Scholar Practitioners Who Impact Future Change

As a Scholar Practitioner it is my responsibility to carry out intimate obligations to my profession. I practice what I study and research especially in the classroom. It is my responsibility to gain a deeper understanding of things that may not be working in the field. My goal is to lead evaluation initiatives by involving stakeholders and addressing program initiatives in ways of mission, activities and intervention.

My most important barrier to avoid is history conflict and economic conditions. In some cases this can be difficult for program effort because these factors affect outcomes. Sometimes the outcomes can lead to limited resources. It would be difficult to minimize these barriers coming into a disastrous environment that had already been created. Barriers can be avoided by the government and community voices affecting education.

Assignment 1: Fostering Classroom Communities

Title

Activities to Support Young Children in their Transition from Preschool to Kindergarten

The objective of this dissertation study was to motivate Pre-K students (4 and 5 year olds) towards positive transitions to kindergarten. The study included an activities handbook facilitated by preschool teachers, parents and students working in the early childhood community. Feedback was given on activities to stimulate positive motivation for pre-k students (Roach, 2017).

Method and results

The study used a quantitative approach to analyze their findings. The activities handbook was conducted by 14 preschool teachers six months before children transitioned into kindergarten (Roach, 2017) The study analyzed findings from a survey that there were consistent issues reported on a scale of strongly agree to strongly disagree. Out of 37 teachers from 3 different preschools, 14 teachers responded (Roach, 2017).

The results came out to be that the teachers would use the activity handbooks in their classroom. This project would conclude that the activities would be very effective in motivating 4-5 year old student transitions to kindergarten. The most negative concerns from the data collected was the lack of parental involvement (Roach, 2017). This result was collected from the survey.

Three resources used:

Choi, D., Kim, J., & Murdock, T. (2005). Investigation of parents' beliefs about readiness for kindergarten: an examination of national household education survey (NHES: 93). Educational Research Quarterly, 29(2), 3-17. Retrieved from http://www.eric.ed.gov/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=EJ739378

Daniels, D. H. (2014). Children’s affective orientations in preschool and their initial adjustment to kindergarten. Psychology in the Schools, 51, 256-272. doi:10.1002/pits.21748

Duncan, G. J., Dowsett, C. J., Claessens, A., Magnuson, K., Huston, A. C., Klebanov, P., Pagani, L.S., Feinstein, L., Engel, M., Brooks-Gunn, J., Sexton, H., & Duckworth, K. (2007). School readiness and later achievement. Developmental Psychology, 43(6), 1428-1446. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.6.1428

Each of these resources are useful because as educators we want to clarify our understanding of the structure of transitions and our parents beliefs about pre-k transitions into kindergarten. Kindergarten readiness is a highlight for further future success. Even after their transition to kindergarten we need to evaluate their adjustment in kindergarten so see how much of an impact pre-k had on them to aid in being somewhat successful in kindergarten. The activities hand book was a great idea to get viewpoints from parents and teachers to see what works for their children. School readiness is vital. I always say that early education sets the foundation.

The information from this dissertation will help further my interest and research in fostering supportive learning environments by looking at what is best for the students as they transition. Many of them are not ready and lack very important skills. I want to find ways to help improve quality success and school readiness so we can avoid future delays in academics. It also take having more parents involved.

Another thing I would like to research and gain more knowledge of is families of different cultures. Sometimes for example we have Hispanic families that migrate here only knowing their native language and work long days and nights to be better providers for their families. Learning about their culture and things they do to adapt and learning what they are open to will help me to understand their children and help that family be more attuned with their child’s academics.

Reference

Roach, D. (2017). Activities to support young children in their transition from preschool to

kindergarten (Order No. 10286913). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (1972566618). Retrieved from https://search-proquest-com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/docview/1972566618?accountid=14872

Scholar Practitioners as Program Evaluators

When I think about evaluating and supporting early childhood education, I think about the long term effects for young children’s outcomes. There needs to be constant evaluation, research and support in all areas of the field such as teachers, learning centers, parents, children and the community. Of course the state, local and govern will have a hand in this. I look at what can be done better. I look at what is already working.

I am hoping for this course to impact me in ways of training, supporting and guiding teachers to be successful in classrooms. I want teachers to enjoy what they do. I want teachers to appreciate the experience and roles that they play in families lives as they set the foundation for primary grades. I would like teachers to show effective practices that promotes healthy learning and development for young children.

Questions that arise my curiosity is why aren’t teachers aloud much flexibility in teaching? I get that we have to follow policy and accreditation and curriculum, but does it have to be the way of the book.

In my past experiences, I would do the lesson plan the way it’s asked of us teachers but I would not necessarily follow it because my students were not benefiting from it. I knew my students and how they learned. I knew what worked for them and what did not. My students performed much better when I taught and parents very much so appreciated it. I’m not saying I completely disregarded the lesson plan, however majority of it was taught for the best of the students.

We all can be impacted and impact the process of program evaluation. We are scholar practitioners in this field, so the fact that we are already in this programs say’s we want to do more and we want to be more. We are constantly doing research in this field and most of us work in this field and practice new knowledge. We are advocating for families, we are bringing new program evaluations and support and most of all we are promoting positive social change.

Assessing for Development, Emerging Knowledge, Intervention, and Modification: Using Assistive Technology

Assistive technology provides devices for students/people with disabilities. Technology has created so many possibilities for disabled learners. Many years ago people with disabilities have been shut out of participating events and schools due to their disabilities ( Nielsen, 2011).Some were not even able to participate in classrooms due to the lack of accessibility or instructional problems. Today there thankfully has been developed technology to assist in the isolation of disabled students.

There are many types of assistive technology to aid in learning and attention issues.

1.      Audio players/recorders- helps the child listen to the recording as the teacher reads them on the pages. There are e-books, phones, and tablets with text to speech software that could be read out loud to the child (Nielsoen, 2011).These type of devices can be used for children 2 years of age through adults. It fosters ways of learning through reading and writing guidance.

2.    

Writing supports- Some children have trouble with writing. This could be used in a forms of writing utensils or a computer (Nielsen, 2011).Some writing programs come with features that help with spelling and grammar. Another think to look at is that if a student is having a hard time with thoughts, some software has word predictors. It would require the child typing in the first few letters and as the software will generate the word choices of what the child may be trying to use. This can be used for children 5yrs and up.

Assistive technology may or may not be culturally responsive. When involving families to assist with learning, educators would have to gather information such as strengths, needs and priorities. All of these needs have to be matched with the family’s cultures for that student to succeed. Consistency would be key for a family’s culture values.

Any technology can be considered bad technology if not used in the useful appropriate ways. For example; a child who has a difficult time writing may use the tablet frequently, but sometimes too much of the tablet can enable a child to not have strong enough fine motor skills practice to start writing without the tablet.

Reference

Nielsen, L. (2011). 25 incredible assistive technologies. Retrieved from http://theinnovativeeducator.blogspot.com/2011/09/25-incredible-assistive-technologies.html

Assignment 2: Blog: Choosing the Proper Assessment Scenarios

presented below are two scenarios who requires intervention to determine their needs. intervention get's the child properly diagnosed so that the services get's provided in time. intervention involves assessing a child and it plays an integral part of teaching and learning Purposeful assessment affects a child's learning in more way than you know. The purpose of assessments is to let the teachers and parents know where their child is and where they are going Banerjee & Luckner (2013).

Addison is a 7 year old girl. Every day after school, Addison knows to come home to complete her 20 minutes of reading daily to complete her reading counts test. Addison has a hard time understanding why she has to read chapter books for her age and according to her lexile level. She goes through all other underage leveled books very quickly. When it comes to the chapter books, Addison complains, cries, but reads to get it done. She has difficulty reading some of the words, but overall she is an avid reader. It challenges her to be better at reading.

Addison’s mother had issues reading while she was in kindergarten, but tries to find resources to help her daughter get to the appropriate levels for her reading counts test. Addison’s father was a great reader and had lots of support from his teachers and reading tutoring while he was in the first grade.

Addison is the youngest of 3 siblings. Although her parents work full time they are very involved in making sure their children are successful with their academics. To encourage Addison to enjoy reading her parents encourages all other siblings to read with her at the family dinner table every night as they all take turns. They read fun, funny, and enjoyable stories that also relates to their home environment. She even gets to read to her dog. Banerjee & Luckner (2013) suggests that professionals are most effective when they collect and use data assessments to use as instruction. What assessment skills could be used to identify the lacking skills? How can I as an educator identify strategies for making reading more enjoyable?

Miguel is a 3^rd grader who enjoys playing rough with his friends and doing house activities with his sister who is 5 and brother who is 12. Miguel and his siblings reside with his aunt, uncle and mother. Miguel was placed on an IEP during kindergarten in which he was diagnosed with having a learning disability in academic difficulties. Miguel’s father had LD during his elementary years which Miguel’s mother found out through her ex- husbands parents, so Miguel’s grandparents. Miguel’s father died while he was a newborn.

Miguel is a well behaved boy and very respectful to his superiors. Miguel really tries his best to complete assignments on time and it’s even harder at home because Miguel lives in a house full so his homework does not get fully completed or looked over. This problem makes it even more difficult for Miguel to be on the appropriate level for his age. Miguel’s teacher often catches Miguel getting off task and remembering things. Miguel also show signs of not being organized.

There has been some conversations at parent teacher conferences between Miguel’s mother and teacher. He is constantly getting behind and needs educational support to stay on task. Miguel’s teacher recommended and suggested to the mother that specialist come into the classroom and work with him side by side. The teacher is thinking about what assessment tool would be best used to determine the help Miguel needs. What intervention assessment tool would be best used to assess and collect data on Miguel?

Reference

Banerjee, R., & Luckner, J. L. (2013). Assessment practices and training needs of early childhood professionals. Journal of Early Childhood Teacher Education, 34(3), 231–248

Blog: Policies and National Regulations and Standards for Early Childhood Education

I decided to analyze and compare the standards of the state of Michigan. The state I am originally from. The state of Michigan takes pride in early learning program standards as it addresses the needs in family care settings such as learning centers and classroom programs (MSBE, 2013). There standards are intended to help early childhood programs providing quality in settings to help children and families.

The state of Michigan’s approach to learning is to outline areas of development in areas such as intellectual, social, emotional and physical development (MBSE, 2013). These approaches to learning is to demonstrate how children think, learn, and act.

Their views on child assessment and program evaluations are influenced by the child’s growth and development. The state of Michigan believes that the younger the child, the more difficult it can be to withhold reliable assessment data (MSBE, 2013). There seems to be many limitations when assessing. I can definitely agree with this. In my experience of assessing a child in the early years teachers are limited on tools to assess and the environment we are in does not make the results as valid. I have had to assess students in a classroom full of other shouting kids which caused many distractions. In this case it has been difficult to obtain reliable information (MSBE, 2013).

As of this day and age new models of assessment have been considered and emerged. There is authentic assessment, curriculum assessment, curriculum alignment with early learning standards and outcomes, functional objectives and outcomes, and individual targets for instruction in inclusive, natural environments ( Bagnato, S., eta al, 2011). All elements are essential parts of assessing and development. I would say The state of Michigan could benefit from some of these key elements.

Policies stated by (MSBE) are similar to National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Both aid in supporting children’s health, growth and development by their approaches to learning and they also implement their standards in learning centers and schools. It was also nice to see that they both support inclusion classrooms, this ensures equality amongst all students so diversity is encouraged and implemented.

Both The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) and the National Association of Early Childhood Specialists in State Departments of Education (NBPTS) shares a responsibility of:

·         Implementing a well thought out planned curriculum

·         A comprehensive system of curriculum and assessment guided by ECE practices

·         Conducts valid and reliable assessments a focal point of early childhood programs

·         Program evaluations and goals

·         Support professional development and provide other resources for teachers to help them meet tasks in ECE to be successful for early learners

As of 2003, other states have been developing appropriate standards for preschool age children (NBPTS, 2012).  Standards have been commonly put into place for k-12 students however, a survey was done on 39 states that had begun a frameworks for preschool standards (NBPTS,2012).

Questions to consider:

How to assess appropriately to gain reliable results?

What does a quality program look like?

Should the state reconsider their approach to assessments and program evaluations?

References

Bagnato, S. J., McLean, M., Macy, M., & Neisworth, J. T. (2011). Identifying Instructional Targets for Early

Childhood via Authentic Assessment: Alignment of Professional Standards and Practice-Based

Evidence. Journal Of Early Intervention, 33(4), 243-253.

doi:10.1177/1053815111427565

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). (2003). Early Childhood

Curriculum, Assessment, and Program Evaluation Building an Effective, Accountable System in Programs for Children Birth through Age 8. Retrieved on August 28, 2017 from: https://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/CAPEexpand.pdf

National Board for professional teaching Standards (NBPTS). (2012). Early childhood

generalist standards (3^rd.ed.). Retrieved

from http://boardcertifiedteachers.org/sites/default/files/EC-GEN.pdf

Michigan State Board of Education. (2013). Early Childhood Standards of Quality for Infant

And Toddler programs. Retrieved from

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_IT_approved_422341_7.pdf

Michigan State Board of Education. (2013). Early Childhood Standards of Quality

Prekindergarten programs. Retrieved from

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/mde/ECSQ_OK_Approved_422339_7.pdf

Week 11: Your Personal Language and Literacy Development Journey

As a scholar practitioner and family advocate in the field of early education, it is evident of how much of my passion has become a lifestyle. I eat, breath and sleep early childhood education. I currently run my very own educational support services. I provide tutoring, homeschooling and parent advocacy in regards to their children. Daily I am fostering language development with students.

One of the memories I have is with one of my Japanese students. This student of mine moved here from Japan not speaking any English. Two weeks later she was speaking chopped up sentences. I am so proud of her progress because she had to adapt to new friends, new surroundings, change of language and lifestyle.  I’m glad this big change happened while she is younger because it’s easier for younger children to adapt.

During our sessions I would go back to the basics and have her review each letter and then in the weeks to come letter sounds. She is a very fast learner. I then had her identify lower case letters by participating in small activities. One particular activity she loved was rainbow rice and bottle tops. We took a bag of white rice, used four different pans, Ziploc bags, food coloring and vinegar. I then used a bunch of old water bottle tops and wrote lower case letters on them.  Once we mixed all the ingredients, let them dry and mixed all the rice together, we had ourselves a rainbow rice party with letters.

As my student picked up letter and letter sounds fast, I then introduced her to reading. We would look at pictures and I would have her tell me what she sees and then match up the word to that picture by sounding out the word that sounded close to what that picture was. I have been working with this student for two years and now she is fully speaking English, reading, writing and singing at the age of 4. She is now learning addition, subtraction  and reading  at a second grade level all while continuing her sessions with me.

I have found this course highly effective in my field of practice. I have been attuned more towards the child language development versus a child overall development. Most childcare development courses I have taken just look at a broader aspect of all domains. This course focused on a specific domain.

An article I found in this course that was interesting as it relates to my experience with my Japanese student is What happens in the brain when you learn a language?  It was discovered that your brain actually expands when you learn a second language (Mackey,2014).  “Early language studies based on brain research have shown that Japanese speakers can learn to hear and produce the difference in “r” and “l” by using a software program that greatly exaggerates the aspects of each sound that make it different from the other” ( Mackey, para. 7.,2014).It is a great advantage to learn a second language overall.

I would still like to learn about the milestones of children in language and literacy. How can you predict when a child is supposed to know or had developed this many words or an understanding of that when each child’s development is different? I believe that more information of this topic will affect my future topic greatly for parents. I have been dealing with competitive parents who wonder why this some kids are smarter than their kid or why the sister is not as smart as the brother in reading and writing. This would help me explain to the families on a research level versus my basic answer for them.

Mackey. A. (2014). What happens when you learn a language? Retrieved fromhttps://www.theguardian.com/education/2014/sep/04/what-happens-to-the-brain-language-learning