My Culture

If I had to take three things that represented my families culture, one thing would be a painting that my grandpa painted of the hills where we live. It shows what the area looks like and it is a piece of him that has been passed down to my mom and now to me. The next thing I would bring would be my bible. It teaches me to have faith and to believe and it is a part of my family, and its their when I need a moment of peace.  The final thing that I would bring is the American flag. This represents where I come from, and the  rights, freedom and honor that brave men and women fought for to help protect and to serve. 

When I got to my new “home” and was told that I could only keep one of the items now that I brought and hold dear to me. I would feel angry, sad, I wold feel like hope is lost and I would feel torn now as to what item that I should keep. It was already a struggle to to pick these three items. I would keep the American Flag. It still represents my family and the hard work that we all put in. It represents who I am and were I came from. I can remember bible verses and I can use my memory to paint another picture of the land around my house. 

From this exercise I learned that it is hard to pick three things that represents who I am and who my family is. Where I come from and what represents our culture. I am more then these three items and so is my family but to chose just three things was tough. As long as I still have my family though thats what those things are, just things and we are more than that. 

When I think of Research

Throughout this course I have learned a lot. As I have said before I did not know much about research before I started this course. Then there is all the ways that data can be collected. I have know idea that so much detail had to go into the research before any actual research happened. It was great taking this course because I did learn so much, besides just the research process. I learned how to read research, how to look for valid resources while doing research. I wasn’t super excited to do this class just because research scared me a little bit but, it went really well and I know so much about research now. 

When I think about doing research now I am not as scared as I was when I first started this class. I have learned a lot and knowing that there are steps to take when starting a research project, I can follow those steps and feel more comfortable doing the research. I also learned that it is not as hard as it may seem. It will be a lot of work and you want to be passionate about the research you are doing because it will also be time consuming. 

What is your research going to be about? Who are the participants of your research?  Is your research going to be qualitative, quantitative, or mixed method? Those are questions that you need to ask yourself about your research. You need to decide what will work best for your research. I also learned that it is just as important to decide what type of analysis will be good for your research as well.  When doing your research I also learned how you can make your research valid, by the help of triangulation. Those are all lessons that I have learned about research. When conducting research in early childhood you need to make sure the benefits of the research out weigh the risks. You need to consider the ethics involved in the research that you are doing. You also need to consider where your research is going to take place, how long you are going to conduct your research, and when you are going to start your research. 

The biggest challenge that I faced what breaking down my research question. I wasn’t sure how to simplify my big topic of Assessments. I also had a hard time deciding what kind of design I wanted for my research. When breaking down my topic I asked other teachers I work with, and I asked my professor. They all helped me see how to break it down to a more specific question. When thinking about the design I chose qualitative because it suited my needs better for the research I am doing. 

As a result of this course, as a professional of early childhood I will be able to look at research differently and be able to understand it more. I will now be able to conduct research that I feel with benefit my profession, and the children that I teach by the guidelines of research that I learned in this course. 

I want to thank all you for the support and guidance that you have given me these past 8 weeks. The feedback and questions that you gave, have made me reflect on my own research and consider different views. Thanks again and I wish you all the best of luck in the future. 

Research Around the World

They website I chose to visit is http://www.eecera.org/. One of the international research topics that I while reviewing old journal articles are, The business of childcare in Europe. This article talks about how Education is being marketed as a business in Europe, and how it is supported. It talks about how buisness are funding 

Another article that stood out to me was The effect of curriculum-generated play instruction on the mathematics teaching efficacies of early childhood education pre-service teachers. This article is about a study that had pre-service teachers, working with a curriculum-generated play instruction. Who found it more effective to teach mathematics after being given the play instructed method. 

Other things that I learned from this website is that it holds an annual conference every year in a Different European city, and more than 600 researchers attend from all over the world. It has a Special Interest Groups that (SIGs) where a lot of collaboration from cross-nationalities are made around a particular theme. It produces a very reputable Journal and joins up with other organizations. 

With regards to early childhood the EECERA wants to raise the visibility and urgency of developing high quality ECEC services all over the world. 

Resources: 

http://www.eecera.org/

Penn, Helen. (2013).  The business of childcare in Europe. http://www.eecera.org/ Retrieved on April 3, 2014. 

Sancar-Tokmak, Hatice. (2013).  The effect of curriculum-generated play instruction on the mathematics teaching efficacies of early childhood education pre-service teachers. http://www.eecera.org/. Retrieved on April 3, 2014.  

Research Connections

I do not know anyone who has been connected with research first hand, but I have had a few family members who have had cancer and have been able to survive because of medical research and advances that have taken place. Whether this research involves a new treatment plan or a new drug that will help. Without the research, my families outcome might have been different. However, I did lose my aunt to breast cancer and I hope there is more research taking place, so more families don’t have to lose a loved one. 

I also read an article that I found interesting that as goes along with my topic of assessments. The article is Developing Kindergarten Readiness and other Large Scale Assessment Systems by Kyle Snow. In this article they talk about how Kindergarten assessments are become more and more widespread. It talks about how assessment are developed and used, when they should be used, who gives the test and how the data should be used. “In designing early childhood assessment systems, 

fundamental decisions made about instrument selection, administration, and 

data utilization are interconnected, and decisions made about one aspect of an assessment system can drive other options” (Snow, pg. 26, 2011). This is a good article for those who want to get assessments implemented into their school district or program. 

Resources:

Snow, Kyle.  (2011). Developing Kindergarten Readiness and other Large Scale Assessment Systems. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/research/Assessment_Systems.pdf on March 21, 2014

My Personal Research Journey

The topic I chose to analyze for this stimulation research is should the same person test students every time they are being tested in Kindergarten. This stands out to me because at my school we get support when it is testing time and some of our strategist help us out. I want to know if the same person should test every time, should it be the classroom teacher, are the tests more valid when it is just one person? I want to know what is best for my kids. Do they feel comfortable when someone besides their teacher is testing them. We are testing more and more in class and I want to know the best way to do it. 

I am still really nervous about doing research, but with the tools that this class has provided and with the support of my colleagues in class, I know that I will get through the research just fine. I know that i have never done big research projects and I don’t know how much help I will be to others, but I am a great listener, and I will be on the look out for information that will help my classmates. If anyone has any information for me that would be greatly appreciated. 

International Collaboration

I have learned a lot in this course the last 8 weeks. I unfortunately was unable to get into contact with any educational professionals who work internationally, but I have been able to listen to some great podcasts and read great newsletters with the NAECTE. I think it would be great to to be in contact with a professional in another country, to see what their views are and how the education system is working where they are from. I will continue to try and get in contact with someone because, I see it as a valuable resource.

There are consequences of learning about the international early childhood field. One would be that, the resources and environment are different everywhere so issues and trends that are going on here in the United States are not going to be the same somewhere else. Granted some are the same and it would be great to see how other countries are dealing with those issues. Another issue is that sometimes it is hard to get into contact with someone from another country. I tried for a whole 8 weeks and it was not working for me, but like I said I will continue to try. A final consequence I guess would be that reading and listening to how bad it can be in under developed countries and that it makes me want to go there and help as much as I can. It also makes me thankful for where I am teaching and realizing that I don't really have it that bad.

I am not really sure that I answered that question right because I really couldn't think of any consequences.

As for a goal, I do want to eventually get in contact with an educator from another country to build a professional relationship with them to share views on issues and trends in the field. I was also one day like to teach somewhere over seas and get a great experience.

I wish all the best to my colleagues in this course and am feel privileged that I got to work with you.

Best of luck,
Rachael

Getting to know your international contacts part 3

I was never able to get into contact with anyone over seas, but I did enjoy hearing the podcasts.

The podcast that I listened to was Staying motivated, Passionate and excited about teaching With Rae Pica on bam radio from September 30, 2013. Some other people that joined her are, Rafe Esquith, Dr. Allen Mendler, Lee Kolbert, Nancy Flanagan. They talk in the podcast how teachers can stay motivated in the classroom and in their profession. They mentioned that only 30.9% of teachers are deeply involved and actively engaged in their career. Some of they things that were mentioned in the podcast are: that you can do what the system asks you to do , but if you don’t bring some of your own passions into the classroom, you are going to get bored. Also if you are paying attention to all the negative stuff that happens throughout your day, that is just going to bring you down. It would be better for you and your students if you focused on what is going right. They also talked a lot about collaboration with your peers and other professionals. When your students see you working with others, they pick up on that and learn from it. Bad days are gonna happen but it is up to you to learn form them and be a role model to your kids and show them that you can move past a bad day. No matter what try to have some fun!

I really liked this podcast because it relates to what we have been discussing in class, and it gave me a lot of good ideas to keep myself motivated in my job. 

When I went to the http://www.unesco.org site I found a look of great information. One thing that stood out to me was the fact that it mentioned “There are no universally agreed criteria for quantifying ECCE quality but useful factors to consider include pedagogy materials, personnel training, service setting and parental education and involvement” (http://www.unesco.org, para.2, 2014).

I also read that it is very difficult for coordination within different sectors to help promote early childhood education. “Cross-sectoral coordination is difficult, especially at the national level. It is one of the main challenges facing governments of both developed and developing countries trying to promote a holistic approach to early childhood”(http://www.unesco.org, para.3, 2014). I found this interesting, because so many sectors want to be involved its hard to effectively get polices in order. 

Another thing that stood out to me was “A policy of universalization with targeting can minimize inequity where governments aim for universal access among the target age group, but simultaneously prioritize the poor” (http://www.unesco.org, para.5, 2014).  I think this policy would be 2000 Dakar Framework for Action that help reaffirm the importance of early childhood care. Countries that participated “Governments were particularly urged to expand equitable access to quality early childhood services underscoring the importance of instituting policy in favor of the poor” (http://www.unesco.org, para.2, 2014).  

Resources: 

http://www.unesco.org Retrieved on February 22, 2014

Rafe Esquith, Dr. Allen Mendler, Lee Kolbert, Nancy Flanagan and Rae Pica, Staying motivated, Passionate and excited about teaching  September 30, 2013.  Retrieved from http://www.bamradionetwork.com Retrieved on February 21, 2014.