YAAAAYYYY!!!

Well everyone, it's been a pleasure working with you all in this foundations course, thanks for sharing the pages of your lives with me.  Let's keep up the good work!  One down, a few more to go!

Examining Codes of Ethics

It is my goal that the following professional ideals will become a part of my life as an early childhood professional.  Some of them I already practice but I hope that over time I will more consistently practice these ideals.

NAEYC Ideals:

I-1.1—To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed  through continuing education and training. This is my goal from now on.  I understand that if I want to be effective in this field, I must make consistent effort to staying abreast of knowledge and practice pertinent to this field and my program.

I-2.8—To help family members enhance their understanding of their children and support the continuing development of their skills as parents.  This is an objective of my current early childhood program, about which I am very passionate.  The more parents know, the better cared for their children will be.  I've worked a little to help parents know more about their children from another person's perspective in order to decrease negative parent behavior toward their children (ie: bad-mouthing "you'll never be anything" talk, etc.)  I hope to sharpen these efforts and see more fruit from them.

I-4.6—To promote knowledge and understanding of young children and their needs. To work toward greater societal acknowledgment of children’s rights and greater social acceptance of responsibility for the well-being of all children.  Not only do I wish to inform parents and families, but I wish for greater society to really understand and acknowledge the tremendous value of investing in our children.

 

Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Code of Ethics:

Responsive Family Centered Practices

4. We shall empower families with information and resources so that they are informed consumers of services for their children.  As I continue on this journey of learning more about this field, I am dedicated to learning for myself the resources that are available to families in my community and making families aware of them.

 

I reviewed Karin Chenoweth’s (2010) article, “Learning from Success:  Love Meets Best Practices at a New Orleans Elementary School,” and wanted to document the resources it led me to.  This article is about her visit to one of the schools that was selected by The Education Trust to receive the 2010 “Dispelling the Myth Award” that honors “schools that serve large numbers of children of color and those from low-income families that educate their students at high levels”.  I was first drawn to this article because of its title wondering what it would say about what love can do to make a school successful.  After reading, I was truly inspired by the article, mainly because it depicts a school in just about the worst conditions a school could exist—extreme poverty and crime—yet “just about all the students meet or exceed state standards”.  The answer the principle gives for their success is that the teachers and staff at the elementary school “love our children”.  Chenoweth concludes from her visit that they indeed “love their children enough to teach them”.  This quote stayed with me.  She gives examples of how the teachers and staff at this school “educate without humiliating” and go the extra mile, inconveniencing themselves if they must, to see that their children are encouraged, “motivated and engaged”.  The article really sums up the inevitable success that comes when teachers and administrators are selflessly united and committed to the best for their children and when they actually believe that their children, regardless of the environment in which they live, can succeed.

Here are some of Karin Chenoweth's books that are getting national acclaim and I want to check them out:

It's Being Done: Academic Success in Unexpected Schools (2007)

How It's Being Done: Urgent Lessons from Unexpected Schools (2009)

Some other resources I got into this week:

themindtrust.org 

This one is an Indiana based, non-profit organization that supports educational reform through informing educators and leaders about issues and also offering grants to entities with achievable ideas about changing education.

waitingforsuperman.com/action

 This resource kind of goes along with the one above, education reform and calling people to action.  It's associated with a movie, "Waiting for Superman", that has really made a buzz in this country about the state of our education system.  I haven't yet seen the movie but I definitely want to.

Course Resources

Here's a link to my "Course Resources" page, it has all the resources we received from our foundations course:  http://prospering-early.blogspot.com/p/course-resources.html
Here's a few of my own: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Dr. Sylvia C. Chard, Ph.D. and her "Project Approach". I've read a little about this and am interested in learning more about it:

http://projectapproach.org/

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I first heard of Dr. Deborah Stipek from the "Sectors of Early Childhood Education" multimedia program.  I'm very interested in learning about child motivation and found that she's got a few books out about this subject and has been involved in some very interesting research projects. (click on the titles below to get more information)

Motivation to Learn: Integrating Theory and Practice (4th edition, 2002)  

Motivated Minds: Raising Children to Love Learning (with K. Seal, 2001) 

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This is my local resource and referral agency's blog (that I'm just now taking advantage of thanks to my new blogging knowledge! ) It has a mixture of news and information on both local (Indiana) and national events and issues.

http://childcareanswers.blogspot.com

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Resources I liked from my colleagues's blogs: 
A Source from Lilliane's "Beach Life": I think I'd definitely like to purchase this book.  It looks like it will be useful in helping me to understand various childcare education tactics as well as be a valuable resource for training my teachers.  Thanks Lilliane! 
All About Child Care and Early Education:A Comprehensive Resource for Child Care Professionals by Marilyn Segal, Mary Jean Woika, Jesse Leinfelder 

Sources from Debra's "DebraAnnDawson":  These appear to be really good resources for teaching and curriculum supplies as well as helping you stay informed of national policy news and events. Thanks Debra! 

http://www.earlychildhood.com/

http://edlabor.house.gov/education/early-childhood/ 

A Source from Venuri's "Early Childhood Wisdom":  Another resource that looks like it will help keep me informed of children and education issues.  Thanks Venuri!  http://everychildmatters.org/

 

Words of Inspiration & Motivation

Friedrich Froebel, an interesting mind... 

(Excerpts from John P. Manning's Article in the Early Childhood Education Journal: "Rediscovering Froebel: A Call to Re-examine His Life & Gifts")
At age 58, 38 years after he began teaching, he
introduced "German Kindergarten" ("children's
garden"). It incorporated the concept of structured/
guided play as a cornerstone of a young child's
learning.

Froebel reasoned that school was intended to
empower each individual student, and it was to be
expected that the child would demonstrate this new-
found power and excitement in other areas of his life.

On the importanee of play in learning, Froebel
(1887/1974) further wrote:
"Play is the highest phase of child development - of
human development at this period. Play is the pur-
est, most spiritual activity of man at this stage,
and, at the same time, typical of human life as a
whole - of the inner hidden natural life in man and
all things. It gives, therefore, joy, freedom, content-
ment, inner and outer rest, peace with the world. It
holds the sources of all that is good (pp. 54-55)."

Play, then, is the methodology by which the child
works to achieve inner harmony and develop the
knowledge and skills he will need to grow as a human
being. "His classes were not in schoolrooms, but in
gardens for children where every activity was de-
signed to instruct through giving pleasure" (Braun &
Edwards, 1972, p. 68).

Former President Lyndon B. Johnson

(Excerpts from Martha Tevis' Paper: "Lyndon Johnson and Education for All the People")

D.B. Hardeman, an associate of Sam Rayburn's, remembers hearing Johnson speaking "about teaching little Mexican children, about prejudice and discrimination, saying 'If I ever get the power, I said I'm going to do something about it, and now I've got the power, and I am going to do something.'"

"Just as ignorance breeds poverty, poverty all too often breeds ignorance in the next generation."

A few Inspirational Early Childhood Education Professionals...

“so I started to look at the research about how children begin to develop identity and attitudes.  And it was discovered that the preschool years are critical. They are the first, most fundamental period when children are in fact noticing who they are noticing the attitudes and the stereotypes and the discomforts or the positive messages about their skin color, their racial identity, their ethnic identity and so on, and that teachers didn’t know what to do about that…” 

“I think they’re damaged when they get positive message that they’re better than others simply because of their skin color or because of their economic class or because of their gender and I-- I hate the waste.  It doesn’t allow children to grow up to their fullest potential and their fullest ability.”

- Louise Derman-Sparks, Professor Emeritus, Pacific Oaks College

 

 “I think my passion comes from wanting to make a difference…I truly believe that I’m not here to save the world, I’m here just to make a difference in the community that I’m working in…”

- Raymond Hernandez, MSEd

Precious Thoughts in Poetry...

 Here's a poem that I shared with my staff recently...it really hit home, especially the part that says "how many people own original artworks created expressly for them?" I had never thought about it that way.

What are you doing teaching young children?
Original Author Unknown

There are those days when the logical mind says,                                          

you must move on and do a better job of supporting yourself.

Those days when the logical mind says,                                                       

why did you choose this career, it is not reasonable.

If the heart can still the mind, then the answers are apparent.

Perhaps logic did not play a great part in choosing our jobs as teachers.

If we are truly teaching life's most important lessons to the little ones.

The lesson of love, to love oneself unconditionally                                          

and to share that love with others.

Perhaps we were guided and chosen to be in this place.

For teaching love in a crowded, confused and often angry world,                            

is not something everyone can do.

Though our wallets may not be overflowing,

How many people are hugged and told they are loved                                        

by the people they work with each day?

How many people own original art works                                                      

created expressly for them?

How many jobs allow you to wipe away tears                                                  

and make the world a better place for others?

How many people are allowed to see a tired,                                                

weary world through fresh new eyes, where all things are possible,

To hear laughter and joy for no big reason, just for being.

When the logical mind says, what are you doing teaching young children,

Listen to your heart one more time.

I could really get into this...

Hi Everyone! This is my first time doing a blog and I'm really enjoying it.  I hope everyone's having a good time with their blogs too.  Well, here's to the great journey ahead of us!