I
never realized what a web like community there is in the field of early
childhood education. There seems to be a lot of resources for our field that I
never knew about. I am new to the field, so it's not a surprise that this all
seems very new and surprising to me. Some of the things that I read about like
the "Old Firehouse School" seemed very interesting. Their intentions
sounded a lot like those of Haleakala Waldorf School who states, "Upholding the ideal of the class teacher staying with the
class from first through eighth grade. This allows for a deeply founded
relationship between the teacher, students and parents." What an
experience and bond these teachers much have by the end of their time with the
children and their families.
I'm happy that we were given this last part of the text as the
focus of our post because I feel like it would have otherwise taken me years
and years to come to realize how many resources there are out there for the
children, professionals, and others involved or relating to the field of
early childhood education. In what ways can others in the field find resources like these? Are they advertised anywhere? Can teachers seek out these resources personally for their program needs or do they require directors or higher management to be involved?
MAHALO everyone for being a part of my learning in this class! Your responses really helped further my thoughts and widen my lens in many ways!
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Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteI agree, having the text end with all the resources available gave me a feeling that I have tools to use that I never had before. The text provided us an example of sharing resources. We should follow their example and share these with our staff and families. We talk about directors as mentor, coach, manager, overseer and community builder, but what should also be included is director as a resource. We as teachers are also a resource for our families and those we come in contact with. What will you do now that these resources are available? Because we are more aware of resources how will we use them? Where will we start? It was a joy to be a part of this class...best wishes.
Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteYour not the only one where this all seems new. It's the resources that the textbook provides is why I keep many of my books. I like to go back when I am struggle with any aspect of teaching. One of my favorite things was subbing because I got to observe and ask questions from teachers with a different style than my own lead teacher. They had their own set of resource you may have not thought about it. How will you create your own set of resources? What type of resources are interested in?
Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteI too am glad we were given this last text assignment to read. Before I knew about this part of the book, I was wondering where I would find resources after we are done with this class and the book is done. I almost felt like everything was about to just end like walking and coming to a sudden stop. But this part helps to gradually ease away and left us with really great resources out there. Now it makes me wonder what other resources there are out there? I feel like this is just a very minute amount of all the resources out there. Now that we got these, I wonder what else is out there. As we all want to improve every day, what types of resources attract you? I would wonder how these people got all these resources to give to us, and if they got it from someone, how did they get this info.
It's been great having class with you again.
Hi Elena,
ReplyDeleteDeep relationships are often spoken about in terms of teaching and learning -- yet many of the prescribed and expected practices place relationships as secondary to accountability. As shared by the work at the Waldorf School, teachers remaining the same for years with children demonstrates the value of deep relationships. The practice matches the belief.
In what ways might you as a director use these resources as a mirror on your practice to ensure your decisions regarding policy and practice match your vision? How might an openess to seeing what could be possible (as described in the resources) be the impetus to rethinking traditional and prescribed early childhood practices? Can a director understanding why of each choice a teacher makes stregthen how a director comes to match practice with vision? What might all of this look like within an early childhood site?
Jeanne