Reflection

This collaborative learning experience has been great.  I have learned the importance of communicating and learning from other early childhood professionals.  I have  gained many insights from observing and interacting with families, colleagues, administrative staff, other early childhood, and agencies that support children and families.  Through this communication, I have been supported and encouraged to advocate for issues that are important to me.  I have also become more knowledgeable in different areas of advocacy that impact children and families. With the help of other professionals and colleagues, I have learned how to research and write a  resource paper in which I plan to integrate into an advocacy plan on improving quality care for children who are being cared for in  early childhood settings.

Module 4 - Observation and interaction with professionals, children, and families in your setting.

For this observation, I decided to observed Ms L., one of the infant and toddler teachers at my place of employment.  I choose to observe her, because she interactions with families on a daily basis. Unlike my third grade host teacher; who normally communicates with the families via phone or during parent teacher conferences.  

Throughout the week, during drop off time, I observed Ms L., discussing everything from  developmental goals, to eating and sleeping patterns. During one of my visit, I spoke with her in detail about advocacy and the strategies that she use when working with families. She uses many of the strategies that were listed by Kieff (2009), such as having an open door policy, ongoing assessments, parent conferences, respective and supportive relationships with families, as well as a clear understanding that children are supported in the context of family, culture, community, and society.

I observed Mrs. L. talking with a family about their son's speech and language development. The family was following up with her after a recent conference in which she expressed concerns about their child's language. The parents were in disagreement as to whether the child should be screened for speech and language delays. The father wanted the screening done, just to be safe, but the mother felt the child was fine. I was very impressed with the way Mrs. L. handled the situation. She did not take sides with either parent. She listened attentively to their concerns and then she presenting them with documentation on what she has observed since their recent conference. She also provided them with information on how to enhance language development as well as strategies that she has tried in the classroom. Before the end of their meeting, she gave the family information for a screening at early interventions and offered to provide assistance when they were ready.

What I learned from this experience is that teachers cannot successful educate and care for children without the support of the family, and since children spend most of their awakening hours with the teacher, families need teachers to communicate with them, regarding their child's development and any significant observations that are made throughout the day. 

It was also evident that Ms L.  had developed a supportive relationship with the family and they felt comfortable discussion this difficult issue with her. Throughout this observation, I was reminded of how important it is for educators to develop a partnership with families. When we create positive relationships with families, it makes it easier to communicate and work with the family if and when a problem arises that impacts their child's development.

References

Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Module 3 - Interacting with Professionals/Administrators about Improving Quality Care for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.

Module 3 - Interacting with Professionals/Administrators about Improving Quality Care for Infants, Toddlers, and Preschoolers.

For this assignment I meet with the Program Director at Busy Bee Learning Center and the Assistant Director at my place of employment.  In meeting with these professionals, they informed me of their goals on addressing the issue of improving quality care.  The Director at Busy Bee informed me that their program is in the process of submitting an application to the Quality Rating System(QRS), which is a program designed to improve the quality of care by looking at several quality indicators.

When speaking with the assistant director at my place of employment, she mentioned our goal for completing QRS was to improve the quality of care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.  She also informed me of the changes that are being made to QRS in efforts to ensure that all children have access to quality care.

When I spoke with my host teacher, she mentioned that many professional are starting to look at how children are being educated.  She feels this is one reasons why the Illinois learning standards are  being revised to common core standards. She also mentioned Race for the Top - Early Learning Challenge (RTT-ELC). She said, RTT-ELC is a grant to help programs improve the quality of learning and development for all children.

Based on my conversations with these professionals, there seems to be an increase in the number of programs that are trying to improve the quality of care for young children. Programs are starting to address this issue in different ways.  Some programs are striving for NAEYC accreditation, while others are working towards QRS.  When researching RTT-ELC, I found that the goal of this program is to provide funding to help raise the bar and improve student achievement (IBSE, 2013).  

As I continue with my advocacy efforts, I think it is going to be extremely important that I network and stay connected with other professionals who are working towards the goal of improving quality care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.  As cited by (Kieff,  2009, p. 139), networking is an important tool for advocacy because it enables professionals to connect with people who have ideas, information, or power.  Through networking, I can find people who can help me develop and implement my advocacy agenda.  

When address my advocacy issues in my setting, I think it's important to respect the fact that many of my co-workers may not be as excited about improving quality care, because it requires work.  I feel many of my coworkers have become comfortable, especially those who have been teaching for many years. But for me, I am excited about finding a more efficient way to teach young children.  I am passionate about improving quality care, because I know that it truly makes a difference in the lives of children and families.

As an Early Childhood Professional, I am constantly looking for ways to improve my work with young children. I have started to become more involved by taking part in an advisory committee.  This committee meets monthly and we discuss changes that are needed to assist programs in improving the quality of care for all children.  We talk to other programs and child care providers to find out what their needs are and how we can help them improve care for young children.  The issues that I here most often relates to training and funding.

I my setting I would like to see more staff members eager and excited about improving the work that they do with children.  In my community, I would like for state and local officials to understand that providing quality care cost money and they need to help programs and teachers find ways to pay for the training and changes that need to be made in order to improve the quality of care for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers. 

References

Illinois State Board of Education (2013). Illinois Race to the top. Retrieved from http://www.isbe.state.il.us/racetothetop/default.htm

Kieff, J. (2009). Informed advocacy in early childhood care and education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Module 2: Observing and Interacting With Professionals/Collegues

I conducted my observations in two settings, a public school with my host teacher, and my place of employment with a infant and toddler teacher.  During my observation, I wanted to observe specific quality indicators related to Quality Care for infants, toddlers, and preschoolers.  According to National Associates for the Education of Young Children (2010), quality programs addresses the physical environment, staff qualification and professional development, interactions between teachers, children and families, developmentally and culturally appropriate curriculum and classroom practices just to name a few.  During my research, interviews, and observation,  teacher qualification and professional development are two specific indicators that are frequently mentioned.  When speaking with my host teacher about education.  She informed me that she has two Master Degree's, one in Education and one in Reading Instruction. I asked her, if her education impacted the way she teach?  She replied, "my education has impacted my teaching in many ways. For example, I used to have a hard time teaching reading, but I learned different strategies and techniques to help students who struggle in reading”.  I also asked my co-worker about her education and training. She has a BA in Early Childhood Education.  She stated that her education has greatly impacted her teaching.  She says, “I have a better of understand of what young children need, which helps me provide quality care to the infants and toddlers in my classroom”. During my observation, I also wanted to see how teachers provide developmentally appropriate curriculum, as this is an important part of providing quality care to young children.  My host teacher uses differentiated instruction. She say’s, “students enter the classroom with varying abilities, and I have to plan curriculum that will meet the needs of all students".  She continues by saying, "many of my students are not performing at grade level, so I have to provide some instruction at grade level, but most assignments are based on the students individual abilities". I was able to observe this, in the host classroom.  Many of the activities where done in small groups, called flexible grouping in which students, are grouped based on ability and interest.  She says, there is a lot of peer interaction and cooperative learning. When I observed the infant and toddler classroom, I also wanted to look for signs of developmental appropriate activities and instruction. I observed the children learning through play and hands on activities. There were many positive interactions, the host teacher was on the floor playing, reading, and interacting with the infants and toddlers.  The teacher knew her students well, and she responded to their attempts at communication.  For example, one of the toddlers wanted a snack, so they went and stood by the snack table, with their hands raised in the air.   I heard the teacher say, are you ready for your snack? 
Overall both of my observations went well.  I had an opportunity to observe indicators of quality care.  I also learned how ongoing education and professional development has impacted teaching young children.
References
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/policy/state/QRSToolkit2010.p

My interview with Early Childhood Professionals

My first interview was with my third grade host teacher Mrs. G. I started the interview by explaining my desire to do a research paper on advocating for families with special needs, the lack of quality childcare programs or adequate training for those working with young children. During my discussion, I asked my host teacher if she could share with me some of the topics related to quality care, working with families, and training.  Mrs. G.  replied, "education, training, ongoing professional development, and staying current on best practices" are all important aspects of providing quality care.  She went on to say, "providing quality care goes beyond the certificate requirements that are needed to become a teacher".

            As we continued to talk, I asked Mrs. G, "What are some of the current issues related to training, ongoing professional developing, and staying current on best teaching practices". She says, "without quality teachers, students do not get a quality education". When I asked her about the issues that she commonly encounter in discussions with her colleagues, she says, "teacher evaluations".  I could tell in her voice, that this is a big issue for her.  She says, "teachers are being held accountable for how well students perform on achievement test". She goes on to say that, the parents or students are not being held accountable; and everything falls on the teacher, and it's not fair". She feels that it should be a joint effort between the teacher, parents, and the students.

            I also interviewed a Quality Rating Specialist(QRS) and a preschool teacher.  After explaining my interview with Mrs. G, I wanted to hear their opinion on providing quality care.  I asked both of them about topics related to quality care. The QRS specialist says "education of teachers and the importance of teachers being knowledge of most current teaching practices". She goes on to say, with everything changing, it's so important for educators to stay on top of the best teaching practices.  The preschool teacher says, "quality care involves planning a good curriculum, knowing your students abilities, and building positive relationships with families. I ask both of them, to explain which of these issues are of most concern.  They both agreed that  education, training and building positive relationships with families are all important issues to providing quality care.  The QRS specialist says, "educators need to have access to education. Many educators want additional training, but there are many time constraints and lack of resources".  

            The information that I gained from these interviews, helped me to see how education and ongoing professional development impacts the quality of care that early childhood educators provide. As a result, of interviewing these professionals, my knowledge on what it means to provide quality care has greatly increased. As a result, I have decided to do my research paper on the importance of providing quality care.  My three related topics will be:

1.         What is quality care

2.         How does quality care impact children and families

3.         Why is ongoing professional development and training an important part of  providing quality care.