Saturday, October 26, 2013

A Note of Support and Thanks

         First of all, I just want to send out a huge thank you to all my fellow classmates.  I could not do this without your continued support and encouragement.  I have learned from each and every one of you in this class.  I wish you all continued success in both your professional and personally lives.  I know with hard work and determination, you will achieve your goals.

Lah Lah,
    I just wanted to say thank you for your support through your responses.  Through your responses, you gave me needed encouragement.  I admit I had days I wanted to give up and your kind words kept me going.  Thank you.  I also loved how you challenged my thinking when you asked me questions or posed your own thoughts.  I love growing and expanding my mind.  I also wanted to send another thank you for sharing your resources with me.  I am very interested in learning more about Ron Clark and his academy.  Thank you for everything that you have done to support me, I hope I have returned the favor.  Best of luck to you and your future endeavors.  I know you will succeed.
Myra


Jo,
    Thank you for your encouragement and support in this class.  It has help me tremendously in my professional growth in our field.  I have enjoyed reading your experiences and can relate to many of them.  I feel like we have special connection since we are both from North Carolina and not too far away from each other.  It has been refreshing to hear your ideas and successes within your facility.  I wish more of my providers could be like you.  I love how you embrace Conscious Discipline and use it.  We are working hard to get it in more of our child care facilities.  I just hate we missed each other at the NCaeyc Conference this year.  Have fun at your Leadership Conference.  I am interested in learning more about it.  Keep up the wonderful work you are doing for the children.  Thank you for doing what you do.  I know you will continue to accomplish great things in your life.
Myra

Saturday, October 19, 2013

Examining Codes of Ethics

         When reading through the Codes of Ethics for NAEYC and DEC, it was hard for me to narrow down to just three ideals that are meaningful to me.  In some way, they are are all meaningful to me because of my love and passion for children.  The first ideal that has meaning to me is the highest principle in the NAEYC Code of Ethics.  It states, "Above all, we shall not harm children" (NAEYC, 2005, p. 3).  This includes all types of harm including physical and emotional.  In early childhood, it is our duty to take care of children and to ensure their safety all in a healthy learning environment.  Through my love and passion for children, it is my duty to ensure that children are safe in our schools.  Within my job responsibilities I am to ensure that schools have the proper learning environments and children have access to quality care.  As a professional in early childhood, I take this principle very seriously because children should never be subjected to harm in any form.
         The second ideal is from the DEC Code of Ethics.  It states, "We shall be responsible for maintaining the appropriate national, state, or other credential or licensure requirements for the services we provide while maintaining our competence in practice and research by ongoing participation in professional development and education activities" (DEC, 2000).  I think it is very important that people in our field understand and follow all the guidelines that pertain to our field.  It relates back to my first ideal in which we should not harm children.  By following the appropriate guidelines and requirements, we can provide a safe and healthy learning environment.  The other part of the ideal includes professionals in the field staying up to date on the latest research and requirements in the field.  This can be done through trainings, taking classes, frequently visiting resources, etc.  I am a part of that because I go to trainings and take classes but I also deliver trainings to our county's providers.  I consider our field to be active since there is always new research being conducted as we continue to learn more about child development.  We need to keep abreast of these new findings to better teach and take care of young children and their families.
       For the third ideal, I combined two ideals from DEC and NAEYC.  DEC states, "We shall demonstrate the highest standards of personal integrity, truthfulness, and honesty in all our professional activities in order to inspire the trust and confidence of the children and families and of those of whom we work" (DEC, 2000).  NAEYC states, "To establish and maintain relationships of respect, trust, confidentiality, collaboration, and cooperation with co-workers" (NAEYC, 2005, p. 5).  Both ideals speak of building a relationship with others in the field.  I chose this because this is important to me both personally and professionally.  I can relate to this personally since I have a child still in the early childhood system.  It is important that as a parent I have a relationship with the people that take care of my child.  I want to be able to trust that they will watch and take of my son while he is in their care.  If I did not have that relationship and trust, I would be looking at another center.  In my professional life, this relationship building skill is important.  Providers and I have to be able to trust each other and build a relationship in order for my technical assistance be effective.  If I just came into their classroom and pointed out all the things there were doing wrong and did not work with them to create appropriate learning environments, then they would resist me and make my job harder.  I view each classroom that I go into as another person's home.  You have to go in with respect and build a relationship so you will be invited back.  I remember being a teacher and having others come into my classroom.  I did not take kindly to those that just ordered me around and did not build a relationship with me.  However, I did build relationships and liked the people that came in and treated me with respect.  I also think it is important that we treat each other with respect and build relationships.  We are a field that needs to have resources and rely on each other.  We all bring different experiences and expertise to the field.  We can learn from each other.  If we do not trust or respect each other, then we will not learn and not be able to effectively take care of and teach children. 

References
The Division for Early Childhood.  (2000, August).  Code of ethics.  Retrieved October 14, 2013,
   
          from  http://www.dec-sped.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children.  (2005, April).  Code of ethical

        conduct and statement of commitment.  Retrieved October 14, 2013, from




Saturday, October 5, 2013

Growing My Collection of Resources

Position Statements and Influential Practices Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-Being
Selected Early Childhood Organizations  Selected Professional Journals Available in the Walden Library
  • 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
Additional Resources:
My favorite person in Early Childhood is Dr. Becky Bailey.  She is wonderful and the founder of Conscious Discipline.  She has written several books.  The information found on consciousdiscipline.com is for teachers in the early childhood field and for parents.  She has a wonderful book for parents that I am currently reading.  It is called Easy to Love, Difficult to Discipline.  But whether you are in the field or a parent, it is a great resource to check out.

Another resource I like to use to help with behavior problems can be found at http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/.  The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL)  is a great site for teachers and parents as well.  CSEFEL helps parents and teachers deal with challenging behaviors.  The website contains training modules for both parents and teachers.  My favorite aspect of this website is it contains a lot of free printable materials for teachers and parents to use with children.  In this field, free is wonderful.

Momsrising.org is a resource I learned about this year. This organization encompasses a lot about families and works to advocate for early childhood.  They are also working to make America a more family friendly country.  This spring, Moms Rising helped advocate for early childhood in North Carolina.  In front of our Legislative Building, they set up a huge Chutes and Ladders game that represented the ups and downs that the field of early childhood experiences.  It was a lot of fun to play and a great educational tool for our state's representatives to see and be a part of.