Consequences to me:
1) As a result of this course, I was forced to explore more about other countries state of child care and to learn that many of the same issues we have here are also being felt around the world.
2) I found that other countries have a lot to teach us. The countries that are excelling (Finland) are places I want to study to see if I can embed their practices into my own and begin the change one classroom or one child at a time.
3) I am feeling more pressure to be more aware of my own bias's, I have always been a reflective thinker but only on my own practices from my perspective. I am going to seek out other perspectives in my reflection to make my reflections more powerful.
Goal for EC Field:
My goal is that the early childhood workforce was getting paid based on the importance of their work, I don't think that will happen, however, until we stand up together along with parents and families to tell the policy makers that quality in early care and education is going to be predictive of our society 20 years from we can either spend money on the front end and give children the best start possible or we will be forced to spend it on the back end by paying for their support either because of higher incarceration rates or a less productive workforce. There will be growing pains but as my husband always says, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger". Together we can make it happen!
Thanks to all my classmates and Dr. Horton.
Wednesday, April 20, 2016
Saturday, April 16, 2016
World View
In searching through the www.unesco.org
website, I discovered that many of the same things we are working on in the
United States has been in the works worldwide for many years. I will share just a few of the statements and
challenges posed in the Moscow
Framework for Action and Cooperation Harnessing the Wealth of Nations.
The first insight I gained as I read this document is that
the world is facing the same reality because it is proven with scientific
research, a comprehensive early care and education system is need to address
the gaps in our nation’s population as well as worldwide. Children who are well cared for
nutritionally, physically, and socially will predict our nation’s success or
failure in the future. Education can be
the key to overcoming poverty and homelessness as well as generations of
underemployed minorities. “ECCE is part
of the right to education and the main foundation for holistic human
development. In addition, ECCE is instrumental in poverty eradication and a
critical stage to lay the foundations for sustainable development. ECCE is an
investment in the wealth of nations. (WCECCE, 2010, p.2)’
“Value multilingualism as an asset (WCECCE, 2010, p. 3)” We
need to embrace the remarkable value there is in our diverse population, not
just tolerate or give it lip service.
When we truly value the benefits of a diverse community systematically
every program regardless of group dynamics will embrace the use of minority and
indigenous languages and expose young children to the concept of those who live
in other parts of the world as a part of getting to know the world
community. This will require education
of staff, classroom materials, and access to guests from other countries to
share their culture; but it will also require the families that represent their
own unique culture to also become engaged in this movement to help children
understand the value of diversity.
The next insight I had was that of quality. We have spent a lot of time studying how to
define quality in our teachers and in our programs and yet I still come away
with no clear message of what constitutes quality. I have learned though about many factors that
contribute towards quality. Engaging
families, the community, and the teachers to join together to demand support
for quality programming for all children, this is everyone’s responsibility. We need to “empower and strengthen the
capacity of parents, families and service providers, so that they can provide
protective relationships, quality care and education to the young child. (WCECCE,
2010, p. 3)” Empower means to give power to, we must give power to those who
have no voice in politics and bolster their abilities by making it easier for
them to voice what they know what is right and good for children.
I found it very empowering to know that the DAP that I
believe in and consult around are also valued around the world. “Improve curricula and methodologies in tune
with childhood, valuing play, affection, cooperation, talent and creativity,
joy, the fostering of self-confidence
and autonomy, as well as active learning pedagogies that take into account a
child’s point of view; (WCECCE, 2010, p. 4)”
Just this week and last we were discussing how best to
prepare our workforce. This document
shine the light on this as a world wide value.
“Develop new approaches and methods to build professional capacity, in
areas of critical importance to quality improvement; improve and expand teacher
training, accreditation and the professional development of ECCE professionals;
(WCECCE, 2010, p.4)” The conundrum we
face in professionalizing our field is one that the world recognizes as being
critical. We need to examine other
countries’ practices that are putting them ahead of us in educational outcomes
to see where we need to begin to make changes.
I think we need to grandfather those experienced teachers that can meet
competency skills tests and then start requiring higher educational standards
for the profession. Start small, but
start, without that first step we will continue to go nowhere.
“Increase knowledge of medical
professionals, social workers, parents, caregivers and other professionals
about child development and how to promote it. (WCECCE, 2010, p. 4)” Increasing the knowledge of all who are
interacting with young children is critical to making this the national health
issue that it is.
How do these things help me in redefining my goals that I
started the program with? Goal 1: I want
to refine my coaching, consulting and teaching skills with regards to adult
learners. This resource alone gives me a
broader perspective so I can now more confidently support what I know about
children as a world view not just a local, state, or federal view. 2)I want to be better versed on the theories
and research behind best practices so I can answer questions about how and why.
I believe that I have gained additional
information about why we should follow DAP and how they are beneficial to
children. 3) I want to learn more about
how to respect, value and embrace diversity in classrooms and in life. The classes I have
taken thus far and the world focus we have had this class in particular have
helped me to grow in this area tremendously, but I also realize I have much
more to learn.
Reference:
World Conference on
Early Childhood Care and Education Building the
Wealth of Nations (WCECCE), (2010), Moscow Framework for
Action and Cooperation Harnessing the Wealth of Nations, retrieved April 16,
2016 from http://unesdoc.unesco.org/images/0018/001898/189882e.pdf
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Exploring DEC Website Resources
· Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored.
Where do they lead?
I followed the Policy
and Advocacy Link on the http://www.dec-sped.org/greatpolicyresources
page and it led me to a page showing links to the Council for Exceptional
Children (CEC) http://www.cec.sped.org/Policy-and-Advocacy/More-Issues?sc_lang=en
, which led me to select the Early Learning tab, http://www.cec.sped.org/Policy-and-Advocacy/More-Issues/Early-Learning,
which led me to Early Childhood Techinical Assistance Center, http://ectacenter.org/#4, which led me a
60 minute webinar featuring Linda Smith, on the topic of Preschool
Inclusion: What's the Evidence, What Gets in the Way, and What do High-Quality
Programs Look Like?
· Thoroughly search one area of the site. What do you find?
A series of videos on
recent research findings of early childhood special education. The first one asks the question: Where do
practitioners go for most up-to-date information to inform their work? The answer is the 2014 DEC Recommended
Practices. This short clip describes the
features of the latest DEC Recommended practices. The second video talks about how sharing the
DEC Recommended Practices can them understand the rights of their child and how
to communicate with and support the teachers and support workers involved in
their child’s case.
· If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of
the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?
Additionally, find out if the
site you selected at the beginning of this course offers any information about
the issue of this week:
It had information on 2016 Federal
Elections and the following tabs for exploration: Policy and Advocacy, Great
Policy Resources, Children’s Advocacy Network, U.S. Congressional Committees,
Federal Agencies, Recent Policy updates, etc.
Having all of this information at my
fingertips made for easy exploration to happen.
· Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that
adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and
education?
Yes, reading through the
2014 DEC Recommended Practices gives me a new perspective that I hadn’t had
before on quality practices for children with disabilities.
· What other new insights about issues and trends in the early
childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the
e-newsletter?
Again I gained perspective from those who specialize in
working with children with special needs and how to individualize
instruction. It reinforced the idea that
we need to check ourselves for any bias’s we might have towards children with
behavioral issues or those who can’t attend well (for example), it is
especially challenging since these issues don’t manifest themselves physically,
it takes getting to know the children individually to understand them better and
then making decisions or judgments that
are appropriate to the situation.
References:
http://www.dec-sped.org/Friday, April 1, 2016
Global work
I explored the website in the area of Saving Brains, partly
because I am currently working on my EC Mental Health Credential and so it
appealed to me. I found it fascinating
that they are now building on the research done on Adverse Childhood
Expeirences. This project is “A
partnership led by Grand Challenges Canada, Saving Brains seeks
to improve outcomes for children living in poverty through interventions that
nurture and protect early brain development in the first 1,000 days of a
child’s life.” The video quotes
statistics that showed 1/3 of the world’s children under age 5 are living in
toxic stressful environments. The
research quoted talked about how giving children, who had experienced toxic
stress, the right kind of nutrition and stimulation (play, skin to skin, etc.)
made dramatic differences and even helped children some children totally
recover from stunting. I loved the short
video that explained the research, it was easy to follow and looked at both the
factors that inhibit strong brain growth and the strategies that can be used to
support early brain development.
The website also had information and resources on toxic
stress and brain development translated in Portuguese (Brazil) and Spanish
(Mexico); and filmed using localized examples to bring the research and
resources to other countries. The goals
were to raise awareness in these countries and offer parents and caregivers
strategies to give all babies the best start possible as it much less expensive
to invest in young children so they can grow and be better able to cope and
flourish in spite of toxic stress in the environment.
“In order to achieve significant change for
children facing adversity, the field needs innovative leadership. Individuals,
organizations, and systems need to actively use science to think outside the
box and drive new ideas. (Harvard Developing Child, 2015)” This quote was found
in the collective leadership section on the website. We need to continue to
push policy makers to understand current science on how brains are built and
the crucial period of the first 1000 days.
Sometimes that means taking risks, “Individuals, organizations, and
systems utilize their knowledge of science to explore new, yet-to-be-tested
ideas aimed at improving long-term outcomes for children facing adversity and
their caregivers. (Harvard Developing Child, 2015)”
Reference:
Harvard Developing Child, (2015) http://developingchild.harvard.edu/collective-change/key-concepts/distributed-leadership/
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