Education, creativity and learning!

       I enjoyed learning about Piaget's view on education and learning, so what better way to end this chapter of my Walden University journey than to use quotes from Jean Piaget.  I will be taking everything I learned from this course along with me as I continue my way through this exciting field. Everyday in my classroom is a refreshing experience and my time at Walden is enhancing every moment.  The deeper I get into this journey the more I am able to assist my colleagues and feel more comfortable leading my class.  Piaget encouraged creativity and letting kids take the time to learn on their own and giving children the tools necessary to aid them in finding out who they are and how they learn.  That belief is what I pride myself on, helping my class learn how to question everything and to think for themselves without being told how to think and accepting everything for face value.        

        I've enjoyed this course and appreciate everything I have learned so far at Walden. Wishing everyone the best of luck as they continue on their journey, hope you enjoyed my blog as much as I have enjoyed reading through yours!

The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.  All while remaining creative and thirsty for more knowledge. 

-Jean Piaget 

"Play is the answer to how anything new comes about"

-Jean Piaget 

Reference 

Jean Piaget Quotes. (2014). Jean Piaget Quotes (Author of The Psychology of Intelligence). Retrieved June 28, 2014, from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/12064.Jean_Piaget

Standardized testing

Considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically, in my opinion, should not include standardized testing.   There are children that can recite everything they learned over the course of the year with their eyes closed and hands tied behind their back that get nervous when they are expected to sit in a timed exam knowing their advancement into the next grade depends on their scoring.  It has a negative impact on their anxiety, it can be overwhelming, and stressful to make children take multiple exams on various subjects.  

When I was in high school I went to what was called a "portfolio school".   Where everyone else had to take many regents, outside of math and English, we had to put together a presentation under a rubric created by the school that gave each of us a chance to utilize everything we learned over the course of the year and present it to a board of teachers that were not necessarily the ones we learned from.  That to me was a true assessment of what was learned over the year. I believe that is the type of assessment kids should have to undergo. There were options on how you could present what you learned, it was always fair because you were presenting to teachers that did not know you but knew the material that u needed to know, and it wasn't as stressful because you were showcasing exactly what you knew. As opposed to a three hour long test full of 100 random questions that you might not be comfortable with. 

As I was finding information that would support my opinion I stumbled across ascd.org. The website explained why standardized testing did not measure children holistically. "Recognizing the substantial pressure to sell standardized achievement tests, those who market such tests encounter a difficult dilemma that arises from the considerable curricular diversity in the United States. Because different states often choose somewhat different educational objectives (or, to e fashionable, different content standards), the need exists to build standardized achievement tests that are properly aligned with educators' meaningfully different curricular preferences.  The problem becomes even more exacerbated in states where different counties or school districts can exercise more localized curricular decision making" (www.ascd.org).  How can you measure kids on a whole and everything they've learned over the year with one test when the curriculum varies by school? It simply does not make sense. 

In 1975 the Netherlands created a national curriculum for everyone to follow (http://Eric.ed.gov). Along with Sweden and Germany the educators believe that standardized testing does not always tie into what they teach during the school year. I Originally tried to find more information on St. Kitts and Barbados (my parents islands of origin), but wasn't able to, but I also have family in Europe so that was my next step. Apparently the consensus (of the internet at least) is that only America doesn't seem to understand that the standardized testing of children is ineffective and unfair. 

I loved that my high school gave us the portfolio option. I believe children as young as eight and nine would be able to decide on a project and showcase what they learned over the year and explain it to their educators. Giving them a choice and allowing them to show their strengths allows the educators to witness their weak points and explain them to them and decide if they learned enough over the year. A standardized test doesn't let you know what you messed up on, you just get placed in a percentile.  

References 

1. http://Eric.ed.gov/?id=ED304455

2. www.ascd.org

Stressors

There are so many possible factors that could effect a child's biosocial development.  Being a child, learning everything from how to speak to how to socialize and play with others can be effected by your surroundings and situation.  Poverty, malnutrition, war, family chaos, and disease are just some of the factors that could negatively effect a child's upbringing, mental, and physical stability. One of the biggest stressors, in my opinion, happens after experiencing a natural disaster. 

       My parents are both from the West Indies, and both still have a ton of family that still live on quite a few of the islands. In October of 1995 there was a huge hurricane in St.Thomas (US Virgin Island).  The hurricane did so much damage that my aunt had to send all three of her children to come live with us here in NYC while her and my uncle rebuilt their house. The youngest was five, then seven, and the oldest was I believe 14. They stayed with us for almost a year, my mom had the two youngest join me at PS87 and the oldest was in high school. 

       I was eight at the time and had never even had a successful sleep over at a family members house, I could not imagine seeing my home blown away then having to leave my home without my parents, friends, school, and come to a new city to start over.  To throw salt on the wound, they all caught the chicken pox from my brother during their stay. 

    I remember them crying and missing their parents and home. Now, they will tell u it was because eight year old me was mean to them and they missed their mom because I scared them when I tried to play doctor and tell them that they could scratch off their chicken pox... But I don't remember any of that! That kind of loss takes a huge toll on everything, and as sad as they were they all worked really hard. My school even went as far as to link my third grade class with my cousins kindergarten class and made me her reading buddy! Not only that they introduced me to my seven year old cousins teacher and she allowed me and two friends to spend some lunches with her helping grade papers and she even got permission to take us out to lunch once. The school realized that my cousins needed to feel cared for and loved and I needed to feel as if I still mattered because of all of the sudden changes. It was a tough time for them, but it all worked out in the end. I even remember being upset and crying when we took them to the airport and they were so happy to leave. 

    I chose to learn more about possible stressors for children in Thailand. I had no idea they experienced so many stressful issues issues. "These include malnutrition, exclusion from education, trafficking, child labour and other forms of exploitation. Too many children have missed out on the benefits of Thailand’s development – particularly the children of ethnic minorities, migrants and the very poor" (unicef.org).  The country has been improving since the 1990s, in regards to making sure children are taken care of and educated, but some still manage to fall through the cracks.  The right to an education should be a right not a privilege, food is not made available for everyone that cannot afford to obtain food, trafficking continues to get worse, the children not in the class that automatically gets the help needed deserve a chance to excel. Which they won't be able to do if the country doesn't crack down on making sure everyone is taken care if no matter their background.

Reference-

1. Situation of children in Thailand. (n.d.). . Retrieved May 30, 2014, from http://www.unicef.org/thailand/overview_2043.html

      Something some of us in this country tend to take for granted is our access to healthy drinking water. My water, at least, has never been dirty or made me sick, to my knowledge of course. I can get relatively clean water from my tap, boil it to make it “cleaner”, then put that water through my Brita filter and feel better about drinking water from the tap. Which has been the case for my entire life. Some children grow up getting water from muddy holes in the ground and other less than sanitary options that aid to getting and keeping the sick and dehydrated. I chose this issue because it is such a huge issue in the world, and even though it doesn't directly effect me I can see the impact that the lack of healthy water is having around me.

The following 5 points of information were taken from www.water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water

and shows how many people in the world, by region are lacking clean drinking water:

1. Africa- 345 million without access to clean water
2. Latin America & the Caribbean- 32 million without access to clean water
3. South, West, Central Asia- 196 million without access to clean water
4. Southeast, East Asia, and Oceania 200 million without access to clean water
5. Developed countries- 10 million without access to drinking water

     Those numbers are scary. Hundreds of millions of people are stuck without any access to clean drinking water. Something that seems so simple that we need to survive and live healthy lives isn't available to them. It makes you wonder about everything else that they must not have access to, this situation is utterly heartbreaking.

     I've always wanted to do missionary work, through any institution that involves work with young adults. Raising awareness and jumping right in to help bring water filtration systems across the world would be an ideal next step, but on a more realistic field in regards to what I would be able to do now I am currently researching foundations that do help out to see if they accept donations or need volunteers for anything local. This issue hurts my heart, especially when I think of babies and young children that have no say in the matter and can't do better for themselves. Summer time in New York City means I will be sure to see fire hydrants openly pouring water out, sprinklers in the park spitting out water, thousands of people pouring bottles of poland spring over their heads in Central Park, without even so much as a second thought about who is not able to have a sip of clean water. I want to be apart of lowering those devastating numbers. So many children die yearly from lack of access to clean water (CDC, 2013), so many children that could have grown up to experience life, become teachers, doctors, lawyers, artists, anything, lose their chances because they end up with diseases due to lack of clean water and end up leaving this Earth earlier than necessary.

References:

1. Water.org. (n.d.) Retrieved May 17, 2014 from http://water.org/water-crisis/water-facts/water/
2. Cdc.gov. (n.d.) Retrieved May 17, 2014 http://www.cdc.gov/healthywater/global/wash_statistics.html   

Birth!

            I don't have that much experience with childbirth, I've never seen one outside of television & I do not remember much from when my younger brother was born, aside from my dad did my hair while my mom was in the hospital and it's probably best I don't share that memory! I've asked my mom about the day I was born a few times, and the trouble she endured along the way, so I'll share that.

            I spent eight months in my mothers womb with multiple fibroids. The fibroids threatened my life daily, and caused my mother to be on bed rest for three months in the hospital. Unfortunately, due to the fibroids, my mom felt labor pains during all eight months of pregnancy. On the morning I was born, before even giving her an epidural, the doctors cut my mom open. From what I've been told, my dad was furious. This whole story makes me scared to even have children, granted that was in the eighties and hopefully doctors aren't so careless now, but still... Yikes! I was born on October 4, two hours after my mom's water broke, a month early, at six pounds. Shortly after I was found to have an extremely high fever that wouldn't go away and was placed in an incubator for 21 days in the ICU because they thought that I had meningitis. Still not sure what was wrong or causing the fevers, but the doctors told my parents that I was going to die. Almost 27 years later and here I am alive and well, clearly born with my mother's (& father's, but he didn't deliver me after being sliced open without medication so I am giving my mom a teensy bit more credit in this department) strong spirit.

           I look forward to having kids as much as the next woman, but that story is scary and often makes me consider everything but wanting to give birth myself. My birthing story is really scary. Just the thought of my mother going through that, then being told that her child was going to die, makes me wish I could take back all of my unappreciative teenage years. My goodness! The fibroids could have killed me in the womb, fighting them and losing could have effected my life and development in any number of ways, the entire situation is insanely nerve wrecking to me. And all I did was listen to the story a few times. Giving birth is such a sensitive issue, any number of things could go wrong both internally and in the hospital or space you deliver your child in.

             I chose to learn more about child birth in India. Apparently in the past, India has had issues with both maternal and child safety during labor. According to the article I read the issues in the past have been due to women not giving birth in institutions or with people qualified to take care of them during this crucial period. This is due to information and lack there of due to social class. Which is typical in most places. There are people here that have OBGYN visits every month of pregnancy and people less informed about how important checking on their health as well as the babies health is every month or even more frequently depending on the situation. I even saw a television program once about a woman who gave birth in a Mcdonald's bathroom and did not even know that she was pregnant. Leading me to believe, she did not feel the need to visit a single doctor in at least nine months. Which is very scary. From the interview, not to judge her by looks alone please don't think that I am doing that, she did not seem very well off both financially and educationally. I assumed she didn't know or care to find out simply because she did not know any better. Which is what I believe the problem with India and other countries where so many people can fall under the radar simply because they don't have the information or funds available to do better.

Reference-

1.  http://www.prb.org/Publications/Articles/2013/safe-childbirth-india.aspx

Code of Ethics

After reading both the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Division for Early Childhood code of ethics I found each principle to be quite meaningful.  Out of everything, the following three stuck out the most- 

From the DEC code of ethics:

III Responsive Family Centered Practices-

This principle outlines how we as educators need to keep each family in mind. From an educational aspect, in regards to the child's well being, educational path, and guidance, from a cultural aspect by making sure to address and not ignore or exclude anyone as long as it is relevant and respectful. As an educator or child care professional you are to work with the family to ensure that the child receives  the best education and care imaginable.     In regards to my professional life this principle is important to me because I absolutely love learning more about my families and incorporating suggestions from the parents as well as different aspects from different cultural backgrounds into my lesson plans.  Between learning "Gung Hay Fat Choi" for Chinese New Year for one student or teaching them how to play dreidel for m&ms during Hanukkah, talking to my class parents about their cultural background is especially important for me bc it helps to bring the families closer to the classroom and that makes the child enjoy their school experience more. It also helps the parents to trust us as leaders more when we incorporate their lives and as for their input and help in the classroom.  In my experience being closer to the parent also helps us to understand our kids better.  Extending a friendly arm to a parent makes them more comfortable, instead of having a child crying in class all day without any explanation, if a parent is comfortable with us they might let us know said child woke up at 4am bc of a younger sibling and has been awake and angry. The closer you are to your families, the easier the daily tasks with each child get. 

IV Ethical And Evidence Based Practices

This principle is about using research and proven evidence to aid you along your path guiding children and families through early education. Nothing should be done on a whim, especially not with the vast amount of resources available at our fingertips. This principle spoke to me because I am always doing research. I find myself constantly looking up certain behaviors that I don't understand and techniques to better help the children in my care.   It's interesting to learn about previous cases where other professionals dealt with the same issues your dealing with and were able to come up with suggestions that you didn't even think of. 

From the NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct:

Section 1: Ethical Responsibilities to Children-

This principle is about knowing how to best help the children in your care. From knowing your stuff to knowing how to properly care for them and understand them.  You have to make sure you are providing a healthy, educational, comfortable setting.  Always remember that the child comes first, you have to teach in a way that they will understand and keep trying until they grasp the concept. This principle was meaningful to me because my first year co-teaching kindergarten in a public school we had a student straight from the mountains in the Dominican Republic that couldn't even speak English, his mother stayed in DR,  and his father didn't know how to help us help him. I had to dig into all of my Spanish language knowledge, step in the bathroom to google certain terms, figure out how he would be able to learn in this classroom and everything I did the head teacher did times five. By the end of the year he was at the top of the class, writing in English, speaking fluently in English, and laughing at my horrible Spanish accent.  Our duty is to make each child want to be in school and to continue learning. 

Resources -

1. Article: NAEYC. (2005, April). <u> Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment </u>. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/NAEYC/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

2. Article: The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). <u> Code if ethics </u>.  Retrieved from http://www.dec-sped.org

EARLY CHILDHOOD EDUCATION RESOURCES:


1.  Early Childhood Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation. Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for children Birth through Age 8. 

 (n.d.). Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201440_04/MS_MECS/EDUC_6005/Week 5/Resources/Resources/embedded/ec_curr_assess_programeval.pdf

2. Where We Stand on Child Abuse Prevention

 (n.d.). Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201440_04/MS_MECS/EDUC_6005/Week 5/Resources/Resources/embedded/naeyc_childabusestand.pdf



3. National Association for the Education of Young Children

 http://www.naeyc.org/



4. New York City Administration for Children Services- Head Start information

http://www.nyc.gov/html/acs/html/child_care/child_care.shtml

I've been researching Head Start programs more and more in the last few weeks, so I figured this website would be helpful (for New Yorkers).



5. Critical Issues in Early Childhood Education by Nicola Yelland



6. Global Perspectives in Early Childhood Education.  Diversity, Challenges, and Possibilities.

     By: Marika Veisson



7. The Early Childhood Care and Education Workforce Challenges and opportunities: A Workshop Report.

By: Committee on  Early Childhood Care and Education Work Force: A Workshop; Institute of Medicine; National Research Council.



The above selection varies from general information on Head Start programs through how to handle major issues from abuse to problems in the classroom.  There is also information pertaining to diversity and the role it plays in the classroom as well as the website for NAEYC who are responsible for helping decide the curriculum that we use for each age group and deciding what works and what doesn't work.  It is important to keep the above resources handy because they all are ful of information on how to be a better educator and child care provider, all while keeping the children safe and on the path to success. All of the books can be accessed in the Walden University Library.