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People Not Products
November 9, 2009

In Auckland, New Zealand, Colin Gibbs made a summing-up
"What we emphasize in education is generally what we get. When we emphasize achievement above all else, then we are likely to produce achievement above all else. High achievement is desirable. But at what cost? When education becomes focused on production — namely, evidence of demonstrable achievement — then we have lost what it means to be educated. Teaching and learning are not just about achievement or quality-assured products. They are about care, compassion, love, hope, joy, passion, grace, relationship, and more. They are about people and how we nurture and are nurtured on our ¬learning journeys."

I think this was one of my favorite articles. The truth of the matter is we are working with young children and there are two many facets to a child to box them into one way of doing things. Truly enough in our own lives what we focus on we will begin to head that way. As a parent, I feel, much of my time is spent keeping my children focused. Focused on good things, important goals, activities that will, frankly, keep them out of trouble. I want them to allow them to grow up with all opportunities open for them.

One day the child will be an adult. Looking at the child we need to futuristically see them as an adult. Would this be the best to run my classroom through this concept? Do I really need to spend so much time on this activity? What lessons should I spend time on? Is atmosphere more important than what I teach or say? Will they remember what I said or will they remember and model after my attitude toward life and learning?
I know I’m a director right now; however, I spend sometime every day with children, laughing. We have the most wonderful job in the world. Children in all there curiosity and beauty surround us everyday. I’m thankful for this. I want each child to feel accepted and loved….important in our environment.

Overlooking the class this semester; I can say I’ve been forced to relook at what I do. To reexamine and justify why and how I do things. I felt stretched at times…but it’s good for me. Our book was filled with solid practices for early childhood centers to have. Honestly, when I left work and began reading I felt like I was back at work. I should have done my reading during the day, haha like I have time to! Well anyway, the additional material was much more palatable for me to swallow. I really enjoyed seeing other sites and looking at people’s visions and dreams for ECE center come to life. Reading about other people with passion for this field was wonderful.

Reading people blogs opened up my eyes/ears to my fellow colleagues voices. Many of them felt the same as I did. Sometimes I felt they were reading my week. For instant; one blog “Susan Woods”, whom I’ve never met or spoke with, was talking about child care connection and how she felt frustrated/stressed with the changes. At that moment I could have written that blog (almost word for word) because I was feeling the same way.
Thank-you Jeanne for this class and thanks to all my classmates for reading my blogs and sharing you minds and hearts! We are connected in many ways because of our love for children.
Oh Jeanne I’m so excited for you and your baby!!! What a beautiful event happened this semester and we all were able to share your joy!

#15 Finance & Marketing

11/26/09
EveryDay Exchange: Getting Unstuck
I enjoyed this article. I think from time to time we all fall into ruts. Having goals is very important. Setting your vision on your goals helps to keep you clarified and focused. When you have a goal it seems easier to work hard. It gives purpose to what you are doing.
Exercise also helps to get unstuck. I was getting up early and jogging…wow my day was so much better. It took some discipline to keep in the habit, but it’s well worth it.
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Chapter 7 & 8
Affordable programs for low-income families are of lower quality than government subsidized ones (Blau & Hagy, 1998). Page 177 Planning and Administrating Early Childhood Programs; Decker , Decker, Freeman & Knopf . Wow what a statement! According to who’s a criterion? What are they calling quality? I’ve seen quite the opposite. This kinda boils my blood. I can read these statements and I know we are supposed to accept the source, but my gut is yelling out “wrong”. I have worked in subsidized schools that had no concept of “love”. You could not hug a child, everything became generic and routines ruled the day. The classrooms were not cleaned to my expectation; however, they met the government’s approval so that’s all that mattered. The curriculum was “approved” and the children continually had “choice” but nothing was customized around a wonderful event that spontaneously happened. Ok…I’m leaving this now…sorry for the outburst. I think I see quality in terms of loving life and passion; where maybe “quality” cannot be measured in those terms. To me happy children are more important than perfect marks on Accreditation scoring sheet (accreditation is important). The development of Lifelong learners and children who feel safe in a crazy world are our greatest assets. Love is the strongest force in this world. A child that knows they are loved and believed in, will successes no matter what the obstacle, and yes they will face obstacles.
Developing a budget is very important. It gets easier once you have entered the “race”. Your line-item classification becomes more clear and unchanging. This gives you the ability to make pretty accurate projections. I’ve mentioned in the past I wrote and receive two large grants. What a blessing when you receive money that is above your budget! It enabled us to purchase things that we had dreamed about.
I hired a teacher who had been the director of a school. The school she directed had gone out of business. She described to me inflated teacher and director salaries, but over stuffed classrooms without proper teacher-student ratio. Yes, they could brag that they were paid more than anywhere else but the she was not following a budget that worked in Early Childhood education. There are many factors to look at. Page 191-192 of Planning and Administrating Early Childhood Programs; Decker, Decker, Freeman & Knopf, shows a budget. It does not mention insurance, not health insurance but liability. Liability insurance, in which you must have, is very expensive. Maybe I’m just not seeing it, but it’s worth talking about.
Isn’t it funny how we are study chapter 7 & 8 right when all the subsidy cut backs are happening in our state? I had a feeling something was coming down the pipe when people were getting cut off of subsidy for what I considered “silly things”. I had one mom tell me she was told they could not give her, her subsidy because she had not had her husband’s company use letterhead paper when writing concerning his income. Now he had been at the same company for years and Child Care Connection knows this. Later we found out “2009 fiscal year” was short on money.
Every day I’m being talked to by parents who are being affected by the cut backs. One single mother told me she was planning to quite work and go back on welfare. She had just got her medical assistant degree and is hired at Queens Medical center. Her husband’s in jail and she has one income with two children needing care. They have cut back her childcare to a place she cannot make it. What should I have said? I care for this family, but answers delude me. I find myself compassionately listening without conclusion. What would you say? Would you offer advice? Will it get better or worse before better?

Week Fourteen Sustainability and Safety

11/23/09
EveryDay Exchange: Touch and Go:
Tad Waddington, appeared in Psychology Today (November 2009): shared how “Monkeys go nuts if they are not touched”. People are much the same. Babies need to be touched in order to develop properly. I remember reading stories of babies in orphanages. If the babies weren’t being touched they began acting differently from regular babies. In a true story of a child adopted from Romanian, the adoptive mother tried to regain the neglected child’s ability to receive love. It was very sad, she was unsuccessful. Everyone deserves to have human contact. Teachers that incorporate touching and hugs into their classroom teaching style have happier children.
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The Contribution of Early Childhood education to sustainable society: UNESCO:
The first stage for the foundation was “Foundation for lifelong learning and development and building a sustainable society”.
This article reflects on the linkage between early childhood education and sustainable development. They found that sustainability in the early years is significantly under-practiced, under resourced and under- examined. We live in a sea of change concerning the practices happening in the early childhood community.
I found the study in Australia to be interesting. Australia has embedded sustainability throughout all aspects and in so doing provided opportunity for children to act as agents of change for sustainability. Wow, I wish we had done this in America! It’s going to take foundational changes for us to do something like this. Also, it will take some serious mind changes.
There are 7Rs for education for sustainable development reduce, reuse, recycle, respect, repair, reflect and refuse. Each part includes not only the child but the families and the community.
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Chapter 10 Providing Nutrition, Health, and Safety Services
Providing for children's nutrition, healthy, and safety are key components of quality early childhood programs. It’s very important that a director keeps herself informed about every area of this chapter. Much of the licensing process focuses on nutrition, health and safety.
Nutrition
We just can’t learn enough about nutrition. After all the newsletters and information that goes out, our school still has children bringing, for breakfast, “mountain dew (soda) and doughnuts”. Now, I understand (and do my fellow colleagues) the concept of being so busy that cooking can be a chore; none-the-less, rather that soda, choice juice or milk, instead of doughnut, choice fruit. It’s not always about time as some parents will indicate.
Early childhood programs need to ensure that children are offered a variety of healthy and appealing foods. It is important for programs to promote healthy eating, nutrition and exercise as part of their daily routine. On raining days active indoor play is important. We have clean balls kept inside for just these types of days.
Safety
Emergency folders need to be accessible at all times to all staff. The numbers should remain updated all the time. Many parents change jobs and addressed without letting the school know, it’s in a situation that the school finds out. Teachers and staff should routinely ask parents for any numbers or other changes that might affect the child. Knowing and posting child's allergies, and any special medications they may need or might be allergic also.
Safety breaches on so many areas. The teachers ability and intuition to foresee situations that could be dangerous to a child, is part of the job.

Week 13: Assessment

The story of Sarah was enlightening and yet factual. I felt like I really know the child. In addition, I felt like her teacher, researcher, mother and Sarah herself, know her core frame work.
Once during a preschool graduation the teacher’s of the prekindergarten class did verbal stories on each child in their classroom. I remember feeling so engaged and excited about each child graduating. The preschool stories really bring you into the heart of a child. Each child uniquely framed with individual talents. The children were proud of whom they were and the parents were nodding in agreement.
In a summary of a comprehensive literature review on formative assessment, Black and Wiliam (1998, pp.14-15) advocated approaches that focus on several essential elements and include the development of habits of life-long learning. They state:
"The evidence we have presented here establishes that a clearly productive way to start implementing a classroom-focused policy [for raising standards] would be to improve formative assessment. This same evidence also establishes that to do this would not be to concentrate on some minor or idiosyncratic aspect of the whole business of teaching and learning.
Rather it would be to concentrate on several essential elements, namely
1) the quality of teacher-pupil interactions
2)the stimulus and help for pupils to take active responsibility for their own learning
3)the particular help needed to move pupils out of the ‘low-attainment’ trap, and
4)the development thereby of the habits needed by all if they are to become capable of life-long learning."
It has been researched that it’s effective for children to follow the same teacher for a few years. The positive side to this is that the teacher knows her students well and can create a platform of learning tailored to their needs. The students also understand the structure of the classroom, and if they have a good teacher, are actively engaged in learning.
Much of the teachers’ time, in the beginning of the school year either formally or not formally, is getting to know her students. If each student came with a “learning story” and all the information it contains, this would bridge the beginning of the year gap.
I thought it was very interesting how Sarah had the same desires, likes and ambitions from a young girl to an older girl. These ambitions just became more defined. If we, as teachers, can tap into the DNA (so to speak) or the frame work, of the child and set them on the course of learning early in life. Encouraging their strengths, not labeling their weakness, I think we’ll find these children grow up to be better more self initiated learners.
To me it seemed that her mother was very supportive of her being herself and not trying to create her into someone else. She noted that she wished they would have the “learning story” assessment in the older grades.
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Facilitating Child Friendships
November 17
"Adults need to take a more active role in many ways, than in the past, in helping children to learn how to be friends and what you do to be friends, because they're having less spontaneous opportunities to interact with peers in positive give-and-take ways."

It is true that child’s play has changed in the last 20 years. So many activities that children use to engage in “one on one” are changing to interaction “side by side” play.

When I was young the neighborhood children would all play outside, hide and go seek, baseball, football, climbing trees etc. We would have to communicate and figure out what we were going to play. There would 20 to 30 children playing every night. Today my children play outside only under supervision. When they have friends to the house often they play the WI side by side, or one will be on the computer and other doing something else. The time for play has lessened, but what effect will this have on the next generation?

Assessment November 9 Chapter 11

After reading chapter 11, I have concluded it impossible to summarize. Thus, I will give my thoughts. Honestly, the subject matter makes my stomach a little tight. I began to read with all defenses up. I’ve been teaching for over 20 years and have three of my own children which I taught on and off. However, with each page, I was very impressed and felt comfortable with each section. Decker, Decker, Freeman and Knopf continued to bring all assessing, recording and reporting back to the promotion of children’s learning and development.
Assessing, recording and reporting should be a part of each early childhood education school. Setting goals first, helps to develop the process for each section. The better trained the staff; the more unified the curriculum the easier it is to implement. I have mentioned in time past that I do not like the idea of universal curriculum or education. I feel that an ECE school should reflect the flavor of its community and tradition of the families. Children in early childhood settings are first and foremost a product of their family. The cultures and standards of the family should follow the child in school. When children are older, about 1st grade or so, then they can acclimate to the school environment or a universal curriculum.
There is such a pull in our society away from the family and the structure of the family. Please stay with me I’m not off subject I’m just trying to make a point. As an early childhood education teacher or directors I see our position quite clearly different for that of a school age child’s teacher. When looking at the subject assessing, recording and reporting, I have seen abuse of both sides. There are those teachers who are very goal orientated and feel that each child most obtain to a certain level. Just my opinion/observation, it almost seems that those teachers begin to base their “self worth” as a teacher on the outcomes of a student. This mind frame, places a great deal of pressure on a child. Thus, the “goal” of promoting of children’s learning and development gets lost in the assessing, recording and reporting.
Then on the other hand teacher who clearly are not organized and neglect to follow any assessing, recording and reporting, tend not to have any “goals”.
I like the idea of ongoing observation in actual classroom situations. I also like documentation of authentic performance assessment done by the writing logs and anecdotes. Keeping the goal the goal and not losing sight of it because their is pressure to report can be helped by establishing purpose and practices that mirror local programs (Decker, Decker, Freeman and Knopf page. 305).
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Exchange Everyday

People, Not Products
November 9, 2009

You really can change the world if you care enough.
Marion Wright Edelman
What we emphasize in education is generally what we get. When we emphasize achievement above all else, then we are likely to produce achievement above all else. High achievement is desirable. But at what cost? This article describes Colin Gibbs 10 concerns in EC education.
Future directions for EC education: 10 concerns
By Colin Gibbs
1.A concern about policymakers' ¬pottery wheels.
We need policy makers.
2. A concern about people wanting quick changes.
Education is not exempt from profiteers who claim quick-fix solutions and who take the money and run. Teaching and learning are too complex for simple solutions, and are relational and therefore need time to nurture.
3. A concern that increasing control may cripple autonomy and build ¬distrust.
4. A concern about producing products rather than nurturing people.
5. A concern about compulsory school.
6. A concern about dependence on educational myths and fads.
7. A concern about undervaluing families. Rightly or wrongly, there is a tension when government activity regulates in matters concerning families for there may be unintended messages conveyed.
8. A concern about living in unquestioned rhetoric. Early childhood has its jargon which serves to not just communicate between its members, but also include and exclude people.
9. A concern about the stifling of ¬special character. We know that there are many expressions of special character in early childhood — Montessori, Steiner, Christian, ¬Islamic, Buddhist, as well as the numerous indigenous early childhood programs, to name just a few.
10. A concern about resisting the new and devaluing the old.
Living in the status quo leads to a place of either complacency or powerlessness.
This article is very comprehensive in its explanation as to problems facing us right now.

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Te Whariki- Assessment For learning
Effective assessment is an everyday practice that involves noticing, recognising and responding to children’s learning. It is formative in that it effects learning and teaching. It requires knowledgeable practitioners that understand children’s learning. It includes and actively involves children and their families. The following is reflective questions that are asked:
• How effectively does our assessment practice reflect our assessment policy?
• Does our team have a shared understanding of assessment?
• How well, and in what ways do we involve children and their families/whānau in assessment?
• To what extent does our assessment practice reflect the four principles of Te Whāriki?
• How well does our assessment information capture the breadth and increasing complexity of children’s learning and development?
• How well do we analyse our assessment information to show children’s learning?
• How well do we use the information that we gain about children’s learning to promote ongoing learning?
Has anyone ever been to New Zealand to see this process in operation? Can they really keep the Te Whariki?

Blog Eleven: November 3, 2009

Exchange Everyday
Organized Make-Believe Play
October 28, 2009
Organized make-believe play or "Tools of the Mind” is a curriculum based on the concepts proposed by Lev Vigotsky. There are a few schools in Hawaii that base their curriculum around Vigotsky’s theories. These schools, in my opinion, are very child friendly.
The thought is that at 4 or 5, a child's ability to play creatively with other children is a better indicator of her future academic success than any other indicator, including her vocabulary, her counting skills, or her knowledge of the alphabet. This is contrary too many curriculums whose focus is on academics.
Also, there is an emphasis on Dramatic play as the training ground where children learn to regulate themselves, to conquer their own unruly minds. If at the younger ages they become in control of their minds, they will be successful and able to regulate themselves in later life.
In dramatic play children are guided by the basic principles of play. Make-believe isn't as stimulating and satisfying if players don't stick to their roles. When children follow the rules of make-believe and push one another to follow those rules, they develop important habits of self control.
I really enjoyed this article and agree with its principles. When watching children play, it becomes evident, that these practices are natural to child.
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Caring Spaces, Learning Spaces continued…
Helen Gordon Schools

The Helen Gordon Child Development Center at Portland State University is unique and fascinating architecture. The article asked, “How do we become intentional about creating a symbiotic relationship between the physical space and those who live and learn there?” This is a wonderful question. The school was designed to captivate children into sense of wonder and intrigue. Looking throughout the school, the colors and textures used seem to fascinate even an adult.
There are three key ingredients:
(1) The physical space, particularly those that are often taken for granted, such as entry ways, pathways, and transitional spaces,
(2) The interior design, including the aesthetic qualities of color, texture, lighting, and items from nature, and
(3) Documentation, including photos, representations, narratives, and quotes that capture the learning of those who live in the space.

The aesthetic qualities of this school stand out. The aesthetic qualities evoke emotions. Within the physical spaces of the Helen Gordon Center, we find a variety of aesthetic qualities that ignite the senses and evoke powerful emotional responses
“Classrooms, like wine, are known by their smell and tactile qualities as well as by their sight” (Eisner, 1998, p. 68).

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http://www.designshare.com/index.php/projects/yuyu-no-mori-nursery
The school I decided to write about is the first combined Nursery school / Day nursery in Yokohama City; it was given national attention as a model combined schools for infants in Japan. The school environments are unique on three design concepts; to enable child-centered nursery, teachers’ warm engagement with kids and promotion of children’s development.
School environment enabling child-centered nursery
Bases of teachers and nurses with emphasis on engagement with infants
Diverse environments according to children’s stage of development - circular play system
Facility planning
- Site planning. The school is located at a quiet residential area.
Diverse environments
- Play as their day life. For children, play is their life and they develop bases as a human through play such as intelligence, sentiment and sociability.
The school is a child-centered facility beyond framework of past nursery school and day nursery.
School design in consideration with children’s play and activities
Open ‘nurse station’ to children and adults
Comfortable place for children to stay for long hours
Space parents can relax and communicate
School design which is open to public
Commentary:
The school construction was financially supported by Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Sports for the nursery school part and by Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare for the day nursery part.
Exterior and Interior appearances are beautiful, breathtaking and stunning. I would love to go there!

Design Patterns:
Welcoming Entry: They have a beautiful cherry blossom tree in the front entry.
Student Display Space: Children’s work is displayed in the entry area
Science Labs, Art Labs, and Life Skills Areas: These are areas or centers that the children can explore in
Art, Music, and Performance: They use the big main staircase as an equipment for theater
Physical Fitness: The belief is early childhood is the time to develop physically
Casual Eating Areas: Wonderful eating area the children use once a week.
Transparency: Windows are low so children can see other classrooms.
Indoor-Outdoor Connection: This is the most important aspect of the school. Children go in and out easily.
Furniture: Soft Seating: Flexible Spaces: Cave Space: Daylight and Solar Energy:
Natural Ventilation: Local Signature: Connected to the Community:

I have noticed that my classmates that write shorter, more concise blogs, full of more personal ideas than just summaries, have more responses. I am trying to not summarize as much as convey themes. What do you think about this? Has anyone noticed the same trend? Reading the information about this school made me want to go there. Has anyone ever been to this school?

Environment as the Third Teacher

Additional Reading
Caring spaces: Some Characteristics of Space
The size and scale of buildings interiors and objects has a large influence on how we feel. Doesn’t it just make sense? When you get your first home most people dream of what color they will put on the walls and how to decorate it so that that home makes them feel wonderful. My ten year old ask the other day to paint her room her favorite color blue. Of course I said “yes”. I want her to feel good and peaceful in her space.
Having child scaled furniture and toys are critical where we expect children to become independent and competent, however children still have to function at home in mainly an adult world. Having a mixture of child-scale items with some adult is good.
Space and objects determine how we feel. I love going into certain places; Target, The Honolulu Convention Center, Japanese Learning Center, The Willows Restaurant, etc. these places make me feel welcome and peaceful. My husband if asked the same question might pick a few other places, because spaces and objects draw feelings differently from person to person. Research has determined has determined influences created by size and scale. How each person interprets those influences are very individual.
I love Maria Montessori’s teachings, her influences you see in many classrooms across America. But nothing takes the place of knowing your students individually to understand how they are receiving/feeling about the classroom they are in.

Chapter 6 Creating Quality Learning Environments
After reading this chapter I want to re-walk through each classroom, sit on the floor and pretend I’m a child. What would I feel like? Would I feel attracted to the toys/centers in the classroom? Would I understand and see division between each center? Is there a quiet place for me if I need it? The 2 year old room is looking very friendly. The three’s doesn’t have enough for me to do. The four year old room has lost the framework of the organized centers and the focused seems to be very large open spaces.
I dream of mine would be to create a school from ground zero. Working with an architect to put in everything where I wanted it. Does anyone else have this dream? Looking at page 139-141 “floor plans” inspires my creativity.
For now I will do the best with what we have and create the best environment we have.
Swine Flu Update
October 27, 2009
After reading this section on swine flu I had to reflect back to my experience with this terrible flu. This summer 2009, I was taking very intense classes at UH and trying to still keep up with preschool work. I had gone to a youth camp during the weekend and came home “sick”. I went to school on Monday but by Tuesday I couldn't move. I can't remember ever being that sick. Extreme pain invaded every part of my body. Because of the intense classes I was in, I pushed myself back to school by Wednesday. Though I made it through the summer session the flu had taken a toll on my heart and I ended up in the hospital about a month later.
I thank God my children or husband did not catch this. I’m strong and able to communicate well and still suffered greatly, what a horrible flu this would be for a child!
The article gave the following suggestions. They are important to insure that no child suffers due to ignorance of the sickness.
• Get vaccinated against the flu;
• Stay home when sick;
• Conduct daily health checks;
• Separate ill children and staff;
• Encourage hand hygiene and respiratory etiquette;
• Perform routine environmental cleaning;
• Encourage early treatment;
• Consider selective early childhood program closure

It’s important to stay abreast of the current issues and preventions.