Saturday, August 4, 2012

Week 6

First off I would like to say YAY for online school!  it is awesome that I am at Myrtle Beach staring at the ocean while doing schoolwork.

Ok so I am exploring the NIEER website and receiving their newsletter. I used the assignment Q's to guide this post. ...


·         Follow some of the outside links that you have not yet explored. Where do they lead?  one leads to Rutgers University. I am guessing NIEER has a partnership with them. I went to school in PA – my initial thought was if only there was such a thing as life do overs or time travel I would go back in time and go to Rutgers and I would direct my life towards working with NIEER.
·         
·         If you receive an e-newsletter, follow a link related to one of the issues you have been studying. What new information is available?  There were links to articles about re directing funds to pre K from K – 12. The first guy said that funding of K-12 needs to be going to removing lead from the world and investing in Pre K. Then another guy responded to how ridiculous that idea is. the second guy made a very good point when he says most of the thoughts about Pre K programs and the efficacy are based on the BEST programs whereas the thoughts on K – 12 are based on typical, average programs. So its hard to compare them and draw up clear ideas because the research/ thoughts behind it are different.

·        Does the website or the e-newsletter contain any information that adds to your understanding of equity and excellence in early care and education? Yes it does. When I first clicked, it was a bit overwhelming the amount of information. My instinct was to sit down and read it all but then I realized that would take an obscene amount of time. Instead I just read a few of the articles. The funding articles go way over my head. My brain is not wired for that. The access articles were amazing. There was one about how private centers are helping transform preschool. I have been trying to make up my mind about private centers because in my experience I feel like private centers have more leeway to get away with stuff like low balling teachers but also allowing for more play based learning. *shrug*

·         What other new insights about issues and trends in the early childhood field did you gain this week from exploring the website and/or the e-newsletter?
One article focuses on why math is important in early childhood classrooms. Literacy is often the focus of early childhood but he explains math skills are important and are often better predictors of school success.  I personally understand this struggle because I hate math. It has never been something I am confident in. Because of my own issues with math I tend to shy away from it with my kids, believing it’ll happen later.  I must focus on this bias i have and work to correct it. 


I am loving this website. I am such a research geek.

1 comment:

  1. I agree with you. I too hate math, Its not one of my strong subjects. I also agree that literacy is most times the main focus in a classrom, but math is also an important subject. There are a lot of kids that are struggling in math and teachers do seem to shy away from the subject and do less math, but I think it henders the children.

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