process is that all educators around the world are passionate for helping children not only succeed in the classroom, but in life overall. As educators, we understand that it is our responsibility to build a strong, stable foundation for children to learn critical developmental skills that they will use for a lifetime.
Since I did not receive any feedback from any of my professionals from around the world, I have switched to an alternative assignment, which involves reviewing and reflecting on the podcasts issued by the World Forum Foundation. This week, I chose to listen to the podcasts featuring Susan Lyon and Barbara Jones. Susan Lyon is the founder of the Innovative Teacher Project (http://www.innovativeteacherproject.org/index.php), which bases its educational principles off of the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. I loved hearing Susan Lyon describe her experience working with a little boy on how to spell the word "city". During that special moment, she learned the importance of viewing the world through a child's eyes, which I agree is a key principle that educators need to focus on when working directly with children. Children may not necessarily view the world in the way that we want them to see things, so it is our job as educators to take a step back and learn each child's perspective on things. Barbara Jones is the founder of the Pine Grove Montessori School in Falmouth, Maine. She began her career in Early Childhood Education looking to take part in a non-traditional early childhood program. That is when she came across for a listing for a teacher position available for a Montessori school in California. She later moved to Maine and came across a small schoolhouse. She took the opportunity to purchase the school, renovate it, and turn it into her own Montessori program, which has been running successfully for over 25 years. The Pine Grove Montessori School (http://www.pinegrovecenter.com/index.html) follows the ideas of Maria Montessori, who acknowledged the fact that children are naturally-driven learners. The school uses observations for each child to learn about the children's interests and then provide materials and carefully guided learning activities for the students to explore at their own pace.
I also took the opportunity to explore the website for the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/) and look at the childhood poverty information provided for Kyrgyzstan. I knew that compared to the United States, the economic status for Kyrgyzstan was relatively low, but I was shocked when I learned about the number of children living in poverty conditions in the country. Forty-nine percent of urban children under the age of 20 and 55 percent of rural children under the age of 20 were living in poverty conditions. Of those children, 18 percent were not able to afford basic food expenses, leading to a high rate of malnutrition in the country. Due to the poor economic conditions, children are having to drop out of school and work to help support their families, which leads to a decline in the number of "properly" educated people in the country. Another factor of poverty hitting the country is the lack of access to health services. Some illnesses associated with poverty, such as tuberculosis, are beginning to redevelop in the country. As these illnesses affect the children, less children are able to work due to illness, again having an impact on the economic welfare of the people. I found this website very informative because it allowed me to look into how poverty is affecting other parts of the world. I can also compare my local poverty outcomes to those around the world and look at the similarities and differences in how poverty affects the people involved. In Kyrgyzstan, children are having to drop out of school to help earn income for their families. In the United States, child labor laws prevent children from being able to work to support their family, so families are forced to look for additional ways add income to their family.
Since I did not receive any feedback from any of my professionals from around the world, I have switched to an alternative assignment, which involves reviewing and reflecting on the podcasts issued by the World Forum Foundation. This week, I chose to listen to the podcasts featuring Susan Lyon and Barbara Jones. Susan Lyon is the founder of the Innovative Teacher Project (http://www.innovativeteacherproject.org/index.php), which bases its educational principles off of the Reggio Emilia approach to learning. I loved hearing Susan Lyon describe her experience working with a little boy on how to spell the word "city". During that special moment, she learned the importance of viewing the world through a child's eyes, which I agree is a key principle that educators need to focus on when working directly with children. Children may not necessarily view the world in the way that we want them to see things, so it is our job as educators to take a step back and learn each child's perspective on things. Barbara Jones is the founder of the Pine Grove Montessori School in Falmouth, Maine. She began her career in Early Childhood Education looking to take part in a non-traditional early childhood program. That is when she came across for a listing for a teacher position available for a Montessori school in California. She later moved to Maine and came across a small schoolhouse. She took the opportunity to purchase the school, renovate it, and turn it into her own Montessori program, which has been running successfully for over 25 years. The Pine Grove Montessori School (http://www.pinegrovecenter.com/index.html) follows the ideas of Maria Montessori, who acknowledged the fact that children are naturally-driven learners. The school uses observations for each child to learn about the children's interests and then provide materials and carefully guided learning activities for the students to explore at their own pace.
I also took the opportunity to explore the website for the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre (http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/) and look at the childhood poverty information provided for Kyrgyzstan. I knew that compared to the United States, the economic status for Kyrgyzstan was relatively low, but I was shocked when I learned about the number of children living in poverty conditions in the country. Forty-nine percent of urban children under the age of 20 and 55 percent of rural children under the age of 20 were living in poverty conditions. Of those children, 18 percent were not able to afford basic food expenses, leading to a high rate of malnutrition in the country. Due to the poor economic conditions, children are having to drop out of school and work to help support their families, which leads to a decline in the number of "properly" educated people in the country. Another factor of poverty hitting the country is the lack of access to health services. Some illnesses associated with poverty, such as tuberculosis, are beginning to redevelop in the country. As these illnesses affect the children, less children are able to work due to illness, again having an impact on the economic welfare of the people. I found this website very informative because it allowed me to look into how poverty is affecting other parts of the world. I can also compare my local poverty outcomes to those around the world and look at the similarities and differences in how poverty affects the people involved. In Kyrgyzstan, children are having to drop out of school to help earn income for their families. In the United States, child labor laws prevent children from being able to work to support their family, so families are forced to look for additional ways add income to their family.
Tuesday, March 12, 2013
Sharing Web Resources
The agency that I decided to focus my study on was the National Association of Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org. The agency offers readers the opportunity to subscribe to one of their various newsletters, with topics ranging from advocacy, public policy, and family resources. I subscribed to all of the them, so that I could follow the various topics that the agency addressed.
One of the topics that caught my eye this week was the push to contact local political leaders to take a stand against the recent sequestration that has taken effect in our country. This topic really hit home for me because my Head Start and Early Head Start program is facing a 5.3% budget cut on the remainder of our fiscal year. This cut adds up to around $122,000 that we have to cut from services. We are doing the best that we can to keep from cutting services offered to children, but we may have to shorten the current Head Start school year by one week in order to cover part of the loss. This means that our children can miss out on a week's worth of valuable learning that could help them prepare for entering school in the fall.
I also took the opportunity to sit down and review the agency's Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 to see what their goals were for improving quality child care, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/strategic_plan_2010-2015.pdf. I found it interesting that about 90% of the child care programs in our country are NOT considered high quality. This is due to high staff turnover, lack of staff training and education, poor state requirements, and the lack of funding. As a parent who is currently looking for child care for my almost 4 year old daughter and will be newborn, I am scared to think of the cost that child care is going to be for my family. As an educator, I know the importance of high quality care, but as a parent, I simply cannot afford it. I am hoping that as I continue to learn about NACCRRA, I will find an answer to finding affordable high quality child care before I actually come to need it.
One of the topics that caught my eye this week was the push to contact local political leaders to take a stand against the recent sequestration that has taken effect in our country. This topic really hit home for me because my Head Start and Early Head Start program is facing a 5.3% budget cut on the remainder of our fiscal year. This cut adds up to around $122,000 that we have to cut from services. We are doing the best that we can to keep from cutting services offered to children, but we may have to shorten the current Head Start school year by one week in order to cover part of the loss. This means that our children can miss out on a week's worth of valuable learning that could help them prepare for entering school in the fall.
I also took the opportunity to sit down and review the agency's Strategic Plan for 2010-2015 to see what their goals were for improving quality child care, which can be found at http://www.naccrra.org/sites/default/files/default_site_pages/2012/strategic_plan_2010-2015.pdf. I found it interesting that about 90% of the child care programs in our country are NOT considered high quality. This is due to high staff turnover, lack of staff training and education, poor state requirements, and the lack of funding. As a parent who is currently looking for child care for my almost 4 year old daughter and will be newborn, I am scared to think of the cost that child care is going to be for my family. As an educator, I know the importance of high quality care, but as a parent, I simply cannot afford it. I am hoping that as I continue to learn about NACCRRA, I will find an answer to finding affordable high quality child care before I actually come to need it.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Establishing Early Childhood Contacts and Expanding Resources
I am truly excited to say that I am looking forward to working with other early childhood professionals from around the world. When asked to establish connection with at least two early childhood professionals from outside of the United States, I was not sure where to begin. Then, I remembered that the Head Start program that I work for serves a few families from various nationalities. I decided to explore those nationalities and attempt to reach out to a few professionals from those countries.
In order to establish connection, I have sent out emails to the following professionals. As of right now, I am still waiting for a reply, but as soon as I hear something, I will update my status.
Tiffany
In order to establish connection, I have sent out emails to the following professionals. As of right now, I am still waiting for a reply, but as soon as I hear something, I will update my status.
- The first professional that I have contacted is Noushad Ahmed Khan from Pakistan. They are the Secretary General of Pakistan, working for the OMEP, World Organization for Early Childhood Education. I was able to find contact information at http://www.omep.org.gu.se/regions/asia_pacific/.
- The second professional that I have contacted is Tran Ba Viet Dzung from Vietnam. They are the Director General at the Ministry of Education and Training. I was able to find contact information at http://en.moet.gov.vn/?page=3.1&view=3463.
Tiffany
Saturday, February 16, 2013
My Supports
I have realized that I have various support systems that help me get through each day. When I am at home, my family provides me with emotional support by showing me unconditional love, even when I feel that I am least deserving of it. They also provide me with physical support by helping with chores around the house and keeping me active while I'm chasing my 3 year-old around everywhere. My husband has always been the breadwinner of the family and has provided the financial support that we need to get by on a daily basis. When I am at work, my supervisor provides me with emotional support by providing me with encouragement and an "open-door" whenever I need to ask questions or need somebody to talk to. I also receive physical support at work through the various education and company policies and manuals that have been reproduced so that I can have them at my fingertips. I cannot tell you how many times a day I refer to the Head Start Act or Performance Standards when working on various assignments that have been handed to me at work. On a lighter note, coffee and chocolate give me the physical and emotional support that I need to tackle any tough challenge that comes my way.
A challenge that I hope and pray that I never have to encounter is being a single parent, especially since I am expecting my second child. I would not have that support person there to help provide the financial support to meet the everyday needs to keep our household going. I would struggle to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, have clothes on our back. These financial struggles would then lead to a large amount of emotional stress. I would have to rely on governmental assistance, if it was available to me at that time, to make ends meet and provide for my family. I would also have to rely on my family and friends to help me cope emotionally with the stress of being the main breadwinner for my family. Since I would be the main financial support, there would be a good chance that I would have to work multiple jobs, which would pull me away from spending valuable bonding time with my family. I truly give credit to the individuals who have to raise their children alone. They are strong individuals and they have earned my respect.
A challenge that I hope and pray that I never have to encounter is being a single parent, especially since I am expecting my second child. I would not have that support person there to help provide the financial support to meet the everyday needs to keep our household going. I would struggle to put food on the table, keep a roof over our heads, have clothes on our back. These financial struggles would then lead to a large amount of emotional stress. I would have to rely on governmental assistance, if it was available to me at that time, to make ends meet and provide for my family. I would also have to rely on my family and friends to help me cope emotionally with the stress of being the main breadwinner for my family. Since I would be the main financial support, there would be a good chance that I would have to work multiple jobs, which would pull me away from spending valuable bonding time with my family. I truly give credit to the individuals who have to raise their children alone. They are strong individuals and they have earned my respect.
Saturday, February 2, 2013
My Connections to Play
Play is such an integral part of any child's development and always has been. Unfortunately, over the years, there has been a push for children to spend less time playing in educational settings and more time preparing for standardized testing. Early childhood program often claim that they are child-focused, but they push children to follow such a strict curriculum that the fun of learning is lost.
When I was growing up, my mother was a stay-at-home mom up until I started Kindergarten. I remember spending the majority of my time at home playing in the backyard on the swing set or riding my bicycle in the driveway. When I played inside, I would line my stuffed animals up along my bed and pretend to be "mom", bottle feeding them and tucking them into bed. I did not have a television in my bedroom until I was a teenager and even then I had to share it with my sister. When I wanted to watch television, we usually watched it as a family. If I told my parents that I was bored, I was told to go play outside. My older brother was often into playing sports, so he would be practicing baseball or football in the yard with my father. My sister and I were six years apart, which was a significant age gap, so I was often left to play by myself. I do not necessarily regret that because as I grew up, I always preferred my alone time and still do. My alone time is when I tend to be most creative with what I have around me.
I watch my 3 year old daughter play now and there are some similarities to the way that I used to play. She loves to role play with her stuffed animals and other dolls. I will proudly say that that she had her stuffed animals potty trained months before she actually was. She loves to be creative with arts and crafts. The one main difference that I notice is the emphasis that she places on watching television and other technology. I truly do not agree with using a television as a babysitter, but there are times when a parent has to get something done and that is the only way to keep a child's attention. My daughter has also figured out how to use our cellphones to find games and other activities without our help. I try to limit the amount of "technology" time that she has, but looking at the way the trends are going, her educational experience and other areas of life are almost guaranteed to be heavily influenced by technology. I try to set time aside to just sit down and play with my daughter so that she can still see the importance of having that freedom to express herself.
Here are a few pictures that represent play as I was growing up:
Tiffany Booze
Quotes were retrieved from BrainyQuote.com
When I was growing up, my mother was a stay-at-home mom up until I started Kindergarten. I remember spending the majority of my time at home playing in the backyard on the swing set or riding my bicycle in the driveway. When I played inside, I would line my stuffed animals up along my bed and pretend to be "mom", bottle feeding them and tucking them into bed. I did not have a television in my bedroom until I was a teenager and even then I had to share it with my sister. When I wanted to watch television, we usually watched it as a family. If I told my parents that I was bored, I was told to go play outside. My older brother was often into playing sports, so he would be practicing baseball or football in the yard with my father. My sister and I were six years apart, which was a significant age gap, so I was often left to play by myself. I do not necessarily regret that because as I grew up, I always preferred my alone time and still do. My alone time is when I tend to be most creative with what I have around me.
I watch my 3 year old daughter play now and there are some similarities to the way that I used to play. She loves to role play with her stuffed animals and other dolls. I will proudly say that that she had her stuffed animals potty trained months before she actually was. She loves to be creative with arts and crafts. The one main difference that I notice is the emphasis that she places on watching television and other technology. I truly do not agree with using a television as a babysitter, but there are times when a parent has to get something done and that is the only way to keep a child's attention. My daughter has also figured out how to use our cellphones to find games and other activities without our help. I try to limit the amount of "technology" time that she has, but looking at the way the trends are going, her educational experience and other areas of life are almost guaranteed to be heavily influenced by technology. I try to set time aside to just sit down and play with my daughter so that she can still see the importance of having that freedom to express herself.
Here are a few pictures that represent play as I was growing up:
This swing set is very similar to the one that we had in my back yard when I was growing up. Our swing set also had a baby swing hanging from it and I would often take my stuffed animals outside and push them in the baby swing.
This bicycle is similar to the one that I had growing up. I would often ride around in my drive way or once I was a little older, I was allowed to ride around the block as long as I did not cross the street. With the crime these days, I would not trust my daughter to ride her bicycle anywhere without having an adult present with her at all times.
This was my childhood friend. Pooh bear went everywhere with me. My grandmother gave him to me. When my daughter was born, I asked my mom to get one for her to pass down the tradition. I'm glad to see that my daughter loves hers as much as I loved mine. The one difference between them is the name. For some reason, she came up with the name "ho bear". We have no clue where that name came from.
Here are a few quotes that I believe reflect the importance of play:
"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." -Plato
"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood." -Fred Rogers
"It should be noted that children at play are not playing about; their games should be seen as their most serious-minded activity." -Michel de Montaigne
Tiffany Booze
Quotes were retrieved from BrainyQuote.com
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