Collaboration

These past 8 weeks allowed me to strengthen bonds with others, collaboratively learning with others through podcasts, websites, and other readings.  Exploring how other countries support early childhood and the struggles they face, as well as comparing how they operate to how we do things right here in the United States.  I wish nothing but the best for my colleagues, I also hope they, like myself, keep up the idea of making early childhood about the children, giving them the strength and knowledge to do great things, and spread kindness.

Consequences

Consequences of learning about the international early childhood field for professional and personal development…

• Knowing and understanding how the United States is behind in accessibility, cost, investment, and quality.  Compared to other countries.  We are getting it together, but there are countries that are racing ahead to improve their student achievement, and the necessary commitments to do so.
• When we compare the outcomes of our students to those of other countries that have a great support system we look even further behind.  Yet we are still beyond many countries.  I believe with enough advocacy and programs such as  T.E.A.C.H,  we can get ahead.
• Knowing that there are establishments that support early childhood world wide.  It is a beautiful thing, knowing that all children on our planet are able to have some sort of access to help in a tragedy, people work hard to get medical, educational, nutritional, support to overcome war, hardship, or other tragedys that are not the fault of these little victims.

A goal for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations is to help support me and others in the knowing what is happening worldwide with early childhood education.  It is easy to finish this class (sort of) and never look back at the way it changed us as a person, but I believe that to stay on top of the early childhood happenings and always looking to better ourselves, our classrooms, our families, our communities, and our colleagues, we can change the world one person at a time.

Quality where I live…

In the area in which I live, there are many early childhood centers, there are many curricula they use, and there are many different types of centers.

Locally we have Montessori,  Waldorf, Project-Based Approach, Reggio-Amelia, Religious, High Scope, and home centers that choose their own, as well as some centers that don’t claim to use a curriculum.  As for the quality, I for one have never been into many of the area centers.  I teach in a High Scope center, and I have heard the goods and the bads of the curriculum.  We this year in our center have become very involved with the mood meter.

Other resources – One of my favorite books to read to kids in my classroom as it relates to young children’s variations of moods in “Sometimes I’m Bombaloo” by Rachel Vail.

We believe that children that have emotional intelligence can further themselves academically if they use the RULER, they can name it and tame it.  I can say that using this religiously in my classroom this year, I have seen a huge spike in COR results with emotions, and along with that goes conflict resolution and empathy.

• Safety
• Family encouragement
• Family support and Parent Participation Encouraged
• Positive, nurturing environment
• State Licensed
• NAEYC Accreditation
• Communication with Parents

Are just a few of the quality pieces I think of when I think of quality.  In this week’s multi-media Ms. Vasques talked about early childhood as being a life investment.  Early childhood is a connection for parents, children and early childhood professionals to work together.  As a quality early childhood professional, she discusses the importance of expanding our early childhood, and thinking it as a part of society, a part of the community, and comparing ourselves with other early childhood professionals, shining and protecting our profession.

Opportunities and requirements for professional development where I live…

There are many colleges that support and educate early childhood in Oakland County Michigan.  Luckily in our area, we also have the head of all 38 districts, they offer many pieces of training including High Scope, you can check out the early childhood department here.  They also have a resource library and lend out early childhood resources.  If you are in-district, you can use the inner mail system to return them 🙂 Oakland Schools.

 My professional goals…

1. Never stop learning.  As an educator, I believe that being on top of new early childhood studies and news is important.  Understanding what is happening is important, not only will this help me as an educator in the classroom, but as a professional, that may answer questions that parents have.
2. Never stop collaborating.  Just as the old saying goes, it takes a village.  Once in a classroom, it is easy to go in, close the door, and feel isolated.  My goal is to leave my door open (so to say because of safety measures 😉 collaborate with others, stay open with parents, unifying the school so that great ideas don’t end.  Goal: Be a continent, not an island.
3. Get out before I burn out.  When I become unmotivated, crabby, and unwilling to better myself and the people I come in contact with, I want to move onto the next thing.  Because I always want to stay positive.

Professional hopes, dreams, and challenges…

Some of my professional hopes are to make an impact on children, I want to build a love of learning, instill a positive educational adventure for the children I am able to have the opportunity to spend time with.  I want the same for their parents, I want to support, educate, and pat them on the back.  I want them to know what little gifts they have.  In my 7 years in the classroom, I have come across many challenges, finding good support, encouraging great parents that they are great parents.  I feel that I am able to give what I once took.  As a former head start parent, I feel that encouraging others to stay positive, stay focused and look to the future is an easy job for me.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Issues and trends in the early childhood field: Excellence and equity of care and education for children and families-Part 3. Baltimore, MD: Executive Producer.

Some interesting things I read this week on the Harvard University Website

What is a learning community and why are they important?

They are people that convene, change agents across sectors, disciplines, and geographies to connect, share ideas and results and learn from each other. Communities work together as well as in-person and virtually.

Frontiers of Innovation works with a group of people called the All our Kin.  They focus on the care of infants and toddlers in low-income communities, although policy and lawmakers are not thinking of infants and toddlers now this group has learned that to make children’s lives better, it requires focusing on adults that care for children so they can, in turn, give better quality.

The group is supported by select non-profits around the country, they are but not limited to pediatricians, foster care agencies, and mental health practitioners.  They set goals and measure them.  This enables shared learning both successful and unsuccessful.

They support distributed leadership. The scope of a learning community allows it to offer a wide range of leadership roles and skill-building opportunity.

They are important because they achieve widespread change in the early childhood field that requires tackling an interrelated set of complex social problems. To solve these problems the field needs a strong community of learning and practice that will work to identify multiple intervention strategies for different groups of children and families. Rather than replicate successful programs in different contexts where they may or may not achieve the same results. Learning communities share results and metrics to figure out what works the best, for whom, and why.

Save The Children

I have been studying the Save the Children website.  Save the children is committed to conducting programs and operations in a manner that keeps children safe and protects them from harm.  They are worldwide, however this week I chose to focus on something that is related to something closer to home for me.  Recently they published their U.S. COMPLEMENT TO THE END OF CHILDHOOD REPORT 2017.  It explains and breaks down by area, which state where childhood is at risk.  Because these children have encountered events or circumstances – “childhood enders” – that have robbed them of their childhoods. Childhood enders can come in many forms: poor health, severe malnutrition, child abuse, an incomplete education, early pregnancy, homelessness, drug or alcohol abuse, exposure to extreme violence or engagement in criminal activity, to name a few.   I feel that this is specific to my current professional development because I am not only passionate about preserving childhood for children but I am also passionate about helping parents to understand how and why childhood is delicate.  In reading this report, I was literally brought to tears and thought of all of the children that experience some sort of trauma in their everyday life.

See the chart below to see in comparison the top & bottom 10 states

Save the Children’s first annual End of Childhood State Ranking reveals children in New Hampshire, Massachusetts, New Jersey and Vermont are far more likely to experience safe, secure and healthy childhoods than children in Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and New Mexico. Each state’s rank was determined by averaging its ranking for the five childhood enders considered in this review.

Alarming reasons childhoods are diminishing

The information about how and why childhood is ending is scary.  There are many statistics in this article that show how the change needs to be made.  For politicians, economists, and neuroscientists to have their dreams come true they are facing an uphill battle here.  These facts are very alarming and this is exactly why changes have to be made.  Just like in the article from RAND, these are all of the reasons that it costs more to solve problems that are preventable.

States differ greatly in their ability to protect childhood. The End of Childhood State Ranking explores this variation across states, revealing where and how children are being robbed of the childhoods they deserve. Save the Children hopes this report will stimulate discussion and action to ensure that every last child fully experiences childhood.

https://www.savethechildren.org/content/dam/usa/reports/emergency-response/end-of-childhood-report-us.PDF

UNICEF Jamaica

Based in Kingston the UNICEF office in Jamaica works with the local government and non-profit partners to improve the lives of children in Jamaica: education, safety, health and youth empowerment and they use acoustic partition walls to create a good place to work.

Some great statistics I was able to find on the UNICEF website were shocking.  In early childhood, 92% of children are in attendance.  Even compared to the United States, that is a great number.  Also in 55% of all homes with early childhood students, have learning materials, so the children don’t have to rely solely on the school for learning materials.

Jamaica has made impressive strides to provide most of its children with access to health, nutrition, education, and social services.  Only one in every 2 Jamaicans live in poverty while only 37% of Jamaicans are children.  Children are given a high priority in the development of national policies and plans, resource allocations are not commensurate with objectives. A result of this finds that 7.5% of children 15-17 work., and only 1 in 5 babies born are born to a teenage mother.

Poverty is not a big issue in Jamaica as violence and abuse are.  91 children were murdered in 2005 while reports of sexual abuse of children are more common.  Because of this the national Child Care and Protection Act was passed in 2004 with the support of UNICEF.  Work has begun in a Child Abuse Registry.

My insights on Jamaica and poverty are seen in a whole new light.

These statistics and more can be found here https://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/jamaica_2166.html

Save The Children Website

Savethechildren.org

News from their most recent update.

3/17/2018. From Fairfield Conn., where save the children’s headquarters exists, because they are reaching out to countries across the globe they support many countries.  This one, in particular, is flood waters in Bangladesh, they have a refugee camp set up.  Unfortunately, where the camps are set up they are due to get monsoon-like rains that are going to destroy a quarter of all of the toilets.  This means that the wells will fill up and a mixture of overflowing human wasted is going to cause a disaster.  Measles and diphtheria are combined with extreme overcrowding, alarming levels of malnutrition among children under the age of 5 and the monsoon on the doorstep is what they are currently battling.

What does this mean?  Because of the waste waters mixing with the number of people, any outbreak of disease would claim the lives of thousands of malnourished children.  Unless there is a preparation for work there are going to be a large number of homes destroyed, roads, low-lying settlements flooded and bridges smashed.  It will create a disaster within a disaster.

Save the children is an organization that worldwide raises funds and assembles help stations in over 120 countries, including the US. they work with save the children members worldwide.  They put children first and give them what they need to grow up happy and healthy.  Anyone can help save the children, they accept donations, byways of fundraising, and athletic events.  You can download their financial reports and see exactly who and where the funds are going and what they are used for.

So far I have learned that there are a lot of children and families in crisis.  As I sit here at my computer in my home, there are many families across the world that are living through a disaster.  Typically because I do not watch TV, I miss a lot of what is happening.  In reading more about this much-needed service, I am seeing that much of the world lives in trauma.

Considering the topic for this week with changing demographics and diversity, I see why so many people do want to come to America.  It is peaceful (for the most part).  People do not live in fear if we are going to be affected by a war while we are sleeping.  There are so many resources for those that need help, it isn’t at all shocking that we are becoming a more diverse society.

Reviewing the website savethechildren.org

(PART 1 of the assignment)

Save the children is committed to conducting programs and operations in a manner that keeps children safe and protects them from harm,  They insist on 100% accountability for safeguarding the children and are privileged enough to serve all.  All Save the Children representatives including employees, board members, partners, volunteers are expected to conduct themselves according to the commitment. They have clear procedures to prevent, report, and respond to any risks to children.  No matter what they always put children first in everything they do.  Ensuring their safety, well-being is a promise made to them and supporters alike.

There are many programs that Save the Children offers. The work they offer is provided in countries all over the world. You can see the map here http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.7801347/k.981A/Interactive_Map.htm

Donations

The programs are run on donations.  Anyone can donate.  There are many ways to get involved.  The most interesting part of the donations that I found was the ability to donate animals.  By donating animals to small villages you can provide opportunity, not only for jobs with animals but you are also providing nutrition.  As for kids, there are shelter kids, emergency food kits, education kits and so much more.  Also, the site allows you to see where the donations are going.  There is a breakdown of where the money is spent.  http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6229505/k.5C4E/Financial_Information.htm This link allows you to see where. who, and when the donations were used.

(PART 2)

Review of NAEYC website.

Members of the National Associaton of Young Children, as well as community partners and network affiliates across the country, proudly ensure that the early childhood profession exemplifies excellence and is recognized as performing a final role in society.  Along with other members, NAEYC is the national voice of the early childhood community.

NAEYC is located in Washington DC.  Although it is quite expensive to join the membership, the benefits are worth it.  They have partnered with hundreds of local companies to provide a discount for all sorts of entertainment, restaurant, beauty, everything you can imagine.  They also offer professional development.  When you become a member you will receive information on the latest in early childhood.  They hold conferences throughout the year in different areas of the country allowing all early childhood professionals the ability to learn and get to know other early childhood professionals.  Personally, I have been to one in Grand Rapids MI.  I think it was one of the memorable times in my early childhood career.

Things that support me…

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On a daily basis, there are many supports I need in my life.  First and most importantly would be my alarm clock.  Typically it would be my French Bulldog, but I have noticed that his reliability is pretty wishy-washy.  So as a back up I do have my cell phone.  In my cell phone, there are many supports I receive.  Every day I check the weather.  Because I am a teacher in winter, it’s very necessary to check the temperature before heading out with my students.  Many days and message times have changed because the real feel temp is below the 10-degree mark (brrrrrrr).   My phone also provides the convenience of in-my-hand accessibility to e-mail, communications with my classroom families,  communications with my family, my own children’s schools, appointments and the list goes on.

A support that provides much convenience would be my car.  Without it, I would have to set my alarm much earlier for the time for commuting, which would take time away from the support and love of my family.  If I was always walking to-and-from work it would make it extremely difficult to spend time with anyone, soaking in the hugs and kisses from my husband, my boys, and my pooch.  Along with the convenience of the vehicle would be the online shopping.  SO much time is saved by this.  More recently I have discovered a grocery delivery service.  Hello, two hours back out of my life a week.  Then again I have more time to soak in the hugs and kisses of my family who is a great emotional support.

Without my husband, I wouldn’t have gone this far educationally. While I am on the education topic, I should mention the teachers I am able to share my days with.  Without their laughs and humor, I wouldn’t keep my job.  Even though it is ultimately for the love of children, I believe because of the rate of pay we receive, we need the support of other teachers to keep us coming back.  When they aren’t at work that day, it’s the support of a hot bath that renews me and prepares me emotionally for another day of serving others.  Having the love and support of my family plays a large part of what I look forward to when I get home.   Without all of these, I would be a complete failure.

Thank you for being a part of my journey and challenging me to think deeper into developing children!

Here are a few of my favorite quotes about early childhood 🙂

Acknowledgement of their feelings is sometimes all they need…

Just like us, they are also individuals…

What kind of mark are you leaving?

Play = Learning

In considering the “whole child” I believe children’s intelligences should be measured but in a way that is beneficial to the child as a whole.  I read an article from frontiersin.org and it states that there are ways to measure children’s IQ’s rather than giving them an assessment on what they have absorbed.  This kind of test would measure the child’s way of learning rather than their knowledge in thing.  It is not a standard test, assessing abilities, but one that would test the way a child learns.  Now personally I believe this is a positive, supportive way of testing, rather than the standardized testing happening in our country now.

For decades, learning disabilities have been diagnosed using the “IQ-achievement discrepancy model,” according to which children whose achievement scores are a standard deviation or more below their IQ scores are identified as learning disabled.  The problem with that model, says Patti Harrison, PhD, a professor of school psychology at the University of Alabama, is that the discrepancy doesn’t tell you anything about what kind of intervention might help the child learn. Furthermore, the child’s actual behavior in the classroom and at home is often a better indicator of a child’s ability than an abstract intelligence test, so children might get educational services that are more appropriate to their needs if IQ tests were discouraged, she says (Frotiersin.org).

According to Professor Alan Kaufman, PhD, a clinical professor of psychology at the Yale School of Medicine, “The movement that’s trying to get rid of IQ tests is failing to understand that these tests are valid in the hands of a competent practitioner who can go beyond the numbers–or at least use the numbers to understand what makes the person tick, to integrate those test scores with the kind of child you’re looking at, and to blend those behaviors with the scores to make useful recommendations,” https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-DcjwzF9yc (Frotiersin.org).

Testing children with standardized testing misses our on all of the wonderful personality traits that children possess, see the picture above to read some of those.  Not to mention who is making up the tests?  How are they coming up with the questions and why is the information important?  Now I should mention I am a parent.  I have taken tests, and come to find out I am a horrible test taker.  I would much rather do a personal presentation of the information I have retained on a subject than sit down and think of answers on the spot.  I have test anxiety.  I did not find this out out until college, because there was no such thing as “test anxiety”  when I was in high school.  Does this mean that my children have it?  Probably.  We take what is called the MEAP testing here in Michigan the children take what is called the M-Step (http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-22709_70117—,00.html).  The preparation for the testing is gruesome.  The teachers let the parents know when they are testing and expect the parents to help in preparation for such testing, getting a good breakfast, bringing in extra snacks and getting extra sleep during the week of testing.

Meanwhile in Finland

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-DcjwzF9yc

There are no mandated standardized tests in Finland, apart from one exam at the end of students’ senior year in high school. There are no rankings, no comparisons or competition between students, schools or regions. Finland’s schools are publicly funded. The people in the government agencies running them, from national officials to local authorities, are educators, not business people, military leaders or career politicians. Every school has the same national goals and draws from the same pool of university-trained educators. The result is that a Finnish child has a good shot at getting the same quality education no matter whether he or she lives in a rural village or a university town. The differences between weakest and strongest students are the smallest in the world, according to the most recent survey by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). “Equality is the most important word in Finnish education. All political parties on the right and left agree on this,” said Olli Luukkainen, president of Finland’s powerful teachers union (Smithsonianmag.com). Additionally, if you’re interested in how to properly organize the learning process, you can read this article at sites like https://memecentral.org/how-to-properly-organize-the-learning-process/.

Still, there is a distinct absence of chest-thumping among the famously reticent Finns. They are eager to celebrate their recent world hockey championship, but PISA scores, not so much. “We prepare children to learn how to learn, not how to take a test,” said Pasi Sahlberg, a former math and physics teacher who is now in Finland’s Ministry of Education and Culture. “We are not much interested in standardized testing. It’s not what we are about”(Smithsonianmag.com).

Teachers in Finland spend fewer hours at school each day and spend less time in classrooms than American teachers. Teachers use the extra time to build curriculums and assess their students. Children spend far more time playing outside, even in the depths of winter. Homework is minimal. Compulsory schooling does not begin until age 7. “We have no hurry,” said Louhivuori. “Children learn better when they are ready. Why stress them out?”(Smithsonianmag.com).

It’s almost unheard of for a child to show up hungry or homeless. Finland provides three years of maternity leave and subsidized day care to parents, and Preschool for all 5-year-olds, where the emphasis is on play and socializing. In addition, the state subsidizes parents, paying them around 150 euros per month for every child until he or she turns 17. Ninety-seven percent of 6-year-olds attend public preschool, where children begin some academics. Schools provide food, medical care, counseling and taxi service if needed. Stu­dent health care is free(Smithsonianmag.com).

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2016.00330/full

http://www.michigan.gov/mde/0,4615,7-140-22709_70117—,00.html

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/why-are-finlands-schools-successful-49859555/

It was Tuesday morning, September 23rd 2008.  I had been having contractions since 4 am.  It was now 8:30 am and they were getting so bad, it was time to go to the hospital.  When I got there I was already dilated to a 6.  They took me back, hooked me up with an IV and I was placed in a bed.  The pain was getting out of hand by about 9:30.  The anesthesiologist came in and did his thing.  But the pain never left.

Finally after hard laboring for a while, it was about 2:30 pm and I was ready to push.  My mother on one leg and the nurse on the other.  I looked into the mirror at the end of the bed and that was my motivation to push.  I saw just the tiniest little spot of a hairy head and as I sunk my teeth into the railing of the bed, there I laid there being watched by about 15 student doctors.  The pain was so bad I began swearing and yelling telling the poor students that if they couldn’t do anything to help me, they needed to get out of the room.  The ripping of my body was so painful, I began scared to push him out.  My mother begged for me to have an episiotomy but the nurse claimed it was too late.  I was stretching just as I should be.  Thinking back now I wish I would have kicked her in the face.  Finally at 2:43 and after only about 8 pushed I pushed him out.   I don’t remember much after that but my mother tells me that it took the doctor about 45 minutes to stitch me back up.  No pain relief.  I was not ready for the pain.

Considering this was my 2nd birth, the first one I labored for 19 hours and pushed 4 times.   I am pretty sure that the next time I have a baby I want to do it in Denmark.  As I read about the birth there, it is a much more natural experience.  They look at hospitalization as a last resort.  You do have a doctor but really the midwife does the delivering and they have hot towels, offer massages, changing positions, and even acupuncture to alleviate the pain.  Sounds like a dream birthing experience considering the trauma I experienced.  Also after the birth you can choose to go to the maternity ward, or a birth hotel.  Sounds like a vacation.  They also support breast feeding 100%.   My boys never tasted formula.  23 and 17 months they nursed, neither ever taking a bottle, once.

The effect I believe the birthing experience has on has a lot to do with the experience the mother has during birth.  There are many factors that relate to the mothers health.  I personally never experienced postpartum depression.  But have heard stories how it turned moms into sad women unable to care for their children.   Personally in my relationship my husband at the time thought I had postpartum depression, I went to a group for women that also had it.  The leader of the group diagnosed me with having an @$$%*!# for a husband and sent me home.  PTSD, stress , exhaustion, and sleep deprivation are also among the top symptoms of after childbirth.   Luckily I haven’t experienced any of those but in comparison I do believe that Denmark is very supportive of the natural childbirth and use doctors and hospitals as emergency basis only.