A note of thanks

I want to thank all of my classmates and the professor for being supportive in this advocacy journey. This has been a very stressful quarter for me between school work, my job, and preparing to have my second child. I am now at the point where I am writing my final reflection papers and I hope to have those complete in the next couple of days. I feel that I have learned a lot from this class and from my fellow students. I look forward to receiving my degree and welcoming my new addition, who will be here within the next 10 days! I wish everyone luck in their future endeavors.

Enlisting and Providing Support

•Questions you have with which your colleagues may be able to provide help and support

                Questions I have are how are you formatting your presentation and how large of a group are you presenting to?

•Resources and information you are seeking

                I am seeking additional ideas on how to reach those hard to reach parents…the ones that don’t seem to want to be reached. If you have any ideas or things you have done that have been successful please share!

•Resources and/or information you have found helpful and insightful

                I have found many resources that I can use to share with parents and staff on increasing parent involvement. There are many web sites that can be useful in my area…Below are some of the links I have found for resources in my community:

 Invest in Children:  http://investinchildren.cuyahogacounty.us/en-US/home.aspx

Ground Work Ohio: http://www.groundworkohio.org/

Voices for Ohio’s Children:

http://www.vfc-oh.org/cms/site/91bb18d67e98c7a2/index.html

Zero to three: http://zerotothree.org/

Child Care Exchange: http://www.childcareexchange.com/

Euclid City Schools: http://www.euclidschools.org/

Euclid Public Library: http://www.euclidlibrary.org/kids/build-a-kindergarten-star

 

 

               

 

 

 

My advocacy journey...

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed citizens can change the world.

Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” Margaret Mead

“We must become the change we wish to create.” Gandhi

The focus of my advocacy plan will be to increase parent and family involvement at Kiddie City with hopes that it will increase the involvement of the parents throughout their child’s school career

• What inspires and excites you most about your advocacy plan and being an advocate?

What excites me most about my advocacy plan is that I know that I can help make a difference in the lives of children by helping their parents realize how important it is to be involved in their child’s education from the start. Starting to get parents involved in center events and conferences at the child care center level will get them in the habit/routine of being involved in the later years. It will also help the parents realize that we are educators, not just babysitters.

• What challenges and/or anxieties do you feel related to engaging in the advocacy efforts you have targeted?

The only concern I have is how to motivate staff that may be frustrated from past failed attempts at getting parents involved and how to reach those parents that in the past have seemed to be unreachable.

• What do you believe will be most effective in helping you overcome any challenging emotions you may be feeling with regard to presenting and implementing your Advocacy Action Plan?

I am excited to present and implement my plan. This is something I have wanted to do for a while and this class has showed me how to make time to focus on it. The challenging emotions will come with persuading teachers who feel as if they have tried it all already and trying to connect with parents who seem to be unreachable. The only other emotions I am encountering is the anxiety I am feeling in trying to get through this class to graduate in June as I am expecting a baby in June as well, so there is a lot on my plate right now between home (husband & 4 yr old), work, school, and pregnancy.

• How can you encourage others in their advocacy efforts, and how can others encourage you?

I can encourage others in their advocacy efforts by sharing my past experiences and offering suggestions that may have worked for me regarding their topics. Others can encourage me by sharing any motivational ideas to engage staff and any ideas to reach those unreachable parents.

 

 

The next chapter - EDU 455

This blog will now serve to document one of my final experiences at Kendall College. EDU 455. I am anxious and excited to start this final experience. I will not only be graduating in June but will also be welcoming a new addition to my family right around the end of this course. I look forward to sharing experiences and advocacy ideas with everyone and learning from my classmates and instructor throughout this course.

Thank You!

This has been a stressful quarter form me. The thought of writing a research paper had me on edge all quarter. I want to thank everyone who made comments on my blog and supported me throughout the quarter. Your feedback and comments kept me going and made me feel like what I was working on meant something. I wish everyone the best of luck in their futures in early childhood. I hope everyone remembers this experience and uses it to advocate for the children.

Observing and Interacting With Families

I observed in the 3 yr. old preschool classroom on this visit. For much of the visit I sat back and observed in a corner of the room. There were two students in the group that seemed to be having a hard time entering play and had a couple tantrum type meltdowns. In these situations the teacher directed the child to safe space and allowed the child to calm down. When the child calmed down the teacher talked to the child about why she was crying. The one child said that she was hungry and that is why she was upset. This child came in after breakfast time and it was an hour before lunch was going to be served. The child said that she did not eat breakfast at home. The teacher brought her to the office and the office staff allowed her to have a few crackers to tide her over till lunch. The child returned to the class and went on to play with some other children in the room. The other child who seemed to be having a hard time appeared to be tired. As nap time got closer she seemed to get more moody and cried easily. As for entering the play, the teacher helped to coach the children on what to say to the other children to enter the play.

I was able to talk with the mother of a child who started at the center this past fall. Shortly after transitioning to the center her daughter was having some pretty severe behavior concerns. She was throwing multiple tantrums, hitting other children and screaming at nap time. After a couple weeks of this behavior and a few conversations with mom the center referred the child to a program called Daycare Plus, through the Positive Education Program. This program provided a consultant to observe the child and meet with the parents as well as the teacher to help teach the child some coping strategies. Through these visits, it was discovered that there was a lot of transition in the home as well as the transition to a new school. Mom was also having some concerns because the child's father was diagnosed with ADHD later in life. She is concerned that her child was showing some symptoms. There was further family counseling offered through the process that lasted for about 8 weeks. These sessions helped both the child and the parent. The parent was very thankful that the center had the knowledge and resources to refer her child for additional services. She stated that the center her child came from did not offer these types of services. She was very impressed and thankful that the center had so many extra offerings. In the first month that her child was at the center there was a visit by the mobile dentist, school picture day, a field trip, and the referral for her child to get extra help with her behavior concerns. She said that her child didn’t get this much in 3 years at her previous center and she wished that she would have found this center sooner.

One insight I have gained are that sometimes behavior concerns occur because a child’s basic needs are not met. If a child is hungry or tired they may misbehave for these underlying reasons. If you meet their needs they may be able to easily return to the group without a problem. Another insight that I gained is that you have to get to know your families. Issues that may be going on at home can affect the child’s behavior in the classroom. It is important to partner with parents and try and be a support to the families to help meet the needs of the children.

Interactions with administrative staff

This module, because I am the Director of the center I am doing my field work in, I interacted with the administrative assistant, the Board President, and the co founder and Board Secretary of the center. I had the opportunity to talk candidly with two of the board members about the topic of early childhood mental health.

Christine Spikes, the board president is a licensed social worker. She has worked in the area of early childhood mental health with children in the Help Me Grow program and individual counseling.  Some of the challenges she had was very little parent involvement, unless there are severe behavioral concerns, which usually prevents the parent from taking the child to child care or preschool.  The parent then may address the problem. Another challenge would be limited resources which results in long waiting lists for services. From her experience, one insight is that children show us how they feel through their behavior and bad behavior could indicate a traumatic experience.

Sherrie Zagorc, a co-founder of Kiddie City feels that she knows and realizes the importance of nurturing good social/emotional health in young children. Before co-founding Kiddie City she was a family and consumer science teacher at the high school level and taught parenting and child development classes to high school students. She also felt it was important for her to personally have good mental health so it is something that she values and she wasn't afraid to seek help for herself or for her son Matt - as they both were growing up.   She thinks that it’s tough enough sometimes for parents to deal with the physical health or the educational component of a child's development.  Those areas are "more visible" and so maybe are "easier" to deal with.  This "mental stuff" is difficult for a lot of people and something that is just left up to chance - and not nurtured. She feels that sometime parents think if there child is physically ok and their physical needs are met than that’s enough. Parents don’t realize the need for bonding and emotional well-being and development.

Dayna White, the administrative assistant has 5 children of her own and has had to be an advocate for her children in the area of early childhood mental health. 4 of her 5 children have been diagnosed with ADHD and her youngest at the age of four has signs of ADHD and is being monitored for a mood disorder. Three of her children have an IEP for their educational needs, including her four year old. Since her four year old did well in preschool this past year the school wanted to close his IEP. She had to work closely with his doctors and provide documentation to be able to keep him on an IEP, as she was afraid that if he did not get special preschool services he would not be where he needs to be to be successful in kindergarten.  His psychologist agreed, and she was able to maintain his IEP. Because she knew her rights as a parent of a child with special needs and she advocated for her child, there was a positive outcome. Dayna feels that many parents do not know their rights and that the school districts tend to do the minimum necessary by law because of funding issues. Because of this she advocates for the children and the families at the center who have educational and behavioral concerns and shares her story and struggles with other families and is available as a resource to help families go through the process and get the help they need.

I feel that I got a lot of information from this experience about the importance of partnering with parents and helping to inform them of their rights and options when they are dealing with a child who had emotional, developmental, or educational concerns. Because parents may be in denial or they may want help but may be frustrated with the process and the waiting lists it is important to provide support and understanding and to meet families where they are. It is our responsibility as early childhood educators to advocate for the children in our care and try to get them the extra assistance and supports that they need.

 

Classroom Communities/Parent Involvement

I am focusing on early childhood mental health, DAP practices, and parent involvement.
In this module I wanted to focus on parent involvement and creating classroom communities.  I observed in a preschool and a pre-k classroom and talked with the teachers as well as the administrative assistant about how the classrooms and the center tries to foster a sense of community in the classrooms and how they try and encourage family involvement  in the center.

Looking around the classrooms home and school connections were evident. I noticed pictures of the children and their families throughout the room as well as a family of the week posted outside each classroom. In both rooms there were class rules posted, and it was evident that the children knew the class rules. There was also an area called a “safe space” meant for one child where they can go if they wanted to be alone or if they were having a hard time.  I also noticed posters on the wall with some problem solving strategies. I didn’t see these used much in the time I spent, but in talking with the teacher she stated that when the children are having a conflict, they go over to the posters, which are very visual, and the teacher helps then determine which strategies they should try to work it out.

When talking with the administrative assistant, she told me that they have a lending library for families to take home books to read with their children. She also said that the classrooms have weekend take home packs with activities that are signed out by the families (2 families per week) that are used to increase parent involvement. There are also a couple parents involved in an action team that meets monthly to plan special events and a couple former parents on the board of directors.

The center also does a monthly newsletter, has a web site and a Facebook page. They use technology to try and reach the parents and share information regularly.

I also noticed good daily communication between the families and the teachers at drop off and pick up times.

If anyone has any information on strategies you use to increase parent involvement or on building classroom communities please feel free to share that info.

Interviewing Professionals In Early Childhood

I am the director of a child care facility in Euclid Ohio (kiddiecityeuclid.org). Because my site meets the requirements for this class I have chosen to do my internship there. I feel that this will give me a good opportunity to apply what I am learning at my place of employment and be able to implement the research I am doing in advocacy situations that I am already involved in.

When I started this process I felt that there were so many things that can be advocated for in the field...funding, worthy wages, special education, early childhood mental health, parent involvement, DAP (especially in K-3), health initiatives, the list can be endless.

I interviewed two people who I work closely with at my center, Sally McClintock, a licensed social worker who works for a program called daycare plus through the Positive Education Program and Donna Sudar, a preschool co-op director and Vice President of the Euclid City Schools School Board.
Both had a lot of insight and opinions and they helped me focus my topic for advocacy.

Sally felt that early childhood mental health is a crucial area to be an advocate. In this area she felt that there should be advocacy for parent involvement and improving environments; building a sense of community in classrooms and building better communities to live in. If children had more connections in life many early childhood mental health issues could be eliminated. Sally also felt that there needs to be more of a focus on social emotional development and less of a focus on academics. The academics will fall into place if a child's social and emotional needs are met. Some advocacy efforts in Sally's area of expertise are training on trauma informed care and conscious discipline as well as initiatives through the department of mental health to do DECA studies on children to see how they are rating in mental health issues.

This last statement goes well with what Donna Sudar felt was the biggest issue that needs more advocacy, DAP. She feels that DAP for young children is lost sight of in the standards. She thinks there should be more efforts through NAEYC in controlling politicians to show that current expectations are out of line with DAP. Other areas that Donna felt could use advocacy are parent support and education and parent involvement. She feels as educators we need to realize that children cannot fit into a mold. We have to meet each child's individual needs and also look at the individual needs of each family we work with. An advocacy effort Donna is involved in is PTA Kindergarten backpacks. These packs are sent home to every child registered to start Kindergarten in the Euclid City Schools. They include developmentally appropriate activities that the parents can do with their children over the summer to help them get ready for Kindergarten. The thought process with these packs is to increase DAP and parent involvement. She also is an advocate to not have children enter Kindergarten early. Many parents want their child tested into Kindergarten at the age of 4. Because most children are not socially and emotionally ready at the age of 4 she encourages families and centers in the area to not push children to enter Kindergarten early.

Test Post

This blog will serve as a record of my internship experience at Kendall College.