Observing and Interacting With Professionals/Colleagues in Your Setting

I interviewed K.Y a teacher at Mary Crane Lake and Pulaski. I wanted to know more about the math curriculum and assessment in her classroom. I asked her how she felt about the approach teaching strategies use. She replied “teaching strategies use a positive and appropriate approach however the emphasis from other agencies requires teachers to put a greater emphasis on literacy development”  I noticed the take home assignments for parents were mainly about literacy development and early literacy.  Also I noticed environment encouraged more literacy development however not as much early mathematics. The teacher did a lot of writing and reading with the child but only a minimum amount for mathematics. The small group activities were more focused on literacy development and they participated in very basic mathematics skills such as recognizing numbers and matching.

 

I believe teachers must be comfortable with their own math skills before they can teach math to children. At the preschool level we should introduce problem solving skills to small children. We should introduce word problems to children to help them activate problem solving skills. We should move beyond the basics to help them be better prepared for elementary education.

Interview One

After pondering about advocacy issues I have identified three issues that I believe are important for me to support. First I believe Early Childhood Programs should provide the continuity of care. Second I believe programs should try to understand and support the child’s home culture. Lastly I identified the need for programs to be able to determine if their program is the least restrictive environment for a child with special needs.  

I spoke to two individuals in the field addressing the issues I have identified. I spoke to Martha L. a preschool teacher and M. Newsome a program director whom both works in a program that offers continuity of care for children.  Martha says she believes continuity of care is great for children especially infants and toddlers.  Martha pointed out that it is especially beneficial for children with special needs. Families become familiar and comfortable with the caregiver or teacher once continuity of care is implemented.

I also learned through my conversations that not all programs are open to understanding and supporting the child’s culture.   My interview with these two professional helped me understand that understanding culture is so much more and there are some parts of the child’s culture we aren’t able to support such as discipline. Also I learned that learning culture can be challenging when parents have a guard up and when there are a variety of cultures in one setting or classroom.

My discussion with these two individuals assisted my understanding of the legal ramifications associated with creating the least restrictive environment. I also learned regardless professionals need specialized training to work with children in special needs.

My topic will be continuity of care. I have some experience with children whom I have worked with from 15 months to 36 months and then I was moved to the three year old class and continued to work with that group of children. I would say our relationship is better. Their parents are more comfortable with me as their child’s teacher. I see that they know more than some of the other children and I know exactly what they need extra support in.

Hello
My name is Shawntay King. I live in Illinois right out side of Chicago. I work in Chicago in 3-5 year old class with the majority of them being 4-5. This is my very first time ever using blogger and I've created to accounts. I look forward to this class and hope I can get assistance with wording my topic better. I've worded the best I know how at this moment.