Wednesday, 27 February 2013

A NOTE OF THANKS
It has been a wonderful journey collaborating with my colleagues of group two for this course. The insights and perspectives that you shared through the discussion board and your blogs have helped to make this course more interesting and edifying. I have learnt much about: advocacy, professionalism, the needs of young children and the importance of providing support for the families of young children. I will always remember Renetta Cooper's advice to us professional advocates "Be a voice for the voiceless" and also that this whole process is not about us ,but about what is best for the child. I am looking forward to starting my new course.Hope it would be as interesting as this. I also look forward to greater collaboration as we continue through this program.
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Saturday, 23 February 2013

Making It Personal



THE NATIONAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE EDUCATION OF YOUNG CHILDREN (NAEYC) the  CODE OF ETHICAL CONDUCT AND COMMITMENT.

Any profession is governed by codes of ethical behavior and professionals are encouraged to follow the rules   and remain committed to standards set and to the profession. The ethical guidelines and ideals outlined by the NAEYC that I found interesting are:


1.1—To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed
through continuing education and training.
It is necessary for all child care professionals to stay up to date with the current trends in EC so that they can  make the type of decisions that will positively impact children and their families . Continuous professional development will ensure that this is a reality.

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


I chose this ideal because I believe that we must recognize each  child as a unique individual. This is a concept that is key and it can influence the way we plan and cater for the needs of our children. Gardener promotes this through the Multiple Intelligence Theory.His theory encourages us all to focus on the uniqueness of every child.  
  •  Recognize that children and adults achieve their full potential in the context of relationships that are based on trust and respect. 
  • Appreciate and support the bond between the child and family.


  •  Appreciate childhood as a unique and valuable stage of the human life cycle.

These core values are interesting, because to me they stand out among the others. I strongly believe that childhood is extremely important to the individual . The experiences that one has in childhood can greatly affect the person that on becomes. It is therefore necessary that we as educators  work towards making the early experiences rewarding for all children. We should acknowledge the role of the family in this entire process. The child needs the support of the family to make the experience richer. The family is the main of the child. Today for many children that support is missing. We are seeing the repercussions  of  in our society   
today because of the ineffective support of family systems that is being offered to the young ones. We need to ensure that this key support system is strengthened in order for children to be given the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

 Division of Early Childhood (DEC) Code of Ethics

 RESPONSIVE FAMILY CENTERED PRACTICES 
Ensure that families receive individualized, meaningful, and relevant services responsive to their beliefs, values,  customs, languages, and culture.  We are committed to enhancing the quality of children’s and families’ lives by promoting family well-being and participation in typical life activities.  The early childhood special education professional will demonstrate respect for all families, taking into consideration and acknowledging diverse family structures, culture, language, values, and customs.  Finally, families will be given equal voice in all decision making relative to their children.  The following practice guidelines provide a framework for enhancing children’s and families’ quality of lives. 

PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND PREPARATION 
  Professional development is viewed and valued as an ongoing process guided by high standards and competencies for professional performance and practice.  
Professionals acquire the knowledge, skills, and dispositions to work with a variety of young children with 
disabilities and their families within natural and inclusive environments promoting children’s overall growth, 
development and learning, and enhancing family quality of life.  Finally, professionals continually should seek 
and interpret evidence based information for planning and implementing individually appropriate learning 
environments linked to ongoing assessment and collaboration with parents and professional team members. 


I chose these ethical codes from the DEC code of ethics , because I firmly believe that every effort must be made to have families of our students involved in the process. Some parents may need support in order for them to give the kind of support that their children require. This may range from financial to emotional support.
I also believe that to have maximum output in terms of providing quality care for young children staff must
be  have the requisite knowledge, therefore continuous staff development is necessary.




Let's Work Together to make their future bright

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Wednesday, 6 February 2013

Resources are important to the professional

COURSE RESOURCES

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Sunday, 3 February 2013



Quotes from Early Childhood Specialists
Dr Lilian Katz


“ Curriculum should help children make deeper and fuller understanding of their own experience.” Dr Lilian Katz




Rather than “delivering” education, we are most likely to help children by “providing” experiences known to be beneficial to young children. Thus when we decide to evaluate or assess a provision for young children, we might ask: What kind of experiences is each child having much of the time? Or perhaps we should ask: What does it feel like to be a child in this environment day after day after day? To use these questions as a basis for assessing the appropriateness of provision for young children requires coming to agreement on which experiences are thought to be essential to yield the kinds of short-term and long-term effects (vs. products) we want to cause.
 Dr Lilian Katz

' Literacy and numeracy skills are not ends in themselves but basic tools that can and should be applied in the quest for understanding  
 Dr Lilian Katz


Dr Ann Turnbull


"The growing expectation is that schools will deliver socially acceptable, effective and efficient interventions to ensure safe, productive environments where non-violating behavior is minimized and pro-social behavior is promoted."  Dr Ann Turnbull

It is a good rule to face difficulties at the time they arise and not allow them to increase unacknowledged.
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