Educating the Educator

Early childhood educators have an essential job in establishing an academic foundation that is strong for their students.  Early childhood educators give direction during a vital part of a young child’s education when their social skills are developing.  Educators have a direct influence on children and how they think of school. Although many early childhood educators are not highly educated it is becoming more understood daily the importance of early childhood educators who obtain higher education.  I have owned and operated Green Gables Day School in Palatka Florida for 10 years.  It is almost impossible to find a teacher who even has an associate degree. Forty hours training is what is required of early childhood educators in Florida.  Going above and beyond that is almost unheard of.  The passion you must have to continue your education when a teacher in the early childhood field makes barely above minimum wage takes a dedicated professional. 

 

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I chose last week was http://www.NAEYC.org .  This website offers a large variety of resources for educators as well as parents.  NAEYC covers just about every early childhood education topic, issue and trend.  It is a highly informative site that offers a variety of research articles and journals.  NAEYC’s mission is to be a voice for children and lead educators in insuring all children have a high quality early childhood education experience.  A current issue that caught my attention on the NAEYC website was teaching your passion.  Teachers teach better when they are interested in what they are teaching.  This is a new way to approach teaching young children.  Children often take a direct interest in what makes their teacher happy.  This in return allows the child to have deep discoveries and experiences that is of interest to their teacher as well as themselves.  Teachers share their passions which in return helps children discover and be excited about their own passions. 

 

 

 

 

Establishing Professional Contracts and Expanding Resources

I had no choice but to go with the alternative assignment this week.  I had no luck finding an international early childhood professional.  I am sure I will learn a lot by exploring all of my classmate’s blogs that were lucky enough to find an international professional in the early childhood field.  I have chosen the NAEYC website to expand my knowledge on issue and trends in the early childhood field.  I am very excited about exploring this site.  This has to be one of my favorite organizations.

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

“Grown-ups never understand anything by themselves, and it is tiresome for children to be always and forever explaining things to them”
― Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

“Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors.”
― Khaled Hosseini

 

To all my classmates,

 I want to thank you for reading my blog and commenting on it.  I hope that you all go far on your educational journey.

               Brooke Downs Guy

Testing for Intelligence?

I strongly believe as an educator we should assess the child as a whole.  I believe that the child should be assessed and their skill level measured by looking outside high stakes standardized testing. Social and emotional skills as well as critical thinking skills should be assessed when measuring the child’s abilities and examining the child.  I believe this is essential to children because standardized test do not assess all of the important aspects of a child.  Standardized test prevent teachers and administrators from viewing a full picture of the child’s development.  In England, school age children are assessed by standardized testing as well, however a group of teachers recently refused to administer the high stakes test. “British newspapers, including the Daily Telegraph, are reporting that as many as half of the estimated 600,000 primary school students due to sit for tests will not take them because their teachers have decided to take a stand against them” (Strauss, 2010).  Teachers should actively be involved with designing and developing an appropriate assessing tool. I believe standardized test fail to give teachers and administrators a full picture of the whole child.   “Teachers in England have some support from a part of the government. A House of Commons school committee recently said in a report that the system of high-stakes tests “reduced teachers’ scope” to be creative. The legislators called for more informal assessment by teachers in the classroom, combined with a system of sampling to keep a check on national standards” (Strauss, 2010). There are many different ways to assess children.  A few suggestions of this would be to have teachers actively involved in the development and the design of an appropriate assessment tool and assess children throughout the school year keeping documented evidence of their continuing improvement and growth.  Some concerns related to assessing young children are the stress level that the children are put under often gives false test results, because children may not score as high as possible because of the fear of high stakes standardized test and the impact it has on their future.

 

 

Reference

Strauss, Valerie (2010, May). Teachers refuse to give standardized tests to kids. Washington Post.  Retrieved from Retrieved from: http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/standardized-tests/teachers-in-england-boycott-st.html

 

 

 

My Supports II

Sorry I totally left this out of my original post!

The challenge I hope never to have to endure is to be blind.  I think it would be so difficult to not see the world around me.  My children, the sky, the flowers, you name it I can’t imagine.  I would need my supports to rally beside me and help me understand the positives that still existed in my life.  My daily supports I believe would hold my hand and help me through any challenge I may have to overcome.  If I did not have my daily supports my life would point blank be incomplete. 

My Supports

My Supports

I am so very fortunate to have a wonderful best friend who I love more than life itself!  In October my husband and I separated and my best friend moved in with my children and myself.  My husband had never been an active father or husband.  He was in law enforcement and for anyone who has ever been married to someone in law enforcement understands that that is really all I have to say.  Law enforcement officers have a tendency to be so engulfed in their work they often forget they have a family and when they do have an opportunity to be with the family they just do not know how to fit in.  Therefore self-medicating often happens.  Between drinking and sleeping he didn’t have time to bother with us.  (This of course is not true for every law enforcement officer).  Through this difficult transition she took a very hand on role with my children and for the first time in their seven years of living they had two parents to turn to.  I would never hand that role to just anyone or too lightly.  That is a very special role that in my opinion if it did not occur naturally it must be earned.   Marian has been there for myself and my children for the past six months and she is my daily support.  She helps me to remember to be thankful for all that I have and the fact that I do not have to raise my two children alone anymore. My children are the love of my life, and without their daily support I would drowned in guilt.  My children are proud of me for going back to school, therefore, every time I say sorry guys mommy has a paper to write they say “okay well maybe we can play after”.  Without Marian my best friend and my two children I would be one despondent person.  I could achieve my personal goals; continue working hard at my business and going to school.  But what would it matter?   These three people are not just my daily support, but my life support!