Time Well Spent

Here we are, at the end of our journey, and all I can say is CONGRATULATIONS!

This journey has been one that has held ups and downs, positives and negatives, moments of frustration and success, yet through it all I felt more confident in my job and have been able to take many lessons learned through my coursework that have helped me to be a better director, educator and leader. 

I have had so many positive learning moments throughout the last 2 years. I've learned that being a leader doesn't mean having one definition of what leadership is. It means combining many different styles, and that success is defined by molding those leadership styles at a moments notice. I've also learned to believe in myself. There have been many moments where quitting has been part of my thought process, and as I move forward, I am so grateful that I pushed myself past the tough moments and made it out on the other side. 

And right now, at the end of this journey, the triumph is pretty darn glorious. 

So what now? Now, I use all of the knowledge that I've gained over the last 22 months, and continue to apply it to my current position. As the Director of a large center I find myself up agains moments that I can use my education every day. My capstone focused on increasing teacher wages for the teachers at my center, and that is a major goal over the next year. I have already set up time to meet with the board of directors, and with a positive Capstone Project behind me, I can take the information I gleaned from that to let them know the importance of valuing and compensating the teachers at the J. 

I couldn't have done this without the support and camaraderie of all of you! Dr. Embree, Dr. Dartt, Dr. Marsh, Dr. Parrish, and so many more, have helped me to push through the coursework and helped to showcase my success. Dr. Embrue, you were a significant support system over the last 8 weeks. After week 1, I was pretty sure I was doomed to fail, and would never make it to the end. I could not wrap my head around measurable goals, and a Capstone with clear ideas, through many emails, you helped me get to where I am today. Thank you so much for the time, energy, comments, and positivity you provided over the last 8 weeks. I would definitely not be here without you. THANK YOU!

THANK YOU to all of my colleagues throughout my courses. Your feedback on discussion posts and blogs helped me to critically analyze our challenges, and truly made me a better director. I have taken bits and pieces from each of your individual experiences and bettered myself because of them. You are each fighting the good fight for early childhood education, and I am so lucky to have known you!

As ready as I am for this to end, I'm sad to not have a learning community that I get to "meet" with each week. While I'll have more time outside of the classroom, I will not have educators all over the country there to be a sounding board, and I"m going to miss that. 

I'd love for you to add me on Facebook: www.facebook.com/machaela 

I hope that our paths cross each other at some point in the next phase of our journey!

THANK YOU!

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

This week I explored the early childhood community from an international perspective. I looked for organizations that represented my personal and professional aspirations. This led me to several organizations, Free the children, the Association for Childhood Education International, and UNICEF.

First up is an organization called Free the Children. Free the Children is an international charity working to empower and enable youth to be agents of change. "Free the Children educates, engages, and empowers youth in North America, the UK and around the world with the tools, knowledge, confidence, and support network to be ambassadors for change and lead meaningful action" (Free the Children, 2015).

This organization has many jobs that relate to my interests, the one that stuck out to me the most is the Educational Programming Coordinator. "Are you a person who enjoys challenges and making a difference in the world" (Free the Children, 2015). This position requires dedication to the mission of Free the Children as well as initiative, organization, and people skills. I think I would excel in this position based on my experience in the world of early childhood education.

Next is the Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI), a non profit that "is interested in sharing new approaches to the education of children and ensuring that these approaches are delivered in ways that enhance children's individual skills and abilities and provide opportunities for success in life" (ACEI, 2015). ACEI is a global community that helps educators find and exchange information about early childhood, and connect with other educators to institute a world wide access to high quality education.

ACEI has summer institutes for students enrolled in early childhood graduate programs, which would be perfect for me. These 8-12 week internships focus on information and data gathering and allow students to see the early childhood community from a global perspective.

Finally, UNICEF "works for a more equitable world by fighting for the rights of its future: children" (UNICEF, 2015). UNICEF works in many different areas of early childhood education, advocacy, poverty relief, and education. I'm drawn to their mission and the wide variety of experiences and help they offer.

There are a wide variety of positions available at UNICEF all over the world. Everywhere from Afghanistan to Kenya to the US. Their Education Specialist builds partnerships, manages programs, and uses innovation to complete the UNICEF mission. I think that this position, no matter where in the world would be an engaging position. Working all over the world would certainly be a draw for working in this amazing organization.



Free the Children: http://www.freethechildren.com 

Association for Childhood Education International: http://acei.org

UNICEF: http://www.unicef.org

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

It's always fun exploring the early childhood educational field to see all of the national opportunities there are to be involved. I think that the best thing an educator can do is educate themselves on all of the potential support that is available to them. I chose to explore the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), the Association for Early Learning Leaders, and the National Education Association (NEA).

As a member of NAEYC and an employee of an accredited center I see so many benefits to this organization. "NAEYC is a professional membership organization that works to promote high quality early learning for all young children birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research" (NAEYC, n.d.). The free resources on their website make their support of the early childhood community known. An educator does not have to be a member to access these resources, although there are even more if you are a member, and their support of our community helps parents and other educators to understand the importance of early childhood education. Being involved in the NAEYC organization would be a dream job for me. I would enjoy being a person who helps programs get reaccredited, or serve as a member of their administrative staff that researches the newest trends in early childhood. 

Get more information about NAEYC at http://www.naeyc.org

Next up is the National Education Association, and specifically their interest in early childhood education. They are quite clear in their support, "Early childhood education: one of the best investments our country can make" (NEA, n.d.). Within the NEA they have "Organizational Specialists" that help other programs at a state and national level develop strategic plans of improvement, including developing state and local policy. While I have never delved into policy creation, I think that it would be very interesting to work in a position like this, especially in the state of Kansas, however at a national level, helping early childhood educators all over the country would be an ideal position for me. This position would take many years of experience in early childhood as well as a dedication to our field. 

Want to know more about the NEA? Check out http://www.nea.org

Finally, the Association for Early Learning Leaders seeks to "strengthen the knowledge, skills and abilities of early care directors, owners, emerging leaders, and other early learning professionals to ensure quality child care programs for young children" (AELL, n.d.) With a  mission to specifically help directors like myself I was immediately drawn to their goals and purpose. As a director it is easy to feel alone, and in a silo; the Association for Early Learning Leaders helps directors feel like a part of community. Each year the AELL puts together a large conference for those involved with early education, as a dream job, I would love to be a part of putting this together. While this position is not currently open, I can see being involved in finding speakers, entertainers, and exhibitors to bring excitement to the early childhood community that is participating. In order to be successful in this position I would need to have my finger on the pulse of early childhood and know what kind of information early childhood professionals are seeking. 

More information about the AELL can be found at http://www.earlylearningleaders.org

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community

There are many organizations in the state of Kansas that have a valued effect on the Early Childhood Community. First there is the KAEYC, the Kansas Association of the Education of Young Children, this is the local branch of the NAEYC. KAEYC "works to improve services and facilities in Kansas for all young children by bringing together all persons interested in young children, by encouraging professional development of all persons employed in the care and education of young children, by providing continuing professional development opportunities, by making the public aware of the needs of young children, and by collaborating with other agencies" (KAEYC, 2013). Because of the KAEYC's association with NAEYC I am connected with a  group of centers and directors that are all seeking accreditation and are experiencing the trials associated with that quest.

The next Kansas organization that appeals to me is the Douglas County Child Development Association (DCCDA). The DCCDA is "committed to developing programs to support early childhood care and education in Douglas County, Kansas" (DCCDA, 2014). I'm drawn to the DCCDA because of my previous position in Douglas County. The support workers there were able to do continued professional development trainings, one on one support for teachers, and created a Community of Practice of early childhood directors. Their support in the formative years of my career has helped me grow as a director. 

My final local CoP is the Jewish community that I am a part of. Myself as well as three other Jewish preschool directors meet monthly to talk about what's happening in the world of early childhood, and in our specific centers. As the only non-Jewish member I can bounce ideas off of them and gather information about the culture and practice of Judaism. 

I am currently the Executive Director at a large, NAEYC accredited preschool, and to be quite honest I'm pretty happy with where my career has taken me. Overall I don't know that there are other positions in our field that I would be interested in. If I were to add anything to my current position it would be to increase the amount of consultation that I can do for other smaller programs. I've always thought it would be interesting to travel to other learning environments and help them to become accredited, or just improve their quality of care. 

In order to be a successful director and/or consultant I would need to hone my skills in the early childhood field. As each state has different requirements for state licensing I would need to be aware of differences and similarities between my home state and those I could potentially travel to. 

References

About KAEYC. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.kaeyc.net/about-us.html.

DCCDA. (2014). Retrieved from http://dccda.org.

The Adjourning Phase...Part 2

This semester has probably been the hardest that I have experienced on my Walden journey. While the course subject matter was of great interest to me, personally and professionally it has been a busy and hectic 8 weeks.

Through it all, however, I have felt supported and challenged by my colleagues in Group 2. Each of you have made me pause, think, and have challenged me with your thoughts and insight. I appreciate that so much.

Doing online coursework is hard, because we are each doing a high wire balancing act, we also miss out on the face to face contact you get from attending class each week in a real classroom, however I wouldn't give up this experience with you all for a second. I appreciate getting to know you through your posts and blogs, and seeing a bit of each of your personalities through your writing.

Thank you for being great classmates, and I look forward to the next chapter in our books!

The Adjourning Phase

Leaving a group at the end of a project can be the best, and sometimes the worst part of working in collaboration. When a group is truly functioning at its best it is often hard to leave, when a group is dysfunctional it is sometimes easy to walk away.

One group situation that I have experienced that was particularly hard to leave was my last work situation. After being there for 7 years I truly felt that we were a solid team. There were moments when it felt like the absolute best environment and we functioned as one. When I chose to leave it was time to start the adjourning phase of this group of strong teachers and leaders. We had meetings, both formal work inspired and after work events, this helped to ease the transition with the teachers, as well as myself.

I think that high performing groups are very hard to leave, whereas a group that is just barely getting by is very easy to leave in the dust. However, whether it be easy or hard to leave the adjourning phase, where you ask for feedback, say goodbye and pass on information is so essential because it gives you a sense of closure and completion.

As some of us are only a few months away from the adjourning phase with this cohort of colleagues I think it will be important for us each to reflect on the time we had together, and spend time congratulating each other on our hard work. I think it will also be important to figure out how we can stay in touch to help each other as we continue on in our careers.

Conflicts at work

Do you ever have a moment where you know a person makes you the worst version of yourself? I have that situation at work right now. 

This week I have been asked to: Think about any disagreements, or conflicts, you have recently experienced or are currently experiencing at work with a supervisor or colleague, or someone in your personal life. Share at least two strategies you have learned about that might help you manage or resolve the conflict more productively, and why these strategies might be effective. For example, could you suggest a compromise? Could you look for a broader range of solutions to your disagreement? Could you use some of the principles of nonviolent communication or the 3 R's to better help you resolve this conflict?

Right now I have that person at work, and while I normally consider myself a fair communicator, I often find myself at a loss for my skills when communicating with this person. So, what have I learned this week that could help me with that. I think that Gerber's 3 R's are a starting point. The 3 R's "promote the idea that relationships are built over time through respectful, reciprocal, and responsive interactions" (Gerber, n.d). By using these 3 R's I know that I have to step back and rethink my interactions with this person at work, as I know where are times that my interactions have not been respectful, reciprocal or responsive. 

Also, I think that the principles of Nonviolent Communication will also help me resolve conflict more productively. By being more clear in my requests, differentiating feeling from thinking, and connecting more with her person needs/values I think that I will be able to more successfully communicate with my partner at work. 

Will our communication ever been 100% effective? Probably not, but maybe with the use of the skills I am learning in this class we can get up to 90%? 80%, maybe ;)

How we communicate

Each day I communicate with different groups of people, and I think there are parts of my communication that differs with each group. For example, I talk to my mom every day, but I would never speak with the CEO of my organization the same way I speak with her, I would also not speak with a concerned parent in the same way I'd talk to another early childhood director. 

There are some key strategies that I have learned that help me to communicate effectively with different groups of people.

1. When speaking with families where English is a second language I always try to avoid slang that might be hard to understand. There are a lot of pieces of the English language that native speakers have learned (many of them are bad habits) that make no sense to those that are learning, or who have learned English. 

2. When speaking with a parent who is maybe concerned about an issue or something that has happened in the classroom I always make sure to employ active listening skills and make sure that they feel heard and understood. Taking a moment to sit and really listen to a family can mean trust is gained, and a situation can be diffused. 

Overall, the Platinum Rule of treating others as they would want to be treated is important to remember when communicating with any person regardless of culture, political affiliation, sexual orientation, ability, etc. 

Communicating with no sound..an experiment

This weekend I sat down to watch an episode of a reality show I don't regularly watch, Survivor. While I've seen this show before, I haven't been keeping up this time around.

Reality television is a great chance to look at communication with the sound on AND with the sound off. I think that the fact that the "actors" are not supposed to be acting gave way to some very interesting communication notes.

First, with the sound off, I noticed a lot of the characters' body language. Many times when they were communicating in groups I saw their arms crossed across their body, which could mean that they were not listening, or feeling uncomfortable with what was being communicated with them. At one point in the show I noticed that two tribe mates were talking to each other and both were being active listeners, with eye contact and one was nodding in agreement, I also noticed that they were expressively using their hands in what appeared to be a serious conversation.  When another person walked up on this conversation the two original people changed their body language, and it seemed that the tone of the conversation changed--I could tell this by their body language and facial expression.

Now, it was time to turn the sound on! Surprisingly, I was pretty on target with what was happening in the situations that I watched. Specifically when the two people were talking, they were having serious game play talk alone, when the third approached they began joking and laughing about something completely unrelated to their game.

It's interesting to me how big of a part the non verbal aspects of communication are. Body language, facial expression, eye contact are all things that can really affect your communication skills.

Effective Communicators in My Life

I feel that I am an effective communicator because of my mother. As a representative of my home town's Convention and Visitor's Bureau I grew up watching her speak at large conferences, lead tour groups, and attend city meetings. I was always intrigued at the way she spoke to people.

As I grew older, I started paying closer attention at her communication skills. When speaking to any person she actively listened, making them feel that whatever it was they had to say was the most important. My mother is a very social person, and can fill a room with positivity. What that means for her communication is that people are drawn to her, she emotes trust and friendliness. Even in a situation that requires seriousness she still shows compassion and caring.

Because of her, I am the communicator I am today. Whenever I sit down with a parent I make sure that-regardless of how busy I am-they are the most important person in the room. When I speak with staff members, I do the same.

Thanks mom :)

Professional Hopes and Goals

What an amazing 8 weeks it has been! I feel that I have learned so much from this course, and feel like I will be able to take the information to better myself in my career.

My hope for working with children and families of diverse backgrounds is that I am able to welcome them and make them feel very comfortable in my center. I want ALL families to feel that I am here for them and understand them, but  many international families or families with diverse backgrounds come with extra needs, and I want to be able to have them integrate into my center with little issue. I also hope to grow from working with families (ALL families). Every family has something that I can learn from, and I want to be open to learning from each of them.

For the early childhood field in general, I would like to see more national support for understanding diversity and multi culturalism education for teachers. It would be so amazing if there was a course, like required CPR or First Aid that teachers would be required to go through to work with families.

Finally, I cannot say thank you enough to all of my colleagues this time around in EDUC 6164, each of you have made me think with your comments and support. I appreciate the Walden community and structure. It really makes us interact with our personal and professional takes on so many topics.

I'd also like to thank Dr. Parrish for her support and knowledge. Her style of teaching has been the best I have experienced so far, and I appreciate the hard work she put in to making us each feel like we had a voice and opinion on everything.

Here's to the next 8 weeks!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

In this week's scenario I have been tasked with writing about how I would handle a family from a foreign country arriving at my child care center and I am responsible for welcoming them.

Because of an interest in Indian culture, I have chosen to imagine my family coming from India. With my history of working at a very multicultural center, I can tell you my first stop is always Google. While, as scholars, we all have to be wary of internet resources, there are still many legit sites that can help any person begin to navigate cultural responsiveness. Next, I would contact my local university and see if there is an Indian studies department, or any sort of program at the University that could help me. Third, I would seek out any families in my current program who are from India and see what kind of information they could give me. Fourth, I would speak directly with the family's new classroom teachers, and prepare them with the knowledge and information I have gathered.

I think the most important step in preparing myself to be culturally responsive would be to speak directly with the family. While speaking with scholars, googling, talking with other families is helpful, without getting to know this specific family I am potentially setting myself up to be even more culturally unprepared.

All five of these ways will help prepare me and my child care center to welcome a new family in to our  family. By gathering bits of information, and preparing teachers we are able to welcome a child that is possibly right off of a plane, in a new country, where a new language is spoken. By speaking to the parents and gathering information from them, it will help to make that transition go as smoothly as possible.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I've written about this before, but I will do so again to address the real side of bias, prejudice and oppression this week. A month into my new position at a child care center I experienced an extreme act of aggression, prejudice and hatred. On a fairly normal Sunday afternoon a man chose to come to my place of work and open fire in the parking lot of our building. He hurt several people, and killed two innocent people. This man specifically came to the building because of his bias towards the Jewish faith. The choices that he made hurt the entire community, and changed the lives of several families in an instant.

This man spewed hateful words as he committed this hate crime, and let his pure prejudice towards Jews be openly known.

This specific incident really opened my eyes to the topic of bias, prejudice and oppression, because before this I had not really experienced much in my lifetime. I became very aware of the hatred some people have for specific religions.

Many women have experienced some sort of bias by their 30s, I have chosen a field that really embraces women, and opens HUGE doors for them, so I have not had to deal with oppression related to my gender. However, that doesn't mean that I'm not aware of it. Many friends of mine have been turned down positions because of their gender--only to be passed up for male applicants who are less educated and less qualified. It is very hard for them, and me, to understand this inequality. With this specific case, in order to turn it into  an opportunity for greater equity, I thin that there need to be stricter guidelines for equal opportunity employment. I see "EOE" on many job postings, but I wonder who monitors this?

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I was on the hunt this week...the hunt for micro aggressions. At first, I thought, wow this is going to be hard, but it only took one evening of television watching for me to see an instance.

It happened on the season premier of Survivor. The tribe is sitting around the fire getting ready to vote someone off, and one of the people makes a comment about how one of the guys (a gay man) is trusted more because he is "just one of the girls". The host of Survivor interjected and asked if that was because he was gay..

Now, I can only assume that the person didn't mean malice or harm by her uninformed comment, or maybe the bright lights of the Survivor jungle were making her nervous. Regardless, she made a statement that could cause harm (albeit unintended harm) to the other person. A typical definition of micro aggression.

In this day and age I think that as a society we take our whit, humor and sarcastic nature too far. What can be seen as a "joke" can be truly offensive to someone else, and cause them harm. As a whole, I think we all should take a moment and think before we speak and look at the unintended consequences of our words.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I took time to call and speak with three different people in my life to get their opinion and question them about culture and diversity. I spoke with my mom, a colleague who is the director at another center, and parent at my school.  These three women represent diversity in my life, from age, to religion, to geographical location.

Becky (mom):
What is your definition of culture: Culture, for me, is the network of beliefs and aesthetics and values that each of us builds around ourselves and our family.
What is your definition of diversity: Diversity is all the networks that each of us builds, each different and unique.

Elsie (colleague):
What is your definition of culture: Culture is a specific way of living/being typically in a group. Most times in a specific culture (I'm thinking of religion here), people tend to think their way is the best way, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, but does narrow people's views on outside ideas and views.
What is your definition of diversity: Diversity is a group of people from different backgrounds, including race, sex, and religion. Personally, I feel diversity is how society survives, without change and people of different backgrounds coming together we would be in a stagnate way of life without excitement or adding growth to our life.

Stefanie (parent):
What is your definition of culture: I define culture as the base of family values and traditions. The culture of a person is determined by their individual beliefs, heritage, religion, etc.
What is your definition of diversity: Diversity is what makes each of us different, yet brings differences together.

The three women that I spoke to are all educated, but represent diversity and culture in their own ways. Their definitions are similar to what we have been studying in our course this week. We have learned that culture is unconscious, sometimes invisible, and is a part of every person. Each person I interviewed had a similar definition, but it reflected their individuality. I would have to say that I agree with each of their definitions, and respect what each of them had to say.

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

This is a tough blog to write this week! Thinking about completely being displaced into a new environment is a scary thought. The items that I would take that would appropriately represent my family culture would be: 

• A family photo--depicting my entire family at our last vacation to New Mexico
• My Grandmother's engagement ring
• My families' genealogy

Explaining to others what these items mean to me and my culture would be relatively simple. The family photo speaks for itself. It would be a representation of those that I have with me, and those that have potentially been displaced into other parts of the world. My Grandmother's engagement ring is a family heirloom that means so much to me, and would be more of a keepsake and remembrance of her. My genealogy and family history would be important to me moving forward, and might help me and future generations to understand our background regardless of where we ended up. I would be able to explain to others what my background is--which is quite diverse. 

Giving up two items--in the case that I wouldn't be able to keep all 3--would be devastating! With only 3 items to keep my families' history alive it would be very hard to let any of them go. 

This exercise has really made me think about what is important to me, and my family, and I think has exposed that history and memories are what drive my family culture. 

This situation is less than ideal, however, has happened many times in history. From the Holocaust to the relocation camps of Japanese Americans, many families have been displaced and forced to leave their homes, family's and culture behind. 

When I Think of Research....

....I think--whew, I made it!

To be completely honest, the thought of doing a research based course scared the bejeebies out of me. My interest in early childhood education is based off of my passion for working with young children and their families. I have been a Director at various Early Education Centers for almost 10 years, and I have had no greater joy than seeing children that I knew as infants graduate from Pre-K. In my mind, this had nothing to do with research, and dealt more with a natural, and emotional way of studying children.

However, through this course I've come to realize that maybe all along I did believe in research, I just didn't know enough about it. Research doesn't have to be children pressing buttons behind a glass mirror while researchers in lab coats take notes. It can be so much more, and can help every aspect of early childhood subsequently. The biggest insight I gained from this course is that research takes many forms, and is conducted by many different people. Every study has a different hypothesis, research question, and method of acquiring data.

I learned that planning, designing, and conducting research is a long task, but in the end is very purposeful. Creating my research simulation over the last 8 weeks has challenged how I think about certain aspects of my professional life, and also helped to keep me organized. The direct way that the simulation was set up really made me think, and taught me how helpful research actually is to my chosen profession.

Some people in early childhood education have a very research oriented mind, and I applaud those people. The biggest challenge I met was trying to turn my mind in a research direction. Writing a research simulation requires a very formal way of writing, and if you can't tell, I'm more of a free thought kind of writer. Over the last 4 weeks especially I have done a lot of editing, re-writing, and over thinking before turning in my papers. In the end, I think that I was able to really commit to producing quality work that met the requirements.

Overall, this research course has opened my eyes a little to how research can really benefit early childhood programs. I even found myself looking for scholarly articles to articulate different points with the children and families I work with! My perceptions about research have been changed thanks to this course, and I'm grateful for that.

Now, on to the next course! We are all doing so well, and I'm glad to have the support of my colleagues who are treading through with me. We've got about a year left! Let's go!

Research Around the World

This week I looked towards Australia for information on what Aussie's are looking at in the world of early childhood research. "Early Childhood Australia advocates to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years" (Early Childhood Australia, 2014). Early Childhood Australia is the equivalent of NAEYC for the United States.

A quick review of their website shows that some of their most current research is on quality in early childhood, information on intentional self-harm and suicidal behaviors in children and providing quality and affordable early childhood education (Early Childhood Australia, 2014).

I find it very interesting that the state of early childhood education in Australia is quite similar to that of the United States. In Australia they are looking to provide high quality, affordable early childhood education to all children, which is something that the early childhood community in America is trying to move towards as well.

I was also intrigued by the Research in Practice Series that Early Childhood Australia has published for educators. The series "provides practical, easy-to-read resources for those involved in the early childhood field" (Early Childhood Australia, 2014). These books are available to educators so that they can further their knowledge and stay up to date with the most recent trends and research in early childhood. I also found that their "Learning Hub" section is a technologically advanced area where educators can get more information on their profession, and communicate with other educators. That is a really amazing offer for teachers, administrators and families.

I will look to the Early Childhood Australia website for more information as I navigate our research course. It's always helpful to see where the rest of the world stands on the subject of early childhood education.




Reference
Early Childhood Australia. (2014) Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au

Research that Benefits Families--In a dream world..

My task this week is to think of a dream research project that is unrestricted by reality or current constraints that could potentially benefit children throughout the world.

My mind immediately went to childhood cancer. Each year approximately 13,400 children between the ages of birth and 19 years of age are diagnosed with cancer (ACCO.org, 2014). If I were to have unlimited research resources, without limitations I would work to cure childhood cancer. The ultimate, worldly benefit that would result from a positive research outcome would help many children and families all over the world.

The reason I would choose this topic has a personal story behind it. When I was 5, my best friend Katie was diagnosed with leukemia. I remember spending the next year with her at the hospital, and witnessing her go through the traumatic experience of chemotherapy, and, ultimately, losing her battle with cancer. As a then 7 year old, I don't think that I fully understood what had happened, and what this meant for me, my family, and most importantly Katie's family. I was sad to know my best friend was not around, and I recall being confused as to why we didn't go visit her in the hospital anymore.

Cancer is a disease that children fight each day. In some cases it makes it impossible for children to go to school, because of lowered immune systems, and some, like Katie, do not make it into adulthood. I know that this is a highly researched subject, and I hope that some day there is a cure, so that other families do not have to go through what Katie's did.




Reference
http://www.acco.org/information/aboutchildhoodcancer/childhoodcancerstatistics.aspx

My Personal Research Journey

So, we have all arrived at the daunting task of our first research related course. I can say, after completing the first discussion posts, it was obvious that we are all feeling a little intimidated by the title of course and the challenges that the topic of research brings. I, for one, am in the same boat as my colleagues right now. Research to me is a very detail oriented subject, and for me, the topic of early childhood is so natural, that sometimes the small details are lost on me. I will say, however, that I'm excited for the challenge.

In this course we have been tasked at creating a broad research topic, and then several refined, very specific topics that we will do research on over the next 8 weeks. My original idea was based on play-based play environments in classrooms, and how they affect children and their development. Based on looking forward into the next several weeks, I'm figuring out that my research topic is way to broad, and it will need to be paired down. I am working on creating a more refined topic that I can use to base my work off of.

So, my Walden colleagues, any ideas on how I can narrow down my broad topic into a more researchable topic? I'd appreciate your help and thoughts on the matter!