A Note of Thanks and Support

A Note of Thanks and Support

                Now that we have reached the end of our first eight weeks in our program, I want to thank group 2 for all your responses to my blogs and for your insights through discussion posts and blogs. I really appreciate that many of you have already been teachers and can open my eyes to the real world of education! I am sad that because I am taking an eight week break, the first since I started my undergrad program at Walden over three years ago, I may not see you in my classes in the summer, but I suspect that as we continue through the program, some of you may also take breaks, and I might see you again. These blogs have been a great way for us all to feel more connected. I want to encourage everyone to stay with this program as I stuck with my undergrad program. It seems that no matter what the degree is more college will help you do better in the professional world than less college.

                These eight weeks have given me time to think about my future career path. I needed time to figure out if I would be able to keep my present job and continue on in the special ed program. It doesn’t look very hopeful because the new special ed program requires even more field experience, so it looks almost certain that I will be continuing on in early ed unless I lose my job. Either way, some doors are closing, and some are opening. I look upon these doors as God as my shepherd guiding me with his staff to the way he wants me to go. This is a good thing because I am not very good at making decisions. I just try to bloom where I’m planted

                I hope to see you all again sometime!

Thanks again!

Liz Thomas

The Division of Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Evidenced Based Practices

The Division of Early Childhood (DEC) of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Evidenced Based Practices 

The CEC’s DEC Code of Ethics, Evidence Based Practices’ second principle states that early childhood professionals should “use every resource, including referral when appropriate, to ensure high quality services are accessible and are provided to children and families.” 

This principle is part of my professional life because there are times when there is a child in my class who needs resources that the teacher and I can’t provide because we are not trained to provide these resources. For example, one student in our class has been identified as needing speech services and perhaps other special education services. It is our responsibility to ensure that this student is assessed for these services. It is also my responsibility according to this principle to research ways to help children who need extra help by talking with the speech therapist and by reading articles about appropriate instruction. This is especially true because there is very little time for a child with speech needs spent in speech therapy. Most of this child’s time will continue to be spent in the classroom.

The NAEYC Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Ideal 3A.1

The NAEYC Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Ideal 3A.1

In regards to a professionals responsibility to co-workers, the NAEYC code 3A.1 states that early childhood professionals should strive to “establish and maintain relationships of respect, trust, confidentiality, collaboration, and cooperation with co-workers.”

This is an ideal that I need to consider every day as I work with the class room teacher for who I am an assistant. Respect involves respecting the culture of other colleagues. In my daily work, I balance my ideas about the amount of time I feel children should spend in play with the idea that as a Mexican American my teacher may have a view of education that is slightly different from mine. I also consider that her idea of education is likely to be similar to that of the children’s parents, who are Latino. I also have respect for the many years my colleague has been teaching. At the same time, I need to keep in mind that the pressures of No Child Left Behind may affect all of us and part of collaborating with my teacher may include a discussion on not letting the pressure of assessments change our mode of teaching.

The NAEYC Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Ideal 1.10

The NAEYC Code of Ethics and my Professional Life: Ideal 1.10

Ideal 10 in the NAEYC ethics code’s first section, the section related to responsibilities to children, says that early child hood professionals should “ensure that each child’s culture, language, ethnicity, and family structure are recognized and valued in the program”.

This ideal has been an ideal that I have learned a lot about since I began working with young children in day cares about four years ago. It is important to me because I realize that I would want my culture respected if I were the parent allowing my child to be taught or cared for by someone who is not part of my culture. This ideal has also caused me to take a lot of consideration in how I care for children because my own values and beliefs about child care could conflict with a parent’s culture. Ultimately, however, I have found that if I am open to the parents’ wishes and also offer parents information about effective ways to care for children, the parents are as willing to be flexible as I am, so that worrying is something I am more likely to do before I have brought up a difference of opinion or culture with parents

Additional Resources

Additional Resources

La Leche League International-          http://www.llli.org/  

The Attachment Parenting Book: A Commonsense Guide to Understanding and Nurturing your Child by William Sears, M.D., & Martha Sears, RN (2001) published by Little Brown and Company available on Kindle and Nook

50 Strategies for Communicating and Working with Diverse Families by Janet Gonzalez-Mena (2010) published by Pearson available on Kindle 

Touchpoints Birth to Three: Your Child’s Emotional and Behavioral Development by T. Barry Brazleton M. D. Revised with Joshua D. Sparrow M.D. (2006) published by De Capo Press available on Nook and Kindle

Course Resources

Course Resources

Part 1: Position Statements and Influential Practices

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf
• NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf
• NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
• FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf
  
  Note: The following article can be found in the Walden University Library databases.
• Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.
  Use the Academic Search Complete database, and search using the article's title.

Part 2: Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-Being

• Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf
• Websites:

·          

• World Forum Foundation
  http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
  This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the media segment on this webpage
• World Organization for Early Childhood Education
  http://www.omep-usnc.org/
  Read about OMEP's mission.
• Association for Childhood Education International
  http://acei.org/
  Click on "Mission/Vision" and "Guiding Principles and Beliefs" and read these statements.

Note: Explore the resources in Parts 3 and 4 in preparation for this week's Application assignment.

Part 3: Selected Early Childhood Organizations

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Children's Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067
• Voices for America's Children
  http://www.voices.org/
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/

Part 4: Selected Professional Journals

Tip: Use the A-to-Z e-journal list to search for specific journal titles. (Go to "How Do I...?", select "Tips for Specific Formats and Resources," and then "e-journals" to find this search interface.)

• YC Young Children
• Childhood
• Journal of Child & Family Studies
• Child Study Journal
• Multicultural Education
• Early Childhood Education Journal
• Journal of Early Childhood Research
• International Journal of Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Studies
• Maternal & Child Health Journal
• International Journal of Early Years Education

A Quote by Renatta Marie Cooper

The following quote is from Renatta Marie Cooper, Education Coordinator for the Los Angeles County Office of Child Care. 

I also believe women should have a choice, and one of those choices should be not to use childcare, stay home with their child if that’s what they want to do.

I like this quote because it brings up an important issue, the value of a mother staying home with her child. Unfortunately, it is often financially difficult for mothers to stay home with their children. My own daughter is an example of a mother that would rather stay home but can’t stay home because of financial reasons. One issue is how long a graduate’s college financial aid payment can be suspended after a baby’s birth. My daughter’s financial aid payment is the only reason she needs to work. The financial aid payment requirement is not suspended even for a month after a baby is born. There are also issues with how long employees have for a leave of absence due to a baby’s birth and whether an employee is paid during that leave of absence.

A Quote from Raymond Hernandez-USC ECE Director

The following quote was taken from an educational film in which Raymond Hernandez, Executive Director School of Early Childhood Education at the University of Southern California describes his mission, passion, and motivation.

I’m not here to save the world. I’m here just to make a difference in the community that I’m working.