Farewell ECE 450- Module 5

Over the past quarter I have learned quite a few things.  I got a feel for what it is truly like to be an advocate for something.  Instead of just sitting there wanting to advocate, I was able to get myself out there and plant seeds in the heads of many people in the education field.  I learned that advocacy is not an easy thing to do.  I had many road blocks where it was difficult to get meetings or someone didn't understand what I was trying to advocate for no matter how much I explained it (which made me want to advocate for it even more!). I learned a lot about writing my advocacy plan as well, such as making an outline and actually using it as a guide when writing a paper.  I learned a lot about my topic as well, such as finding out just how developmentally inappropriate the public schools in my area are.  I also learned about various advocacy efforts in the early childhood field that all my classmates were passionate about.  It was so nice to see the passion some of you have for education and I wish you all the best of luck in your efforts to advocate for the tough issues!  Good luck everyone in your final weeks at Kendall, as I assume you are all at the end of your tunnels! 

Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting- Module 4

I spoke with a mom in a neighboring school because the mom I was trying to meet up with that goes to my daughter's school fell through, so I had to do a back-up plan.  I had asked her how she felt her children's teachers were using developmentally appropriate practice in their classrooms over the years and she said she was pleased with the projects they did in the class.  She said her children have done a lot of group projects and such to reinforce the materials they were learning.  She said there was a lot of fun hands-on learning going on. 

The problem she was having with her children's class was the homework.  They are both active in sports plus have two working parents.  By the time they get home at night and get dinner and do their reading they are pretty much just rushing through the worksheet the teacher has sent home to specifically be homework.  She felt this is useless because her children were not really learning from the homework, but felt they should only get homework if they did not finish their work at school that day.  Or they could have an assignment that was more developmentally appropriate that they could learn from, like an activity to do instead of just a worksheet. 

Another issue this mom had with school systems is how they are all working at different paces.  One year her children had to switch school mid-year and they were "behind" at their new school.  The teachers didn't bother helping them catch up, and just kept telling them, "You should already know that".  That caused her children a lot of frustration and it was hard to get them through the school year.  She said her children are both very good students and it was really hard for them that year.  I keep wondering if that is something that could solved with common core, or if we will always have that same issue no matter what because teachers do not follow the same curriculum, so they may all meet the same standards by the end of the year but may do them in a different order.  I keep brainstorming ways that this issue could be solved, because if good students are struggling with that, I can't imagine how that switch would affect children who were already struggling.  That could possibly cause enough stress on a child to make them get so far behind that it becomes nearly impossible to catch back up. 

Observing and Interacting With Program Director(s) and Other Administrative Staff in Your Setting- Module 3

Well these past two weeks I am becoming VERY discouraged.  I emailed the Dean from my daughter's school, and I heard back from her one time.  I explained my assignment and asked her some questions via email and said she could either set up a time to meet with me, or she could answer the questions via email if she was busy.  She seemed very excited about my project and thought it was interesting. So, I emailed her back with my availability to meet and have yet to hear back from her.  I emailed her, YET AGAIN, yesterday and still have yet to hear back from her.  Today and tomorrow they have an event at the school so I am assuming maybe she got tied up with the preparation for that.  I hope I am able to catch her tomorrow when I drop my daughter off at school to discuss the questions I have for her.  I was able to talk to a preschool administrator which is really no good for me because I already know their philosophy regarding developmentally appropriate practice.  They, of course, are constantly working in a manner that is developmentally appropriate for their students.  They are not who I am concerned about with this advocacy issue.  It is the school I am trying to contact that I would like to hear their stance on developmentally appropriate practice, and maybe by sitting down with her I would be able to offer some of my suggestions for her to consider incorporating into her school wide curriculum.  I will edit this blog if I am able to speak with her tomorrow.  Wish me luck! :)

Observing and Interacting With Professionals/Colleagues in Your Setting- Blog Assignment 2

In my field work this week I was able to discuss some issues regarding developmentally appropriate practice with a third grade and a kindergarten teacher.  From what I heard the teachers describe, developmentally appropriate practice to them means hands-on activities.  From what I observe, I still do not feel they have the best understanding of what developmentally appropriate practice involves.  I feel like if they truly understood there would not be worksheet after worksheet being handed out to the children all day, everyday. 

I also observed the kindergarten teacher's use of developmentally appropriate hands-on activities, and I feel her perception of what constitutes developmentally appropriate practice is a little askew.  While she says she does hands-on activities, the only things I noticed were cookie cutter art and worksheets (some of those included handwriting, math using traditional algorithms, and color by number).  I am not sure if she feels these kinds of activities are what is developmentally appropriate for five and six year-olds, but I did not notice any other hands-on activities that could have feel under what I would consider developmentally appropriate practice.  One thing she does that I do like is she still engages the children in songs.  This is something I hope teachers never give up with the crunch to get the children to meet standards.  Music is a great way to teach different concepts, and I feel that the arts are being pushed out of the public school systems greatly where I live. 

They do have a lot of specials at this school.  I think this does help the students get a variety of learning.  I have not heard of or seen any other schools in the area have so many different special classes to offer their students.  They have gym, computers, and library and music once a week.  The children also take Spanish 3 days a week.  I had the pleasure of seeing one of her lessons, and she uses full immersion as an approach to teaching the students.  Some Spanish teachers focus on basic vocabulary, which does not really teach children how to speak Spanish.  Young children pick up other languages easily, and I feel this is a very good developmentally appropriate approach to teaching young children another language.  I also saw them singing songs and dancing, so I think the Spanish language curriculum at this school is above that of other schools in the area and is going in the right direction with their developmentally appropriateness. 

Interviewing Professionals in Early Childhood- Blog Assignment 1

       Upon interviewing two professionals in the early childhood field I feel reassured that developmentally appropriate practice is an important issue for me to advocate for.  I was completely disappointed to hear that neither of the teachers I interviewed knew what it meant to advocate for educational issues, and one did not understand what developmentally appropriate practice meant.  This made me realize just how important of an issue it is to advocate for.

 

       Since the school the two teachers I interviewed have a staff member that directly advocates on behalf of the school (i.e. going to rally's and advocacy events at the capitol) neither teacher had really thought about advocating for topics directly related to early childhood.  I took it upon myself to interview a third source in order to get some better insight into the issues of education from someone I know who is involved more in advocacy efforts.  I had originally chosen two teachers who were working in an early childhood setting, but this educator does have an elementary degree except she teaches sixth grade (In Michigan teachers have an Elementary Education degree and it goes K-5, and then they can get endorsements to teach S.E. K-12, ECE for prek-K, and 6-8 self contained).  She felt that common core was going to help ensure developmentally appropriate practice because teachers will be forced to make sure their students are teaching specific age appropriate material.  The previous state standards did not keep teachers accountable for teaching specific material, but were rather vague in what materials needed covered and what standards had to be met.  Instead, teachers were focused more on teaching to a test instead of actually making sure their students were learning the appropriate material.  So, when they would come into her class they were all at different levels depending on what the teacher the previous year focused on the most. 

 

       None of the teachers I interviewed knew of any advocacy efforts that were currently underway in their area, but they did comment on some efforts they were interested in advocating for.  One teacher felt that the school year was becoming too long for children.  She commented that the state keeps tacking on more and more days to the school year, and the children are quickly becoming burnt out.  After spring break she feels like the students are mentally worn and have checked out.  I asked how she felt about going year round and having more breaks during the school year and she was not in agreement with this practice.  I am not sure that I agree with her, but her view was that teachers need the summer break not only mentally but some financially need to work a summer job.  I do not feel that her argument is in the best interest of the children and their educational success.

      

        I strongly feel like advocating for developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood (preschool through third grade) is important for me to do especially in my area.  The subtopics I would like to focus on include teaching materials, common core standards, and integrating subjects.  For teaching materials I would like to discuss what materials are appropriate for using with young children and which are not vs. what teachers are most commonly using in this area.  When talking about common core standards I would like to discuss what implications this will have on what teachers are teaching at which age level and the appropriateness of the topics/standards vs. what teachers think the children should know at that age level.  Finally, when integrating subjects I want to focus on crossing curriculums in order to enhance children's learning and to fit in everything that is required for teachers to teach the students. 

 

 

 

 

       So, now for some questions I have for everyone...

 

 

        1) What other issues can you think of for me to incorporate into my topic of developmentally appropriate practice?

        

 

        2) Can you think of any highlights I should focus on for my three subtopics that I haven't mentioned?

 

       

        3) How well do you think teachers in your district or teachers you have observed adhere to DAP in their classrooms?  In which ways do they use and not use DAP? 

 

 

        4) What areas have you observed in your field work for improvement in using DAP due to lack of knowledge of what DAP means on the teacher's part? 

 

 

        5) Have you seen moments when the teacher could use DAP when they weren't?  Why do you think they were avoiding it (e.g. lack of knowledge, cutting corners due to time constraints)? 

 

 

Disappointed

I wanted to post my interview blog today, but unfortunately school was cancelled Friday.  On Wednesday I had briefly discussed the interview with my host teacher, but didn't have time to finish the whole thing, but I gave her some ideas to think about.  Well, Thursday was Student-Led Conferences (basically a parent teacher conference but the students lead it), so we had scheduled for the interview to formally occur on Friday.  Well, of course we had a massive ice storm Thursday night (That's April for you :) Thank you Michigan!).  So, hopefully she has time for me on Monday before or after school to squeeze me in.  Luckily I was able to interview my daughter's teacher after we did her student-led conference!!!  One down, one to go. 

But, the real disappointment I encountered when speaking to the two teachers was their knowledge of what developmentally appropriate practice and advocacy was.  One teacher had no idea what developmentally appropriate practice meant, and thought advocacy was the the local special education group.  The other teacher didn't know what it meant to be an advocate for educational issues.  I just don't understand why there is such little knowledge out there about ECE advocacy, and using developmentally appropriate practice at the elementary level.  I am feeling discouraged, and hope that somehow I am able to make an impact.  These are my child's teachers, and it pains me to send her to a school where there is such little regard for these issues.  My thought is, I have two choices.  1) Do nothing and send her to a different school (which will probably have the same issues) or 2) Do something about it.  Try to educate the educators and administrators on what it means to use developmentally appropriate practice at the elementary level.  Why should DAP be a term we only use in preschools here in Michigan?!

Introduction- Developmentally Appropriate Practice

Hi Everyone, welcome to my blog on ECE advocacy.  I would like to do my blog on developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood.  I am extremely concerned with how public schools in the state of Michigan run their curriculum.  From the classrooms that I have observed I am not seeing a great deal of attention focused around DAP, and I would like to advocate for the issue.  This topic came to me this past week when I dropped my daughter off in her kindergarten classroom at a charter school that is advertised as "for Advanced and Creative Studies".  I carefully selected this school and drive 160 miles total everyday to take her to school there, as I was confident that the name of the school reflected their educational philosophy.  I was sickened to talk in and see the children doing subtraction on a worksheet using traditional algorithms.  I gave them the benefit of the doubt that perhaps since the school is supposed to be "advanced" that they were past understanding what they were doing with the algorithms.  Unfortunately, as I began working on her homework with her this weekend I noticed the same worksheet in her homework packet, and I was not surprised when my daughter had no idea what tens and ones places were, yet she was drawing a line dividing the two columns.  I decided to show her what all of this meant in an attempt to help her make sense of the process she was using and why she was using it, instead of senselessly subtracting numbers that she saw on the paper using a meaningless strategy her teacher taught her.  Unfortunately I am a working mother and cannot afford to stay at home and homeschool her, plus she really enjoys school and her friends.  I feel like her school has so much potential to use DAP, yet they are not properly trained in how to do so, as the elementary education program (from what I have been told by graduates of the local universities) does not teach them in such a manner, but rather in old fashioned models of teaching which are doing these children any educational justice.  Through this course I hope to really find some information to back up my strong feelings towards this issue, and hopefully by the end of the school year I will be able to bring my concerns to the board of education, as well as their Dean (principal), and hopefully I will be able to propose this to the teachers as well, so that perhaps we can develop a plan as to how to make this school live up their name and the expectations parents have for their children's education.