What if...I was forced to immigrate to another country

The items I would bring would be pictures of my family, one portrait of my mom and dad when they got married, a photograph of my husband myself and my kids (when they were still at home) and finally one of my family including my daughters in law and grandbabies.

I would take these items because they are irreplaceable and do not need technology to run so they would be my comfort items regardless of the place I am sent to.  My phone, computer, kindle, etc. are all nice to have but in primitive circumstances they would be useless and they can all be replaced.

My family is my anchor and without them life would be pointless for me.  My feelings would be as long as we are together life is good.  If I had to give up 2 of my pictures, I guess it would be the one of my parents being married, because they are remembered in my head and the picture of my kids when they were younger because again I have those images in my head.  My most precious possession would be the photo that includes my entire family because it will get me through the rough times if I need a reason to struggle through.

Thinking about how hard such an adjustment would be, it seems impossible.  I imagine other refugees fleeing their countries and coming to America or other countries must be overwhelmed as well.  How comforting a friendly smile or a gift bag with clean clothes or toys for the children would be.  It makes me think that I should do more to reach out to those in my own community who are refugees and see if there is a need that I could help them with.

My family culture is so ingrained that I do not even think about our family is different from everyone else’s.  It’s just the way we are and relocating without knowledge of where we are going or if we will be allowed to stay together is unthinkable.  It makes me appreciate what I have.  Freedom to have the flexibility to decide my family’s cultural practices.

Research Summary

·       What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

Some of my perceived ideas about research were changed, I gained new vocabulary words, and understand better how to be a good consumer of research.

·       In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

Qualitative and Quantitative don’t have to at odds they can work together strengthen the case.  Each has their own strengths and challenges using them in concert makes the other more compelling and can offer a better understanding for those using it or replicating it.

·       What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

Time spent on the front end selecting, planning, and designing studies can help you narrow your focus, zero in on what you are actually wanting to impact or how to do it.  Planning requires many decisions about data collection, different ways to collect data, how will the information be analyzed (who, how).   Planning to process for collecting the data and analyzing it are critical because you won’t have a good handle on the time and money it is going to truly conduct.

Making sure there is thoughtful planning to incorporate equity aspects into the study and then how to measure and analyze the information as a group and as individuals is another lesson learned.

·       What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

I struggled with how my statement would fit with a quantitative measurement.  When I finally narrowed my topic down to how reflective practice will increase provider interaction quality that helped me pick a tool I was familiar with.

·       What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

It has given me ideas that as a leader at the center, I could encourage investigative studies with the staff, because the course really stressed teacher researching as a viable practice.

Looking at worldwide research sites

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA): This international early childhood organization publishes a well respected journal. All back issues are accessible from this site and are fully searchable without charge.
http://www.eecera.org/

·       What are some of the current international research topics?

I found the following topics on the site that meet very high levels of criteria that involves at least 9 articles from differing perspectives on the topic.  I would have liked to have been able to explore the ones pertaining to research and children's right to play. Unforturnately there was a cost involved to go further.

Volume 22 Issue 3: Disadvantage and Social Justice
Guest Editor: John Bennett

Volume 21 Issue 2: Promoting Play for a better Future
Guest Editors: Elly Singer, Bert van Oers and Maritta Hännikäinen

Volume 20 Issue 4: Praxeological Research in Early Childhood: A contribution to a social science of the social
Guest Editors: Júlia Oliveira-Formosinho and João Formosinho

Volume 19 Issue 3: Children's Perspectives and participation in research
Guest Editors: Deborah Hartcourt and Johanna Einarsdottir

Volume 19 Issue 2: Birth to Three
Guest Editors: Sylvie Rayna and Ferre Leavers

Volume 18 Issue 4: Outdoor play and learning
Guest Editors: Tim Waller, Ellen Beate H. Sandseter, Shirley Wyver, Eva Arlemalm-Hagser and Trisha Maynard

Volume 17 Issue 2: Children's and Parents' Perspectives on diversity in early childhood education
Guest Editors: Michel Vandenbroeck

Volume 16 Issue 2: Professionalism in Early Childhood Education and Care
Guest Editors: Mathias Urban and Carmen Dalli

Volume 16 Issue 1: Leadership & Management
Guest Editors: Margy Whalley, Karen John and Joao Formosinho

·       What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

I have never traveled or lived outside the United States and have never lived anywhere but in Iowa.  My limited view of early care and education gives me doubt at times that I am not seeing world wide issues, but in looking at the topics that have risen to the level of being considered a special issue as listed above are all issues that I have had exposure to or experience with. 

·       What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

Unfortunately, when I tried to read some of these articles, I was unable to open them.  I find however that on their links tab it gave a very short list of links to other global early care and education sites that also have journal articles available for reading.  I went to the pacific link connection and found articles on play from Japan and China’s perspectives.  I found it interesting that keeping play as a basic activity on equal with beginning reading, writing and math is a struggle heard round the world and now suddenly I feel more connected as this is one of my key passions.


References:

http://www.pecera.org/article/1000/aims-and-scope, retrieved June 4, 2016
http://www.eecera.org/, retrieved June 4, 2016

Benefits of research on children and families

I recently attended a showing of the film "Paper Tigers" that shows how an alternative high school in Walla Walla, Washington developed a new school wide approach to dealing with students who were either absent habitually or displaying a variety of challenging behaviors.  The film tells the story of how the principle of the high school went to a conference on trauma informed care at which researchers were reporting on its effects on children and adults as a result of "Adverse Childhood Experiences  Study (ACES)".  The research documented the connection between childhood trauma and a change in the architecture of the brain.  Jim Sporleder, principal, explains in the film how that information was so crucial to him understanding why many of his students had these behaviors. It caused him to make wide spread changes: in how staff was trained; discipline policies were changed; new support services were offered on-site (medical, dental and mental health); and family and community outreach.  According to the film, this transition has had community wide effects.  This is a very riveting demonstration of how research can benefit children and families.

I encourage you to watch the trailer of the movie at the following link:
https://vimeo.com/110821029



Other resources
http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K6xRtNGjN3I

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/resources/toxic-stress-derails-healthy-development/

Week 2 Literature Review

My chosen topic is the merits or benefits of reflective practice for early childhood teachers/providers.  I chose this topic because I have experienced the benefits of reflective practice in my own professional life.  As a family childcare provider in rural Iowa, I was pretty isolated (this was before social media was available) and had it not been for my experience reflecting on my own practices and working with a reflective partner to reflect on hers, I would not be the highly qualified professional I am today.  We would video tape our programs then watch the videos together and critic what we saw.  We discovered new ideas for helping other childcare providers, which led to us starting our own 501C3 non profit provider association.  Through this association, we were able to form a larger group of professionals who wanted to improve their own practices but also wanted to mentor others in improving theirs.  This experience taught me that even practitioners without a formal education can become good teachers when they discover the reflective process.  The IOM report, “Transforming the Workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation”  is recommending that only degreed early childhood teachers should be able to provide early care and education services to young children.  The cost of providing such qualified professionals would be astronomical; parents cannot afford to pay more; workers cannot work for less money; and childcare centers cannot add to their group sizes.  Either the federal government is going to have to step in and subsidize early care and education; or look for practices that will have more immediate affects on child outcomes.  Each day children around our country are being taught and cared for by practitioners who may be unintentionally harming our young children by perpetuating poor teaching practices.  There is no time to waste; reflective practice can begin impacting children immediately.

There is a movement right now in mental health organizations and large corporations to encourage supervisors and staff to work together in reflective practice and I think the same practices would benefit all educational practitioners. 

I was surprised to find several articles in the Walden database that addressed this topic, it is not a strictly early childhood issue. I know I will learn more about reflective practice as I prepare for the research simulation.  Research is an intimidating topic for me and breaking down each section is making it easier to understand.  Reading the two articles this week for the literature review helped me to understand the purpose of this section.  The literature review is the researchers way to set the stage for someone reading it to better understand why the topic was important, what the researcher had already discovered about the topic using other research, and to draw the reader in to become curious about the results of the research conducted. 

I am willing to help any of my fellow students with insights and resources that I have at my disposal, please feel free to contact me if you get stuck or want to brainstorm possible strategies.

References:

Institute of Medicine (IOM) and National Research Council (NRC). 2015.

Transforming the workforce for children birth through age 8: A unifying foundation. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press.

6163: Understanding Research

Hello to my classmates, we are in for a fun ride, I can tell.  I am hoping those of you who have had research courses before will give us some tips that will be helpful in finding our way through the muck.  I know we need research, but right now I am experiencing the fear of the unknown.  Help!

Goals and Consequences

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.