My personal research journey

Hi my colleagues of this course! Welcome to my blog!

My chosen topic for the simulation is How a Play-based Curriculum Affects Children's Learning and Development, according to which I developed three subtopics: 1. the benefits of different types of play to child development; 2. the outcomes of focusing on children's academic achievements; 3. how early childhood teachers implement a play-based curriculum in preschools.

The reason why chose this topic and subtopics is related to my early childhood experience and my concerns about the development of preschools in China. I still remember when I was in kindergarten, I was made sit down with hands on the laps, look at Pinyins on the blackboard, listen to how the teacher pronounced and repeat after the teacher. I still remember how disappointed I felt when teachers said it was clean-up time but I was just about to play. My early childhood experience is quite common in kindergartens or higher level of schools in China though some of schools have realized the significance of play and allowed some time for children to play. However, the concept of play is still not prevalent in China. I would like to try to convince the people around me of the benefits of play, and start with my sister who has a four-year-old daughter in a Chinese kindergarten where academics is placed more emphasis on. I hope through this research I can have a better understanding of a play-based curriculum and how it can be better combined together with academic learning for the good of the overall development of young children. In this way, I can advocate for play in Chinese preschools.

From reading the content of the text for this week, l learn some basic knowledge of how to construct a significant research. The research process is as follows: select a topic; search and review the literature; formulate a specific research issue; design the research; collect data; analyze data; draw conclusions; and write research reports. ((Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010) I can sense each step demands of lots of effort and patience and it may not be full of fun, but I am sure once we get started, we may find some surprises and find it worthy in the journey of research, just like travelling, tiring but surprising and satisfying.

My colleagues, after reading my research topic for this course, if you have any suggestion about my topic, or any reliable research resources, could you please share your valuable opinion with me? I will really appreciate it. Thank you!

Reference:                         

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. Chapter 2, "The Research Process"

What I have learned from the course Issues and Trends and my goal

I would like to take this opportunity to express my gratitude to this course, Dr. Davenna Williams, my Walden colleagues from this course, and my international contacts, who have been sharing their great thinkings and their thought-provoking insights towards related topics regarding issues and trends of early childhood field. From the past seven weeks of blog assignments, I have learned a lot from my international contacts, from the website that I chose to study, and from reading my colleagues' posts. The first consequence that I have gained is that no matter it is a developed or developing country, there exist concerning issues and trends in the early childhood field, such as poverty, diversity, inequity in care and education for children and families. In order to better improve the quality of early childhood care and education all over the world, one should make full use of resources and learn from others' advanced ideas as long as those ideas are for the good of children and families. The second consequence that I learned from my international contacts' ideas about excellence and equity of care and education for children and families is that high-quality programs definitely relate to supports from government, schools with resourses available and accessible and with adequate funds, well-trained teachers, educated parents and family involvement. The third consequence that I learn from the websites is that I should stay informed of the new issues and trends of early care and education by keeping reading the website resources that this course has offered and collecting appropriate practices and methods that can be applied to our curriculum.
This course inspires me a lot and encourages me to set up a goal: to be an advocate for children and families. I will pay more attention to my community and focus on more related issues; as well, I am contacting with one of my colleagues who have been funding for children in need of basic daily needs including clothes, books, money for tuitions and so on, because I am planning to donate monthly to one of those children so that to some extent I can give a little support to children and families in poverty.
Thank you again for those who share their ideas, read my posts and comment on my posts. I hope we can learn more from each other in the following courses. Good luck to everyone!

Getting to Know My International Contacts—Part 3: Professional goals, Hopes and Dreams

This week, we shared some thoughts about excellence and quality in early childhood field. I contacted with my international contacts and asked some questions about their professional goals, hopes and dreams. They shared their own perspectives by answering these questions below:


• What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work?
• What opportunities and/or requirements for professional development exist?
• What are some of your professional goals?
• What are some of your professional hopes, dreams, and challenges?


One of my international contact, Karie Sun, she shared her concern regarding quality and early childhood professionals: early childhood professionals can’t provide consistent quality education to children in China. Lots of local early childhood teachers have been found guilty to child abuse but the government doesn’t do anything to protect and support children. She felt lucky that at school they have lots of opportunities for professional development such as inviting professionals to come and present in language, “Third Culture Kid”, technology, etc. All teachers are required to participate in the school-wide professional development so that they all update their knowledge in a regular basis. School also provides them with sufficient professional development fund and a list of workshops they can go to worldwide so that teachers are always being prepared to offer children the best quality education. She shared her professional goal— to to encourage more cultural understanding in the classroom, both for children and the parents. She would like to help them recognize the importance of cultural differences and respect to people’s cultures. Another professional goal that she shared with is to educate parents not to rush children in their growing-up process so that children enjoy their real childhood and learn what are meaningful in their life. Then she talked about her professional dreams—to call for more people to advocate for early childhood education so that people understand what early childhood educators really do and show support and respect to our job. She also hopes for a more equal environment for children and that all children have their rights to live and learn. However, as what she said, “child abuse still happens and we as early childhood educators don’t have enough power to protect them. I really hope for the government to support early childhood and the children in providing them a safe and equal environment to grow up.” (K. Sun, personal conversation, August 11th, 2014)

I feel lucky too as we, Karie and I are working in the same school where teachers can receive funds and opportunities for professional development. However, still as a TA, I have to say that we do not have as many opportunities for PD as teachers do. Therefore, I hope everyone related to the early childhood field deserves to receive more chances for improvement and professional development in this field.

Sharing Web Resources 3

When I opened some links from the website National Institute for Early Education Research/NIEER (http://nieer.org/) that I chose to study last several weeks, I found out that those links are related to early childhood field, such as Child Care Aware of America, Foundation for Child Development, and Pre-K Now, which advocate for children from different perspectives.
Then I tried to go deep into the website Foundation for Child Development (FCD), whose mission is to make full use of research to ensure that "all children benefit from early learning experiences that affirm their individual, family, and community assets, fortify them against harmful consequences arising from economic instability and social exclusion, and that strengthen their developmental potential”. (FCD, 2010)

I did not receive any e-newsletter so far. Then I searched the resources on this site and found an article Multilingual Children: Beyond Myths and Toward Best Practices, which shows how to best support multilingual children’s learning and development and to some extent indicates how to eliminate inequity in multilingual children accessing to quality preschool programs. This policy is framed by four questions which I think we as educators should consider about:

1. What are the broad social and historical contexts of multilingual learners in the U.S.?
2. What are the demographic characteristics of a multilingual family?
3. Which basic language developmental processes and strategies for promoting multilingual children’s language can be applied to multilingual children?
4. What home, education, and community contexts support learning multiple languages?

 

Here I would like to share some key strategies from this policy about what caregivers and teachers can do to ensure children develop strong multiple skills.

Ensure that children in multilingual con- texts have long-term and enriched ex- posure to, and opportunity to use, both languages in a variety of contexts. 

Create an environment in which each language the child is learning to speak is supported; support the minority language (L1) in the child care environment.

Support L1 as much as possible by, for example, visits to areas where L1 is the dominant language spoken, as children may begin to prefer the majority language.

Speak to children in the language that comes most naturally to the caregiver, resulting in a richer and more diverse language environment.

Develop and/or identify programs that expose children to high-quality input in L2 at early ages. 

Do not ascribe perceived language delays to multilingualism. (FCD, 2014)

 

If you want to find out more answers to other questions above, you can click the link to this policy:  http://fcd-us.org/sites/default/files/Multilingual%20Children%20Beyond%20Myths%20and%20Towards%20Best%20Practices.pdf

Go back to the website that I selected at the beginning of this course, National Institute for Early Education Research/NIEER (http://nieer.org/), I searched some resources and found that there are some related to excellence and equity in early care and education. An article, Expanding Access to Quality Pre-K is Sound Public Policy, written by W. Steven Barnett in 2013, stated the necessity of expanding access to quality Pre-K and advocate for children in low-income families. In this article, the author points out what good Pre-K means, “Pre-K prepares children to start off well. It does not guarantee that nothing later on will interfere with their progress. We should not conclude from this that pre-K does not matter. Schools spend a lot of time and money helping children who are behind catch up at least part way, and reducing the need for this spending is part of what good pre-K is all about.” (Barnett, 2013, p.4) They emphasize "raising standards and putting in place continuous improvement and accountability systems to ensure the new programs deliver strong results”. (Barnett, 2013, p.5) The author suggests that policies be invested to enable all children, especially those in low-income families to access to quality Pre-K.

Reference:

Barnett, W. Steven. (2013). Expanding Access to Quality Pre-K is Sound Public Policy. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/publications/nieer-working-papers/expanding-access-quality-pre-k-sound-public-policy.
Foundation for Child Development. (2010). About Us. Retrieved August 9th, 2014 from http://fcd-us.org/about-us.
Foundation for Child Development. (2014). Multilingual Children: Beyond Myths and Toward Best Practices. Retrieved from http://fcd-us.org/sites/default/files/Multilingual%20Children%20Beyond%20Myths%20and%20Towards%20Best%20Practices.pdf

Getting to Know My International Contacts—Part 2: Excellence and Equity of Care and Education for Children and Families

This week the issues and trends that we are studying about is Excellence and Equity of Care and Education for Children and Families. When I got in touch with my international contacts and asked them about their personal or professional experience about which issues related to excellence and equity are the forefront of professional discussions in their countries and their insights on those issues related to excellence and equity, they shared abundant information that deepens my understanding of excellence and equity of care and education for children and families.

The two international contacts are my colleagues from our early childhood learning center. One is Mary Ann Lopez, from Philippines, who has been working in our international school for around ten years in China. She shared what changes she has seen in China regarding excellence in early childhood field. Below is a paragraph that she wrote to me to share her insights. 

“Education is for all, and every child deserves the best education. However, there are a lot of factors that affect the excellence and equity of care and education for both children and families. First, the country’s view about children’s future. I believe that China is now beginning to spend more hours in learning English, for English is becoming a must to be competent in the future. In addition, I heard recently that Pre-K and K have less homework than before. I think China is beginning to see the value of play during early childhood. Second, the school; its mission, vision, and philosophy.  We are fortunate to have administrators and teachers who work together to nurture every child to become an effective communicator, collaborator, independent learner, complex thinker, and global citizen. With this aim, the school provides teachers with trainings to improve their skills in serving the children. Teachers are another factor that affects excellence and equity of care and education for both children and families. Teachers' trainings and skills are paramount in serving children.  There must be a continuous training for teachers to inspire and motivate children to be the best that they can be, because motivated teachers motivate children. In addition, for a teacher to be able to provide excellent education, they need to believe that all children are capable, and make them feel that someone cares for them.  Furthermore, teachers need to figure out what a child needs, to connect with children and families, and to make learning meaningful and purposeful. Teachers not only provide excellent education for children, but also educate families on how they can enhance children’s learning at home and make parents feel they are valuable instruments in providing equal and excellent education for their children.” (A. Lopez, personal communication, July 28th, 2014)

The other colleague is Lindsay Vargas, from Costa Rica, who had been working in her local school and a local international school for around ten years and now has been working in our international school for three years. She shared some information regarding excellence and equity of care and education in Costa Rica.

“I personally believe that excellence of care and education for children is a type of education where children can have the chance to feel validated as human beings. They are not little persons, they are complete persons who are just learning about the world. Excellence of education, as well, gives children opportunities to explore their own interest and creativity, to be innovative to find answers to their wonderings in their daily life. Excellence of care to me is basically to ensure children have what they need to grow healthy. We should provide them with tools to succeed covering basic needs such as love, shelter, health and food. I do believe all the different programs offered around the globe strive to provide children with excellence of care and education. Sadly, I do believe there is a great amount of children around the world who are deprived from even the most basic care and education, due to their life circumstances and the reality of the government and how they allocate their budgets. 

Education in Costa Rica is mandatory for every child from age 6 to 15.  Most of children attend school until they finish junior high (the 9th grade). However, a high percentage of children will leave school to find a job. In rural areas, some are interested in helping their families; some want to make money to buy the things teenagers want. I am certain there is no equity of opportunities in my country. Most of the high-income families enroll their children in good private schools that teach children with innovative approaches. Children from these schools, are exposed to learning experiences in early years. The middle-class families would enroll their children in private schools with more traditional approaches where they would have opportunities to reach excellence, however they would need more effort to do it.  Low-income families have to send their children to public schools, where children at the age of 6 are learning about what children at the age of 3 in good private schools have learned, thus building a bigger gap in every school year. Budgets in public schools are very limited. The teachers do not have the resources to expose children to a great variety of media or experiences.  The children are forced to learn drills dictated by the educators, to copy from boards, and basically to stay stuck in the same kind of education methods used centuries ago.  

It is really hard to get parents involved in the classroom. Some are successful and busy persons who need to attend to conferences and meetings; some are working extra hours to provide their families with food; some are busy with drugs, prostitution, etc. So, how can there be excellence of care and education for children and families if parents are absent?  

The government should find ways to invest more in education for children and families, to help the population understand the importance of education for the success of a nation.  With more educated children who are exposed to excellence of care, the nation will have more opportunities to improve and keep growing.  It is a healthy cycle.” (L. Vargas, personal communication, July 31st, 2014)

From both of the information from my colleagues, I find that excellence and equity of care and education for children and families lies in factors such as the supports from the government, schools with resources available and accessible, well-trained teachers, and educated parents and family involvement. I think that is what are called high-quality programs if all these factors are taken into consideration when we provide children with care and education. 

Sharing Web Resources 2—NIEER

This week, I continue to share web resources—National Institute for Early Education Research/NIEER (http://nieer.org/).

As a Teaching Assistant in an international school, I always want to become a qualified early childhood teacher and want to learn how to support those dual language learners in our school. Therefore, I search some information relevant to my current professional development tailored to meet my own interest. I found a poster from this website titled Impacts of a Science and Math Professional Development Project for Pre-K Teachers of Dual-Language Learners, a poster presented by Alissa Lange and Kimberly Brenneman in 2013. In this poster, they discusses "the SciMath-DLL project designed to develop, and carry out preliminary testing of a pre-K professional development approach that integrates high-quality math and science instructional offerings with supports for dual language learners.” (Lange & Brenneman, 2013) From this poster, I learn what challenges educators face to implement this high-quality professional development, such as limited time; and learn what are the initial impacts of the project on teachers— their change in teaching practice or attitude, such as choosing an appropriate amount of lesson content, using more high quality math and science talk, understanding teaching early math and science in a new way by letting children explore, think, and solve problems on their own. (Lange & Brenneman, 2013)

From this poster and what I have learned before, I have a understanding that how important science, math and dual-language learning are for children’s later school success and in longer-term development. At the same time, I also understand the viral role of play and creativity in children’s physical, cognitive, social and emotional development. This dilemma between academic achievement and play, is always a topic that relevant professionals are trying to work on. I have some colleagues from my school who are also holding their own standpoint of teaching style, both of which I respect for. As for me, I am observing and seeking a way that can combine both of academic achievement and play and balances them. 

Another information that I found from the website, adds to my understanding of how economists support the early childhood field. This article, titled The Economics of Early Childhood Programs: Lasting Benefits and Large Returns, presented by Milagros Nores and Steve Barnett in 2013. This presentation focused on the long-term economic returns of investing in pre-K programs as well as other positive outcomes. Below I would like to share some facts according to their research:

Potential Gains from ECEC Investments

Educational Success and Economic Productivity

Achievement test scores
Special education and grade repetition
High school graduation
Behavior problems, delinquency, and crime
Employment, earnings, and welfare dependency

Smoking, drug use, depression

Decreased Costs to Government

Schooling costs
Social services costs
Crime costs

Health care costs (teen pregnancy and smoking)

(Nores & Barnett, 2013)

Keys to Education Quality

High standards and sufficient funding

Balanced—Cognitive, social, emotional 

Implemented as designed

Well-trained, adequately paid staff
Strong supervision and monitoring
Use data to inform practice

(Nores & Barnett, 2013)

NJ’s Urban Pre-K Transformation

Teacher with BA & ECE + asst. in each class;

Full-day (6 hour educational day), 180-day program, plus extended day/full year;

Access to all 3 and 4 yr. olds in 31 school systems;

Maximum class size of 15 students;

Evidence-based curricula;

Early learning standards and program guidelines;

Support for potential learning difficulties; and

Professional development for key staff.

(Nores & Barnett, 2013)

From this presentation, I think that Keys to Education Quality and NJ’s Urban Pre-K Transformation can be criteria for creating high-quality programs and can be goals for EC investments.

NIEER presents its research in a wide variety of formats, including research reports, policy briefs, online videos, and newsletters. Through these various formats of resources, I can catch up with new issues and trends in the early childhood field so that I can be updated and find ways to become an early childhood professional who advocate for young children and families who are in need of supports. 

Reference

Lange, Alissa., & Brenneman, Kimberly. (2013). Impacts of a Science and Math Professional Development Project for Pre-K Teachers of Dual-Language Learners. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/AERA%20conf%20poster%20SciMath-DLL.pdf

Nores, Milagros, & Barnett, Steve. (2013). The Economics of Early Childhood Programs: Lasting Benefits and Large Returns. Retrieved from http://nieer.org/sites/nieer/files/Economics%20of%20ECE_Loyola_Nores.pdf

Getting to Know My International Contacts—Part 1: Poverty

The two international contacts are my colleagues who are working in the international school at Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC). They share their insights on the specific issues of poverty they encounter in their personal or professional lives and their concerns about and attitudes towards poverty. One is Mary Ann Lopez, from the Philippines, who works in ECLC2 for children aged 4 to 5 years old, sharing her personal experience related to poverty. 

"I came from a poor family with four siblings. My parents are not professionals, but they believe and value the importance of education. I completed my elementary and high school education in a public school where there was no library, but I remember I played a lot. I had only one uniform when I was in high school and wore slippers to go to school. In addition, to be able to join school activities that required money, I was selling candies to make money. When I was in college, I have to beg with teary eyes and justify with my mom to increase my allowance. Poverty is a big factor that hinders student success, but for me, I took it as a challenge to achieve what my parents' value most, education. The hardship I experienced when I was studying molds me to who I am today; a contented and passionate early childhood teacher. Moreover, I am fortunate to work in a school that supports its teachers' professional development, and with my aim to inspire students to love learning, I am pursuing studies by taking Master in Elementary Reading and Literacy (PreK-6) in Walden University.” (Mary Ann Lopez, personal conversation, July 14, 2014).

The other is Kylie Christian, from New Zealand, working in ECLC1 for children aged 3 to 4 years old. She shared her professional experience and insights on poverty when she worked in local schools in New Zealand.

"I have taught in a decile one and two school in New Zealand. In New Zealand all schools have a decile rating and this is based on the socio-economic status of the area which they are in. These ratings go from 1 to 10. 10 being a high socio-economic area. In both schools I had many children that were living in poverty. I had children that did not bring food to school, came to school dirty (both clothes and body), had been abused and neglected. Poverty can mean many things. It can mean multiple people and families living in small houses so children do not get quality sleep at night. Lack on income can also mean little to no heating during cold months so children are also prone to getting sick. Children in my experience also did not come to school with a nutritious lunch and would often eat take aways for dinner. Often bad, unhealthy food is cheaper then healthy food. This all affects brain function, growth, focus in class, health etc. I also had children missing multiple days due to abuse (families would wait for bruising to go down before sending them back to school). Due to this I was always having to be very aware of sudden changes in behaviour or bruises etc. This could be signs of abuse, domestic violence at home (e.g. between mum and dad) etc. This often is linked with poverty as families are over stressed from lack of money, tired from maybe working multiple jobs, been brought up around violence in their childhood etc. 

Due to these harsh surrounds, etc. children can display aggression, behaviour problems, withdrawal, lack of concentration, learning difficulties, etc. Even more then other children, these children need teachers and schools to build strong relationships with them and provide a safe environment as often this can be the only place they feel that way.” (Kylie Christian, personal conversation, July 16, 2014).

"Often the parents of these children feel that school failed them or maybe feel like they have failed as parents so they don't come into school (children walk themselves) and have to be chased, phoned to come to parent meetings. It also means that teachers need to work hard to try and build positive relationships with these parents and have a open, welcoming door. You really need to get to know them and offer support in relation to their child.” (Kylie Christian, personal conversation, July 16, 2014).

"It is also important to have a wide knowledge of help agencies that you could give to families. Or other agencies that you may need to contact in regards to abuse etc. 

Saying all this though, every family is different. Some families worked double jobs, fed their children good healthy meals and always turned up to meetings." (Kylie Christian, personal conversation, July 16, 2014).

"The key: Relationships, relationships, relationships. Building these are key with both families and children.” (Kylie Christian, personal conversation, July 16, 2014).

From their personal and professional points of view, I learn more about the issues and trends of poverty around the world. Poverty exists both in developing and developed countries, which affects families and children’s living standards, education and physical and emotional development. Though facing poverty, Ann held a positive toward it and turned what disadvantaged her into her driving force. Just as stated in the conversation with Dr. Grace in Issues and trends in the early childhood field: The effects of poverty on the early childhood community, "they know that the more education they receive, the more likelihood they are of having a job with a higher wage, and one that they can feel like they have made a contribution based on their choice.” (Laureate, 2011) From the communication with Kylie, I learn that we should pay more attention to the emotions of children in development and try to build up positive relationships with children and their families so that we can have a better knowledge of their family economic background and offer supports in a timely way. In addition, we can search some related information for families according to what supports they need.

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). Issues and trends in the early childhood field: The effects of poverty on the early childhood community. Baltimore, MD: Author.