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Early childhood education reflective overview statement
Early childhood education quiz
Early childhood education reflective overview statement
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In childcare, the children are our number one priority in order to help develop and nurture them in as many ways as possible. Another priority that needs attention is the child's families and parents. This papers purpose is to explain ways in which I recognize parents and families and my plans for including them within the child care center or classroom. This paper is spilt up into four sections which include theory that informs my practice, plans to share my information, plans to promote two-way communication, intentional plans to support parents and families, and my reflection. Each of these sections will include ways in order to promote developmentally appropriate practice within my teaching and give examples as well.
Theory that informs
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my practice -Writer shares information on 3 theories/research-based practices that inform her practice. Theoretical frameworks are appropriate and connections are clear. Examples are used to provide clarification. There are many ways in which theories are beneficial to child care teachers. These theories give important information that can develop and shape practices of teachers and caregivers. One theory that influences my practice is family-centered practice. This theory involves understanding the importance of families and parents being involved in the classroom and also the importance of communicating with the families of the children. This is very important with my practice because of the importance I put on communicating with families in order to learn more about the children. For example, I am able to learn a child's interests, needs, and where they are developmentally by listening and communication with the child's parents. This will create a better experience in the classroom for the families and also for the child. By creating a relationship with the families, I am able to communicate expectations of the classroom and also explain curriculum and set goals for the children. By setting goals with the families, we work together to promote development with their child and also create a fun yet beneficial environment for them. This helps the development of each child in their own way due to each being at different developmental stages in their lives. Each child learns a different way and understanding how they learn will help their development as well. For example, if a child enjoys hands-on activities and learns best through them, I will incorporate a variety of activities that will be beneficial to that child's development but to the other children as well. Another practice that informs my teaching is creating a caring environment that promotes relationships and development through communication. By reading "Partnering with families" by Feeny and Notle (2012), I gain knowledge of using communication in order to create an environment that is welcoming and positive for both the child and the parents. For example, I will welcome the family and child when they first come into the room but will be very respectful of their wishes for their child. By communicating with the parents, I am able to learn about the child and where they are developmentally in order to foster their development even farther. I will develop relationships with the parents through communicating about their child but also their lives as well. By being there for the parents, they feel supported and respected as well. Plans to share my information-Plans demonstrate all of the following: an understanding of communication principles, of families’ cultural backgrounds, families’ time constraints, and families’ desire/need to become informed and engaged. Since communication is crucial to child care centers, knowing and understanding communication principles is very important. One principle that is involved with communication is being an active listener and also using I-messages. An active listener is where one is listening to what the families are saying but making sure to recognize cues that are non-verbal. This aids in the learning about the child's families and also helps acknowledge things they might not be saying. I messages are used for showing that you are listening but also being respectful to what they are saying. For example, "I understand that you are worried about sally and her biting other children. We will work together to create a plan to help her stop biting". This shows that you are listening but also want to help their child as well by working together. By working together with the families, I respect their wishes but keep in mind that my judgement is important when it comes to doing the best for the child. If the parent wants something that I believe is not good practice, I will respectfully explain how I feel about that idea and give specific reasons on why I believe it to be beneficial. When sharing information with caregivers, it is important for them to understand the child's cultural backgrounds and also how to communicate with the families.
Since all caregivers are not there at the same time, all will need to know how to communicate effictantly with the families in order to promote relationships and give positive feedback at the end of the school day. For example, when a child's parents come to get them at the end of the day, caregiver should communicate what the child did today and a couple positive things that the child did or experienced. This gives a sense of trust to the parent and it also gives the child a sense of self- esteem through the expression of their …show more content…
actions. It is important to understand that parents and families desire to be involved and that is a great opportunity for the children and their parents. Including families in the classroom is very beneficial to everyone involved because of the many effects it has on parents and children. For example, parents are able to learn ways to help develop their child at home and is also able to see their child participate in activities. Due to parent's need to be involved in the classroom, I will create lessons that will involve parents and families in order to help facilitate relationships between the staff and parents but also with the children. Plans to promote two-way communication Two-way communication is very important due to the many ways in which communication is used with the parents.
For example, communication is used with learning information about the children but also to work together to create goals and overcome obstacles that may arise. According to Halgunseth and Peterson (2009), communication between the families and child care centers should be constant and should include information about the child's home life and about school life. This creates an environment that is similar in values and goals as well. By communicating with the parents, caregivers are able to learn about the child and also create a relationship with the parents. By creating a relationship with the child's parents through having conversations when the child is dropped off and picked up, I will create an environment that is family orientated. I will organize family gatherings and also lessons where the families and parents are able to participate with their children. This participation initiates attachment with the child and their parents but also promotes relationships between the caregivers and parents. Another way in which I will promote two-way communication is being involved with home visits before they come to the center and throughout the school year as well. This will show parents and families that we care about heir child's development by asking questions about how they are doing and what their goals are for the child. This is a time for the parents and families
to learn about where their child will be going and also learn more about the teachers that will be taking care of them (Halgunseth & Peterson, 2009, pg. 9). With parents and families whose first language is not English, I will plan to translate every written letter that is sent home into their native language. This will help parents feel involved in their child's life and also understand what is going on inside the classroom and out. I believe the most important aspect of two-way communication is listening to the parents, Communication is used for asking information about the child but it is also important to listen to the families and parents. Listening to the parents and families develops a caring, responsive relationship that is also beneficial for learning about the child. It is also important to be available to the child's families in order for them to always be able to talk to me about concerns that they might have but it also promotes constant communication between the child care center and parents. Intentional plans to support parents and families -These include ways to deal with stress, information on parenting issues, and ways to support children with special needs. When it comes to stress, everyone experiences it differently and we as caregivers need to be sensitive to these emotions. By listening to the parent and being supportive in their time of need, parents feel a sense of comfort by talking about their difficulties and it helps reduce stress by talking about it. By talking with the parents and listening to what is going on, I am able to get them help if they need it. For example, medical clinics, family counseling, and fiscal support are a few resources that are there to help families. It is important for me to support the children but also their families as well. If a child's parents are divorced, I will be intentional with being neutral between the parents and giving each parent the same information. With children with special needs, I will be intentional with welcoming their families and parents into the classroom and making them feel welcome. This shows that I am there for there family and care about their child just the same as the other children. I will also include them in all the activities in order to show that they are important and that they are part of the group as well. By creating ways of being able to communicate, I will be a constant support for the families through phone and email in which they will be able to contact when whenever they like. Making sure that I understand the needs of the child is very important due to the child's disabilities and special needs. For example, if a child needs to be fed during the day at a certain time, I will need to communicate with the child's parents on certain instructions in order to fulfill the child's needs.
As my education with the childcare field strengthens, I have discovered that guidance is the appropriate method to be used to reach the goal of harmony in the classroom. "Guidance means creating a positive learning environment for each child in the group" (Gartrell, 2004, p. 21) With the use of guidance and a democratic classroom, children feel important and have greater respect for their teacher, whi...
The article and my life experience helped me to understand the six characteristics-boundaries, roles, rules, hierarchy, climate, and equilibrium and how their functions. Each family is unique. It is my belief, as an early childhood educator, we must have this skill and knowledge in order to help children and family. According to Gui (2006) emphasis, “Making an effort to under-stand families will open up opportunities for you to better serve children and their families (Garris, 2006, p. 8). The more we understand a child’s family the better we serve the family because we can get a lot of the children’s information through their parents.
Always need time to communicate with the parents either formal or informal so we can build trust and be cultural sensitive. We can also provide parents with support and education with whatever the child’s needs might be. For the children we help them understand the language and reasoning skills. Math and numbers can be taught is so many ways through play that the children won’t get stressed. Nature and science when we provide them with things that are naturally in their surroundings they get a chance to investigate. Promote acceptance of diversity and do things to help all the children learn something new and interact with different activities when sharing their
Teachers have a significant role with the children; they are their leader in learning and development. Teachers have to plan effectively so the students will be able to learn and grow from the different activity’s this it why it is important that teacher take the responsibility and know the goals of the programs and their curriculum so they can plan accordingly. Establishing reciprocal relations with the parents of a child are important. Teacher should seek to know more about the families and their culture. With this information’s teachers are able to enhance the curriculum. Communication is the key when it comes to relationships with
My hypothesis was to determine the effects of maternal presence versus absence on sibling behavior.
Effective communication is important in developing positive relationships for many reasons. Using positive communication will help children feel comfortable in their surroundings. Getting down to the same level as a child when explaining something or talking to them and using language that is age appropriate will help promote a feeling of self-worth and build their confidence. It is important when speaking with children to ask for feedback on what you have said to make sure it has been understood. When giving instructions you should ask the child to repeat the instructions back to you. This works both ways and you should always ensure that when a child is talking to you, you actively listen and show that you are interested by asking questions
A.1. According to the Development Appropriate practice the sense of identity and belonging need to be nurtured through building positive relationships (with caregivers, teacher, peers, family, nurse, and administrators), appreciation of children’s culture and language, their likes, dislikes and living styles. Daily schedule should be predictable, innovative, and easy to follow, providing daily outdoor experiences. Teachers set clear and reasonable limits, but, they should always be warm, caring, and responsive.
Teachers, parents, and the students all become better communicators when being involved in the process of inclusion into mainstream schooling. Teachers learn that communication can be key, while parents can alert teachers if their child is having a bad day. Due to the fact that the simplest things could affect the student drastically, the idea of open communication between teacher and parents is vital, since the parents will learn these tendencies before anyone else. Communication also works well the other way. If the student has a bad day a...
Without communication between parents and teachers everyone would be lost even the children. When teachers and parents communicate it’s not just about their children it’s also about what’s going on at the school and to try and get the parents involved. Involving the parents helps out their children in the long run. This is because example if they need help with a project that the whole school is working on, and the teacher sent out an email or even talked about it during their parent- teacher conference now the parent has knowledge of what’s going on and can help their child. When there is a happy child there is a happy parent, so communication between the teacher and the parent is very important to be.
Observation is important as the practitioner can find out what the child is interested in and what motivates them to learn alongside their progress and how they behave in certain situations, additionally at the same time it identifies if children need assistance within certain areas of learning or socially (DCSF, 2008). Furthermore the observations check that the child is safe, contented, healthy and developing normally within the classroom or early years setting, over time the observations can be given to parents as they show a record of progress which helps to settle the parent and feel more comfortable about their child’s education. Observations are not only constructive within learning about an individual child, they can be used to see how different groups of children behave in the same situation and how adults communicate and deal with children’s behaviour (Meggitt and Walker, 2004). Overall observations should always look at the positives of what children can complete within education and not look at the negatives and all observations should become a fundamental part of all practitioners work alongside reflection (Smidt, 2009).
The benefits of communication between parents and teachers has become a very important debate when we think about ways to better help our children/students. Teachers- parents relationship assume may roles. Communication plays a very significant part when building a parents-teachers relationship. It is my belief that in order to ensure students academic success teachers and parents need to have a relationship build on effective communication. “school teachers have to communicate with parents about their students’activities and achievements, families also need to inform school about students’ progress” (Raccah &Elyashiv, 2008). It is my goal when I communicate with parents, to goes beyond sharing information about students performance. I hope to foster a relationship in which information is shared on how to better enhance students achievements within the classrooms and outside of the classroom. When trying to establish effective parent teachers relationship, I hope to be able to discuss my students strengths and weaknesses openly, share vital information about curriculum in which the concepts are shared with hope that parents will reinforce the skills in the home. It is my goal that my parents feel welcomed within my classroom. I would hope that my parents feel free to reach out about their concerns, or if they need help themselves. As a teacher I have a responsibility not only to my students, but their parents as well. I am willing to my make myself available in a manner that is professional. To communicate with parents throughout the school year, I will use modern technology ( website, phone, email), teacher/ parent/ student information sheet, parent- teacher journal and parent conferences to communicate with parents, and other...
Families are there to help guide the children in what they are learning and to connect with everyone involved in the child’s growth and development. To help to guide the children in this growth as well. With this also comes support as well from the families, of being a part of all the aspects of the child’s life, or, at least, trying to by being in it or talking about it at home as well. There is also supporting the children’s growth by letting them grow at their pace and not trying to rush them either. To let the children grow at their pace and not to rush them to walk or talk or potty train, to watch their child for themselves and not to compare them with others as
“The ultimate goal for school-home communication is high standards for student achievement. Communication is effective when it contributes to parent and family involvement toward that end.” (AFT, 2012. p.55). In schools there are a plethora of steps that can be implemented to improve this type of dialogue. School and home communication is a big issue in many schools. Parent and teacher schedules are often times very hectic. So what can we do to make this more of a priority? My school does a great job as we are very flexible in meeting the parents around their work schedule. We continue to call home almost daily regarding any issues the student might be having. Teachers send point sheets home that discuss behavior as well as any assignments
Effective communication is an important detail in any successful relationship, whether it is between student and teacher or employee and employer or family member and child. (Haynes, 2014) So when deciding which mode of communication their child will be exposed to the parents must consider what will they be able to keep constant in their lives, what support they need,
The Early Years Foundation Framework emphasized the need of relationships between practitioners and parents. Practitioners to gain more understanding of a child they have to work closely with their parents to gain more understanding of the child (Palaiologou, 2013, P.11).