I am very excited to be starting my next class on Monday! However, this black board stuff could be a challenge-thinking positive!! I will figure it out and succeed! Hope I have some familiar classmates for this class, if I do see you on Monday and best to all of us!

I want to thank all my classmates for a great first class in my Master's program.I am very excited to continue and make more friends and learn new things from everyone. Best to each and everyone of you and hope to see you again in another class.

Week 7:

 Post three ideals contained in the NAEYC and DEC codes of ethics that are meaningful to you, and explain their significance to your professional life.

Professional and Interpersonal Behavior

“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 with whom we work.”

This one for me is significant because we need to be a team when working with children and their families. If we do not work together then it is the children that will suffer. We need to let the children be active in what happens in the classroom and to share with our families. When we model behaviors for the children and our peers then we are instilling in others what we hope for them to learn and share. The most important thing teachers can do is to show others trust.

Professional Collaboration

“We shall honor and respect the rights, knowledge, and skills of the multidisciplinary colleagues

with whom we work recognizing their unique contributions to children, families, and the field of

early childhood special education”.

Again, we must respect our peers beliefs and feelings, even when they are different than ours. By recognizing everyone’s differences and learning from them-we become better professionals as well as individuals that work with children and families. Each of us can learn so much from the people we work with and we need to remember this and excel with the new knowledge we can gain from others.

Responsive Family Centered Practices

“We shall demonstrate our respect and appreciation for all families’ beliefs, values, customs,

languages, and culture relative to their nurturance and support of their children toward achieving

meaningful and relevant priorities and outcomes families’ desire for themselves and their children”.

Each of our families is different and we need to embrace this and learn whatever we can from each child. We can incorporate this new information into the classroom for all the children to learn. Families want to share with us and we need to welcome them into the fold of the school family.

. References

Code of Ethics (2009)

Here are my resources to add to the list already posted!

http://www.nieworld.com/teachers/minipage/2009/200935.htm

This is a great site for anyone that enjoys using the mini page from the newspaper. They have lots of ideas and they can be used for many age groups.

Another site that I use all the time is http://www.hummingbirded.com/

It has a large list of themes for anytime of the year.

A great multicultural resource that I use is: World Playground by Putumayo World Music, www.putumayo.com  that comes with a book, ideas for the places you can travel throughout the book and a music CD that has songs and games from around the world.

Tot line is another great resource that has books, and newsletters with ideas to use in the classroom. This is no longer what it used to be when I first started out-she has now put her resources online for parents, teachers and anyone else that loves children to use.

http://www.preschoolexpress.com/meet_jean.shtml

My last resources are books that I have read and enjoyed.

Last Child in the Woods by Richard Louv is a great find and I am all for children being out in nature and not inside with the electronic age. Have always spent as much time outside with my children and now with my grandchildren-so get outside and renew the love for nature!

The other book that I have started to read is: The Sandbox Investment: The preschool movement and kids-first politics by David L. Kirp. Will keep you updated on how this book turns out if you would like.

Hope you enjoy the resources J

This week our job was to post the resources we are using for our assignments.

• Video Program: “The Resources for Early Childhood”
  Five early childhood professionals discuss their preferred and trusted 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 video 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/about/
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/main/about.cfm

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/index.cfm

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.preknow.org/

Voices for America’s Children
http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/

Okay, thats the list from the class! I will post my own later tonight.

This week our assignment is to post quotes or othr interesting writings from the people we learned about for our discussion and from our week 2 video resource. For my discussion I picked Stanley Greenspan and Lilian Katz.

 

“if you do a little bit of looking at books with your children and inspire them to be curious about the pictures and … what the word means, but don’t get into very structured systematic teaching at too early an age,…and you interact emotionally and have fun with pretend play…then you have the best of both worlds.” Stanley Greenspan

“We need to take a less narrow look at our children’s problems and instead see them as windows of opportunity—a way of exploring and understanding all facets of our children’s development. If we can understand the underlying developmental process, we can see a child’s struggles as signs of striving toward growth instead of chronic problems or attempts to aggravate adults.” Stanley Greenspan

“Regardless of the history of IQ tests in the family, if I see nurturing, warm, interactive people who read emotional signals well and interact well, usually I see happy, competent and bright children.” Stanley Greenspan

“We overestimate children academically and underestimate them intellectually” Lilian Katz

“Let’s keep up the good work for the sake of the children. The best way to influence others is to do the best we can! It may very well be that what we do speaks more loudly than what we say”. Lilian Katz

Quotes from the Week 2 video:

“I want to fix all the injustices in the world. I want to make sure children are taught in an environment to grow and develop to their fullest abilities and to create a safe world”. Louise Derman-Sparks

“It helps me to put my ego aside and help these children to succeed”. Renatta M. Cooper

“We in the Early Childhood field have the opportunity to shape the child for the better”. Sandy Escobido

Personal Childhood Web

This week our assignment was to right about five people tht had an impact on our lives growing up and maybe even now. There are not many people that I can truly say have had a lasting impact on my life, but I will try to put some out here. I am starting this way because I have lived with many people throughout my early years and at times it was very hard to come to terms with what and why things happened the way they did. It was not until years later that I finally came to terms with "there is a reason for everything-and I will find out the plan at the appointed time and place".

1. The first person I will talk about is my mom: I pick her because for the first eleven years of my life she was one of the constants for me. When I was two my dad died so my mom was left to raise five children alone. Not only did she have to raise us away from any family, but during my childhood she found out she had cancer and still made sure we had everything we needed. She was a very strong woman and showed me that when you put your mind to something-you will succeed no matter the obstacles put in your way. My mother was always there to listen and hold us when we needed it and always told us that whatever the problem was-it would work out! My mom always made sure I knew that she was there for me and would help me with anything I needed. She made me feel special because of how she treated each of us as a separate person and did not compare us; she knew that we were all different. I think my mom helped me to be the person I am today because she helped me understand that each person is an individual.

My mom and dad

2. The second person I will talk about is my older brother Carl that has played a very big role in my life because he was one of the main people that helped to make it through the difficult time after my mom passed away when I was four days away from being twelve years old. Even though he already had a family of his own, he took all three of us girls and for me this was very special. It is hard enough to raise your own family, but to take on your sisters was a big challenge for him and I feel he has been an inspiration then and now because he gave unselfishly in order to keep us together. He was always encouraging and keep pushing us to do better and I thank him for instilling in me the value and belief that I would complete all I put my mind too. He has been through many hard times and yet he still remembers each of us and is only a phone call away.



My brother Carl

3. Third on my list is my Uncle Charlie, my uncle was the next person to take us in after my brother and we stayed with him for a few years until it became too much of a family hardship. My uncle had five children of his own, so it was difficult to add more at this time. My uncle was the one in the home that seemed to understand what we were going through and helped us along the way. My uncle was the backbone of the family and I was truly sad when I had to say goodbye and leave. He showed me things about my mom that I would have never known and I thank him for that. He helped to put my family history in perspective and I continue to build on the history that he started and try to share it with the family I still have. Thank you Uncle Charlie for being a figure I could look up too and wish I could still talk with you today.

My Uncle Charlie

4. The fourth person on my list is my foster dad that I lived with for six years/through my high school years. He was the one at home that I could count on to listen to my problems and help me figure out what to do. My foster dad was the person during these years that helped me gain insight into what I needed to do in order to move forward and find what family I had left in the area. He helped put me in touch with people that took the extra steps to find my sisters and brother so I could rejoin them. If I ever had a problem I could talk to him and he would help me understand why I should do something or not. My foster dad helped me gain some of the values/beliefs I live by and have raised my own children by. If I had not met him I don’t think I would be the person I am today-so I say thank you.

My foster dad

5. The last person I will talk about is the teacher that made the biggest impact on my life after my mom died and I went to live with my last foster family. Mr. EcKard was a major influence during my junior and senior years of school. I remember walking in on my first day at my new school and he was there to help me and each day I knew I could go to him about anything. Mr. Eckard was my favorite teacher while at Gavit-he was always there when I needed someone to talk to. He helped me find my place when I first moved to the area and I will never forget him.

       Mr. EcKard