Week 8 BRC - Final week

This class has taught me many things about research.  One of the most important things it has taught me is that I do not need to be intimidated by research.  When you look at research, piece by piece, for what it is, you CAN make sense of it.  The biggest change that has happened for me that I was not expecting was my attitude towards conducting research myself.  At the beginning of this class I really wanted nothing to do with research. I really was not at all looking forward to this class either.  But what I have discovered is that the data that is provided by research is so powerful and valuable and I really may want to be more involved in research in the EC field in the future.  I actually wish I could conduct my research simulation because I really want to know the results.

As I was putting my research simulation together, I realized how much attention to detail is needed in order to carry out a study that is valid for the field of early childhood or for any field.  It is amazing how many variables are present in every study that researchers need to pay attention to.  The biggest challenge for me during this course was having a lot of new terminology that I was not familiar with to learn and use.  The way I dealt with that was, I took the terms one at a time (just like research, piece by piece) and kept investigating each concept until they made sense.  Piece by piece, for what they are.

It is hard to believe it has already been eight weeks!  I hope the people who read this post will have a great week off!  Thank you for your encouraging words and support and good luck in your future classes!

Week 5 BRC

For this week's assignment, I chose to look into the website for Early Childhood Australia at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au to look into what kinds of issues are current for the early childhood professionals in Australia.  There were many issues discussed on the website but as I was looking at the "Voice" which is the site's newsletter, I noticed that at the end of the publication for this past January, they showed a discussion that was posted on Facebook about how to celebrate Australia Day in the early childhood setting.  Apparently, the holiday they celebrate in Australia called Australia Day, is a source of pride for some residents of Australia but for the Aboriginal people it is a source of pain.  The discussion shown was about how to balance the celebration of the holiday while still being sensitive to the indigenous population at the same time.

This is a great example of a dilemma that we face regularly as early childhood professionals.  We often face the challenge of balancing priorities for our very culturally diverse classes.  This just happens to be a good example of how international issues can be different but the similar.

This website also contains articles published in the AJEC or the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.  This journal contains articles that have subjects that seem very similar to articles here in the US.  I suppose the similarities in issues shows how even though our cultures are different and our upbringing may be different, young children are very similar, even the same for the most part.  Kids are kids, whether they are here in our country or in another.

BRC Week 3

After considering both assignments for this week, I chose the second one.  If I were able to conduct research about anything, I would choose the effects of a behavior modification program on young children diagnosed with Autism spectrum disorders.  Maybe ages 2-5.  I would want to test whether having a behavior program for these children, would improve the behaviors that result with them being diagnosed with Autism.  I have a nephew who has been diagnosed with an Autistic spectrum disorder but when he is with me and my family, he does not exhibit the kind of behaviors he does at home.  Now, being a preschool teacher of nine kids at a time, I tend to run a tight ship at home and do not tolerate much unnecessary crying or fussing and he does great at my house.

I feel like this is not a coincidence.  I am not saying I am the best and that is why he doesn't act up at my house, but I am wondering if as a preschool teacher, I have developed skills that encourage better choices for him and result in better behavior.  I am a behaviorist at heart and I would love to test this out on a large scale somehow.  Wouldn't it be great to be able to give parents of children with an autistic spectrum disorder a set of skills that may help that child regulate his own behavior?  I would love to see the results of research like that!!

Building Research Competencies wk2

This class is going to stretch me to learn about research.  I will learn about the steps that are taken to conduct quality research and the way to tell the difference between types of sources and different kinds of methodology when it comes to research.  I am excited to learn more because I know I will be a better resource for the families I work with if I knowledgeable about current, accurate research results.

As I continue with my journey to get this degree, I realize that I have a lot to learn.  Part of this course is to create my own research simulation about a topic of my choice.  In week one I expressed an interest in learning more about a parents interaction with infants and how that effects language development in those children.  I realize that this topic is too broad and in order to focus the topic more, I am choosing to focus specifically on the impact of prompting on a child's language development. I am not sure if this topic is suitable for research but it seems like it may be.

The reason I chose this topic was because it has always interested me how some two-year-olds talk a mile a minute, and others look at you like they have no idea what you are saying.  Is it natural for all children to begin to talk at different times?  Is it simply a result of their environment?  I have three children and they all spoke at about the same time.  By 9 months they were using one word at a time and by two they were little chatterboxes!  I always wonder if they would have talked at a different time if they did not grow up in my home.  I did prompt them a lot to speak and after a little while, I no longer accepted pointing or grunting :)

Please let me know what you all think.  I am really interested to hear from you as other professionals who work with children every day.  Thank you!

Final assignment - Reflection

Over the past eight weeks we have been learning about a few of the issues and trends that are a part of the early childhood field.  We have learned from international websites as well as websites of local organizations.  Since I never made contact with an early childhood professional from another country, I spent time listening to the pod-casts and the from that experience I would have to say that the first thing I gained was some perspective.

The issues and trends we have here in the US are very different from some of the issues other countries face.  We may worry about hungry or poor children in out country but our children do not have to sell themselves to get money for their families.  We may want every child to have a safe, high-quality environment for our children to learn in but we do not have ten year old girls, afraid to walk home by themselves for fear of being raped because it is rumored that their bodies will cure AIDS.  We have issues of our own and they are important because we want what is best for our children, but I am grateful for those issues after seeing the issues other places around the world face.

Perspective, appreciation for our own issues here in the US, and lastly I would say my understanding of using other professionals in the field as resources has been deepened and solidified more in me after this class.  Just this past week I was at a party for my son's new soccer team and I met a woman who was from China and I actually saw her as a resource to help me develop more cultural awareness for a little boy in my class.  Her English was really good and she was gracious enough to help me understand a little bit about the Chinese culture.  If I had not taken this class I am not sure I would have viewed her as a resource and even talked to her about her culture.

A goal I would set for myself, related to the field, is to continue to learn from the resources we have used through this course.  These blog assignments seem like busy work at times but I am grateful to have the links posted here forever even after I have finished this class.

Thank you to those of you who read my posts and for the comments.  I look forward to seeing some of you in the next class!  Keep up the good work and good luck!

UNESCO - Week 7

This week I explored the UNESCO website.  UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and the link to their site is:
http://www.unesco.org
I learned many things from this website.  As I looked under Early Education, the tabs that are there are Access, Quality, Investment and Governance which are some of the issues we have been learning about in this course.  A few specific things this site taught me that I did not know:

1 - In the developing world, 10.5 million children under 5 die from preventable diseases every year. (UNESCO)

2 - UNESCO believes that everyone has the right to an education and that education should not be a privilege that is only for a few.
3 - 69 million children are out of school world-wide


One major insight I have gained this week is that the issues about the field of EC that baffle me, also seem to baffle other professionals, not only in the US, but worldwide.  I feel I have so much more to learn but I am grateful for the many things this class has taught me.

Children's Defense Fund - week 6

The Children's Defense Fund website has many useful links.  This week I followed the "Take Action" tab.  Under this tab was suggestions for how to take action from your home or in your community.  Under the subtitle "Advocacy that Works", there are suggestions for how to advocate for children's policies that work.  Under this tab there are links with instructions on how to e-mail, call or send a letter to our elected officials.  If you keep following those prompts, they allow you to choose an issue and then they give you a template for a letter that you can personalize and then send to your senator.  I also am signed up for the newsletters but I did not receive one this week.

As far as our topic for this week of availability, accessibility and affordability of care, I was able to find a section called Early Learning Challenge Fund which is one of the CDF's policy priorities.  This website continues to be very informative and interesting.  I enjoy spending the time getting to know more about specific topics.  I am still pleased with this site as a choice.  The more I learn about this organization the more I like it and would want to be a supporter of it in the future.

Here's the link:

http://www.childrensdefense.org/