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.