When I Think of Research...

• What insights have I gained about research from taking this course?

How hard it is to complete a successful research is the most important insight I gained from this course. I am a person who loves to read research and learn from them. But I never went in to details of all the different pieces that need to come together to accomplish the satisfaction of completing a successful research and publishing it. I believe that now I do have a detailed knowledge on research. Moreover, I have knowledge about how to read and learn better from a research as well.

• In what ways have my ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

As I mentioned above, I did not have much idea of my own regarding research. By   doing this course now I am at a point that I understand about refining the topic, framing a hypothesis, designing the research, deciding on time, place and participants of research. This course gave me much better and clear understanding of research.

• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did I learn?  

Early childhood research planning, designing and conducting seems much more time consuming and detail oriented for me. As the research is based on young children and families, it is very important to have all the steps clearly defined. Every step has to be thoughtfully planed according to proper ethics and rights of the children. Researchers have to understand that at the center of the research is a child or a group of children who is/are competent actors in their everyday worlds and capable of making decisions about participating in or withdrawing from research (Ferrell, 2005). So, starting with signing the consent forms to the final product of research paper, every step of the way the child/children has to understand what is going on.  

• What were some of the challenges I encountered—and in what ways did I meet them?                            

There will be at least few encounters of challenges. One would be not having the children who are shy in the classroom. Then I will have to go to different classrooms and introduce myself to the families and the children and get them comfortable with me to start the process. There is a possibility of even some families denying my request. The right to determine what is in their own best interests (Naughton et al.2010) could be the reason for families to drop out of the research. There could be language barriers if the child/children that I selected is/are an English language learner or learners. It could be the same situation with the parents and the families as well.  It is tough to find translators with early childhood background in most languages. Validity of the research could be jeopardized due to the unreliable data. Finding reliable literature on the research matter is also a challenge that I faced with.

The challenges that I already encountered were a few. Time was a huge challenge and I do believe it is same for most of us who a juggling way too many roles at ones. But I believe I conquered the barrier by using every avenue on time management. Finding literature was a tuff one as well. Sometime guiding my self through the Walden library was even felt like going through maize. Research vocabulary was tough on me. I had to work hard on keeping the meanings and descriptions in order. 

• What are some of the ways my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

My belief is that early childhood professionals have to keep in touch with current research regarding early childhood matters. Early childhood arena is frequently changing and challenging. So the early childhood professionals as well as their educators have to modify the perception regarding their own continuing education. I did not see the research as an option that the early childhood professionals have, until now. But now I understand that if a professional could not find the literature regarding an issue taking place in the classroom, she/he has the opportunity to conduct their own research and learn the answers for the issue that is taking place. Early childhood professional just not only have a tough and important role in the lives of young children and their families, they also have a responsibility in early childhood research arena too.

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Thank You from the bottom of my heart!!

I really appreciate you my colleagues,
your experiences

And your wisdom and kind hearts
your professionalism and thoughtfulness.

I thank you for your sharing of wise ideas
that I will not soon forget;
you’re the best early childhood educators
a child could ever meet.

Hope to meet you again some time in this journey

Until then I wish you the best!!

Remember to enjoy the summer while working, learning and playing.

Research around the World 

The influential international web site I choose is; Early Childhood Australia: This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. You can access several links to early childhood research from the menu on the left side of the home page.

 http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/  

 

As a person who has family in Australi,a I hear lots of great things going on in early childhood arena in Australia. When I got the opportunity to see it myself I got too excited, I spend a full day basically reading the articles in this web site. This website reminded me of everything that I learnt about a good web site. More than anything, it is easy navigate and full of great information.

Some of the current international research topics

• Respecting Diversity.
• Childhood Obesity.
• Learning and teaching through play.
• High Quality care: staff and child ratios.
• Child’s transitions and school readiness.
• Building relationships to strengthen learning.

It was wonderful to see the similar topics on research in Australia as in United States. As a developed country Australia is also paying more attention to improve the early childhood education. Here is the link to read more about the current research topics.  

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/research_in_practice_series/rips_index.html

Surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood I gained from exploring this international early childhood website.

Cruising through the web site of early childhood Australia I happened to read the Code of Ethics. There is a separate section dedicated to research and how to be cooperative with research procedures as an early childhood educator. It was insightful and amusing to me. This is the link to the Code of Ethics. http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/pdf/code_of_ethics/code_of_ethics_%20brochure_screenweb_2010.pdf

Learning from High/Scope: Enriching everyday practice is another article I got interested, in my mind High/Scope is one of the American early childhood education paths. When I found it in Australian early childhood web site it surprised me.

This link is to find the past issues of ECA WebWatch: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/early_childhood_news/eca_webwatch.html There are issues available from 2005 through June 2011. It is impressive to see the availability of all these and there are articles on Aboriginal people as well.

Other noteworthy information I found on this website

These are two noteworthy informations, which I found in the website.

Australian Journal of early childhood

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/australian_journal_of_early_childhood.html

Early childhood magazine

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/every_child_magazine/every_child_magazine.html

Reference:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/   

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

The topic I chose is the effects of foster care placement on young children and how to help them.

I decided to choose this topic as it is dear to my heart. I have met several children who were faced with the foster care situations. For some children it was for a short period of time and for some it was for a long period of time. I have seen the emotional roller coaster ride they had to go through. I currently have two children who are placed in foster care families. One is with relatives that she knew before and the other one is with a family that is total strangers for him. He is having a very hard time these days. Sometimes I wonder: do I want to be a foster care family some day. My own family thinks it is a great Idea but they believe that I would have the hardest time letting go of the children because I get attached to little people easier than to the adults. 

I have done several readings regarding the foster care system and how it works but it is still confusing to me. There are over 500,000 children in foster care today and two out of three children get to reunite with their families at some point and others have to wait for the adoption or for permanent placements. The numbers of families who are ready to open their doors and hearts for the foster care have gone lower in past ten years but the relatives who came forward to be a foster parent or a foster family has increased.

Most of the times the children are removed from their families due to situations of abuse and neglect, severe behavioral problems in the child and/or a variety of parental problems, such as abandonment, illness (physical or emotional), incarceration, AIDS, alcohol/substance abuse, and death.

 In my personal experiences with children and families in foster care, both parties need huge amount of support and resources. Both parties go through tough times at least at the begging of their times together. For the children, they are faced with self blame, feeling unwanted, attachment issues due to what happened, hard time with the loyalty towards the birth family and not for the foster family, hard times figuring out which house or person is safe or not safe, helplessness due to not having any say on  the decisions regarding their lives, and  not being sure about the future are some major issues.

For the families, it seems like they do not know much about the individual children, what kinds of issues they are already faced with, how to help them with the situations, how to create the bond/attachment, not having much of a clear picture of how much time consuming is the creation of bond with a child who has gone through a lot in life. 

I imagine the positive contribution(s) would be,

  Having the knowledge and the resources available for the children and their families as well as the educators to know how to work with each individual child keeping frustration out of it or at a minimum level should be the goal. If there is a better understanding of what the children are going through and what the signs are that the families, educators and community will notice before it gets accelerated would be helpful to every one. How to help the children before it gets accelerated is the best. It would be much better than having a four year old in the backseat having a kicking screaming melt down on the way to the school and not knowing what to do about it is a scary situation for any adult. Having disruptive behavior irrupted out of nowhere in the middle of the group time and feeling helpless is also not the way to handle it.

  I hope that this study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children in foster care and/or their foster care families regarding finding support and resources in the community where they live as well as motivate more families to be involved with the foster care system by opening their hearts and doors to the children who are in need of foster care.

Resources:
http://www.aacap.org/cs/root/facts_for_families/foster_care
http://www.fosterparents.com/articles/index87nacac.html

My Personal Research Journey.

This journey is exciting as well as tough for me already. There are so many topics that I love to learn more about by doing my own research, even though I understand how hard it is for me to find time and energy to do so. I am an educator fascinated about the brain. I wished to learn more about the brain development. But for this course, the second week assignments are connected with the first week assignments. So I have to go with the article I chose in the first week “shyness and emotion-processing skills in pre- school”. One of my subtopics is what shyness is.

 

I am a shy and quiet person by nature until I get comfortable with the environment that I am in. Most of the people that I know do not believe this as they consider me as a chatty and social person. Every year I get to meet children who are shy by nature. At the beginning of the school year they are shy and later on they open up. But there are children who are shy and quiet year around. So I am taking this opportunity to learn more about the subject so I can better serve the children.

Shyness or social anxiety is something that almost everyone relates to. Some children and adults have to deal with this more than others. Due to social anxiety people face lower self esteem, poorer educational and work outcomes, and isolations in life as well as depression. In most cases, early treatments could prevent these problems.

There are several reasons for a young child to be shy. Family interactions with the child could be a reason for him/her to be shy. When the child has negative interactions with the mother it mostly costs the shyness in young child. Sometimes the children outgrow their shyness with growing up. But family, caregivers and educators in the child’s life have to know whether it is going to outgrow with the age or whether the child needs help. If the child needs help with social anxiety then it is better to start it at a young age. Cognitive behavioral therapy is one way to help a child. One of the children in my classroom is going to start this very soon. He is in the process of getting the paper work completed by his family, teachers, and mental health consultants. When the therapeutic approach is not successful some people have to take anti-anxiety medication.

Here is one resource that I enjoyed reading. Hope that you will enjoy it as well:

Guastella, A.. (2009, March). A Cure for SHYNESS. Australasian Science, 30(2), 33-35 Retrieved May 14, 2011, from ProQuest Central. (Document ID: 1681811841).

http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?did=1681811841&sid=7&Fmt=3&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

My Supports

I do believe, as human beings we are all interconnected. Some may think that they have superpowers to accomplish all their duties, needs, and their goals on their own but in real life it is impossible. We have to understand the importance of our connections to other human beings; others could be older, younger, same age or even young children. They are all important in our daily lives. For me it is the same with the environment of where we spend our day, if that place is contaminated with bad thought, attitudes and clutter it does not support us to be better. My beliefs, culture and attitudes also matter for me to conquer my daily challenges.

When I take a deep look at my own self, the current challenge I recognize is keeping up with the school while attending to my responsibilities and duties as a parent, a wife, a daughter, a teacher, and a friend. The supports I have every day, every moment for my success, I see lots of influences and supports. I decided to go back to school after loosing two of my biggest supporters. They are my own father and my former supervisor. They both kept on encouraging me to go back to school and I lost both of them last year, three months apart due to cancer. It is still a very tough period of my life and I still do struggle with it. One coping mechanism I came up with was honoring them the best possible way I can. But going to school and keeping up with it is impossible if not for my husband’s support and understanding.  He is my biggest supporter regarding everything and anything I do. My mother and my sister are always checking on me: how things are going with school, work and generally life but they are thousands of miles away from me. My dear friends are also my supports, the pillars holding me together at all times.

When I think about work life, I consider my co-workers, the children in the classroom and their families as my supports. Among my co-workers I have my dear friends who are there for me in good as well as hard times. They are my other family. “The children” in the classroom are the ones who create the happiest place on earth at work. They are the reason why I go to work every day energized.  My energy for the day is my family and my children at work. It is hard for my friends to understand why I do not take time off once in a while. But for me it is not necessary.  The families of the children are also my supports; they are the ones who send the children to school everyday. They work with me; they understand the importance of what happens in the classroom. They keep the children in the school.

 I know without these supports in my life, it could take a whole different turn for me.  I do believe in supporting each other. My parents believed in me to let me follow my heart. They supported me on my choices of life while guiding through tough patches. They showed me a lot by example than giving commands and I try to continue the same. I try to make an impact on others lives by being a great support, it can be a few minutes of support to a total stranger at the grocery store or years of support to a family of a child in the classroom. I believe it matters.  

“I’ve learned that every day you should reach out and touch someone. People love a warm hug or just a friendly pat on the back” Maya Angelou

              "My Connections to Play."

Quotes that I feel summarize what play represented for me in childhood.

“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.”
~ Leo Buscaglia (author, educator)

“Play is the highest form of research.”
 ~ Albert Einstein (scientist)

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning…They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play.” ~
Fred Rogers (Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood)

“It is becoming increasingly clear through research on the brain, as well as in other areas of study, that childhood need play. Play acts as a forward feed mechanism into courageous, creative, rigorous thinking in adulthood.” ~
Tina Bruce (Professor, London Metropolitan University)

 Pictures of essential play items for my younger self.
                                   



Children playing a game of Cricket.

                                                



Running in the rice field

Swinging time in the fields.

How people supported play when I was younger and/or the role of play in my childhood.

When listening to the children talking about their electronic and technological toys that they play with, I feel that I was lucky to be in a developing country. I did not play with electronic or technological toys. I played with my sister, cousins and neighborhood children in the outdoors. Those were the days full of adventure and care free childhood. Looking at the children of today I feel sorry for them missing out on outdoor opportunities. Including my own, today’s children do not enjoy outdoors as I used to be at their age. I am still an outdoor person in my own way.  In the tropical island where I grew up, everyday was great temperature for out door expeditions. In the fields playing Cricket with boys or playing House with girls or going on an adventure through the rice fields with everyone; it was an everyday, after-homework event in my life.

I thank the adults of my younger days who believed in play. We had a curfew.  We used to check the shadow or surroundings to figure out the time, to return home. We knew well enough to not to break the curfew as the consequence was missing the fun the next day. At that time there was no fear of stranger danger. Everyone knew each other and everyone took care of each other’s children. “It takes a village to raise a child” (African proverb) was a practical matter in those days. The best hands-on learning of what we learned in school took place while we played. For me children learn through play was proven through my generation. It was not just hands on experience; it was life lessons and experiences as well.

My thoughts regarding the role of play throughout my life and the role of play throughout childhood and adulthood.

Looking back at my younger days, I truly believe that my parents and the adults in my life had expectations, dreams and hopes for their next generation but they were much more practical ones. They spent much more time with their next generation and tried their best to give them hands-on experiences on life. Technology was not advanced or easily accessible and that was a blessing in disguise for me. Raising children in the United States, I feel that my own children are missing on major life skills that gained through play. But at the same time when visiting back home I feel that my own nieces and nephews are missing on the same. For me the reason behind is the invasion of the technology that changed the world for better and for worst. With the world becoming a global village, east met the west through television; east fell in love with the ways of west without making any conscious decisions.

Today’s grown ups are adapting to the overwhelmingly busy lifestyles and spending money on materials without a conclusion. For me what matters the most for the children is not the presents, but the family being present for them. I do not believe that we have to go back to the Stone Age, but I wish there is a way for all of us to live life with “moderation” as the motto.

 Children having the opportunity to be outdoors with their families and friends ,and the schools having high expectations but still believing in the importance of age appropriate materials and value of play in young lives would be the best situations in my world. And most of all I believe that  we would be more compassionate towards each other than being competitive against each other. Technology has to be a tool to make life better but not the vehicle that take the humans away from precious human interactions.

My hope for the young with regards to play is giving them back what we have  taken away from them due to the over accelerated educational goals. Giving back the much needed love and care for the children of the global village and letting them grow up to be compassionate with each other with much more human interactions than the various machines that they have in their lives. Parents, educators, decision makers, policy makers and researchers working together and having a better understanding of what is age appropriate practice and why is it matter, and how to practice it through play and fun will be the way to go .             

Relationship Reflection

I believe that the relationships and partnerships are important to every living, breathing human being. We are social creatures and need to have human interactions. That is a part of us from the birth. We come to this world with a cry and goes on communicating till we loose our last breath. For me personally, the relationships are precious. Growing up, everyone thought that I can even talk to a wall if I am alone and I believe that I am still the same. I value human interactions. I am not a much of a technological person, I enjoy face time with people. Relationships can be family, professional and personal for me. Especially, as a person who is living in a place where there are no other blood-relatives around, I take my relationships in my neighborhood, community, school district and the work place seriously. All of these relationships are priceless to me.

       Several people with whom I currently have positive relationships and/or partnerships.....

I am going to look at my relationships and partnerships beyond my immediate family or extended family as they all are overseas. I am paying attention to my personal and professional relationships.

My friendships at work are positive relationships as well as partnerships. They are my family away from home. They are always there for me. It is a bond and a trust between us than a workplace relationship. We do not have much time to interact with each other everyday though we are under the same roof. But we all know in our hearts that we are there for each other. We all take a moment to check on each other during our lunch break everyday, as communication among us matters to all of us. This same rule goes for the families. I do my best to greet any family I meet in the hallways of the building. It does not matter whether they are from my classroom or a different classroom. Face to face communication, with all the families of the classroom is not possible as most of the children use the school buses. Still, a note, news letters, and mostly the phone calls are some of my ways to keep the relationships healthy.

 My friendship with few families that I met through my involvement with local school district is an important relationship as well. . We are working together for the benefit of the children of the district. They are always there for my family. The most important part in our relationships is the understanding of the diversity. Accepting the differences and seeing the uniqueness is most important to us. Even though we are working parents, we are always there for our children. The children also know that they can call any of the parents and they are going to be safe with them.

The ways in which each relationship is positive and factors that contributed to developing and maintaining each relationship...

At the work place, we keep open communication lines regarding life, work, children and much more. We have each others back. We remind each other about what is coming, what is due. We cover for each other in case of an emergency. It is the understanding of our strengths, weaknesses and positive interactions that is very important to us. Understanding diversity is an important factor at work as well since we are serving a diverse community and we have a diverse community at work as well. Trusting each other, keeping the priorities in order, understanding and valuing each other are contributing factor as well.   

    Insights regarding challenges to developing and maintaining relationships that I have learned from my experience over time....

Personal biases are a huge challenge when it comes to developing and maintaining relationships. Especially, when it comes to a person from another culture, I have to admit that developing relationships are not always easy. But I do believe I am quick to get the clues regarding whether people are open minded or not and I do move on. Finding time is another barrier. As family, work and school take over my days, it is tough to find time. But most of my friends do understand the circumstances as these issues are very common in most of their lives as well. Keeping up with relationships are hard, sometimes it is better to give space and move on and let the other person watch from the side,. I always try to understand who I am comfortable with and then build the relationship from there on. My personal experiences give me the opportunity to understand the unwillingness or frustrations of the families that I work with. I try my best to get them comfortable with the program and the classroom first, as I know how I felt leaving my child at pre-school for the first time.   

Special characteristics of the relationships... 

  A special characteristic of all the partnerships that I have is a relationship of kindness and willingness to understand. I do look different and speak different but that does not say who I am. They put time and effort to understand who I am and what I stand for. They taught me plenty about the life in America. They have shown me again and again that they care about the well being of my family and me. This is a common factor in my personal and professional relationships.  

     My experiences with relationships/partnerships, including my ability to be an active, reflective contributor, impact my work as an effective early childhood professional..

As I am working in a very diverse community, my own experiences have guided me in so many ways. One of those is the relationship building. I am pleased with the relationships that I have developed with the families that I work with.  I am not saying that it is easy, but it is less complicated when the basic understanding is already there. I do try to make parents understand that their knowledge of the child is important to the teachers and that their contribution to the program and to their child’s education is highly appreciated. Moreover, I try to get the families involved in decision making regarding their child’s education as well as the policies and standards of the program. I truly believe that family’s involvement in their child’s education has an impact on the child and the family. My involvement with my child’s pre-school education is the biggest reason behind me becoming an early childhood educator.