Final Blog Post

As I look back on the experience of this class, I have to say YAY WE DID IT!!!!!!!! I am very thankful to both Nancy B. and Ashley M. for commenting on my posts and offering me words of encouragement throughout the class. I also have to thank Sisie for enduring all of the technical difficulties, changing due dates, and offering constructive feedback. I know that I would have been lost writing the research paper without all of the assignments and feedback throughout this course. I am hopeful that all of the research I did will help me boost funding for my own program and will allow me to ensure that I run a Quality Early Childhood Education program, that serves at risk families.

Responses to blogs

Kitty’s Blog

I thought it was great that you interacted with a family like that. It is also nice to hear of a family who promotes literacy development. I was wondering if there is a second hand store in your town. I pick up a lot of books for my kids for like fifty cents or a dollar. We let my daughter go in and pick out three books at a time and she gets to keep them! Our library here also offers an on-line catalogue where you can reserve books; this also may be an option for the family you were working with.

Valerielhernandez’s Blog

I have seen the use if notebooks as well as a communication device. I think that the notebooks are great for day to day information, but what about a parent teacher conference twice a year? I know we have a problem at our center that the parents do not take home the information we put in the children’s cubbies. We try posting stuff on the walls, and creating parent information boards yet still the best way to really get information out is to talk to the families directly.

Module Four Blog Post

Whom you observed and interacted with in your setting during this module

              I observed and interacted with many people this module. I was able to observe some parent teacher conferences as well as go to a family night at the center. I also observed in classrooms serving children birth through age five and attended a field trip to see Sesame Street Live with the classes. I love how active the teachers and children are in this center. There are lesson plans that follow Creative Curriculum on the walls, and the teachers are conducting observations and collecting work samples for portfolios daily. During the parent teacher conferences the Preschool teachers showed each parent work samples, as well as the Illinois Early Learning Standard that went along with the sample. They also discussed concerns with families and set goals for each child.

•Any special learning experiences you may have had or an experience that provided you with insight about children and families including advocacy efforts.

                I attended an Amity Family Cooking Night and I also met with the Parent Coordinator about her Parents as Teachers (PAT) program. The family night was really fun! There were numerous healthy cooking activities that the children got to put together with their families. As the families were working on the cooking project the Parent Coordinator was discussing the simple recipes as well as how inexpensive they were to promote healthy eating choices. Upon meeting with the Parent Coordinator, I learned that the PAT program offers families a chance to get together with her and do a fun learning activity. She also works to help families receive assistance if necessary, and picks families to be adopted by companies to receive help with presents and food for the holidays. I thought this was a great example of advocating for the well-being of the families in our community.

               

• At least two insights gained from your observations of, and interactions and experiences with, children’s families regarding advocacy efforts and needs related to your area of interest within the field of early childhood

                I was excited to see how many families participate in the programs offered by the center. There were eight families that attended the cooking night, and at least five parents who attended the Sesame Street Live field trip. This is a center whose mission includes serving low income families, and it is impressive to see families coming together to be there and spend positive time doing activities with their children.

                Advocacy efforts noted during these observations were the work of the Parent Coordinator advocating for families as well as the teachers advocating for a proper education for the children by hosting parent teacher conferences and setting goals with families. I felt that this center really focuses on advocating not only for the children but the betterment of the family as well and that is such an important aspect.

Module 3 Interactions and Observations

I have observed all of the classrooms in Amity Learning Center. The center has children from birth through age five all day and then two school age classrooms that have children from five through age twelve. In the center I noticed that all of the birth through five classrooms post weekly lessons and all of the lessons posted relate to the Illinois Early Learning Standards. Each classroom maintains portfolios for each child and each teacher collects information for the portfolios on a continuous basis. Considering one of my topics of my research paper is using reliable assessments I wanted to see how the teachers were performing assessments. I also learned that each classroom conducts developmental checklists on each child and relate their planing to the goals that the children need to meet. I feel that this demonstrates exactly how assessments should be used to guide the planning. I also discussed the qualifications of the teachers with each teacher and have discussed this with the program director in a previous interview that I have posted. All of the teachers feel that while being a qualified teacher takes knowledge in Early Childhood Education it also takes continuous education. All of the teachers in the birth through three program all underwent training for Creative Curriculum last year to make a switch from the High Scope Curriculum. The Creative Curriculum is what made the individual child portfolios necessary. The teachers also are about to undergo training for the Teaching Strategies Gold On-line Portfolio System which is an outcome based portfolio system, that can be accessed by a curriculum coordinator to assure that all the assessments are being logged for each child and that all children who need services receive referrals. I like that this center continues to move forward with technology, continues to train the teachers, and finds the most reliable forms of assessment. During my observations of the preschool program I noted that the teacher has planned conferences with the parents. Iasked her what they were going to discuss, and she said that the first conference is based on goal planning for each child, that way they can base instruction off of the goals each child needs to meet. I observed the classrooms carrying out some of thier plans and conducting observations for the portfolios. I love how the assesments are continuos. For example: in one of the classrooms the children were going over letters at circle time, and during this lesson one teacher is holding up letters and calling on children while the other teacher was writing notes about the answers.  I think that this observation really allowed me to see how observation tools are used and how important it is to keep continuously updating and trainnig the teachers to provide a quality edcuation. This center is a great place to observe when I coonsider my topic of how important Early Childhood Programs are for children to be prepared for Kindergarten.

Blogs I have read in Module Two

I went to http://tennesseefan.edublogs.org/author/tennesseefan/ and read her blog about her observations. I noted that she was discussing the need for more qualifications for Early Childhood Teachers. She references DCFS qualifications being not enough. I know that in Illinois we have benefits for programs that have higher qualified staff and higher quality programing. One of the programs is becoming accredited through the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the other one is the Quality Rating System (QRS). QRS allows us to receive more money back for the state on each child for through the child care assistance program. There are four star levels and we are a star level three. I think that these programs make for a more quality program as well as require teachers to be more qualified.

I also read Kristina Pearson’s blog on her observations. She mentions that there are a lot of steps in between noticing a child needs help and the child actually receiving the help.  I agree that there are a lot of hoops to jump through in order for a child to receive help. I personally believe that this has a lot to do with funding. It is all about having to justify the actual need for the child to receive services. This is why so many people are involved in the process and it takes a while to apply for the services to receive funding for the child. It can be very frustrating and it would be nice if there were ways to streamline the process. One way I think that they could speed up the process is to do assessments together. If you had a large group of the professionals all working as a team, you could get through a few steps at one time. I know that since funding has been cut in our area, there is more of the collaborative efforts in order to save time and money.

Module Two: Observations

Upon speaking with the professionals in the center and doing observations I am still focusing on the importance of kindergarten readiness and what it takes to assure children are ready to enter kindergarten. In my mind this takes a quality program, reliable assessment tools, and quality qualified teachers. During my observations I note that all the classrooms have schedules, and their curriculum plans posted. The curriculum plan postings even include the Illinois State Early Learning Standards that the activities are relating to. As I observe activities in the classroom I notice that the teachers are taking notes, taking pictures, and using checklists throughout every day. I know that this is a part of the Teaching Strategies Gold Assessment System the teachers are using in their classroom. This form of assessment requires ongoing collections to be organized in individual on-line portfolios. One of the classrooms I visited was reading the Go Away Big Green Monster story by Ed Emberley. As the teacher is reading she is pausing in parts where the children are finishing the sentences. I note that this probably means she has read the story before. She then has the children talk about all the pieces it took to create the big green monster, in order to introduce the art activity the children are about to do. Then the children are asked to make their own big green monster with different art materials on black paper. I thought that this activity fit into working towards kindergarten readiness because it was focusing on comprehension of the story. The co-teacher was also taking notes as the children were offering information about the story. This showed me that the teachers were using assessment tools on a continuous basis, which is also part of assuring that children are ready for kindergarten.  While watching numerous activities in this classroom I noted some classroom management strategies: the teacher says “sit on your biscuit” instead of butt, so it seems more fun for the children. She also notifies the children of what is coming next in the day so they are prepared. Children are asked to put “bubbles in their mouths and hands on their hips” when walking down the hallway. All of these techniques are part of being a quality teacher. If you cannot manage the children in your classroom, then it can become chaotic where you are spending more time wrangling the class then working on the things posted.

Module Two Interviews and Fieldwork

My visit was to Amity Learning Center in Freeport Illinois. I have spent time in all the classrooms. The center has children from Birth-Five all day, as well as two school age classrooms that are for Kindergarten through Sixth Grade. During my visits I talked all of the teachers, but I also asked my focus questions to: the Preschool teacher, the Program Director, and the Executive Director.

The first question I asked was: What can we do to assure preschool programs are funded?

Executive Director Christel Walters’ Answer: We can assure preschool programs are funded by becoming politically involved and lobbying.

Program Director Pricilla McLin Answer: We can assure preschool programs are funded by continuing to write, call, rally and demonstrate for the importance of Early Childhood Education Programs. Learning does not begin when children are five years old and entering kindergarten programs, it is at birth and even in the womb that children begin to learn. Children who have been in quality programs since birth begin putting the whole picture together in kindergarten. If children do not attend an Early Childhood Education program, they can become lost at a very early age, which is indicative of school success and later, life success.

Preschool Teacher Erika Aho’s Answer: We need to talk about how important preschool programs are, and we need to tell it to politicians through: calls, rallying, writing letters, and even inviting senators to our classrooms. We also need to make sure that parents become involved in being advocate for their children’s education.

The Second Question I asked was: Why is it important to include appropriate reliable assessments in preschool?

Executive Director Christel Walters’ Answer: Assessment is directly related to funding, quality programs with positive outcomes are far more likely to receive and maintain funding.

Program Director Priscilla McLin’s Answer: Children need to be assessed in order for us to know where they are at developmentally, in knowing where each child is developmentally we can create goals to help children reach the appropriate levels and assure that they are ready for Kindergarten. I do believe that assessments need to not only be in preschool, but beginning in the infant stages. When we begin assessing a child as an infant we can see developmental progress. However, if there is a lack of progress we can note that, have discussions with parents and make referrals that lead to early intervention services, thus making sure that all children are getting the education they need.

I also asked Mrs. McLin what assessment tools she likes: she stated that she likes using the Illinois Early Learning Standards with portfolios and will be making the switch over to a simpler on-line version called Teaching Strategies Gold On-Line.

Preschool Teacher Erika Aho’s Answer: Assessments create checks for the teachers to prove that we are teaching what the state requires. Knowing each child’s individual progress also allows us to plan activities that meet the needs of the children. We also can inform families about the progress of their child. With preschool children you can not use pencil and paper tests so I like using: individual child portfolios, checklists, pictures, and work samples. Teaching Strategies Gold On-Line is also an on-line portfolio system that I am becoming familiar with.

The third question I asked was: What does it mean to be a quality Early Childhood Teacher?

Executive Director Christel Walters’ Answer: A quality Early Childhood Teacher has a positive attitude and is enthusiastic and committed to what they do. They are not just coming in for the paycheck; they are invested in their job.

Program Director Priscilla McLin’s Answer: A quality Early Childhood Teacher must be DEDICATED! You have to be aware that each child learns differently and be capable of differentiating instruction. Quality is not directly related to education either, some people have a lot of education and are just in it for the paycheck, while others who are less educated are amazing at their jobs and care to be there.

Preschool Teacher Erika Aho’s Answer: To be a quality Early Childhood Education Teacher you have to be able to put all the pieces together: children, families, assessments, requirements, budgets, stocking classrooms and making sure all children get to use materials. It is a lot to balance. A key thing in being effective is to have good classroom management skills. You can have all the ideas in the world and activities but if you can’t manage the class then you will not get to the children developmentally.

During these interviews I learned a lot about the different perspectives of the people working in the child care center. The Executive Director is really focused on quality to maintain funding, while the Program Director and Teacher are focused on quality because it is better for the children in the center. I also noticed that the teacher was the only one who mentioned having families as advocates. I think that all three of these perspectives are valid and necessary to show people different points of view.

Advocacy Action Plan

I plan to write about the importance of Early Childhood Education. I learned from my interviews and personal knowledge that Early Childhood Education programs are undergoing serious cut backs and are losing funding. I also learned from a teacher in the primary grades that children who attend preschool are far more ready for kindergarten . Children who attend preschools are more likely to have a head start especially when it comes to literacy. This information brings me to the importance of maintaining funding for effective Early Childhood Education programs. My questions for colleagues would be: what makes an effective preschool program worthy of funding? what funding sources are available? and what can we do to assure the preschool programs are funded? I hope to gain knowledge that will allow me to assist the Early Childhood Center I work for to maintain and gain funding so children are ready for Kindergarten.

First Blog Post :)

Hello classmates and anyone else who decides to read this...

I have used myspace blogs but that is about it. I am excited to use more technology with courses, and am glad to say it is my senior year!!! I hope to get to know lots of you this quarter!

Have a great day

Ashley