6163 - Positive Research

First off I am so thankful for everyone’s positive responses – it really made me feel good. Thank you all.

However I am sad to say I am not going to pursue the issue of teacher pay and all the issues that come with it. It made too stressed out and I would get all panicky trying to figure it out. It was just awful. So I decided to opt for sanity and I decided to do my lit review with the focus of teacher education.  Hopefully the coming weeks will be less intense.

Ok SO Positive examples of research…..well there is the “Back is Best” movement. There are always new things coming out about babies. And one of the more recent items is for children to sleep on their backs. Since parents have started putting babies on their backs the SIDS rate has been cut in half. I am so sorry I cannot remember where I learned that. 

Another example would be all the research done on the benefits of breastfeeding.  Or smoking. For years smoking was everywhere. It was like shoes – something that is so  apart of life you don’t even think about it. However through research and LOTS of social change – smoking is now considered deviant. It is known to be bad for health and people no longer smoke the way they used to. It is banned in many places like outside hospitals and in restaurants.  

Oooo! seatbelt laws! Research must have been done to show how important seat belts and car seats are to the lives of children. [and adults too] and now in many states, maybe all of them, seat belts and car seats are mandatory and if people are caught without them – they can go to jail.

I am sure that research will always have a positive impact on our lives because through research we learn new things and our lives can become better.

How will my research of education levels and teachers affect people? I don’t know. I know it came from a 

place of experience. I used to work in a center with so much variation in education it was difficult to find any commonality between teachers. There was disagreement about how to run a classroom, theories about discipline, there was resentment – frankly it was a mess. I had a  co teacher who had an associate’s degree and the little things like my vocabulary would get in the way of us communicating because she hadn’t heard certain words before. While that may sound simple – the repercussions are real. If teachers don’t communicate well with one another then it creates a separation within the classroom. The children are affected, the families are too. Again it was a bit of a mess.

My hope is that with improved education, classroom environments and relationships with families and children will improve. 

6163 - deciding and how awful it is

After much deliberation and a mini breakdown I have decided to stick with the idea of researching teacher pay. While I recognize that is super vauge. I figure that is the purpose of our literature review. Plus the book said research is a process and that made me feel better…I don’t have to know my super specific idea yet. Now next week I may be in a full state of panic. But we’ll cross that bridge when we get to it. ;)

What began as a personal grudge against low wages has slowly been channeled into a healthy feeling that early childhood teachers are just as deserving of fair wages as anyone else, especially when they have the education. I have been talking to other people who work in daycare and they have reported the same thing – four year degree, lead teacher, makes $9 or $10 an hour. However I was enraged when I learned a part timer I know makes $12 an hour. (Complaining about not having any money no less) Anyways….finances are often shrouded in secrecy and that may hamper my research design because I may not receive participants but I mustn’t dwell on that.

This has been a very difficult process choosing a topic and finding literature and forming a question. Because every time I think of a thought I think of a million other factors that relate to the original thought thus making it impossible to decide anything. My brain runs off in bunch of directions and it’s a mess.

Thankfully I did some searching and I found some articles on what I was looking for and I hope that after reading the information I can pick one specific question I would like to research. 

6164 - Three Items

OK so lets journey together – A horrible event as occurred and as a surviving citizen I will be evacuated to a new world.  I may have to remain in the new world FOREVER.  I am only allowed to take three items with me. Oh goodness.

These exercises are always so hard. Because frankly I want to take everything even though I realize how impractical that would be. I am going to reiterate this is a fantasy world so some of my answers will be fantastical.

Item one: The Harry Potter Series. I count this as one item and not seven because it is several things in one. I would take these because Harry Potter is one of the most important books in my life (so far). It represents my cohort as the Potter Generation. I could share the books with my new community, although I’m fairly certain they’ll be familiar with harry Potter as it has been published in like thousands of languages.

Item two: Family photo album. This should be obvious. I want to be able to look at pictures and have memories. I could also use them to explain 21^st century United States culture to my new world. Although vacation photos often put friends to sleep so perhaps this theory needs to be tested.

Deep Breath. Final item. What will it be? My pillow? Bear? Magazines? My phone? My journal and pen? My computer? Or something super practical like toiletries?  

Item three: Ok so I’ve decided on two items. Think of them as Item 3a and 3b. I will bring my bible and my ipod. Yes these seem to conflicting items but they aren’t. Plus I have a skinny ipod touch so I can slip it inside my bible. I will need my Bible because it is God’s message to me and I will want it. Scripture has gotten through some of the worst times in my life. I will need it. My ipod is a spiritual partner because I have a lot of Christian music on my ipod and music is one of those things that can reach my soul in my like 30 seconds. Also my iPod has a few movies to entertain me. It has two games. It has over 4,000 songs to share with my new community. I will teach them about Disney, Eminem, Glee, Madonna, Taylor Swift, Motown, and other musical styling of my time.

If upon arrival in the new world (I am beginning to imagine it as an a mix of old west and Cambodian village) I am told there was a space problem and I only allowed one item and I must leave the other two items I would go through all the stages of grief and then I would stew in my emotions before picking one. Once the dust has settled I would choose my Bible and iPod. It would kind of be cheating because my iPod has 4 out of 7 Harry Potter audiobooks and it has pictures of my family on it. (maniacal laugh at scamming the system)

So what have I learned from all this? I am a semi materialistic person who is excited about the prospect of teaching a new world about my culture. 

Start of Something New

Another step on the path to my degree.

                 I can do it!

Research Competencies and Perspectives on Diversity 

Here I come. 

Farewell Issues and Trends

Learning about the international early childhood field really was a great experience. It helps my mind think in a broader way.  It is good for people to see the world from another perspective.  Different countries view and solve problems differently and thus we can learn from one another.  

These past weeks I have felt much gratitude not only for my life but for the United States in general. There are problems but we are still way ahead of other countries.   Having international contacts is another way to build solidarity among early childhood professionals.  We could build a global network of our own. 

I hope that international awareness provides exactly that – awareness of the larger world. I would like us to develop empathy towards others and realize there is more than one way to live and that is ok. We can help one another. Also we can give this perspective to our children. Imagine if we taught our kids about children from around the world. Introduce them to the idea they are a part of a global community. It could have awesome repercussions.

I guess I sound a little childish with my “it’s a small world” dream but oh well. 

week 7

Well my time with Shay is drawing to to a close....

While we discuss quality and professionals in the field of early childhood, where Shay is people are mostly concerned with children surviving. She was telling me about the basics like health and money. Many children in Mozambique have to help the family by working in some way. The lives of children there are very different then the lives of children in the western world.

As of now she is in the Peace Corps and we were talking about how good it feels to know that you don't have to stay in one place forever. I have been going through some life changes and it's been freaking me out. But she was a source of comfort knowing that life can always change and be ok.

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.