Preschool and Beyond

Sunday, August 14, 2011

NAEYC Ideals that I Value

The purpose of this post is to highlight some ideals that have been set forth by NAEYC that have special meaning to me.

I-1.1—To be familiar with the knowledge base of earlychildhood care and education and to stay informed

through continuing education and training.

This is important to me because without knowlege you will not be able to provide th children and famillies serve with quality early childhood experiences.

I-1.3-To recognize and respect the unique qualities,abilities, and potential of each child

This is important because as you work with young children it is vital to know that they do not grow and learn at the same time.

I-2.3 —To welcome all family members and encourage
them to participate in the program.

This statement is important because children are apart of families and we must be respectful and welcome families into our classroom. Making them feel needed helps them to understand the important role they play in helping their children have successful starts.

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Early Childhood Resources

Hello All,

As an early childhood professional, I have put together a list of resources that I have found to be very helpful to me through out my early childhood career. The resources listed were apart of our learning resources for week 5. I have found helpful information from these resources and I hope that people read my blog, these resources will be of help to them as well. Enjoy and have a great week!

Early Childhood Resources:

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/

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

Early Childhood Journals:

YC Young Children

Childhood

Journal of Child & Family Studies

Additional Resources:

http://www.highscope.org/ : The preschool I work at uses the High Scope Curriculum and this website gives tons of information about young children and the best practices to use to help them be successful.

If you live in the Tennessee area here are some helpful resources and organizations that support the young child, families, and early childhood professionals.

Tennessee Association for the Education of Young Children- http://www.taeyc.org/

Southern Early Childhood Association- http://www.southernearlychild.org/

Monday, July 25, 2011

Quotes from this week's learning resources

"We need bold federal leadership focused on the failure of the early care and education delivery system to support the well-being of practitioners with a living wage and critical benefits, and to provide comparability in salaries among members of the birth to five and K-3 workforce with equivalent education. "

Marcy Whitebook - April 26, 2010

A family's responses to crisis or to a new situation mirror those of a child. That is to say, the way a small child deals with a new challenge (for instance, learning to walk) has certain predictable stages: regression, anxiety, mastery, new energy, growth, and feedback for future achievement. These stages can also be seen in adults coping with new life events, whether positive or negative.

T. Berry Brazelton

Sunday, July 17, 2011

My Personal Childhood Web

Hello everyone, this is week 3 of my master's program and so far so good. This week we were dealing with family systems theories, Brofenbrenner's theory, and Mahaley an eight year old girl who is supported by caring individual from different levels in her environment. With that being said, my blog for this week will focus on the people in my life that supported me and helped me.

Rosie: A warm and caring person that is so encouraging and supportive. She is my mother. She passed away when I was 22 years old, but she always encouraged us to follow are dreams and work hard.

Lena: Another warm and caring person who told me to dream big and that I can do anything if I stayed focus. She is my grandmother.

Latasha H: She a determined and resilient person who motivates me to challenge myself to work hard. She is my childhood friend.

L. Katherine: helped me to stay motivated and focus through her comments on how proud of me she was as I juggled taking care of children and home, work, and school. She is my children's aunt and my friend.

With supportive people like these in my life, success is bound to come.

Monday, July 11, 2011

Education = Opportunities

About two weeks ago, I applied for a job with the State of Tennessee, as a child care program evaluator in other words a licening counselor. I have been looking at this position for a couple of years now, but could never really apply for it because I didnt' have my bachelors yet. Well now I do and I have applied for the position. I have checked my status and I have passed all requirements and have been placed on the list for eligible list of candidates. Oh, how happy I am that I can possibly have the opportunity to come out of the classroom and work in another area of early childhood. Though, I haven't recieved the job, I just have this gut feeling that I will be selected for an interview. I am just excited about the many opportunities that become available as I continue to further my degree. Whether I get the job or not I am still proud and excited about my decision to keep on learning and achieving my goals.

Thursday, June 30, 2011

Blogging and Me

Ok, It's day four of my new master's program. So far so good. I'm realizing two things how much there is to know about technology and that I don't know even half of it. Because this course requires me to blog, I will be helping myself gain knowledge in this area. I hope I gain it really quick, because for the past four days I have been editing and redesigning my blog page, in an attempt to get it right. OMG! Hopefully by Sunday it will be right. Any who, I have been enjoying interacting with my peers in the course. I think its going to be a great course. Though, I am not new to online learning, but jitters come anytime I begin a new course. Mainly in fear of the unknown, but hey, I'm up for a challenge. Until next time. Happy blogging!

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

About this Blog Page

My name is Priscilla and I created this blog as a way to express the joys and pains that I experience as a preschool teacher and my journey to complete my master's degree. Creating this blog will help me to further interact with other peers and professional who are striving to achieve excellence. Through blogging, I hope to enhance my technological skills, share and gain new knowledge and insights, and learn from others who are working diligently in the field.

Relationships

I currently have healthy relationships with my two sisters, my brother, my sons, my daughter, my father, aunts, uncles, cousins, friends, and colleagues. These relationships are healthy because we first take the time to acknowledge each other as individuals, keeping in mind that we come with our own beliefs, needs, desires, goals, and morals. Respecting each other and working through issues, help us to maintain open lines of communications. As we all know that no relationship is perfect, but being committed to forming strong relationships, can help everyone learn to be better people.

Personal Advocacy Reflection

I cannot pinpoint just one individual to talk about as it relates to advocacy and its effect on my life. There have been a number of people who have advocated and shared important information with me. So to name just one person would not be fair, because they all have impacted me greatly. All through-out my journey to pursue my higher learning education. These individuals have been very positive in sharing information as it relates to school and other opportunities. Because they were so supportive, I was able to pursue three separate degrees consecutively. They were also compassionate and encouraging as I raised my children as a young single mother. Through the sharing of vital information, I excelled higher and to greater places in my life. As a result of their kindness, I am paying it forward by sharing information and resources with others that may be looking to pursue a better life. I always find myself encouraging young mothers to do their best as mothers and to pursue more education in an effort to be a better provider for their young family. I pick up informative brochures and flyers that I come across when I'm out in the district for my job. I share those flyers and brochures with those young mothers and anyone else who's interested. I just believe that we must not be afraid to reach out to lending a helping hand, not a hand-out.

Relationship Reflection

As a mother of three, a sister, a daughter, a friend, and an employee, building and being apart of strong lasting relationships is very important to me. It is important to me, because it allows me to be accepted by my peers. It allows me to contribute to the lives of others in a positive way. It also allows me the grand opportunity to learn from the individuals I have relationships with. Learning how to give, receive, value the opinions of others, and agreeing to disagree are all some of the things I learn as I interact with my sisters, brothers, friends, children, and co-workers. Being able to see the world from the point of view of others is an awesome thing, because they can point out very important points, when our selfishness tend to rear it's head. Healthy relationships allow us to bear our feelings to others, our weaknesses revealed, enabling us to be strong by the strength and helping hands of others.