When I Think of Research . . .

I have gained many insights from taking this course.  “Research is about uncovering and enabling the emergence of new understandings, insights and knowledge” (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010, p. 3).  Questions can be answered and new questions can arise from quality research.  I have learned that quality research is research that is reliable and valid.  I learned that when you conduct research it is important to look at the risk/benefit equation.  This refers to the greater the benefit to be gained from a piece of research; the more risks are acceptable (Mac Naughton et al., 2010).  I have also learned that consent to be a research participant is essential.  It was also interesting to me to look at the guidelines for quality online research.  The importance of the guidelines and checking my online resources will be something I will remember in the future. 

In regards to planning, designing and conducting research data triangulation was a new concept for me.  It was also a concept that I found beneficial to research.  “Data triangulation involves using different sources of information in order to increase the validity of a study” (Guion, Diehl, & McDonald, 2011, p. 1).  I also learned important information regarding interviewing children in a research study.  Spending time in their classroom and having informal conversations with children are important before you try and do any formal interviews.  “It is important to take advantage of informal opportunities to elicit responses from children in unplanned conversations as well as formal interviews” (Mac Naughton et al., 2010, p. 246).  The researcher also needs to give children multiple opportunities to express their thinking through formal and informal conversations.  “The researcher who wants to interview children effectively will structure those interviews to provide multiple opportunities for children to say what they know and what they think” (Mac Naughton et al., 2010, p. 246).

One of the challenges in this course was the terminology.  I felt like the understanding research charts were helpful to really focus on different terminology and start to understand the meaning of the different words.  This course was challenging to me because there was so much new information and information that was hard for me to really wrap my mind around and fully understand.  I have a lot more respect for researchers after this course.  In my opinion there is an unlimited amount of research that can be done in the early childhood field.  It must be acknowledged that history has shown that research benefits children (Mac Naughton et al., 2010). 

References

Guion, L., Diehl, D., & McDonald, D. (2011). Triangulation:  Establishing the validity of qualitative studies.  Retrieved from http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FY/FY39400.pdf.

                                  

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill. 

Research Around the World

I chose to look at the Early Childhood Australia website.  “Early Childhood Australia advocates to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years” (Early Childhood Australia, 2014).  This website contained a lot of information about early childhood education for both parents and educators.  This website also contained many publications. One publication called Research in Practice Series provides practical, easy to read resources for those involved in the early childhood field.  This is a publication that you do have to subscribe to for $70.00 a year.  The topics for the 2014 issues are the following: 

·      Ways of thinking, acting and relating about sustainability

·      Pedagogy:  Programs and relationships in practice

·      Professional partnerships in children’s services:  Working together for children.

This website also had a lot of great information for parents.  Under parent resources there were three headlines:  Children’s health and nutrition, Separation anxiety and Transitions to school.  Each of these headlines contained information concerning these topics.  I did notice that when I found something I was interested in learning more about many times it took you to an article you had to subscribe to or a book you had to buy.   

Reference

                                  

Early Childhood Australia. (2014). Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families

As I was looking at articles concerning the effects of research on children or families I came across the article titled Factors influencing parental consent for participation in clinical research involving their children in Egypt.  After reading the title I thought it definitely related to what we were learning about this week and would be interesting to find out the results.  The purpose of this study was to determine the rate of parents’ consent to participation in clinical research involving their child and to evaluate factors that influenced parents’ consent (Nasef, Shabaan, Mohammed, Kandel, Settin, Zedan, & Fouda, 2014).  In this study only 27.5% of parents consented to involving their child in research.  The most important factors increasing the chances of parental consent were if the research was a clear benefit to the child, if the parents received enough explanation of the research concept from the staff and to learn more about the disease.  One huge limitation of this study was that they “did not propose a specific type of research design to the parents or a specific pattern of patient disease, and this may have made our results more of a subjective parental opinion rather than an actual decision about consent or refusal” (Nasef, et al., 2014, p. 168).  I definitely believe if the parents had a specific type of research that was going to be done or if they truly had a child that would benefit from the research than more parents would consent to their child participating in the research.

In this article they also talked about children participating in a clinical asthma research in the United States.  The parents in this study identified the most important factors in favor of parental consent were learning more about the disease, helping medical knowledge, trials using new drugs, relationships with staff, financial benefits, free medication, encouragement by physician and free visits (Nasef, et al, 2014).  In contrast to the study in Egypt the use of new drugs or vaccines and research using invasive procedure were the main reasons for refusal by parents.  I thought it was interesting to see the differences and similarities in the two countries regarding what was important to the parents.

Reference

                                  

Nasef, N., Shabaan, A., Mohammed, S., Kandel, S., Settin, A., Zedan, M., & Fouda, A. (2014). Factors influencing parental consent for participation in clinical research involving their children in Egypt. Eastern Mediterranean Health Journal, 20(3), 162-168.

My Personal Research Journey

As I was thinking of a topic to research the first one that came to mind was social and emotional development.  I knew I wanted to research something concerning this topic because I feel that social and emotional development is extremely important and can be challenging to teach.  This is my fifth year of teaching preschool but it is already my hardest year when it comes to children with low or few social and emotional skills.  Many of my preschoolers have very strong emotions and they do not know how to handle them.  I have chosen to look at what are the best ways to teach and encourage healthy social and emotional development in preschoolers.  I am hoping the information I learn from this research will give me the skills I need to be a more effective teacher.

Constructing the research chart has been informational but I still definitely feel like I am out of my comfort zone.  The research chart does help me to focus more on what I am reading and to really stop and make sure I understand what I am reading.  At times trying to find research that really pertains to my topic feels time consuming and discouraging.  I am definitely looking forward to all that I am learning but it can be overwhelming.  One article I enjoyed reading this week was called Practices for Enhancing Children’s Social-Emotional Development and Preventing Challenging Behavior. 

Reference

Corso, R. M. (2007). Practices for Enhancing Children’s Social-Emotional Development and Preventing Challenging Behavior. Gifted Child Today, 30(3), 51-56.

Final Blog Assignment

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field:

1.     It opened by eyes and mind to early childhood education in other parts of the world.  I really enjoyed watching videos of programs throughout the world and what those programs are doing to reach their children.    

2.     It provided me with an abundance of new resources concerning early childhood education throughout the world. 

3.     It also educated me on poverty throughout the world and how poverty in other parts of the world affects the education of their young children. 

My professional goal related to international awareness of issue and trends is to continue to visit these website and stay up to date on this information.  Many times I learn about great resources but I never seem to have the time to go back to these sources.  I want to continue to go back to these resources and gain more information from them. 

Getting To Know The UNESCO Early Childhood Care and Education Webpage

The UNESCO Early Childhood Care and Education website is a great resource for learning about early childhood education internationally.  One of my professional goals includes having helpful resources and this is a helpful resource for early childhood education in other countries.  Another one of my professional goals includes always being able to reflect on my teaching and experiences so that I can learn and grow from them.  On this website they have a section labeled Policy Reviews.  “The aim of ECCE policy reviews is to provide countries with an opportunity to review their early childhood policies, to highlight good practices and challenges and to identify concrete measures to improve their policies” (UNESCO, 2014).  I liked how they are encourages countries to do their own reflecting to improve their policies. 

This website also contained great videos that allowed you to look inside a few other early childhood programs around the world.  These videos are interesting because you can actually see what is available and what is not available in other countries. You can also see the great work they are accomplishing in other countries.  Watching the video about the early childhood program in Northern Kenya reminded me of how privileged we are here in the United States.  We need to be reminded that we do have a lot to be thankful for and that we are doing some really great things.  Then we can focus on continuing to improve the areas that need improvement.  I also enjoyed looking at the News section and reading about different information concerning early childhood education around the world.   

Reference

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (2014).  Early Childhood Care and Education.  Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/

Sharing Web Resources

This week I explored an outside link that lead me to learn more about Harlem Children’s Zone.  Harlem Children’s Zone is doing some amazing things for children and families.  Their main goal is to give children the individual support they need to get to and through college and become productive, self-sustaining adults.  They do this by supporting the children and the families.  They have a pipeline of education that children go through.  “Our pipeline begins at birth and helps kids every step of the way until college graduation through exceptional education, social services, family support, health, and community-building programs” (Harlem Children’s Zone, 2014).

The first program they have is called Baby College and it is available so that from the time of birth babies can be immersed in a healthy and supportive environment.  “The Baby College gives expectant parents and parents of children ages 0-3 a strong understanding of child development and the skills to raise happy, healthy babies” (Harlem Children’s Zone, 2014).  To continue the parenting skills training from Baby College the Harlem Children’s Zone created the Three-Year-Old Journey Program.  “This 18-week program meets on Saturday mornings at a local public school. Parents participate in workshops, where they discuss discipline, developmental milestones, and age-appropriate activities to foster early literacy. Meanwhile, their three-year-olds play together in small and large groups under the guidance of trained staff, learning socialization skills and having fun singing, doing arts and crafts, and listening to stories” (Harlem Children’s Zone, 2014).  

Their pre-kindergarten program is called the Harlem Gems.  “Harlem Gems is the final step in our early childhood pipeline.  A top-notch, year-round, full-day pre-kindergarten program, Gems works with 240 children across four sites to ensure that each and every one enters kindergarten school-ready.  With five staff in each classroom, classes have a 4:1 child-to-adult ratio, allowing for more one-on-one work and ensuring that students receive the individualized attention they need.  Gems staff also encourage strong family involvement, engaging parents and caregivers in classroom activities and creating consistency between home and school” (Harlem Children’s Zone, 2014).  They continue to have programs all the way through college.  

It was amazing to read about and watch video on all the wonderful things this organization is doing for children, families and the Harlem community.  There is no way I could write in here all that they are doing.  You definitely should check out their website http://hcz.org/.

Reference

Harlem Children’s Zone (2014).  Retrieved from http://hcz.org/.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts - Part 2

This week I explored Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website.  I found the early childhood development project that they were doing in Zambia very interesting.  In Zambia there was an initiative to determine the effect of early childhood environment, health and education on children’s development.  For this project they created an assessment tool specifically for Zambia called the Zambian Child Assessment Tool (ZamCAT).  This tool was created to assess preschool aged children in a variety of domains.  Some of the domains were fine motor, language development, nonverbal reasoning, information processing, executive functioning, socio-emotional development, and task orientation.  I found this assessment interesting because many of the domains were the exact same domains we look at here in the United States but some of them were different.  One test that was interesting was the test for executive functioning: delayed gratification.  “For the ZamCAT delayed gratification task, the assessor offers the child a piece of candy and promises that, if the child waits to eat it until the assessor finishes speaking with the parent (typically 20- 30 minutes), then the child will get a second candy. The children are told that they can eat the candy right away, but if they decide to do so, they will not get a second piece of candy” (Center on the Developing Child, 2014).  This test is done because “children who are about to enter school need to be able to control impulses—they must pay attention in class, do their homework, and avoid disruptive behavior. Delayed gratification has been linked to current and future socio-emotional and cognitive development” (Center on the Developing Child, 2014).  Through this assessment process they are striving to increase the equity and excellence in their early childhood education.   

Another project I found interesting was “A Good Start” project in Santiago, Chile.  In this project they are helping to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development.  Their goal is to improve the quality of educational offerings for four to six year olds, particularly in the area of language development.  They hope to help improve school attendance, socio-emotional development and get children’s families involved in their education.  I found these goals and hopes interesting because they are some of the very goals we continue to work on at my school.  They too are trying to reach excellence for their students.  Another interesting resource on this site was there were many videos available that had been translated into Spanish and Portuguese. What a great resource available for families and teachers speaking these languages.    

Reference

Center on the Developing Child.  Harvard University (2014). Global Children’s Initiative.  Retrieved from

http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

This week I chose to look at the media videos contained on the website for the Pre-K Now Project.  I love how at the beginning of the video, Wendy Kopp, talked about how they want ALL children to have access to quality and transformative preschool no matter their socio economic background.  Wendy Kopp is the Teach for America CEO and founder.  I was happy to hear this because I feel that ALL children should have the opportunity to receive quality early childhood education.  Many times we focus very strongly on disadvantages children, which I totally understand, but I also believe there are children who live in what some people may call a “privileged” home but still do not receive quality early childhood education.  It would be ideal to be able to reach ALL children.  Next came Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers.  She stated she would like to see America feel that early childhood programs are as essential as any other grade.   I believe in this because even though I teach preschool in a school district, I am actually paid through Title 1 money and other grant money.  Every year there is a chance that we will not have the funds to have preschool.  I wish we would just have a pre-k through 12^th grade district with preschools in all of our elementary schools.  Hopefully this is something I will see in my future career of teaching. 

Another important point brought up in the video is how they worked to mobilize advocates to get their Pre-K Now project going and successful.  Their goals were to change how people thought about pre-k and to get a handful of states committed to putting the policy in place.  Law enforcement officials joined forces for early childhood education programs because early education helps fight crime.  A group of business executives called Ready for School launched an initiative to allocate $40 million dollars for early childhood education.  The U.S. Education Secretary and other politicians came on board to help advocate for quality early childhood programs.  Through this program state funding for pre-k more than doubled in 10 years, quality of programs improved and over a million children were receiving the benefits from this project.  Pre-K Now was a huge step forward for early childhood education and hopefully our country will continue to see the importance of early childhood education and work to make it accessible for all children. 

Reference

The PEW Charitable Trusts: Archived Project Pre-K Now. (2011).  Pre-K Now:  Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones.  Retrieved from

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/multimedia/video/2011/pre-k-now-making-a-decade-of-prek-milestones

  

Getting To Know Your International Contacts - Part 1

I chose to look at the poverty rate in China.  I chose China because I knew a lot of people lived there and I wondered if they had a high poverty rate because they had such a big population.  I was pleasantly surprised to find out that China actually has a very low poverty rate.  China made a huge cut in its poverty rate in the last thirty years.  In 1980 China had the largest number of people living in poverty with a poverty rate of 84% (The Economist, 2013).  In 2013 China’s poverty rate was approximately 10% (The Economist, 2013).  This huge change is attributed to the economic reforms taking place in the country in the last thirty years.  “One particular aspect of the socio-economic success has been the rapid industrialization of the country, with a major pivot of people moving from the poorer rural areas of the country to more well off jobs in urban centers, particularly within the manufacturing sector” (Kravtsov, 2013). 

After the year 1990 many governments came together and made it their goal to cut the amount of people living in poverty in half by 2015.  This was called the Millennium Development Goal.  China was the first developing country to achieve this goal.  China achieved this goal in 2010 when their poverty rate dropped to approximately 12%.  “China alone accounts for around three quarters of the world’s total decline in extreme poverty over the past 30 years”  (The Economist, 2013).   
 
Even though China has made huge progress in lowering the percentage of people in poverty, their economic growth has been uneven.  There is a huge income gap between people who live in urban areas and people who live in rural areas.  In the rural areas there is still a high percentage of people in poverty.  China is one of the most unequal countries in the world when it comes to people’s wealth.  The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer.  This is something the country is currently working to change.   

References   

   

Kravtsov, G. (2013, December 24).  China makes huge strides to tackle poverty. CNN.  Retrieved from http://edition.cnn.com/2013/12/24/business/china-poverty-report/.

The Economist. (2013, June 1).  The world has an astonishing chance to take a billion people out of extreme poverty by 2030.  Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/news/briefing/21578643-world-has-astonishing-chance-take-billion-people-out-extreme-poverty-2030-not

Sharing Web Resources

I chose to explore the resource The PEW Charitable Trusts:  Pre K Now at the following website http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/archived-projects/pre-k-now.

The PEW Charitable Trusts is driven to solve today’s most challenging problems.  The Pre K Now project was a ten year campaign the PEW Charitable Trusts created to advance high-quality pre-kindergarten for all three and four year olds.  They believe essential learning takes place prior to age five and school districts need to be focused on including pre-kindergarten in their schools. Children will have better academic success if they attend a quality pre-kindergarten program.  Pre K Now challenged the nation’s policy makers to move away from schools being kindergarten through twelfth grade and move towards schools being pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. 

This week I read the report the Pre K Now project created that challenges the nation to change public education to include pre-kindergarten.  It was interesting to find out that this campaign started in 2001.  At that time the Pew and a network of advocates from forty states partnered with policy makers and researchers to increase the availability and quality of publicly funded pre-k programs.  This seems like a long time ago, yet here in Wyoming most of our cities and towns do not have pre-k in their public schools.  The pre-k classes we do have in our district are not enough to service all the children in our city.  The following is a quote from the report that I highly agree with:  “The vast body of evidence shows that high-quality pre-k is an essential catalyst for raising school performance.  It multiplies the effects of later reforms by narrowing early achievement gaps and ensuring that children are fully prepared to learn and thrive academically, physically, social and emotionally” (http://www.pewtrusts.org/~/media/legacy/uploadedfiles/pcs_assets/2011/PewPreKTransformingPublicEducationpdf.pdf).

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This week I attempted to make contact with two early childhood professionals outside of the United States.  I went to the Global Alliance of NAEYC website and emailed a dozen different people from Africa, Asia and Europe.  Over half of my emails came back undeliverable.  I am hoping I will get a response from some of the emails that did go through.  I also talked with other teachers at my school as well as my principal to see if they had any professional contacts outside of the United States but they did not.  I also spent a little time looking at the UNICEF website.  This website looks like it is full of important information.  If I do not hear back from any of the people I tried to email I will need to choose the alternate assignment. 

Since I teach preschool and I am passionate about the importance of preschool I chose to study the Pre K Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States.  I also signed up to receive their weekly newsletter.  I am excited to explore this website further and find out all it has to offer. 

My Supports

I have many support systems in my life.  My husband is a huge support to me.  My husband supports me by encouraging me, loving me, respecting me, helping around the house and with our children.  My husband is a great listener and always has good advice when I ask for it.  My husband makes each day easier because he is so supportive.  My children are always supporting me by cheering for me in what ever it is I am trying to accomplish.  My mother has always been a huge support in my life.  She has supported me through good decisions and bad decisions.  I have always known that she loves me and supports me.  Another huge support in my life is a wonderful family friend and woman who takes care of our children when we are working.  Her name is Myrtie and she amazing!  She supports me by taking great care of my children while I am away which makes it much easier for me to focus on being a great teacher.  All of these people are very important in my life and without them I would not be able to do everything I do.

The challenge I chose to imagine is if I had a child in my class who had cancer.  I pray this is a challenge I never have to face but I chose this challenge because this year I had two siblings of former students get cancer and it really affected me.  It made me think about what would I do if I had a child in my class get cancer. I would need to be supportive for the family of the child and for the other children in my classroom.  I think it would be important for the children in the classroom to stay connected to the other child by drawing pictures and writing cards for that child.  I definitely would need all of the supports in my life to get through a challenge like this.  I would be encouraged because I know my support system would be praying for the child, the child’s family and for me!  Their prayer and support would be essential!!

My Connections to Play

"Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning.  But for children, play is serious learning." - Mr. Rogers

We all had a playroom growing up.  It was called "outside." - Anonymous

Essential play items when I was younger!

When I was a child I remember playing all the time.  I spent hours playing with dolls, riding my bike, going to the park and playing with my friends.  When the weather was nice we were always outside.  When I was about five years old we lived in an apartment building.  I remember playing with the other children in the apartment building.  We would play outside and ride our bikes on the sidewalk right in front of our apartments.  My mom would check on me often and sometimes stay outside with me.  My mom would also take me to the park and watch me as I played on the equipment.  I had a pretend kitchen and I would make my mom all kinds of different food.  My mother always encouraged me to play and many times would watch me play or play with me.  All of these are very fond memories when I think of my childhood.  I learned a lot about getting along with people, communicating and problem solving through my play.  Today children do not get nearly enough time to play outside or inside.  Children definitely spend way too much time watching television, playing video games and using technology.  I understand that parents have to be more protected of their children because society has changed during the last twenty-five years.  I am a parent myself and I am just starting to let my seven year old go in our backyard without me being out there with him.  Even though I am very protected of my children I do understand the importance of play and exploring outside.  I enjoy watching my children play with each other and friends.  My husband and I also spend a lot of time playing with our children and this does help you feel like a child again.  Growing up I loved playing basketball and always wanted a basketball court in my yard.  We have a basketball hoop in our backyard and we love having family games and competitions.  I hope, as my children get older they will get the opportunity to experience the fun of playing night games in their neighborhood.  If nothing else they will get to play night games with their parents!