Final post - Issues and trends

Happy Holidays everyone!

Three consequences about the international early learning field for my professional or personal growth

• I had no idea how difficult it would be to find an international contact – I need to work on networking! (unintended)
• Equity and equality in the field – and how far we have come since the 70’s – but also how much more we need to grow (intended and unintended)
• Poverty – is an international issue and how are other countries ending poverty? How can I apply this international view to my classroom or local community?
• Experiences all children should have in early childhood – DAP - goes with school readiness, environment and a level of quality – universal standards and rating system could be an unintended consequence of this. 

One goal of mine would be to have universal standards for preschool.  I feel like this goal is attainable nationally and internationally with collaboration from professionals in the field.  

Thanks everyone for your kind words and feedback this semester! We had a wonderful group!!

Podcast & Website Review

Tonight I watched a you tube video of Lilian Katz at the 2011 World Forum Foundation. (I can't access a whole podcast for some reason).

Dr. Katz spoke about the differences and similarities in Early Childhood in different countries - like teachers across the world speaking of themselves in the third person ' "Mrs. Frick needs you to sit down" as an example even though I am Mrs. Frick!

She had told a story about Principals of teaching - to which she told her son. The main principal was:
* teach the learner how to show you where he is (please show me one more time)

She told another story about a parent who told her "Don't let my son play with dolls" and she let him because developmentally that is ok and it was his choice.  - - I pose the questions, what would you do in this situation?

Dr Katz spoke of what experiences should children have frequently beyond the test? 
Being intellectually challenged and engaged
define skills in purposeful ways
frequent experience of confidence in own questions
extend conversations with adults and peers
making choices
generating questions
sustained involvement in investigations
overcoming obstacles and set backs, evaluating them
help others to understand each other
make suggestions to others
feeling of belonging

What experiences do you think children should have? 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXel4dZV7D0&list=UU_2LTbe8sJQqjyK0qujq3yA

New insights from this for me were what do I think children should be frequently exposed to? What content is important for life experiences? It's not about right and wrong or even standards but what a child needs at that moment in time.

I also researched the website http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/about-us/

3 new insights from an international perspective:
* Teachers and learners here aren't searching for a specific end goal achievement test but rather a platform for children to learn, be challenged, become international speakers and leaders, contribute solutions to problems, and to contribute to educational standard and norms.  The standards and norms used for UNESCO, are principals used all over Europe and Asia.  American just figured a Common Core and there has been alot of questions/debate on whether to use it or not.  If America is going to surge forward as an educational leader, what national changes need to be made so states can prepare learners?

week 6 Zero to Three

I wanted to explore the podcast section of Zero to three since my last post.  I was able to do that this week and as a parent and teacher, it was enlightening to hear from professionals in the field.   I listened to “Beyond “Use Your Words!”: How Babies Begin to Develop Self-Control in the First Three Years Featuring Brenda Jones-Harden, Ph.D.”.  It was interesting to me as a mom nurturing an eighteen month old at home and teaching 4 year olds at preschool because they talked about temperament from infancy and how that evolves into the temperament of a toddler and so on as well as how important it is for parents to model good coping mechanisms and when it is appropriate to be upset but also to verbalize it to the child.  I understand this with my eighteen month old as I often say to him, “I see you are mad, can you say help me?” etc.  With my 4 year olds in class, I often do not give them this same treatment because I expect them to already be at that step to “use your words”.  This podcast has made me take a step back and (starting next week) to help some children walk through the steps they may have missed or are missing at home for coping… I don’t want this to seem like I don’t model problem solving for my class because I do, but it has made me more sympathetic as to why “Johnny” melts down during certain times of the day and that I need to take a more active role to help him work through it.

One of the links I explored was the Early Head Start link https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/hslc/tta-system/ehsnrc is a comprehensive website that offers information from Breastfeeding to Child Welfare, School Readiness for Infants and Toddlers and so on.  Good Resource parents and educators of young children birth to 3.

Equity and Excellence are represented in the Rally 4 Babies link to promote a good start for infants as well as the public policy tab which supports Federal, State, and Local Policy development for Good Health, Strong Families, and Positive Early Learning Experiences for children.  

Equity and Equality; Podcast and Harvard website

This week, I listened to two podcasts but for some reason I was having technical difficulties and only heard 5 minutes of each podcast.  In both podcasts by BJ and Susan Lyons (world forum), both educators were somewhat unsatisfied with their education or education in general and were searching for alternative ways of thinking through education.  BJ happened across a Montessori job position in California and it influenced her for training and schooling purposes. After schooling, she bought an old school house in Maine and opened her own Montessori school.  Susan Lyons visited Reggio Emilia’s 100 Languages of Children exhibit and decided to bring this way of thinking back to California and started the exhibit as well as professional development for educators. 

These podcasts have inspired me! I feel like in my undergraduate work, we only touched on each of the different theorists like Montessori and Reggio.  Since starting teaching, professional development, and Masters Courses, I have been more and more intrigued by the Reggio way of thinking and have incorporated some of what I know into my classroom.  The podcasts have made me want to further my research in Reggio and to visit some classrooms that use it.  I know my district also has a renowned Montessori program and since I am new to the district, I would also like to explore that program as well.  I have been formerly trained in both Creative Curriculum and High Scope. 

I also explored the Harvard website http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/ and learned: that the project started work in the United States and is now applying their work and concepts globally in Brazil, Zambia, and Chile to name a few.  They are also doing Mental Health work in China, Rwanda, and the Caribbean.  The objectives of the program include Early Childhood Development, Child Mental Health, and Children in Crisis and Conflict Situations. 

The work in Brazil for Early Childhood Programs intrigued me.  This project wants to guide stronger policies and investment into young children in Brazil. The Global Children’s Initiative through Harvard is striving for equity and excellence in all nations and is planting the seeds for such things through their 3 objectives.   Harvard has several Fellowships and learning opportunities for students to be part of the initiative. 

Do you all feel that the United States still needs work in early childhood mental health, early childhood development, and children in crisis before we can extend it globally?

Resources:

http://sarah-dev.worldforumfoundation.com/world-forum-radio/

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

www.zerotothree.org 

The Zero to Three Newsletter this week offers Developmental Charts for ages 0-12 mo, 12-24 mo, 24-36 mo.  These are helpful as it provides activities to do with children those ages.

On the website, I found that November is military family month. When clicking on the FREE resources for families, I found professional materials for me to use as a teacher and supply to parents, other downloads parents can use, and free printable fliers.  I feel that these resources are important to me because I have not grown up in a military family and have not had many families in my programs with military dads, but am comforted to know where I can get free resources to help me be a better teacher and to give to families to support them through tough and or transition times. 

The Zero to Three Public Policy section advocates for good health, strong families, and positive early learning experiences.  This speaks to all three sectors to me because neuroscientist will advocate for good health, economists will advocate for strong families, and politicians for great early learning systems.  They can use these platforms to provide (or receive) each sector with the necessary information needed to promote good public policy for infants and toddlers.  This section has a plethora of resources – state policies, federal, infant facts, webinars, and how to support. 

One section I want to explore more is called Little Kids, Big Questions which is a series of podcasts answering hot questions from parents like Shh, Shh, It’s Okay: Coping With Crying in Babies and Toddlers.  The podcasts are presented by leaders in the early childhood field!! 

Poverty across the globe

My attempts at an E.C. Professional from anywhere else but here have thus failed... 

I watched a video on the World Forum Foundation website called “Syrian Refugee Children Speak Out” http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/syrian-refugee-children-speak-out/

It broke my heart! I must admit, I keep up on current events locally and somewhat nationally, but on a Global scale I do not make the time.  It is an excuse, but with work, keeping up with my now 18 month old son, working on homework for my courses, and now being 12 weeks pregnant – I don’t have the energy!

This story from April 2013, made me cry. These innocent children and their families are fleeing war but seem relatively adjusted to their new life even though they have nothing.  It is winter where they fled to in Lebanon – you can see mountains in the background and these children are lucky to have on long sleeve shirts.  When I think of the children in poverty that I work with, they usually have adequate warm clothing…

I have not had luck in responses with professionals so I am also reviewing the site:

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/ and the country China

China’s estimated population in 2001 was 1.27 billion.  Reports indicated that only 5% of people in China lived below the poverty line.   That sounds great as our percentages are well above that - BUT considering the population size, 4.2 million children living in China are in absolute poverty.  That is just children; leaving about 60 other million people below the poverty line.  That number astonishes me!

China does not have free education and therefore poor families cannot afford the basic education fees. (I thought all countries had some sort of public education; boy am I feeling naïve today!)

Organizations like CCHIP are working on educating parents, retraining them for the workforce, removing cost barriers to education, advocating for health systems to cover children in poverty in all areas (some were denied health care based on location). 

http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/index.php?action=chipactivities-nat#16

From this research, I have gleaned that poverty does not look the same across the globe.  It definitely makes me count my blessings and want to pay it forward anyway I can – and the easiest way is through my voice in education.  My families are experiencing single family incomes with multiple children.  They probably get some kind of government assistance (WIC, food stamps etc).  None are homeless, but it is becoming winter in Northern Michigan and many are worried about winter heating costs and travel.  All children in my program have a winter coat and most have hats, gloves, snow pants, and boots.  The things they face: hunger, heat, paying bills are on a different level than the children of China.  My children (in preschool and in the elementary school) receive a free education with 3 free meals a day (breakfast, lunch, snack).  They are warm and educated for 7 hours a day, plus more if they ride the bus.  My children have an advantage in poverty just by living in the U.S. versus China.  

E.C. Contacts

As of Friday, my Principal was in the process of making some connections with former colleagues to help with this assignment... We are meeting tomorrow and if not, I will pursue the alternate assignment! I really wanted to connect with a professional!

Zerotothree.org

Zerotothree.org – focus is to provide a strong start for children and babies through parents, professionals, and policy makers!

On the home page of the website, Three distinct headlines caught my eye!

• Early Brain and Child Development
• Response to Presidents 2014 Budget Proposal (more $ for 0-3’s)
• School Readiness Begins at Birth

There are also 4 domains you can search with in the site –

• Behavior and Development
• Maltreatment
• Care and Education
• Public Policy

Each domain holds several articles/research based data, tip sheets, activity ideas…

I explored My Baby Brain Map

-         this was neat because you choose the age range of child ex)18-24 months, then you clicked on the different areas of the brain (language, cognitive etc). Each area had a question and answer with how to support development in the area!

Trend: School Readiness Begins at Birth!

• Research shows that early investment is most cost effective in the long run when developmental delays or other health issues are caught in the early years versus years down the road and spending more money to help with the issue. 
• Children of low-income and other “risk factors” are at greater risk for being behind in education
• Protecting funding cuts to low income families and programs that support them (WIC)  - these are to the benefit of the child for good development
• Interesting read – check it out at http://www.zerotothree.org/public-policy/federal-policy/2013-federal-policy-agenda.pdf

I didn't find information directly related to changing demographics or ESL families…. 

Professional Organization and Website

Hello Everyone! I am still in the process of searching my contacts for international E.C. Professionals to correspond with. I have several emails out and have a few friends helping me out as well. I am giving it a couple more days before turning to the alternative assignment.

As for the Blog assignment, I have decided to research the Zero to Three website because I felt it was easy to navigate and search the topics.  Also, as a professional, I would like to learn more about the development of children before they come to me – I teach a 4 year old preschool class.  Learning more about the development prior to my children coming to me should help me become a more effective teacher! Visit the Zero to Three Website for lots of information on development and advocacy at http://www.zerotothree.org/

-- Danielle

Welcome!

Welcome to EDUC 6162 Issues and Trends in Early Childhood! I look forward to learning and blogging from all of you!

My Supports

My Supports

Factors in my environment that are supportive to me:

My husband Andy is supportive of me in the way he asks how my day went, if I need him to make our sons lunch, or when he does the dishes late at night so I can finish my homework.  My husband takes care of our finances and is the source of our main income.  He also takes care of our automobile maintenance.  He is always there for me in any way I need! 

My family is supportive of me as they help me with Collin when needed – they come over to visit and take him for rides on the four wheeler, or distract him while I make dinner.  They provide emotional support to me when I have a problem or need to talk.  

My car is supportive of me as it gets me to work, the grocery store, and everywhere in between!

My phone is supportive of me as it allows me to call my staff when needed, contact my husband and family, and for my son to play games on and be distracted by.  

My computer supports me with my coursework, managing the day care  I direct, and my need for current news.  

My employees are supportive of me as they allow me to do my job well because they do their job! 

If any one of these supports were gone, my life would drastically change.  My husband went on a two week work trip and I was home alone taking care of our son, dog, and 2 cats.  I had to get up earlier than usual to get all of my morning routine accomplished without his help, I had to plan better preparing as much in advance as I could.  I balanced work, daycare, household responsibilities, and all of the little things.  I missed him a lot those two weeks – not to mention the emotional support he provides when he is around - such as me getting that much needed mommy break after a long day!!

Without my family, I would be lost. My mom and my sisters are my best friends and confidants that I talk with daily – even if for just a few minutes. 

 

Taking away my car, computer, or phone would make working near impossible as I travel about 40 miles a day and my phone is used for contact with my staff and parents.  And even though work would still be possible, it would be interesting to figure out other transportation, paper logs for tracking attendance and payments, and hand writing all of this course work.  

THE CHALLENGE

I chose losing my sense of hearing as a challenge.  

Supports for me with this challenge would be:

My Vision – being able to see where I was going and my surroundings would help me navigate the world around me without my sense of hearing.  Also, closed captioning would help me use the television.  My vision also supports me in the use of the computer and other technologies.  My phone could still be supportive with texting.  

My husband, friends, and family would still be supports as I may need them in social situations and use them to read lips and body language.  They would be a great emotional support as well.  

Hearing aids or cochlear implants would be a great support that would allow me to hear or partially hear.  Without them the world would be mute. 

Life without these supports would be a lot more difficult.  But with other supports to help me adapt, life would still be maintainable, manageable, and functional!

My Connections to play

My Connections to play located under my Pages on the right side of the screen :)

Relationship Reflections

My relationship reflection is located on the right of my blog under pages. I hope you enjoy!

Quote about Child Development

The child is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred.

Always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:

No way. The hundred is there.

-Loris Malaguzzi
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach 

I chose this quote about children because it seems to explain how simple yet complex they are.  When given the tools to succeed and experiences to make up their own mind great things will happen.  

I would like to say Thank You to all of my colleagues here in Child Development 6160.  Thank you for your continued support through blog and discussion responses.  Thank you for enhancing understanding through your life experiences and guidance.  Thank you for being friendly and professional from places far away.  Thank you for being you.

Danielle Frick

Assessments - good and bad, but how?

What should we assess about children? This is truly a struggle I have had with myself since beginning my teaching career.   Do I think we need assessments? YES! How would be we know where children are and where they need to go next in education without them? Do I agree with all assessments – NO!  Many are very one-sided where they measure student’s academic ability in written form but some children do better verbally and visually.  How should we assess children? Ultimately I think they should be assessed in the form they do best with – verbal, visual, written, computer etc. 

What should be measured? In a school setting, children in the kindergarten-1^st grade age group should be monitored  (but not limited to…):

Letter formation and recognition

Sound acquisition

Sight word knowledge

Counting skills (1’s,2,5,10, even odd)

Reading ability

Writing

Fine motor/gross motor skills

Social domain (friend ships, role play/situations)

As much as I think assessment is good and bad, I also think the assessments should show growth as in how much the child has attained over time to not only show if the child is learning, but is the teachers teaching style working? These assessments should be done in a variety of direct and indirect measures including anecdotal observations, written (from children), check lists, event counting, etc. 

“Whenever a measurement is applied to a group of people of any age, especially a group that is diverse in background, experience, aptitude, development, culture, language, and interests, some will rank higher and some lower than others on any item assessed. All measures yield such differences, and it is thus statistically impossible for all those subjected to the same assessment to be above average!” (Katz, 1997). Children should not be marked with a letter grade but with the possibility of: Distinguished, Proficient, Apprentice, Novice. 

 Dr. Katz also suggested allowing children to assess their own work and to make their own goals in education.  While teaching in Kentucky, we were starting this “goal setting” in the district I taught for and it was really interesting to see children striving to reach their own goals! Of course we as teachers guided them into the realm of what was appropriate but the children were taking ownership of their learning.  

Consequences of stress on a child's development

I have been fortunate enough to have not been affected by the stressors listed above.  My father, on the other hand, born in 1960 was very young when his brother went to Vietnam and died.  War was a stressor then, and is now for so many families.  My father has lived hating war. As much as he hates it, he cannot get enough of it – he watches endless hours of documentaries about Vietnam for what I think – is to catch a glimpse of his brother he hardly got to know – Francis A. Lautner, Born May 31, 1946 Died May 31, 1968. My dad was 8.  

My Grandma never got over the death of her son, and therefore things were most likely stressful for my dad and his siblings.  My dad said there were no real resources for him except for family, friends, and faith. Frank’s buddies would come and pick my dad up, take him for rides, do something with him, and keep him out of my grandma’s way. He would also stay with one of his older siblings (my dad was the baby and had cousins the same age as him!) for a week or more at a time.  “We didn’t talk about it much, but we could see what mom and dad were going through.  My bother built a memorial to put all of his medals, awards, pictures, and flag into.  We went to church every Sunday” (Personal communication, June 1, 2013).  My dad relayed that he can’t remember it being stressful and that there was no grief counseling or anything like that available – just friends, family, and church.  

Although my dad doesn’t think this time was stressful, he still has an emotional response to Vietnam and war in general.   Each of his brothers before him and his own father had enlisted for our country but he would never even have considered it knowing what my grandmother had already gone through.  He is proud of other family members that chose Military as their career, but when a recruiter came to my brother in high school, my dad words aren’t appropriate for this blog, but you can imagine NO. 

Being that Vietnam was a stressor for my dad, I chose Vietnam to see what stressors are for children there.  Stressors for children in Vietnam include: child poverty (extreme), unsafe drinking water, communicable disease, and malnutrition. 

To help with the extreme poverty facing Vietnam’s children, “with support from UNICEF, Viet Nam recently developed its own child-specific approach to poverty, based on basic needs like education, health, shelter, social inclusion and protection. Using this method to go beyond monetary poverty, rates show that, in 2006, about one third of all children below 16 years of age, or seven million children, can be considered poor” (UNICEF, 2013).   Most children facing extreme poverty are in the rural areas of Vietnam versus the city. 

J. Lautner. Personal Communication. June 1, 2013.

UNICEF. (2013). Children in Viet nam. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/vietnam/children.html