A Note of Thanks and Support

A Note of Thanks and Support

As our journey in this class comes to an end I would like to thank my fellow classmates for all the support, encouragement and advice that you have given me throughout this course. 

When I began this course I didn't have a real grasp as to what an Advocacy Action Plan was.  Nor did I have any idea how to develop and present something on this type of professional level.  As an in-home child care provider and Early Childhood Educator I have many goals for myself as well as the children and their families that I provide care for.  This course has given me a deeper insight as to the "why" I love caring for children. 

My focus for my Advocacy Action Plan was to help educate the children and families within my internship site regarding the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity.  WOW - when I first wrote this statement I didn't have any idea how much it would become a part of me. 

I have really enjoyed this entire Internship course.  YES! It took a great deal of time, patience, questions and support from colleagues - but it was all worth it.  I believe that my plan well supports my research topic and focus.  The goals that I have set are realistic and very achievable.  The day care provider/owner of my field site is very excited about my plan.  She has been so supportive of my goals that she is going to implement my plan in January. 

I also want to thank my professor for the support she has given me throughout this entire course.  She was willing to go the extra mile to assure my success.  I believe that she is a "real teacher".  THANK YOU Professor McDevitt!

As this course comes to a close and many of my colleagues like myself are completing their academic careers, I would like encourage them to advocate for those who can't.  Again I will refer to a quote that has given me the drive to always do 150% for those whose lives I may influence. 

"Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter". 

by Martin Luther King.

My mother once told me that in school I only would get in trouble for talking in class.  Well I have never been one to be quiet!  So......why should I start now!

Good luck to all!!

Enlisting and Providing Support - Module #4

Blog Posting - Module #4

Enlisting and Providing Support

I am looking forward to presenting my plan to the parents, day care providers and owners of the day care that I have been working with.  I am very excited about how well everything has been coming together.  I had a slow start at first and it took me a little while to get my head around the goals and how to incorporate them into my focus for my plan of action.  But now that I have a better grasp on my plan am also less concerned about my presentation.  However I am still contemplating the best type of presentation (PowerPoint, handout - etc.) . 

Any input at to what type of delivery method would you believe would be the best to use?  I have several testimonials from different professionals that will help support my plan - just not exactly sure how to use these resources in my presentation. 

To further enhance my advocacy agenda there are a few different resources available to help accomplish my goals.  The community that I reside in has developed a Wellness Coalition with the support of campus and community organizations that work to promote healthy eating and active living in the home, school and child care environments, workplace, healthcare settings, and the community. 

I also believe that the National Association of Child Care and Referral Agencies along with the local Child Care and Referral Agency provide me with the proper steps and procedures necessary to advocate for an effective grant for this day care.

As I advocate for healthy nutrition and physical activity within children's lives I can see that with my inexperience in the area of physical fitness, developing new fun exercises and activities has the potential to leave a gap in my plan.  Also with my limited knowledge creating healthy meals for children this could also result in a potential gap. 

Resources and information that I use that has been helpful and insightful to my plan are co-workers and colleagues.  As I have been working on my Advocacy Action Plan I have confided in co-workers and a few different long time colleagues who have been great sound boards in my past adventures.  I respect their honesty and support in many of my personal and professional adventures. 

My Personal Advocacy Journey - Module #3

Blog Journal - Module #3 - Your Personal Advocacy Journey

 

A quote that you find inspirational regarding the role that advocacy can have in the lives of young children and their families.  Then, post responses to the following: 

 From the beginning of this course I have really been motivated by a quote that I read from our text by Martin Luther King.  "Our lives begin to end the day we become silent about things that matter". 

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

I am excited to have the opportunity to help children and families learn about something that has become such an important part of my life.  My advocacy goals are to teach children and families about the importance of proper nutrition and physical activity to achieve a healthy lifestyle.  I believe when something becomes so important to yourself - it is that importance that will help drive your advocacy efforts. 

 

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

I sometimes think that I might be more excited about my goals than other might be.  Although I feel somewhat anxious about my goals I know how important my goals are in changing the lives of the children and families that I am working with.

I am also somewhat nervous about implementing one of my long term goals.  I proposed a goal to get parents involved by having a fundraiser to earn money for new equipment for this day care to incorporate into their new physical activity program.  After observing the current equipment that this day care uses I feel that it is important to help them acquire new equipment.  I also believe that I can get children and their parents excited about a fundraiser.   I am just not sure how to get involved with a fundraiser and how to find a reputable company or business to work with to accomplish my goals.  I have heard about grants that are available in our area for early childhood programs.  This could possibly be an avenue to pursue if my fundraising goals are not successful. 

 

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 a firm believer in talking through my anxieties and challenging emotions with people that are supportive and encouraging of my thoughts and goals.  I call these types of people "my sounding boards".  A person to bounce ideas off of.  Over the years I have earned the trust of many colleagues and I value their opinions.  In the past I have called on them for encouragement and wisdom with important issues regarding my business and in the lives of the children and families that I provide care for.  I trust that these people will not only encourage me but they will keep me on track with presenting and implementing my plan. 

 

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

I believe in hard work and dedication.  I believe anything that is worth doing is worth working hard to achieve.  If everything came easy how could we really appreciate our successes. 

Also, I believe that I can be honest in my opinions regarding questions that someone may have regarding their advocacy efforts. 

Honesty is what I would ask in return in regards to encouragement from others. 

HELLO! - welcome to EDU412 - Internship II

I am looking forward to a great course.  This is my last course at Kendall and my journey has been an awesome educational experience professionally as well as personally. 

Blog #5 - A note of thanks and support

Blog #5 - A note of thanks and support

Thanks to everyone who participated in my blogs.  Your insight and reflections regarding my experiences were helpful as well as encouraging throughout this course. 

This has been a very intense class – with the development of a research paper.  I appreciate everyone’s blog postings regarding your field work experiences.  Your experiences were interesting as well as educational in helping me see different aspect of the early childcare environments through the eyes of others.  I have been an in home child care provider for over nineteen years and I don’t often branch out into the field other than what is required for class.  I have enjoyed this class and look forward to blogging with many of you in the next class.   

Module #4 – Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting

Module #4 – Observing and Interacting With Families of the Children in Your Setting

 

This past week during my observation at the Montessori Learning Centre, I spoke with the head teacher of my host classroom Sarah, the teacher’s assistant Jessica and Victoria, a teacher from another classroom.  When I arrived for my scheduled observation the classroom was outside playing.  Because this class is transitioning into their summer schedule they are spending more time outdoors than usual.  After greeting the children Sarah introduced me to Victoria, a teacher from another classroom.  My host teacher Sarah has been talking to the other teachers in the center about my research work.   When I arrived, Victoria, a teacher from one of the other classrooms asked me to discuss my research paper with her.  I was excited that these teachers were so interested in my research on childhood obesity. 

After explaining my areas of focus on childhood obesity to Victoria she explained that in her opinion one of the issues regarding childhood obesity is due in part to the restrictions and limits that have been put on our youth.  She also explained that she believes that these restrictions have caused a negative effect on the goals of raising a healthier generation of children.  Victoria used the example of removing vending machines from our junior and senior high schools.  She explained that if we totally control all the food that our children shouldn’t have, than in her opinion they are going to want it more.  Victoria explained that we need to educate our children about the types of food that our body needs on a daily basis to keep us healthy.  She also explained that foods like candy bars, cookies and chips are extras and should be used as “extras”.  These extras need to also have limits because they don’t fuel our bodies nor keep them healthy.  I asked Victoria what her thoughts were in regards to using these extras as rewards.  Victoria said that using foods as rewards gives the wrong focus on what food should be.  For example, if a child cleans their room we reward them with a candy bar.  Wow – my child would have the cleanest room in the house.  She would never want to eat her dinner either.  Victoria then explained, instead of a candy bar, what if we rewarded the clean room with an extra activity that the child enjoys doing.  For example, the reward could be an extra trip to the park or taking a bike ride after dinner.  This type of reward is not only rewarding for the parent but a healthy reward for the child as well.    

Victoria’s remarks were very insightful to my research.  I have been focusing my research on education, nutrition and physical activity and how they all relate to childhood obesity.  She had very firm opinions regarding education. 

I also was glad to see that my host classroom was spending more time outside.  I have observed this classroom for several weeks and the only gross motor skill development time that this class has is during their outside time.  Other centers that I have observed have gross motor time within their classroom or they have a separate room within the center that all the classes share for this skill development.  I believe that physical activity is a very important element that should be instilled in our children at a very young age. 

Module #3 - Observing and Interacting With Program Director(s) and Other Administrative Staff in Your Setting

During my observations in the past two weeks I have talked with the program director of the Montessori Leaning Center in our town.  I have previously spoken with the director about my research topic of child obesity and the areas that I believe are of most concern.

When speaking with Emily the director, we discussed in detail her concerns for the quality of the food that is provided to their center.  She explained that their center has always had their meals catered.  When the center first opened the owners were focused on finding a caterer that could provide them with the lowest food cost.  After a few months and many complaints later the owners decided to look for a new caterer that provided a better quality of food, providing the children with fresh fruit and vegetable and healthier main course options. 

When observing in the preschool classroom the teacher Sarah mentioned that the teachers within the center we working on their summer curriculum and nutrition/healthy eating was a focus for the first couple weeks of the summer.  I was very encouraged to hear that the teachers were focusing on this type of education within their curriculum.  Sara also mentioned that they will be having a visit from a food program representative along with a member of the health department to give a presentation on the importance of healthy eating along with physical activity. 

While visiting a local school district I spoke with a teacher, Susan who works directly with children with special needs.  I have known Susan for several years and while discussing my educational goals I mentioned that I was writing a research paper on child obesity.  I asked her what were her thoughts are about this topic and what does she think is an area that is in the most need for advocacy.  To my surprise she said that physical education is an area that really needs a great deal of support and focus to better educate children, families and even school districts regarding the importance  of keeping physical education within our schools curriculum requirements for our state.  In her district PE is not an everyday option – she even explained that in some states PE is not in the daily curriculum.  I found this to be very interesting that PE is an optional part of curriculum.  Physical activity is very important to promoting a healthy lifestyle and if our children are not seeing this first had in their daily school lives where are they going to learn it?  Home is not always an educational option for healthy living nor physical activity.  This was great insight to learn as well as an area to add to my research.

During one of my observation visits this past week I observed 2 children leaving the center and walking over to a local gymnastics place that is located directly across the parking lot from the center in which I am observing.  I asked the director of the center where the children were going.  She explained that their center has partnered with this local gymnastics center to incorporate extra physical fitness into their daily curriculum to promote healthy lifestyles and physical activity.  I was quite impressed.  The center has a list of three different preschool classrooms that rotate to participate in group lessons and activities throughout the week.  The director explained that the fee for this extra activity is included into their tuition at no extra cost.  I found this to be a great perk as well as an advantage to this child care center. 

Module #2 - Observing and Interacting with Professionals/Colleagues

During the past two weeks I have had the opportunity to observe in two different early childcare settings on four different days.  One of the early childcare settings is a Child Development Lab that is in connection with our local Community College.  The other childcare setting is called Montessori Children’s Center.  Both of my host classrooms have children that range in age from age three thru five. 

While at these two I had the opportunity to interview the teachers within the classrooms as well as interact with many of the children while I observed different learning experiences.

I had a great deal of time in the past two weeks to start gaining insights to my topic of childhood obesity.  While taking with one of early childhood teachers this week I was reminded just how important it is to do our best to set good examples and provide positive modeling experiences for our children. 

One morning while eating breakfast the children were encouraged to try all the foods on their plates.   At this particular center the children and teachers eat together and their food is served family style.  The children pass the food and are encouraged to put a little of everything on their plate.  This particular day one of the teachers did not put a banana on her plate.  One of the children had seen this and pointed out that if the teacher doesn’t have to than she doesn’t.  Well……in this case I believe that the child is correct.  The teacher even though she may not like the food should but a little on her plate, try the food setting a good example for the children. 

During the same breakfast one of the children had asked the teacher for seconds on her oatmeal.  The teacher asked the child how much she had taken on the first round, the child replied by saying a lot.  The teacher was quick to answer the child.  She told the child that since she had a large bowl to begin with, she believed that she should be satisfied with just the one bowl.  The child argued with the teacher and told the teacher that there was a lot left.  The teacher replied by telling her a story.  The teacher told the child that just because there is a whole loaf of bread on the counter that doesn’t mean that she should have more than one piece.  The teacher is trying to help the student understand how to recognize when they have had enough. Knowing when is enough is difficult for some children.

I thought that the teacher did a great job of telling this child that she didn’t need any more food without lecturing her about nutrition and the effects of overeating.  This particular child is overweight.  From personal experience it’s not a pleasant experience being an overweight child.  I appreciate the thoughtfulness of the teacher and her appreciation for the mental state of her student.

Module #1 - Professional Interviews

The teachers that I interviewed have been in the Early Childhood Education field for many years.  One of the teachers works in the four year old classroom at a   private preschool program and the other is the lead teacher in an at-risk Pre-K classroom in one of the public school districts in my town. 

Insights gained from your interviews regarding current advocacy efforts and needs in your areas of interest within the field of early childhood. 

Both teachers agreed that Early Intervention is very important aspect in the health and well being of a child.  It’s every parent’s worst nightmare to find out that your child has been born with a disability.  Feelings of fear, anxiety, depression, isolation and helplessness often surround new parents who don’t know where to go or who to turn to.  Both teachers shared that this can be a very difficult issue to discuss with parent.  However understanding the importance and expressing that to the parents helps with the discussion. 

The Pre-K teacher has been teaching early childhood students for over 30 years.  She explained that early intervention services have come a long way over the years.  With the research on the effectiveness of early intervention more programs have been developed to help children and families.  I asked her how important this issue was to her and the program that she works in.  She explained that the children she works with are in her program because they have been recognized as at risk or in need of intervention services.  She went on to explain that with early intervention, the child will foster with a large support structure and will have the best chance at normal development through special-focused programs, while they get the emotional support they need to make it through the first few difficult years.  Although early intervention within the first few years is important, her program work with young children ages four and five preparing to attend kindergarten in the next few years.

How these interviews may have influenced your decision about which area of interest and topics to choose for your research paper. 

I also shared with these teachers that I was very concerned about childhood obesity and providing education for healthier lifestyles for children. 

One of the teachers explained that this has been an overall concern of hers as well.  She explained that with the children having more technology in their world such as computers, electronic games and television, children are becoming less active than ever before.  Educating families on the importance of daily activity is very important. 

Which area of interest are you thinking of focusing on for your paper as well as the related three specific topics? 

I am interested in the area of Health: related three specific topic: 1. Childhood obesity 2. Early Intervention 3.Healthier options to serve to our children in school / daycare environments. 

Blog #1 - I am like a fish out of water