Sharing Web Resources--NIEER

Actually, the website I chose to study last week is  National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (http://www.naccrra.org/). However, I found that in this website, there is not much information about the topic of this week—Changing Demographics and Diversity. I think I need to be flexible and I try to look into another website that was offered from the resources last week. Therefore, this week, I will locate on another website— National Institute for Early Education Research/NIEER (http://nieer.org/). This website focuses on offering research-based advice and technical assistance to policymakers, journalists, researchers and educators, to support high quality, effective early childhood education for all young children.
As I read the vision of NIEER, this institute’s research program aims to:
Provide a vision of early education excellence in terms that are usable by policy makers and understandable to the general public
Monitor and evaluate national and state progress toward early educational excellence
Develop and analyze model legislation, standards, regulations and other policies required to improve quality and increase access to good preschool programs
Explain the costs, outcomes and economic benefits of alternative policies
(Retrieved July 12th, 2014 from http://nieer.org/about/vision)

There is one issue that interests me and is from one of the research topics—Teachers, where I can find the latest information related to teacher quality, teacher salaries and compensation, and teacher training and professional development. (NIEER, 2014) This issue is about what it takes to develop and maintain effective instructional practices for preschool teachers. It is a preschool policy brief, issued in April 2011, titled Degrees in Context: Asking the Right Questions about Preparing Skilled and Effective Teachers of Young Children, and written by Marcy Whitebook and Sharon Ryan. The authors emphasize the critical role of preschool teachers in children’s development but the insufficient consideration of "the complexities of education and the workplace environment”  that are vital for teachers’ professional development and children’s development. It is necessary to "improve the quality of teacher education programs” and develop workplace policies that support teachers to "be able to consistently perform well and to continue to learn and improve.” (Whitebook and Ryan, 2011)

I found some related information about diversity. Among the twelve research topics in this website, including Access, Assessment, Economics and Finance, English Language Learners, Governance and Accountability, Outcomes, Quality and Curriculum, Special Education, State Pre-K Evaluations, State Programs, Teachers, and Universal and Targeted, diversity is reflected in some of these topics, such as English Language Learners (ELLs), which provides information on culturally appropriate preschool, diversity issues related to preschool, and what is known about English language learners in preschool; Quality and Curriculum, which identifies inclusion as one of the elements of quality in preschool programs; Special Education, Which shows another diversity— ability diversity; etc..

I would like to share the the best practices for young DLLs (Dual-language learner), which are stated in the article Preparing Young Hispanic Dual Language Learners for a Knowledge Economy (Figueras-Daniel and Barnett, 2013):
Know what language and countries children and their families consider most important to their cultural heritage.
Build on what children know, their strengths and their interests.
Create a classroom environment that respects and reflects the languages and cultures of the children in an accurate way.
Keep a consistent and predictable sequence of daily events.
Keep the classroom organized and clearly labeled utilizing both pictures and words.
Teach new words and concepts around thematic units accompanied by so- phisticated picture books.
Provide explicit vocabulary instruction in English, repeating new vocabulary words often and in context.
Use a combination of gestures, real-life objects, and pictures to support read- ing aloud and discussions.
Engage children in one-on-one discussions that utilize rich vocabulary as of- ten as possible.
Use children’s home language during instruction and for book reading when possible.
Encourage children to share words or phrases in their home language during individual and group settings.
Encourage all children to work together to accomplish a task.

Reference:
Figueras-Daniel, AAlexandra and Barnett, W. Steven. (2013). Preparing Young Hispanic Dual Language Learners for a Knowledge Economy.  Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/policy-matters-policy-briefs/policy-brief-preparing-young-hispanic-dual-language
National Institute for Early Education Research (NIEER). (2014). Guide to research topics. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/
Whitebook, Marcy and Ryan, Sharon. (2011). Degrees in Context: Asking the Right Questions about Preparing Skilled and Effective Teachers of Young Children. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/policy-matters-policy-briefs/policy-brief-–-degrees-context-asking-right-questions

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Establishing professional contacts is a really good way to keep myself updated and informed with regard to the early childhood field. I am lucky that I am working in an international school, in which there are many professional resources from different countries and the early childhood professionals are experienced and knowledgeable. I have talked with some of the early childhood professionals in my school to see whether they could keep regular touch with me through emails or their blogs so that I could learn more new issues and relevant events from them. Fortunately, they are so glad to know that there is one more person who is concerned about and engaged in the early childhood field and very happy to offer professional helps and contacts. One professional is Karie Sun, a Canadian Chinese, which means that I can learn some differences of the early childhood issues and trends between Canada and China. Another professional is Cheryl Uy, who has around 20 years experience in Early childhood and still keeps herself informed by enrolling herself in different schools, courses, and training for professional development. There is one more professional I am trying to get in touch with since she is from New Zealand, which is also famous for its education, especially some approaches and strategies for early childhood field, such as the Te Whariki Approach. I am excited and very willing to contact with them and ready for the updates.

As for expanding resources, since the professional contacts that I am building up for Part 1 of this week blog assignment will help me learn issues and trends of early childhood field in Canada, China, and New Zealand, I would like to choose National Association of Child Care Resource & Referral Agencies (http://www.naccrra.org/), an American educational website for young children. From the website, I read:

Since 1987, Child Care Aware® of America has been working to improve the system of early learning for children by:

1. Providing training, resources and best practices standards to local and state CCR&Rs that support high-quality, accountable services 
2. Promoting national policies and partnerships that facilitate universal access to high-quality child care 
3. Collecting, analyzing, and reporting current child care data and research, including child care supply and demand trends 
4. Offering child care and parenting information and resources to families and connecting families to local CCR&R services

I think this website is very helpful to me to learn relevant issues and trends of early childhood as well as some practices and standards for effective child care. Mainly I will visit this website, but still I will spend some time visiting other websites that this course offers for more information regarding early childhood field. Those websites are as follow: 

Early Childhood Related Websites—United States

Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/ (May have to use http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/ )
(Newsletters:
http://zttcfn.pub30.convio.net/child-development/from-baby-to-big-kid/ and
http://capwiz.com/zerotothree/mlm/signup/ )

National Black Child Development Institutehttp://nbcdi.org/
(Newsletter: http://nbcdi.org/support/sign-up-for-nbcdi-newsletters/ )

National Institute for Early Education Research
http://nieer.org/
(Newsletter: http://nieer.org/resources/newsletter/index.php )

The National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/
(Review also the position statements: http://www.naeyc.org/positionstatements )

Pre[K]Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States
http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now28067
(Newsletter: http://www.pewtrusts.org/news_room_alerts.aspx )

Harlem Children's Zone
http://www.hcz.org/
(Newsletter: https://donate.hcz.org/signup )

National Head Start Association
http://www.nhsa.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.nhsa.org/news_and_advocacy/advocacy/legislative_eupdate )

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators
http://www.naecte.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.naecte.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=14&Itemid=29 )

The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/
(Review also the position statements: http://www.dec-sped.org/Just_Browsing/Position_Statements_and_Papers)

Children's Defense Fundhttp://www.childrensdefense.org/index-1.html
(Newsletter: http://www.childrensdefense.org/newsroom/enewsletters/ )

Center for the Child Care Workforcehttp://www.ccw.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.ccw.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=blogcategory&id=78&Itemid=72 )

Society for Research in Child Developmenthttp://www.srcd.org/
(Newsletter: http://www.srcd.org/membership/developments )

Early Childhood Related Websites—Outside the United States

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO)http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/
(Review also the online Resources listed on the right: Selected publications, Country Profiles, or Policy Series)

Early Childhood Australia: The Australian Early Childhood Advocacy Organizationhttp://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/
(Newsletter: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/contact_us/mailing_list.html )

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/
(Review also these online resources at: http://acei.org/knowledge/ )

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA)http://www.eecera.org/

The British Association for Early Childhood Educationhttp://www.early-education.org.uk/
(Review also these online resources: http://www.early-education.org.uk/search/node/leaflets )

The Canadian Association for Young Children
http://www.cayc.ca/
(Review also available issues of the organization's journal at: http://www.cayc.ca/indexjournal.html )

Early Childhood Council New Zealand (EEC)http://www.ecc.org.nz/MainMenu
(Review also media resources at: http://www.ecc.org.nz/Category?Action=View&Category_id=159)

International Child Resource Institute
http://www.icrichild.org/
(Review also the international projects at: http://www.icrichild.org/kenya ) Click on the International Projects tab at the top to see a list of the available projects.

International Step by Step Association
http://www.issa.nl/
(Review also the databases at: http://www.issa.nl/issadatabases.html )

The Global Fund for Children
http://www.globalfundforchildren.org
(Newsletter: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/index.php?option=com_civicrm&Itemid=340 )

Save the Children
http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm
(Newsletter: http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXGIpI4E/b.6213813/k.4C6/eNewsletter_Sign_Up/apps/ka/ct/contactus.asp?c=8rKLIXMGIpI4E&b=6213813&en=kvlQJ4ORKhlQJ3MOKcINI4NSJfLZiOSJmLYL4OSJrK9JsJ )

My supports

My supports

To me, in my daily life, my supports come from the people around me and the objects that help make my life easier and more meaningful. The people around me, including my family members (my father, my brother, my sister and brother-in-law, my niece and so on), my friends, my colleagues, and my housemates; and the things such as my bicycle, my fridge, my phone and so on, they are the factors within my daily environment that are very supportive to me, emotionally, practically and physically. 

My dad, who supports me all the way through my life as well as practically and physically, gives me a sense of security and belonging, making me feel that he is always there whatever happens to me, that he supports whatever choice I make, and that he gives me advice when I come to dilemma. My sister and my  brother-in-law, they give me a sense of home warmth and belonging because I work in a place where is away from my hometown and where my sister got married and has settled down with my brother-in-law. They will invite me to their home and spend the weekends together and talk about what has happened during the week. My niece, who I witness her growth and spend long time playing with, helps me to develop a sense of giving love instead of taking love that I always get from my grandparents, my parents, my sister and brother-in-law, etc.. My housemates, they help to clean up the house together so that we can live in a clean and comfortable environment and have a good mood; sometimes we take turns to cook if we find one is busy with something and has no time to cook. My colleagues, they give me suggestion regarding professional development; they offer physical help when I need set up the classroom. My bicycle, it gives me a chance to exercise every day, building up my body. My fright, my favourite, I can put my daily food inside, milk, yoghurt, fruit, vegetable and so on, to keep my food fresh and I don’t need to go shopping for food every day, which makes my life more convenience. My phone, it keeps me updated with the news and professional development, reminds me of what I am supposed to do at a certain time, keep myself in touch with my families, friends, colleagues, and helps me relax when I listen to some music or play a little games. Without these supports from these factors, I would not have grown up in an easier way; I would not have gained so much love and have a sense of security and belonging; I would not have learned how to show and give love to others; I would not have developed so much in my professional area; I would not have lived a healthy and relaxing life in a well-socialised environment. They are so important to my physical, practical and emotional development.

The challenge that I Imagine is that I will hold an activity that involves children and parents. If so, my family members would give me encouragement and support me if they are needed; My colleagues would give me advice about how to hold an activity and reminders of what should be taken into consideration; I would still bike to make sure that I had a strong body to keep everything going well; etc. No matter what challenge it will be, the people and things around me from different perspectives support me in a positive and effective way.

My Connections to Play

My Connections to Play

“Have regular hours for work and play; make each day both useful and pleasant, and prove that you understand the worth of time by employing it well. Then youth will bring few regrets, and life will become a beautiful success.”
― Louisa May Alcott, Little Women

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”
― Charles E. Schaefer

“Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun.”
― Brom, The Child Thief

Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn. 

― O. Fred Donaldson

It was late 1980s when I was in early childhood. At that time, adults were busy working and making a living in order to live a better life. Therefore, parents seldom spent much time playing with their child and even let their children play as much as possible so that they had much more time to work. I was brought up by my grandparents so I had a very close relationship with my parents and every holiday I would go back to my hometown and visit them. There I would play with my cousins nearby my grandparents' house, where there was a small sand hill that was the leftover from construction, three banana trees and a guava tree next to the house, but no other children’s facilities in the countryside. My grandparents would sit down where they could have a view of what we were doing and just watched us to make sure we were safe and played nicely with each other.

Just as the quote from Brom states, “Go and play. Run around. Build something. Break something. Climb a tree. Get dirty. Get in some trouble. Have some fun.” My cousins and I ran up and down the sand hill playing catching games; built something out of the sand using some old bowls, plates, spoons and chopsticks; climbing up the guava tree and sat on the wall, pretending that I could fly, trying to catch the wind; etc.. Those were our outdoor play, which helped promote my physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. 

Compared with the outdoor play nowadays, there is a place in a community special for children’s facilities— play becomes more and more important in people’s eyes; however, unlike the children in the past who used natural materials as play tools, children nowadays have less chances to have a connection with nature in their play. For me, I prefer to play in a more natural surroundings, where we can develop a sense of and have a connection with the real natural world.

Play is vital to my whole development. In my childhood, through play, I made friends; I developed relationships with my cousins and my siblings; I knew how to negotiate, share, communicate, imagine and have fun. Play is a facilitator for my development. In my adolescence, play is a poiser that helps buffer my pressure on my study. Now in adulthood, play is a success that I always find to time to achieve though it is hard for a busy life; I would feel enormously happy and satisfied when I can have this success.

Here below are some photos of some play items in my childhood:

These were popular dolls when I was young. With my sister and cousins, I pretended to be a mom, a sister or any one who would take care of this baby.

This was a game that children played with fingers using a string, which would practice cognitive and thinking skills.

This was my favourite game that I liked to play. It helps to practice thinking and mathematic skills.

Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection

Definitely I am not isolated but interrelated with the people around me, including my family, my friends,  and my colleagues, and even my flowers, etc., who and which have a great impact on my way of thinking, my attitudes and my life at home and in my workplace; from whom and which I can learn experience and practices that benefit me a lot. The people who affect me a lot in my daily life and in my work are my sister Xiaocong, my friend Claire, my colleague Lindsay and my health consultant Jinping; my lily flowers also benefit me to some extent.

My sister and me 

Xiaocong, my sister, is always acting as my guide and facilitator in my personal life. My sister is willing to listen carefully and patiently to what I say to her. After I finish my words, my sister will share her opinions about my topic; and if I come across some confusions, she will guide me step by step by telling me if she were me, what she would do and what outcomes would probably be brought. Through our mutual communication and care, we feel close to each other, comfortable to listen to each other, and willing to take the other’s perspective and find a better way to clear our confusions or solve our problems. What’s more, since we are sisters, we have the same family background, in which we understand each other better.

My friend and me

My friend, Claire, who once was my classmate in my college and now is my housemate, is a very close friend to me. When we were in college, we got to know each other, started to learn each other’s family, gradually knew each other’s academic achievement and thus helped each other in study and life. Now we rent and live in the same house, where we have more time and opportunities to understand each other’s life style, habits, ways of problem solving and thinking, etc.. The closer we are, the more conflicts may happen. However, we try to stay calm and sit down for a talk, we respect each other’s own ways of thinking, are open communicators and honest in our thought. Thus, we build up a mutual-trust and mutual-assistance relationship between each other.

My colleagues

Lindsay, my colleague,  as a classroom teacher, and I, as a teaching assistant, are working in the same classroom for children aged 3-4 years old in this schooling year. Professionally, she is not only the teacher of the children, but also the teacher of me, who is knowledgeable, experienced, updated and willing to share her experience in the early childhood field. From her I can learn some practical experience and teaching strategies. Personally, we are friends, too. In our spare time, we will schedule some time, plan some outdoor activities and have fun together, simply like a Japanese dinner that both of us like to eat. Though some problems would occur due to different cultures and customs, we put aside out biases, welcome the diversity and may try new things and then have a brand-new experience. 

My lovely flower

My health consultant, Jinping, gives me lots of advice on how to live a healthy life and encourage me to have a positive attitude towards my current and future life, through texting messages or posts on the personal blog, which always reminds me that our physical and emotional well-being is so important in every aspect of our life, such as the development and maintenance of relationships among people, the performance of our professional work, and our attitudes towards people and events, etc.. 

I love to have some fresh flowers in my room, which makes me have a good mood and spend time and effort taking care of them. Every time when I come back home and open my door, I will take a look at the flowers to check if they need more water, if they grow well or if any bud comes into blossom. Through taking care of the flower, I learn to be observant and patient, waiting to see the beautiful outcome.

From the relationships above that I am talking about, factors that contribute to developing and maintaining each relationship can be concluded into the following: communication, through which we make clear our confusions, misunderstanding, diverse ways of thinking and attitudes, etc.; care, which makes us bond with and be close to each other; learning others’  background, which help to acquire the basic information have a better understanding of people; mutual-trust and mutual assistance, with which relationships are strengthened and maintained if problems occur; respect, with which we can cross a cultural barrier among people; willingness to share, which help us exchange ideas and experience and broaden our views, and thus cherish the beneficial relationships; patience, which is one of the basic factor of all kinds of relationship because it makes relationships sustainable.

All these factors are also the characteristics that make partnerships, for example, family partnership. Working as an effective early childhood professional, those factors, which I have learned from the multifaceted and interrelated relationships, positively affect me a lot.  When working with children and their , I learn to be patient, caring, attentive, communicable, respectful, trusting, helpful and willing to share ideas and experience, so that we can meet the needs of children, help to develop a holistic child, partner with family and work together on the same page to improve children’s learning and development and so on. 

Quotes about children

Quote 1:

“Since the earliest period of our life was preverbal, everything depended on emotional interaction. Without someone to reflect our emotions, we had no way of knowing who we were.”
― John Bradshaw, Healing the Shame that Binds You

Quote 2:

“The path of development is a journey of discovery that is clear only in retrospect, and it’s rarely a straight line.”
― Eileen Kennedy-Moore, Smart Parenting for Smart Kids: Nurturing Your Child's True Potential

Quote 3:

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.”
― Margaret Mead


Additional resouces for quotes about children:

http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/tag/children

Testing for Intelligence? How to assessment holistically?

To view a child as the whole child, we should take into account his/her physical, cognitive (including linguistic and thinking), social and emotional skills. Therefore, when assessing a child and measuring how far the child has reached concerning his/her overall development, or overall intelligences, we should apply and combine some theories of intelligence in which different aspects of his/her skills are included, such as Theory of Multiple Intelligences, introduced by Howard Garder; and Theory of Emotional Intelligence, proposed by Peter Salovey and John D. Mayer. In both of their theories, I think some of the factors can be utilized and put together to assess young children holistically.

From Theory of Multiple Intelligences, Visual-Spatial Intelligence can be used to assess information-processing skills according to its characteristics:
Enjoys reading and writing
Good at putting puzzles together
Good at interpreting pictures, graphs and charts
Enjoys drawing, painting and the visual arts
Recognizes patterns easily
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_2.htm)
Linguistic-Verbal Intelligence is the factor to assess children’s linguistic development and its characteristics are:
Good at remembering written and spoken information
Enjoys reading and writing
Good at debating or giving persuasive speeches
Able to explain things well
Often uses humor when telling stories
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_3.htm)
Logical-Mathematical Intelligence can be used to assess children’s thinking skills:
Excellent problem-solving skills
Enjoys thinking about abstract ideas
Likes conducting scientific experiments
Good and solving complex computations
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_4.htm)
Bodily-Kinesthetic Intelligence can be used to assess children’s motor skills:
Good at dancing and sports
Enjoy creating things with their hands
Excellent physical coordination
Tends to remember by doing, rather than hearing or seeing
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_5.htm)
Musical Intelligence can also be used to assess one’s thinking skills who are thinking in patterns, rhythms and sounds:
Enjoy singing and playing musical instruments
Recognizes musical patterns and tones easily
Good at remembering songs and melodies
Rich understanding of musical structure, rhythm and notes
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_6.htm)
Interpersonal Intelligence can be used to assess one’s social skills:
Good at communicating verbally
Skilled nonverbal communicators
See situations from different perspectives
Create positive relationships with others
Good at resolving conflict in groups
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_7.htm)
Intrapersonal Intelligence can be used to assess one’s social and emotional skills:
Good at analyzing their strengths and weaknesses
Enjoys analyzing theories and ideas
Excellent self-awareness
Clearly understands the basis for their own motivations and feelings
(Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell_8.htm)
In Theory of Emotional Intelligence, four different factors including the perception of emotion, the ability to reason using emotions, the ability to understand emotion and the ability to manage emotions, can be used to assess children’s ability of emotional regulation. (Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm)

How are school-age children assessed in China?  According to Joseph (1999), "assessment usually involves an evaluation of the child's leaming abilities, speech and language, visual-motor ability, and identification of behaviour problems. The child's developmental history and how the child interacts with others are also considered. Assessment in China focuses on the characteristics of individual children…..The primary use of assessment in China is for screening and placement, but mostly the latter. For the Chinese, the test score is important, because it indicates the child's level of intellectual functioning or determines the school that the child will attend. Factors other than test scores, such as developmental history or correct life circumstances, are not considered in placement or screening decisions in China.” (Retrieved from http://mje.mcgill.ca/article/viewFile/7897/5826)

The main way of assessing school-age children in China is written examinations, which intend to check how many scores children are able to get, and thus many aspects of children’s development are neglected, such as thinking, linguistic, social and emotional skills, which can not be fully tested in written examinations, and which are very important aspects of knowing whether children develop healthy and properly. Seeing this, some places in China have taken initiative to reform, aiming at "reducing the emphasis on rote learning and increasing the emphasis on deep understanding, the ability to apply knowledge to solving new problems and the ability to think creatively.” (Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/countries/hongkongchina/46581016.pdf) All of these are reflected in deep reforms to the curriculum and examinations. What’s more, Oral test is added in some places to test children’s linguistic and thinking skills. More schools organise field trips to combine knowledge and practice together to improve cognitive skills. With years going by, I hope the education system in China can show a newer look and nurture more children who develop holistically.
 Reference:

Cherry, Kendra. (2014). Gardner's Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/educationalpsychology/ss/multiple-intell.htm

Cherry, Kendra. (2014). What Is Emotional Intelligence? Definitions, History, and Measures of Emotional Intelligence. Retrieved from http://psychology.about.com/od/personalitydevelopment/a/emotionalintell.htm

OECD. (2010). Shanghai and Hong Kong: Two Distinct Examples of Education Reform in China. Retrieved from http://www.oecd.org/countries/hongkongchina/46581016.pdf