The Comeback Kid Strikes Again

The Interview Process My interview process is going slow due to assessments in the school and other school related activities including parent-teacher conference this week. Some of the successes are working closely with this population and colleagues at a Titled 1 school. The questions in my interview touches on some of the types of experience that my interview contacts have had, or is having presently. The challenges seem to be not enough time during the day to sit down for in depth interviews. For example one of my interviews was on a school bus heading to the “pumpkin patch” for a field trip. My course project challenge is young children and families exposed to risk, stress, and trauma. My sub-topic is “toxic stress.” Module 6 was about the same challenge and it was wonderful! I am anxious to begin a literature review on the research. At this point the only thing I am unclear about is if there is a connection between the “complexity theory” and “complex trauma.” I hope to find

Discussing Your Course Project As an early childhood advocate, I expect there to be challenges persuading the world leaders to put children and their families first on their agendas in regards to health and development. As an advocate, I will embrace the personal challenges of young children and their families in an attempt to promote positive social change. Some of these challenges are children with varying abilities, families who have immigrated, family constellations, children who are dual or multiple language learners, and prenatal risk factors.                Reflecting on some of the challenges today’s young children and families are experiencing, it was not easy for me to just pick one, however the challenge that influences me the most was “children and families exposed to risk, stress, or trauma.” I have selected this challenge because it is important for children and their families to experience good health and positive child development. When children and families that

Early Childhood Professional blog             The book entitled Developmentally Appropriate Practice in Early Childhood Programs (2012) is a very inspiring resource for the development of children from birth through age 8. This book is very thought-provoking because it is suggesting that “an excellent teacher makes it a priority to develop a warm, positive relationship with each child” (Bredekamp, 2012) . Immediately after reading that statement I started to reflect to make sure I was in that category. I am! The authors stated that relationships are vital to young children’s learning and development in all areas  (Bredekamp, 2012) . Discovering other practitioners creating classroom communities and making it a point to learn about each child’s personality, abilities, interests, and ways of learning inspires me to do the same in my classroom.             The most current research that challenges my thinking is how “toxic stress” can affect “executive functioning” in young children

Making Sense What Children See      One resource that represents innovative and inspiring approaches for fostering learning during early childhood is titled, “How We are Teaching Computers to Understand Pictures.” This resource is in the Fostering Early Learning section of the optional resource for this week. Fei-Fei Li is the creator of “ smart vision. ” This concept is a form or related to visual intelligence. The first step in this concept is to bring “computer vision” and “machine learning,” together. Ms.Li’s research team actually found an algorithm used years ago that was compatible with their set of instructions. An algorithm is a set of instructions, sometimes called a procedure or a function that is used to perform a certain task. The task in this case was instructions to teach the computers how to understand pictures.      In other words, Ms. Li’s team found a way for a computer to see more than one object in a pictur

A Communication      A communication I had about an issue related to child development was that of trauma and toxic stress. When I found out how trauma and toxic stress can have a long lasting effect on young children into adulthood it really deepened my thinking. I realize that even as educators we really do not know what young children have been through and are going through. This is why I am so passionate about becoming an early childhood practitioner so I can give young children the buffering support of caring, consistent and a supportive relationship. One of the sources that gave me new insights is The Foundations of Lifelong Health Are Built in Early Childhood. The link directly to this source is http://www.developingchild.harvard.edu . In countries where young children and families are the innocent victims of war or any other hardship do you think they are missing their childhood? Do they grow up too fast? Does anyone do anything about misplaced children in war torned countr

    Hello, my name is Larry D. Jackson Sr. I am a father of three children, and married to a wonderful person. I am on a personal journey of social change. I see and hear a lot of  unequality towards young children, families, and early education personel.I hope by going to school and obtaining a degree I will be competent and confident enough to change policies and help children, families, and communities with negative social issues.      I find that in the classroom, applying Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) is beneficial for young chidlren,families, and teachers. I believe teaching the whole child results in positive outcomes for the children, their families. and establishes secure relationships.I believe that my "involvement" in the early childhood education field is a priveledge.       I feel that when parents of young children trust me enough to watch and teach their children 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week, then as a education professional I need to be