THANK YOU...  

TO ALL OF MY COLLEAGUES FOR YOUR

REFLECTIVE COMMENTS,

QUESTIONS,

STORIES AND RESEARCH

YOU HAVE TRULY MADE THIS EXPERIENCE

 A POSITIVELY MEANINGFUL ONE!!!

GOD BLESS YOU all AS YOU MOVE FORWARD

TOWARDS YOUR SPECIALIZATION  

AND PLEASE KEEP IN TOUCH,

Charlene....

(charlene.carroll@waldenu.edu)

Team Development – The Adjourning Phase

The group which made for the hardest good-bye for me recently was the one I felt the greatest connection with. Basically, we were all different. Everyone attending the training for example, had various levels of education and years of work experience. We had come from different backgrounds and different locations but we also connected as well. We were all center directors working in Philadelphia county and were all committed to the task of learning the best practices we needed to increase literacy in the classrooms of our various Philadelphia Head Start locations.

After introductions were made, as part of the Forming stage of team development, we eagerly entered the Storming stage by settling down into our repetitious role of reading, learning, practicing, teaching the teachers at our centers, journaling the experience and meeting again at the next session to share our experience in large group, respond and list insights before starting the process over again with a new strategy and teach. This process continued for ten long weeks until the final task was completed and the end of both the Norming and Performing stages were finished. It was at this time, I believe the Adjourning stage had begun--it was the last day of training and I realized just how effective our teams had been. We were summarizing our center achievements with the facilitators when I realized that I knew many of the director’s first names who were speaking. I knew many of their center names. I remembered many of the issues and problems we had all helped each other solve while in training and I exchanged cell numbers with those I felt I had some particular things in common with before I said my final goodbyes.

 Had I not gotten the cell phone numbers of those I wanted to continue to keep in touch with, I may have felt sadness at the Adjourning stage instead, I felt energized and excited that I had made some professional ties that I believe are excellent resources in the field and I look forward to keeping communication open with them to discuss issues and problems that I can glean ideas from. I believe it is these types of relationship building, high performance teams that are the most effective and most productive and they are not the hardest to leave because people, like myself, come away from the team connected with people with real industry experience helping other people in the field. It is these types of high performing teams that have the clearest norming and performing stages and get things done. These types of teams are able to focus on the issues and problems at hand rather than the differences of the team members, for example. These types of teams can be the most effective at the Adjourning stage because they are the ones that can continue the connections with the people who are on the front lines and have real-time experience by phone and by email after the Adjourning time is over. This is why I don’t believe I will have a difficult time saying goodbye to my colleagues at the end of my program at Walden because I feel I will be able to continue communicating with them by phone or email and being able to gather phone numbers and emails to continue relationships already established is what makes the Adjourning stage essential.

Reference

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved

from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

About  a month ago, I was in a conflict with a preschool teacher over how to make the classroom centers in her classroom more defined. According to the program specialist, that the administration team hired to help this teacher redesign her classroom for the ECERS-3, one center needed to be separated into two distinct areas and two centers had to be switched.

The teacher however, did not agree. I met with her a few times and specifically asked her to make the switch and separate the one center. I gave her a deadline of a week and asked her if she needed help. She emphatically she did not want help. I waited after the deadline. The centers remained the same and so, I asked her to meet me in the conference room. When she arrived, I asked her why the task had not been done and she said something rude and walked out.

I documented the result of my meeting and asked my supervisor to meet with both of us to get this task completed. At the next meeting with my supervisor, the teacher had invited the executive director to sit in and so, we had 3 administrators in the meeting, plus the teacher and I copied the latest documentation for everyone, including the teacher to read.

After everything was said and done, the teacher was given until the end of the day to complete the original task of redefining the centers. My supervisor was also asked to order a larger cabinet for the teacher’s art materials.

As The Center for Nonvioldent Communication model suggests, I felt the communication break down  between myself and the teacher could have been avoided if the teacher had been more honest in expressing her classroom needs because in the end, she still had to complete the tasks that were originally assigned by the end of the day and she did. She did however, also gain another, larger cabinet to hold all of her art suppliesfor her classroom — a request, she said she asked my supervisor to order for her earlier, but had not received a reply. I however, had no knowledge of this request  but felt my overall communication was effective.    

Reference

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication.

Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

           Overall, I am really pleasantly surprised to see that my scores were so close to my evaluators. The Communication Anxiety Inventory scores for example, were all within 1 point of each other and indicated I have a low level of communication anxiety when speaking to others.  All of the final scores on the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale were also very close. Each score indicated that I indulge in a moderate level of verbal aggressiveness meaning that I am able to maintain a good balance between respecting and considering others’ viewpoints. Each score also indicates that I am able to argue fairly by attacking the facts of a position rather than the person holding that position and lastly, all of my Listening Style scores are the same. My highest score shows that I am a relationship builder or People-Oriented, first.  Next, I prefer clear, to-the-point communication that outlines a plan of action. Overall, this communication style is efficient and respected but it can also be intimidating and business-like to some who are more sensitive listeners (Rubin, 2009).

O’Hair says that voluntary self-disclosure has more impact or creates more intimacy if it goes below surface information and I am very happy to see that my evaluators see me as I see myself—one who treats others as well as children and their families with the humane kindness, consideration and respect they deserve and one that is committed to getting the job done as an integral part of a qualified team. I see this style as a positive relationship and strength builder of those who, like me, love what they do for children and families and consider themselves to be vested owners in the business rather than just mere staff in the workplace and as such, take pride in setting goals for themselves and the workplace and meeting them in order to be the best they can be (Rubin, 2009).

O’Hair also says those who are sensitive to feedback are susceptible and receptive to information about their abilities. One thing I learned after completing this assignment is that communicating with a flair for treating others as they would like to be treated is paramount to being an effective communicator.  Effective communication is meaningful, expresses feelings and creativity, is symbolic and shares information.  Effective communication can help careers; strengthen relationships, create opportunities and can accomplish goals (O’Hair, 2015).

References

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd ed).  New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Rubin, R. B., Palmgreen, P., & Sypher, H. E. (Eds.) (2009). Communication research measures: A sourcebook. New York: Routledge.

          According to the article entitled “Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others”, a good first step to becoming an effective intercultural communicator is to identify its causes or barriers. Researchers note that some of the barriers to effective intercultural communication may be influenced by biological predisposition, economical and/or social category or by personal preference within gender, sexual orientation, race, ethnicity, age and/or social class. My intercultural communication goal however, is to honor and respect others by focusing more on and relating to what we may all have in common, rather than on our differences and as an early childhood educator/residential teacher of life skills, I find I enjoy understanding, building, cultivating, supporting and maintaining relationships with my colleagues, children and families from other cultures such as Caucasian, Latino, African and Asian,  based on my own African American cultural upbringing, my own life experiences and personal preference to value individuals and groups from other cultures (Beebe, 2011 ).

After reflecting on this week’s materials, the three strategies I would choose to help me effectively communicate with others from different cultures are:  1) increasing my knowledge of other cultures through seeking information about their cultural life and situations which in turn may help me discover my role in a new/strange place and help me feel more comfortable. 2) asking questions, effectively listening to the answers and creating a “third culture”  by letting go of old ways and experimenting with developing a basis for forming a new relationship based on talking, dialoguing, negotiating, conversing, and/or interacting together for the purpose of constructing a new relationship that is a more mutually beneficial interactive environment when two experiences collide;

another strategy for helping me strengthen my intercultural communication is by accepting others, being patient, being more mindful of what I am doing, thinking and sensing and tolerating uncertainty through avoiding negative judgments about others with other worldviews;  and lastly, 3) observing, responding to, paying close attention to others verbal and nonverbal cues and putting into action all of what I know and want to achieve for building and strengthening a more creative and flexible multitasking skills base that will ultimately bridge established cultural patterns (Beebe, 2011).

One lesson learned is the importance of having and being able to use strategies that will help build effective intercultural communication, especially when a difference in worldviews or established patterns of cultural experiences arises. Another lesson learned are the barriers that can negatively affect intercultural communication and as an educator, I am thrilled to have gained a deeper, more meaningful level of understanding into how the process of communication can work when a serious clash occurs between two individuals or groups of people from other cultures (Beebe, 2011).

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

                I observed the Rickey Smiley Show on television, mute initially then, I watched it unmuted.

On mute, I noticed three short, separate segments. There were three characters in the first segment. They stood in a semi-circle, in a room. It was not an ordinary room. There was no windows  nor beds in the room. It looked like the characters were taking turns reading from a script and they were animated. Their arms flailed. Their heads bobbed and their legs made their bodies bounce up and down as they were seemingly acted out a scene. It looked like there was some competition happening as the female who was more animated than the others, seemed to smile and laugh as she had won the competition.

            The second segment was very short as a young man sat outside what looked like a café. He was sitting by himself when suddenly a young lady walked up beside him. He immediately hugged her with a loving “I’m happy to see you” hug. Then, they sat down and talked together, looking into each other’s eyes and smiling, while having a cup of coffee or tea. After a short while, both stood up. She walked towards him. He walked stepped beside her and draped his arm around her shoulders and they both lovingly walked down the street together. It looked like they were more than just mutual friends.   

The third segment showed two men approaching a large building that looked like a gym on the inside. There were four characters looking towards them as they entered, talking to one another. A young lady approached them. She and the tallest gentleman began to talk and someone threw him a football. He spoke to her. She darted away running and he threw the football in her direction. She turned to catch the ball but it missed her grip. After a few huddles, runs  and several more tries, the young lady finally caught the football. Then all teamed-up and played a short game of football. The young lady, who had a problem catching the ball before suddenly caught the ball with ease and the football game was immediately over. By this time, I sensed that the gentleman was an experienced football coach who was called in to help the young lady practice catching a football.

Unmuted, I discovered that all of my assumptions were correct. The two male actors were helping the female actress practice for an upcoming audition she desperately wanted to win. The young gentleman invited his girlfriend for coffee so that he could give her the good news about the location of  his future waffle house he wanted and the football coach was helping the young lady practice catching a football so she tryout for the community coed football team.

One insight I learned is how general context information—the who and what may be gathered from observing nonverbal communication. I also learned that one can gather the more detailed or specific information—the when, where and why from listening to verbal communication as O’Hair states that the communication process itself is interactive and depends on at least two people exchanging both verbal and nonverbal messges (O’Hair, 2011).

References

O'Hair, D., Friedrich, G. W., & Dixon, L. D. (2011). Strategic communication in business and

the professions. Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon

Both my parents were supportive of me in different ways. They never made me feel as if they were in competition with me. I felt supported that way. There were no put-downs or shaming but it was father who effectively communicated with me. My mother was primarily the authoritarian type parent who hardly ever asked anything but “yes” or “no” questions. It seemed she was more interested in children following directions.  My father on the other hand, loved to interact and stay “in the moment” with me.  While my mother as managing the household, my father was checked my homework every night and arranged tutoring sessions with my older siblings if he felt I needed academic assistance. He asked me probing questions and introduced or reviewed material step by step to make me think things through, logically. On many occasions, he talked and  listened to me express my thoughts.  He played with me;  sang songs with me;  danced with me and encouraged me to lead songs after he discovered I had singing ability. Overall, I loved the way my father made me feel valued as a communicator as he seemed to genuinely value and enjoy hearing my voice and my thoughts.

Now, as an educator, I try to emulate the same characteristics as my father when I am interacting with children. I love to hear them read picture stories and express their individuality in word and deed. I love to have one-on-one sessions  that allow them to express their feelings or make a personal statement. I love to sit down with them and play games that support academic and personal growth as in word, number, shape and color Bingo games. I love to teach them new tasks like my father did, one-step-at-a-time and ask them probing questions to make them think things through, logically and most of all, I love to hear their spontaneous voice. Interacting with children always takes me back emotionally to when I spent special moments communicating with my dad. I also believe this is why building relationships with others is so important to me today and I hope my classroom children will feel the same way I do about communicating and building relationships with others when they become adults in the future. 

…….. Live Life On-Purpose, In-Purpose and For-Purpose,

                                               Inspired by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

I Hope that Educators Everywhere

Stay Strong and Stomp-Out Poverty and Bias

So That Children Everywhere Can Soar

To their Highest Potential

I Hope that the field of Early Childhood Education

Remains Committed to A Collective Vision of

Diversity, Equity and Social Justice for All Children

And

Thank You to All My Colleagues

For Giving Me Your Consistent Support.

I Wish No-Less-Than the Best

For You On Your Almost-Ending Journey,

            Charlene.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

Besides knowing her name, five ways I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this child and her family is:

1.      create a profile sheet to ground myself in the life of this child and her family. On the profile, I want to know:

a.       how many children are in the family?                        

b.      What order is the child? 1^st, middle, baby?

c.       Does she and the family speak English?

d.      What was the last grade she attended?

e.       How old is she? Is she shy? talkative?

f.       Does she have a favorite food? color? shape? song? book?

g.      Does she have any family in the school? Neighbors?

h.      Does she have any allergies?

2.     During free play, I would also observe and ask her questions to see where she is academically?

3.      I would introduce her to the classroom children and invite them to play with her until she becomes comfortable and ventures out on her own

4.      Give her a disposable camera and teach her how to take pictures of her and her family then, help her paste her pictures inside so she can make a book of her family to share with the class

5.       I would find Jamaica on the map and place a small picture of her on it.

7.      I would find out how to say “good morning” and “good-bye, see you tomorrow” in her native language.

8.      I would also teach her to 'sign' some  words we are all all using in the classroom

9.      I would find out some important facts about Jamaica from a picture book and share it with the class 

My goal is to learn as much as I can about my new student; get to know her, her culture and her family so she will feel important to me; make new friends and feel comfortable.

Reference

Boutte, G. (2008). Beyond the illusion of diversity: How early childhood teachers can promote  

            social justice. Social Studies, 99(4), 165--173.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

          In addition to working as an educator during the day, I’ve been working a nighttime residential position at a private school, working with 1^st grade girls. I have had this nighttime position for over 20 years.

After receiving my bachelor’s, I decided to work here fulltime on the weekends and that allowed me to work fulltme during the daytime as a Head Start teacher.  All of the weekend staff  held two professional positions during this time. Shortly afterwards however, our residential school hired a new female president who, after about 4 years, suddenly called us all into her office as a group and told us that the weekend program was now closing. We were all forced to make enormous changes to our lives. That made me feel targeted and manipulated. Of course, most of us transferred back to weekday, nights instead of weekend, nights, including me.  

 To this day, I believe that  we were all targeted to make less money by the powers that be because marginalized people should not have that kind of financial ableism which means an action of of an institution backed by societal power that undermines in this case, economical opportunities of people, including those with disabilities (Derman-Sparks, 2012). We were all forced to change our work schedules and as log as we work weekday, nights, we will never be able to work those hours, again. The best we can possibly do now is work part-time.  In addition, the number of children we care for has doubled and that means more work.  So, as long as we work here, our hands are tied.    

                                                Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. 

      Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

It was immediately after I had completed my undergrad course entitled “African American History in the 19^th Century” that I first became aware of the acts of microaggression towards African people that brought them and my family to this country after the colonialization period of the 1800’s from Africa that I felt empowered to take charge of my life; tell  my own personal story, live life from  my own cultural perspective; forever wear my own natural hair as a proud symbol of my personal  identity and live by my own choice to be forever free from the dominate culture’s distortions.  

“All my life I had to fight” (Walker, 1982) the myths about my culture and somehow, I never believed that my culture wasn’t as intelligent, as beautiful or as articulate as the dominant culture. My grades were great. I had earned some spelling-bee awards for being one of  the best spellers in the city, then state and I was offered the choice of taking one of two tests for High School—Girls High, one of the top college bound schools in Philadelphia and Murrell Dobbins, one of the top vocational schools.

My mother encouraged me to take the vocational school and come out with a skill that she said would guarantee a way for me (a female) to take of myself, in case something ever happened. So, I chose the vocational school and became a respected Secretary/Administrative Assistant in the field of business. I married shortly after High School. We bought a two-bedroom house and I bore two children, spaced 5 ½  years apart. After another 5 years, I divorced my husband but the most important lesson I’ve learned through this journey is that after I graduated High School, I felt empowered. After my marriage, I felt empowered. After we bought a house, I felt empowered. After the children were born, I felt empowered. After the divorce, I felt empowered because like my mother noted, I was able to take of myself and my children. I still feel empowered today--both my children are grown now. Both, have decided to continue their post-secondary education and as graduate student, I still feel empowered to tell my own story and walk towards my own dream of becoming the educator who is committed to eradicating the chains of classism, racism, the myth of the culture of poverty by continuing to make a meaningful contribution to the lives of preschool children, from birth to 8 years, where it can really make a difference.  

Reference

Walker, A. (1982), The Color Purple,             retrieved from

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/542253-all-my-life-i-had-to-fight-i-had-to

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

What is your definition of culture?

Relative 1 (female):                 Culture is the practices or rituals that are taught.

Relative 2 (male):                    Culture is your background; where you come from.

Family Friend (female):          Culture is understanding where people come from.

What is your definition of diversity?

Relative 1 (female):                 Diversity is putting different people together in one

place.

Relative 2 (male):                    Diversity is accepting everybody’s differences

Family Friend (female):          Diversity is not necessarily agreeing with but being  

accepting of other peoples’ differences.

A cultural group’s practices and rituals can be thought of as a group’s surface culture or the  things people on the outside of the group can easily see, taste and define such as a groups costumes, holidays, food and historical artifacts. In addition, an understanding of where a group’s background and their ancestors are from can be thought of as a culture’s deep culture such as their language, their values, their ideas on education, their gender and children roles, their connections to the community and  their religious beliefs, etc. (Derman-Sparks, 2010).    

According to the responses I received, diversity is not necessarily agreeing with but putting people together in one place and being accepting of other peoples differences  such as their race, gender, age, abilities, disabilities, their language, social class, economical level, their ethnicity and national origin, their religious and spiritual practices, their sexuality and after considering the examples, I found all the responses to be on-target and somewhat inclusive of all the ways culture and diversity can be explained (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008).    

References

Derman-Sparks, L., Edwards, J.O. (2010).Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and

Ourselve. pp. 56–60.

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education. Boston, MA: McGraw 

           Hill. 5th ed., pp. 8–1. 

My Family Culture

          For my simulation exercise, the three items I choose to take with me to a foreign country are: a picture of my childhood family; a picture of my mother’s childhood family and a picture of my dad’s childhood family.

Assuming that my current family is with me in this new place, I would explain to others like the immigrant children did in the article entitled “How Immigrant Children Enlightened Their Teachers with a Camera” that these pictures are my mother’s childhood family, my father’s childhood family and my mom, my dad and my sisters and brothers. I would then explain the rules my mother set for us to follow and why. I would also explain that my mother was in charge of the family unit and my dad always stood behind her in a kind and gentle way.  I would also share our birthday and graduation celebrations and how my mom would cook a big one pot dinner and everybody—my aunts, uncles and cousins would come over to celebrate during those times. I would also share how my mom would make a covered dish and take it to her friends and family’s house in times of weddings, graduations, newborn babies, christening celebration and they would laugh and dance together. During difficult times, my mother would also cook and take a covered pot over to friends and family’s house and they would cry and hug together.  On holidays, we would all rotate the cookout location. There was always music, food and fun. I would also talk about my sisters and brothers and how we got in trouble together and the things my mother did to compensate for a friend or families mishap. I know I would have so much to share—who my siblings and I look like; how many children we each have; how many children we each have; who they look like and what they are doing in life.

If I could only take one picture however, I would choose my mom’s childhood family because I for some reason still hold her so close to my heart. She was a loving, caring person who worked tireelessly to  take care of her family after she and my father divorced. Like a momma bear, she left no stone unturned ad she left a wonderful model of self-respect for her daughters to follow.  I’ve learned that a family unit can be large or small—the size doesn’t really matter. The fact is the family unit is what sets the foundation for its individual members and no matter how different we all are, we all need our family to affirm us and teach us how to grow into productive citizens in the world. I’ve also learned that a family unit can have various types of leaders at the helm – there could be a heterosexual male and female; a single mom or dad; a gay or lesbian couple or single parent, etc. but,  all families have rules, roles, boundaries, hierarchy, climate and equilibrium (Christian, 2008).  

References

Christian, L. G. (2006). Understanding families: Applying family systems theory to early

     childhood practice. Young Children, 61(1), 12–20.

Keat, J. B., Strickland, M. J., & Marinak, B. A. (2009). Child voice: How immigrant

      children enlightened  their  teachers with a camera. Early Childhood Education

      Journal, 37(1), 13–21.

Reactivating My Blog for Perspective Diversity & Equity

    I am so open to considering this class to be a new beginning of another way of looking at the

world. I am already finding the videos and articles very interesting and I can't wait to our 

sharing of ideas and comments together via our blogs.........     

When I Think of Research……

When I think of research, I think of it being a systematic way of investigating a topic or issue that is culturally specific in order to gain information and/or provide a solution (Mac Naughton, 2010).  

I feel I’ve learned a great deal about the process of research from this course. I’ve learned how to narrow a topic down for more control of the data and in terms of thinking about ways to make it equitable for all the participants. I’ve learned about what methods to use in a quantitative, qualitative or a mixed method approach to designing research I’ve learned the importance of making the research ethical by attaining the consent of parents for quantitative and qualitative approaches to research and children’s consent when using the mixed method approach. I’ve learn that reliability involves attaining consistent results by using consistent  measurements  and/or consistent definitions when using observations and validity in qualitative research involves using a sample of participants representative of the case study setting or looking at the research from a number of vantage points, called triangulation (Mac Naughton, 2010).

My biggest challenge was narrowing the question or problem down to a more controllable set of

observations but after logically explaining the research each week, the actual question became clearer. Another challenge of mine was determining the dependent and independent variable and it didn’t become clear to me until I received Dr. Dartt’s comments in last week--Week 7’s part 2 application assignment. Initially, I thought about observing only the males in the classroom but after reading about rigor and triangulation, I included two males and 2 females in order to have a sound sample that represented the genders in the classroom.  The nature of the research process changed also after I read about the mixed research method and then I included the children’s willingness to accept my observations by them actively participating in the classroom, especially after explaining that I would be looking at them work at Center time for four days as my getting their consent. I also learned that the process of thinking about equity; how to select the participants and obtaining the consents of participants should be done in the planning phase of the research. Thinking about collecting the data, what method(s) to use to collect the data;  what data to collect; how and when to collect the data; what and how to write and share the data should also be done in the research design phase and then conducting of the research at this point should be pretty smooth. The analysis and interpretation of the data should be rigorous and use triangulation to increase case study validity.

Before I completed my research simulation, I had not fully realized the complexity of conducting research and the power of completing the process but now I feel I have a deeper understanding of how to complete a case study and why it is important. Today, I have a renewed respect for the research process and I now understand why research legitimizes the work of the professional and I look forward to being more ferverent in using research to keep abreast of the current issues and trends of early childhood in my work here, in America and around the world.   

Reference

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A. & Siraj-Blatchford,  I (2010).  Doing early childhood research: International 

        perspectives on theor and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Research Around The World

          For this assignment, I chose to investigate the Early Childhood Australia website.  The organization calls itself an advocacy organization that ensures quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children aged birth to eight years old. It also acts in the interests of young children, their families and those in the early childhood field, since 1938.

          In its Research in Practice Series Index, I found some interesting early childhood research topics such as: its 2016 issue on Connecting with babies and its issues on Documenting children’s learning; Connecting with toddlers; Supporting literacy learning in the early years and Inclusive pedagogy from a child’s perspective in 2015. There is a $60 yearly subscription cost to its 4 issues a month for 12 months magazines, which is considerably higher than NAEYC’s student membership but its promise to provide educators with resources that are idea-rich, to-the-point, practical, focused and easy-to-read sounds appealing.

          One interesting fact I discovered is that this organization operates much like our NAEYC organization. Both advocate for children, families and educators; both have a Code of Ethics for Early Childhood professionals to follow and both offer memberships and discounts to educators for subscriptions to its newsletters, magazines, publications, conferences and products.  

 Reference

Early Childhood Australia Retreived from

                            http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefit Children and Families – An Uplifting Story

            I believe the recent early childhood research of the last five to ten years on the practice of  “Inclusion” for example has not only increased positive relationships among the children and the teachers in the classroom, it has brought an increased sense of international awareness for preschool children.

One series of events happened in our Head Start classroom when a Latino family was asked to make a book with pictures of their child and his family. His name was the title and the illustrator and under the pictures were the names of him and his family members. While I was there visiting the classroom, he proudly reached for his book in the library and told his story when the teacher announced it was time for reading. After he successfully read his picture book and showed the pictures to the class, I learned a lot about him that day. I learned what country he and his family were from. I learned about the foods he likes to eat and I learned the names of his mother, his father, his siblings and his grandmother. He and the children were also happy to show me his country on the globe and on another classroom visit I  heard the children greet him in his own language.  

One study reports that children benefit most when teachers engage them in stimulating interactions that can provide input and help them acquire new knowledge and skills that can elicit their verbal responses and reactions; support their engagement and enjoyment of learning and can foster their social, emotional, cognitive, language and physical learning (Yoshikawa, 2013) .  It was clear to me that day that the class had been engaged in Inclusion activities and their proud presentation was the result of every child being a part.    

Reference

Yoshikawa, H., etal. 2013. Investing in Our Future: The Evidence Base on Preschool

 Education, Foundation For Child Development.  Retrieved from

http://fcdus.org/sites/default/files/Evidence%20Base%20on%20Preschool%20Education%20FINAL.pdf

My Personal Research Journey

          My chosen topic for simulation is “Early Childhood Classroom Size and Student Performance”. Of course, I had to tweek the title after the literature review but overall, I was excited to see the research articles I found. One study claims “no one knows" if there is any real benefit to having small class sizes in early childhood. The same study states that the "debate still lingers" (NIEER, 2005). Another study states that there are benefits to having small class sizes. Nevertheless, I'm anxious to learn more.   

          This topic is close to my heart because over the years, I have seen some very good teachers get burned-out over the stress conditions they have had to endure over not having enough teachers in the classroom and this stress over time caused some teachers to leave the field. Some became ill and left the field on their own.  Some have even continued to work in the field but have lost the joy they once had for teaching and some have become extremely dogmatic and short tempered and any way it falls, the children loose out because these types of situations can negatively affect their performance.   

 I’m hoping to gain some more insight into what the research says about other causes of poor student performance and what interventions teachers can make to combat this situation. My heart and mind is also open to any advice my colleagues may have on this topic.  

Reference

NIEER. (2005). Preschool Matters.  Pre-K Class Size: What’s the Best Fit for the Nation’s 3- and 4-Year Olds? National Institute for

EarlyEducation Research, 3(1).