Reflection

Learning about early childhood on an international basis we will have a better understanding of some children, open our eyes to the world around us, and adds to every teachers portfolio. As I stated in my reflection this week I believe that we, as educators, can learn from each and every person. 

My goal is to continue interacting with my contact from Canada and try to learn as much as possible from her. This concept has given me an idea for my own workplace as well, how great would it be for other teachers in my program to connect with someone internationally on a professional level. My director seemed interested in this concept, as well. 

My Contacts - Part 3

I have enjoyed talking with my contact in Canada, the few times we have been able to connect.

It seems that Canada is very similar to where I live in the United States. They are struggling to teach others the importance of early education and are constantly asking the community for help. She has an equal opportunity for education and training as I do, which she seems to be taking full advantage of. As far as her education goes, she is pursuing her Master's in Early Childhood Education, as well. She also has a diploma in Early Childhood Education and an BA in Child Studies. 

Her professional goals are her education and parent engagement. She would love to have her families more involved in her classroom and has already improved on that this school year. I am waiting for her response as to how she has made that change. I have had a lot of parent engagement but could always use more ideas so I can continue to switch my classroom style around.

National Head Start Association (NHSA)

The NHSA was a huge support for early head start and head start programs in 2013 by helping send 37,740 letters to Congress during the sequestration. These letters were from teachers, head start alumni, and parents to advocate about the importance of Head Start. When the Federal Government shut down in October of 2013 it forced 57,000 slots to be cut.

There is a pilot program that NHSA is doing called First Advocates - this helps train and guide parents on becoming advocates. They will be trained in; how to effectively communicate their story and message, how to engage state and national elected officials, and how to organize their peers and community. This pilot program may be helpful when discussing the barrier of awareness...by having the trained parents in the community raising awareness of head start and sharing their story. This is an interesting program and I am curious to find out more about it, I will be emailing my director to see if she has more details about it. 

While browsing through the section labeled 'Resources for Families' it took me to an outside link - Head Start Early Childhood Learning & Knowledge Center. This is a great resource for all Head Start program! I currently use this for teaching tools and if I have a question about one of our standards. This website is also helpful when needing resources for families. 

Getting To Know My Contact

My contact is new to the field of early childhood education. While writing to her about the excellence and equality in the field she mentioned that her program gets evaluated monthly - I was unable to gather whether that is internal or external people evaluating them.

She had mentioned that children across the board have access to education. She did not respond to my question about whether there is a program equivalent to Head Start in Canada - she had mentioned previously that in her specific area there was not a need for assistance when talking about low-income families. 

Communicating with my contact can be a struggle - our schedules seem to be opposite and she does not get onto the computer daily. I am hoping to learn more information from her still. 

I haven't heard back from my contact in New Zealand either :(

The Ever-Changing Head Start

            While searching the National Head Start Association website I came across the newsletter about Early Head Start and Head Start switching to a full-day classroom setting.  Currently, the majority of the classes are half-day (3.5 hours/day). This affects my current professional development because I this is my first year doing a full-day classroom at Head Start and I am having to learn new ways of teaching. Our full-day classrooms tend to enroll the children with higher priority scores, which equates to children with social-emotional concerns or behavior problems. I have learned new ways to de-escalate situations and have learned how to talk in a soother tone of voice.

            This newsletter about the proposed changes to Head Start programs has caused issues within the program – with the increase of full-day classes the programs are having to decrease the number of children and families they can serve but are now able to provide more in-depth learning. My program has slowly started to switch to full-day classrooms and had to decrease the number of children in our enrollment – last year we served 406 children and families, this year we are serving 366. It is unfortunate that we have to drop our enrollment numbers because I feel like we are failing those select children now. Head Start standards believes full-days are 6 hours (8:00-3:00) and my program does 8:00-5:00 so we are having to find funding for those extra two hours to make up the difference.

         Head Start in general is able to operate and continue serving children and families because of politicians who understand and support it’s vision and mission. If we did not have certain political support the children of low-income families would not have the opportunity to attend school and gain the extra support.

         I did not come across any new insights about issues and trends but I found an awesome partnership that could help my program with supplies. While exploring the NHSA website I found that Head Start and Crayon Collections has become partners to supply classrooms with crayons for the children.

International Contacts

Good News!!!

I was able to connect with two women who work in the Early Childhood field - one from Canada and one from New Zealand.

While discussing poverty with my contact who lives in Canada we seemed to live in two separate worlds. She mentioned that in her area/daycare they do not have any children that live in poverty necessarily but they offer subsidy, based off their finances (V. Kritsimilios, personal communication, November 13, 2015). Whereas, I work in a large county for a Head Start program, 90% of my families are below the poverty line. Our communication is very scarce so I do not have much information. 

I am still waiting to hear back from my contact in New Zealand - I do not know anything about her country so I am curious to see what she says. I hope by next week I will have an update for everyone.

With the relationship we are beginning to build with each other I am excited to continue learning from each other about our communities and the early childhood field. 

Web Resources

National Head Start Association - www.nhsa.org

The blog from Olivia Harper was short but reinforced the importance of parent engagement in the classroom. Olivia talked about how her goal for classroom was 100% of the children will be kindergarten ready and could not have been reached without the daily engagement, partnership and support her parents offered (Harper, 2015). Olivia inspired me to discuss with my supervisor the possibility of having literacy nights with just my classroom as a way to get more families engaged. We do parent education nights twice a year but they are school wide events - this makes it harder for my parents to really engage with us and each other.

I was able to connect with two ECE professionals from New Zealand and Canada  :) 
I look forward to learning more about their work.

References

Harper, O. (2015). Parents as partners: Creating advocates for a true "head start." Retrieved from http://www.nhsa.org/parents-partners-creating-advocates-true-head-start

Professional Contacts

I was unsuccessful trying to make a professional contact - I emailed about 9 people through a common ECE page on Facebook hoping for a response. I have yet to receive any messages...I am still hopeful!

The World Forum website was not working either, so I signed up for the Save the Children newsletter. My boyfriend and I decided to sponsor a child through the organization as well - we loved the fact that we can receive pictures and letters from the children. We are looking forward to learning about the little girl and would love to share with everyone.

I decided to follow two websites; National Head Start Association and National Association (NHSA) of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE). Since I work for Head Start I wanted to keep up to date on the ever changing regulations/policies. I chose the other website because I noticed they had a communication network for teachers that I thought would be beneficial.

I'm excited to keep everyone up to date on the different aspects of Head Start and educators across the country through NAECTE. 

My Supports

When I think of the word support I think of the people in my life who lift me up and encourage me to keep going. Of course, we need supports in the way of money, food, and shelter as well but I relate to those second to people and relationships.

My support systems would have to be my family (boyfriend, parents, siblings) and my friends. Without each of these people I would not be where I am today - they all have a special emotional connection with me and encourage/support me in different aspects of life. My boyfriend has the hardest part, he plays the role of everyone sometimes :) 
If anyone one of my family or friends was not in my life there would be a large void because I communicate with them all on a daily or weekly basis - thanks to text messaging. Even if it is just a simple check-in and not a long drawn out conversation the fact that I know they are there is what counts. 

I had a snowboarding accident about ten years ago where I lost my vision for a couple minutes and had major trauma to my head. I still wonder what my life would have been like if I was unable to regain my vision that day on the mountain. This accident taught me to be grateful for all that I have in life and not take things for granted. My support system would have grown if I ended up losing my sight because I would have needed to learn Braille, rely on my other senses, and would have probably had another set of friends who I could relate to.

My Connections to Play

As a child I did not have many toys - we spent most of our time outside playing. I had a baby doll I liked to carry around with me and I pretended to be the babies teacher, my siblings and I would play football in the front yard with our neighbor friends and I spent almost every weekend in the mountains skiing or snowboarding.

                                                               

Quotes that represent play in my childhood:

"Children should play outside and get dirty." - National Trust

  "Don't just tell your kids to be active and to get outside to play. Lead by example." - Summer Sanders

When I was a child my parents were outside playing with us and taking us to explore the beautiful Rocky Mountains (which are basically my backyard), which is why I chose the second quote. We cannot learn to play when we are younger if nobody shows us how. When it comes to the baby doll I use to carry around I engaged in conversations with my mom about the baby and she would treat it like a person. This showed me how to respect toys and people in general. 

I feel like play (for the most part) is completely different from when I was younger - watching my nieces and nephews grow up with iPhones, iPads, computers, and televisions in their rooms. We had one computer in my house (which was located in the kitchen so my parents knew what we were doing) and one television in the main room which was hardly turned on. This allowed us to go outside and use our imagination with our friends - nowadays all kids know is Superheroes and Ninja Turtles.

The importance of play and exploration in my childhood has made me learn to love nature, use my imagination, and live a healthier lifestyle. As an educator I have tried to express the importance of playing outside to my classroom children - there are some kids who don't like playing outside and want to be inside. These are the children I tend to spend more one-on-one time with on the playground to show them what to do and how they can have fun. Playing in the centers is also essential for children but I feel that is not where our children struggle, I feel that their exploration in nature is struggling.

Relationship Reflection

This quote represents what a relationship/partnership means to me - both or all individuals need to be positive and active participants. 

Challenges with building partnerships is being the only active member and not sharing the same values or goals.

When children and parents have positive relationships with the teachers it encourages growth and motivation. They feel comfortable and supported to spread their wings to try something new. 

My boyfriend and I started with a relationship which slowly turned into a partnership. We have supported each other through the good and bad times, never giving up. We have a partnership with each other because we both put in the same amount of effort, compromise as much as possible and share in each others happiness.

My family (well part of them)! This partnership has grown and continues to grow with every argument, victory, hardship, and vacation. We learn from and compliment each other. Where one struggles others excel and support. This group of people have the best sense of humor and we are constantly laughing. We try not to take anything too serious and learn to laugh at ourselves. My nieces and nephews hold a special place in my heart - their relationship with me is what helps me get through hard times. My boyfriend and I struggle to have children so their bond with us means the world. 

My boyfriends parents (on the left) have recently moved to Colorado from New York so this relationship is new. I had only met them five or so times before which made the connection hard. They encourage and love me like my own parents and we have that mutual respect for each other and their son. 
My mom and step-dad (on the right) are my biggest cheerleaders. The two of them are more calm and reserved than my dad and step-mom - it is nice to have that balance in my family. My step-dad had his work cut out for him when he joined my family (my brother and I had some issues from my parents divorce) but he willingly accepted the challenge and won! 

Thank you Catherine for your kind words when talking about my friends past - I shared it with her as well. I enjoyed learning from you during this course and hearing your thoughts on the topics we discussed. Good luck in your future with Walden!

Thank you Katie for your comments throughout this course - especially the response about breastfeeding. I too am hopeful that one day woman will not feel ashamed or like failures if they cannot breastfeed their babies. Good luck in your future with Walden!

How should school-aged children be measured or assessed?

When thinking about assessment in school-aged children I believe they should be tested the traditional way (standardized testing) but also through observation and conversation. Being able to engage with children in conversation about specific learning objectives will determine whether or not they understand what is being taught. Observation can be a powerful tool for teachers because they can easily jot down the specifics on the children and see the progression/growth the children are making. I stated children should be assessed using the traditional method because I do not know of a perfect assessment tool to use across the board. Testing can give children anxiety and the results won't show their knowledge which could lead to negative affects on the child or school. 

How are children in other parts of the world being assessed?

Assessments are usually held annually, and they are the main criteria to promote the students to higher grades or to retain them in the same grade (Khattak, 2012). Children in Pakistan are assessed by their school, same as the children living in the United States. There are eight key features that the National Curriculum 2007/10 use for benchmarks or standards in Pakistan, those are; standard/competencies driven, learning objectives correspond to students' learning outcomes, progressive approaches, life skills are integrated across subjects, vertical/horizontal connections are ensured, promote creative writing and analytical thinking, detailed guidelines are provided for effective delivery of curriculum, and guidelines are provided for assessment/evaluation (Khattak, 2012). 

References:

Khattak, S. (2012). Assessment in schools in Pakistan. SA-eDUC JOURNAL, 9. Retrieved from www.nwu.ac.za/sites/www.nwu.ac.za/files/files/p-saeduc/New_Folder_1/6_Assessment%20in%20schools%20in%20Pakistan.pdf

Sexual abuse and the development of a child

When thinking about different stressors child may be exposed to I decided on sexual abuse - it is a hard topic to discuss but something that has long term affects on an individual. 

Being sexually abused as a child has put a strain on my friends relationships, both with partners and peers. She was very closed off in high school, has anxiety about going places alone, and poor self-image. After talking with her this week to get a better idea about her lifestyle I believe the abuse is the number one cause. She has grown tremendously through counseling and talking with family/friends about her insecurities. She has also gone to her doctor to help with her anxiety. 

Growing up with a friend who was abused as a child (by her brother) and thinking back to how this affected her emotionally it opened my eyes to others who may have experienced abuse and how they have coped with it. I researched how individuals in Australia cope with being abused as a child, they tend to have the same effects as my friend. There is, however, an organization in Australia called Bravehearts. There mission is to stop sexual assault in their society and their vision is to make Australia the safest place in the world to raise a child (Ronken & Johnston, 2012). This program uses three piers they believe will help with the prevention of abuse; educate, empower, and protect. They have two types of programs to educate individuals, one for early childhood and one for older child. They empower by having community awareness campaigns and a White Balloon Day. Their goal for protecting victims of abuse is by having counselors and advocates. 

References:

Ronken, C., & Johnston, H. (2012). Child Sexual Assault: Facts and Statistics. Bravehearts.

         Retrieved from https://www.bravehearts.org.au/files/Facts%20and%20Stats_updated141212.pdf

Breastfeeding - the great debate! 

I personally was not breastfed - my mother was a single mom and had to return to work shortly after I was born. She explained to me that there was no place in her office building at the time that could accommodate woman to pump in private and it was frowned upon to do that in the restroom. I love walking into businesses and they have designated rooms for woman who would like to provide for their child(ren) in that way or that it is becoming a little more accepted by society.

This can be a topic women (and some men) are very passionate about - the health of their children are affected by it. This can also be a sore subject for some women who would love to breastfeed their children but physically cannot - one of which is my sister in-law (Michelle). Michelle was able to breastfeed her first son for the first year of his life with no problems but with her second child her milk supply ran out after five months. My other sister in-law (Jessica) was able to produce milk for both of her children for the first year of their life (either through pumping or actually breastfeeding). This made me question how and why women's supply runs out or that they just don't produce any? Through research I found that stress, maternal obesity, postpartum hemorrhage, cesarean delivery, infection/illness with fever, diabetes, thyroid condition, or prolonged/strict bed rest during pregnancy could affect a woman's delay in milk production (University of Rochester Medical Center, 2015). 

Breastfeeding in public seems to be more accepted around the world than here in the United States according to (http://www.007b.com/public-breastfeeding-world.php). There are some countries, like Saudi Arabia, that it is not accepted for woman to openly breastfeed in public - they prefer the woman to do that in private. Whereas, in other countries woman will walk down the street breastfeeding and not be covered by anything because woman's breast are not considered sexual objects (http://www.007b.com/public-breastfeeding-world.php). I enjoyed reading about the acceptance of breastfeeding around the world from citizens of the specific countries. This really opened my eyes to how we (as Americans) have a negative view of woman who breastfeed in public and what we can do to change. 

There is a World Breastfeeding Week sponsored by UNICEF which is an annual celebration that highlights the critical importance of promoting the value of breastfeeding globally, nationally and at the community level (UNICEF, 2014). I will be providing the director of my program the information about World Breastfeeding Week and working with her to see how we can incorporate this within our program. We have family support workers that can help our expecting mothers when it comes to the importance of breastfeeding their little ones.

References:

Female Intelligence Agency. (2015). Breastfeeding in public around the world. Retrieved from http://www.007b.com/public-breastfeeding-world.php

UNICEF. (2014). Breastfeeding. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_24824.html

University of Rochester Medical Center. (2015). Milk Production and Your High-Risk Baby.      Retrieved from http://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentTypeID=90&ContentID=P02390

Childbirth is something people tend to not like to talk about but I find it fascinating.  The thought of fostering the growth of another human for nine months then having them finally in your arms is amazing. 

The most recent childbirth experience I have been apart of was the birth of my niece. I was originally going to be waiting in the hallway waiting for the arrival of my beautiful niece but once the time came my sister invited me to stay in the room with her. While excited I was still a little uneasy - that's a very intimate time for the mother and father. The nurse (who was holding one of my sisters legs) had walked away as the doctor started having my sister push. The doctor looked at me and said "she needs you right now, come on over." I was a little in shock but stepped up to help my sister. Witnessing the birth of my precious niece made me realize I could eventually do it myself - I had heard so many horror stories in the past. 

Childbirth in Poland is pretty similar to childbirth in the United States. My boyfriend is from Poland and remembered parts of his little brothers birth. They lived in a small village and the closet hospital was about forty minutes away but he does remember they made it to the hospital. Learning about the small town that he grew up in really opened my eyes to the fact that they still went to the hospital - I assumed the majority of the families in his village had their children at home.