New Research Journey

The research topic that I have chosen for the current course I am in is:

The effectiveness of hands on professional development for educators and how it positively affects children's classroom experience and development.

The subtopics I decided to use for this topic are:

- Teacher- Child Relationships
- Quality & Effectiveness of hands on professional development training
- Creating a positive classroom experience

*I had some trouble finding sub-topics for this research topic, if anyone has any advice on my third subtopic I am having second thoughts about it*

I chose this research topic because as an early childhood educator I believe that hands on training and experience are vital to a successful classroom environment. In my community it is difficult to get face to face professional development training (most training is online) and without that I fear that educators are not getting the best professional development training to become a better educator for our children. I also believe that hands on training is more effective than online training or simple power point or pamphlet training. As my beliefs are that hands on training is more effective I would like to research this topic and see if hands on training has a positive affect on a child's classroom experience and development.

If anyone has any resources that may be helpful, I would greatly appreciate the help.

Web Resource: NIEER

The organization that I chose to subscribe to and learn more about is the National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). The National Institute for Early Education Research “conducts academic research to inform policy supporting high-quality, early education for all young children” (2017), education that affects all developmental domains in order for children to succeed in school throughout their life.

A current issue that I thought was interesting from the e-newsletter was the article, Around the World on PreK Teacher Pay. The Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), recently conducted a study on international compensation for PreK teachers. The OECD recognizes early childhood education as positive improvements for children’s cognitive and socio-emotional development. This article shows how the qualifications for an early childhood educator continue to increase but the teacher’s salary does not. The article also addresses how PreK teachers make an average 52% less than kindergarten teachers. This current issue is one that has been an issue for many years on the fact that early childhood educators shape the minds for a child’s lifelong educational career and yet they make pennies on the dollar to primary grade educators.

In the same e-newsletter there is also an article, Infusing PreK Curriculum with Tribal Culture, that discusses how early childhood education research rarely focuses on young children in tribal communities which hampers our understanding for the kinds of high-quality practices in American Indian culture. This article is related to the weeks topic on demographics because it speaks of the differences between how tribal communities are recognizing early childhood education programs and others capacity to understand the way the tribes approach early childhood education.

You can find these articles and more at the National Institute for Early Education Research website here: http://nieer.org/  

My Supports

When I think about the supports in my life that I need and utilize on a daily basis they would be my family, my mobility and my phone. My family will always be the most important aspect of my life and just so happens to be the biggest support of my life as well.

My husband Joshua, is incredibly supportive in everything I do (even when he knows I'm wrong). Recently, I lost my job due to a loss of funding. The loss of a second income into our household was extremely stressful on myself, but my husband refused to let me completely breakdown. He told me to take some time to be at home and look for something that is going to make me happy instead of rushing to find something that I would not be happy with at all. Without the support of my husband I don't know what I would do, he always knows what I need and the right things to say. If I did not have the support of my husband I know that my life would be much more stressful and I am unsure that I would emotionally be stable without the support he provides me. My children also provide me daily support because they are so loving and encouraging. My children give the best hugs and when they see that I am upset or starting to get frustrated they give me one of those hugs and tell me "I know you can do it". Without their amazing hugs and love my life would not be complete, I honestly don't know what I would do without my children in my life.

My ability to walk, run, stand and move around is an important support in my daily life. I am a wife and mother of four children if I did not have my ability to move around freely (and quickly, I might add) I would not be able to keep up with my children and support them in ways that they need. Without my mobility I would find ways to support my children and physically be there for them but this would be a very difficult task and would change multiple aspects of my life and their lives including the environment we live in and the luxuries we currently have.

I know this may sound cheesy, but my phone is honestly one of the supports in my daily life that I depend on. I use my phone to stay in contact with my family and friends. My oldest daughter calls me everyday after school to let me know when she is on her way home. My husband calls me during the day to let me know if something happened at work delaying him or if we need to communicate with each other about anything else. I also keep in touch with extended family with my phone. If I did not have my phone I would find ways to keep in touch with my family and friends but these other routes would not provide me with the instant access that my phone provides me. I can be anywhere and pick up my phone or answer my phone to get in contact with any member of my family in an instant. 

My Connections to Play

These two quotes represent what play was to me as child growing up and still represent my ideas of play as the adult that I am. I believe that play comes from curiosity and from that curiosity comes imagination and exploration, which is why I chose the first quote. I can just imagine myself as a young child discovering something and poking at it with a stick and then coming up with all kinds of crazy ideas as to what the unidentified object was. I chose the second quote as a representation of play because I agree with it wholeheartedly. Play should be something that occurs everyday when you are a child and when you are an adult. When I was a child I could not wait to be done with school so that I could go home and play and even now as an adult I still cannot wait to get home from work so that I can play with my children.

These three items were essential play items to me as a child growing up. I grew up with four siblings, in the middle of nowhere (35 minute drive to the city) so our days were spent riding around on our bikes exploring everything that southern Arizona had to offer us. We had 5 acres of land at our home but our parents allowed us to ride our bicycles down to the watering hole and back (about 1.5 miles) and on those bike rides my siblings and I would imagine adventures and storylines of monsters, bad guys, good guys, superheros and more. Then when the sun went down and it was time to go inside, my sisters and I had a huge collection of Barbie dolls that we would play with together, my brother even joined in sometimes (one boy and four girls poor guy). These things were essential to my play growing up. 

How is play different now and my hopes for young today...

Play today is different from play when I was growing up because parenting has changed and technological advancements have taken over. When I was a child my parents would let us roam the streets (in my case desert backroads) all day and simply expect us home at sunset for dinner (we would even drink from the water hose instead of go inside). However, parenting styles have changed and parents are more strict on the activities their children do, places they go and time they are allowed to be outside. Technology has also played a huge role in the change of play because now children are more into playing video games or on the tablets/computers instead of going outside and playing. Technology has also taken away some of the imagination and critical thinking needed for play. For example when I was a child we played with Barbie dolls and we imagined jobs for them, families, homes and took them on adventures; where now the computer of video game does half the work for you. 

I know that the way I parent my children is very different from the way I was parented. However, I try to encourage my children to be more active outdoors and away from the technology and to also use their creativity and imaginations to play. I know that having to create worlds and stories as a child really helped my critical thinking, problem solving, and creativity skills as an adult, and I want my children to also be able to develop these skills through play. I hope that parents realize the importance of play for their children and encourage them to get off the couch and out of the desk and go play with peers, siblings or independently. Play embraces all areas of development and is essential to children's growth and success and it is my hope that all children have the opportunities to play every single day. 

Quotes About Children

Standardized Assessments

When done correctly a developmental assessment can be crucial to identifying a child's growths and areas for improvement. However, in schools today standardized tests are focused on the common subject areas (i.e. math, social studies, language arts). We as early childhood educators know that in order to truly assess a child's development and progress you must look at the whole child. For example you cannot test a child's language development by asking question after question, you need to be able to observe that child at play with peers, in group settings, in one on one scenarios. It is not as simple as yes or no or circling the right answer.

In Mexico, they too conduct similar standardized tests in schools that we do here in the United States. In fact they have adopted the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children–Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) that was created in the United States in 2003, and other standardized tests that the U.S. has used as well. These tests focus again on the basics of public education and do not focus on the whole child development.

One thing that really makes me wonder about is, that our schools are measured based upon the results of the standardized tests (in Mexico too), so in order for the public schools to receive a high ranking or "A+" achievement they must have high scores from these tests. Therefore, our children spend their school days essentially just preparing for the 'big test' instead of preparing for life or learning new concepts in their own unique and individual ways.

I know I would much rather have my children be prepared for the real world rather than the 'big test' that clouds over their educational journey.

Reference:

Escobido, P., Esquivel-Ancona, F. & Hollingworth, L. (April 2016). Intellectual assessment of children and youth in Mexico: Past, present, and future. Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21683603.2016.1163745

Exposure to Violence & Child Development

A good friend of mine had a rough childhood. Growing up my friend lived in a rough neighborhood where he was exposed to gang violence and drugs on a daily basis. He was out of his house by the age of thirteen and found himself in with a violent crowd. Eventually the violence he was exposed to lead to aggressive behaviors. Now, even though he has completely turned his life around and is on the right side of the law he still has to attend therapy once a month to deal with his aggressive behaviors.

From researching violence exposure in countries around the world I came across an article that studied a group of children that discovered that “Viewing extreme violence and terrorism, either directly by witnessing acts or indirectly by watching them in the media, affects children’s mental and emotional health” (Pediatrics, 2016). This research also discovered that “Children’s vulnerability, immaturity, and developmental state change their perspective, and the tools used to confront these issues do not affect each child equally” (Pediatrics, 2016).

I decided to look into this stressor because my friend is someone that I care deeply about and children’s exposure to violence is a stressor that can cause lifelong consequences for the child.

Resource:

Pediatrics, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center. (March 23, 2016). Mental and Emotional Health of Children Exposed to News Media of Threats and Acts of Terrorism: The Cumulative and Pervasive Effects. Retrieved from: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4803729/