Hi All,

I wanted to let you know that it was great working and sharing ideas with you on a weekly basis, and your feedback on subjects I will use to better prepare myself. I will soon be ending my journey at Kendall in 2013 and having great classmates like you guys will be missed.

I have enjoyed my time in this class and will miss you guys. Thank you for all the support, insights, and help you have provided me over the past 10 weeks.

Happy Holidays to you and your families

Thanks again for everything.

Sincerely,

Katherine Colon

Colon_K_411 Blog #4

Colon_K_411 Blog #4

  Whom you observed and interacted with in your setting during this module

Answer: During this last module I interacted with parents at the head start center and the host teacher and her assistant. I also observed the children and their families bringing them in from a long holiday weekend so their definitely was fewer children and very tired parents that didn’t want to stay and answer questions from me especially being that the host teacher never introduced me to the parents and just plainly went up to them and asked them if they would answer a few questions for me. I however was able to speak to a few parents mostly dads. I asked about advocacy programs that they themselves would be involved in and they like the teaching staff in past weeks said they also have no time to join advocacy groups due to their family lives and their busy work schedules. The question came up about how the staff and the childhood professionals in this childcare facility advocate for them, and answers were given that all the staff at this center are always available to listen and help parents locate resources that can help them better their lives. 2 dads discussed how they have been looking for employment for months and the social worker and the teaching staff have been helping them out by giving them job leads. One dada stated that this childcare center advocates for his family when they are in need of food services and educational resources that can help their families. Another dad discussed how the parent meetings are important to him because they help him learn about how to raise his children and therefore he can use that information to advocate for his children.

  Any special learning experiences you may have had or an experience that provided you with insight about children and families including advocacy efforts

  Answer: My special learning experience was working with poverty stricken families that were poorly educated, and abusive. These families made me think that they were in these conditions because they never had anyone or group advocate for them or hear their cries for help causing these issues of poverty poor education, and abuse to be a norm in their lives. These issues are what brought me to the education field. These families are families I want to help I want to advocate for these families and help them end these viscous cycles that they feel are their lives. I want to advocate for families that want better for their children even though they cannot afford the best.

  At least two insights gained from your observations of, and interactions and experiences with, children’s families regarding advocacy efforts and needs related to your area of interest within the field of early childhood

  Answer: based on what was said to me it seems like parents learn from educators and other important people so they can better serve the needs of their children and advocate for their children for a better life. Through my observation being able to see staff help families so they can have hope for the future and look at things differently was a great learning experience. Being able to see families come through the door in the morning upset at their spouses or at the world but have a small conversation with their child’s teacher allowed for many of them to leave in a much happier note was great to witness. I see know that if programs like child care,  head start, pre-school would seize to exists who would hear the cry of these families who would help them work on achieving their goals for their families.

 

 

Blog Journal #3-411

Blog Journal # 3-411

During my last 2 weeks I have interacted with the type 04 Head teacher at a local YMCA child care center, and 18 head start children between the ages of 3-5. During my interactions I witnessed parents seeking advice, and education on family issues, employment, and child discipline. During my visit there has been a student teacher from another university that has not offered a comment nor shown any movement towards helping to conduct the class while the head teacher addressed the issues that parents brought to her. This was very frustrating to see. During my observations I saw the teacher yell allot and spend most of her time stopping the children from fighting or running into the bathroom to play with the water. I saw minimal teaching taking place and children constantly being separated into groups in play areas while staff mingled or complained about the behavior of the children. I also saw teachers only speaking to certain parents when asked why they stated that many parents come in the morning with attitude and they themselves do not have to deal with people like that, so I feel there is a lack of professionalism missing.

On my visit 11/07/12 I asked the following questions to the head teacher being that the director is involved already in child advocacy I felt that other staff would also have some involvement. I asked the head teacher if she is involved in advocacy she said she only advocates for the children in-house to their parents, and to the social worker on sight. The teacher advocates through transitional reports, and daily follow-up. The teacher however reports that she and other staff cannot really advocate because there is never enough classroom coverage or time to even discuss advocacy efforts. The teacher did discuss how they have tried to involve parents but they never seem to come to the meetings. I also went ahead and asked if she knew of any places where I can seek information on child advocacy and she honestly said no. I find it very hard to believe being that this program has been accredited by NAEYC for a few years already.

My last question I asked the head teacher was what kind of differences would she like to make in her community? The teacher stated that she would like to help parents become more pro-active when it comes to their children’s education. She did however report that she feels that parenting is lacking therefore children are not getting prepared to even enter pre-school therefore are behind in learning all through their pre-school and head-start careers. Based on what she said this information had created some curiosity as to the real reason why children are not ready for school. Is it the parent or the school system?

Blog #1 Interview

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

Answer: I learned that there are many educators along with parents that feel the same as me and want to speak up and help advocate for children and where we stand on school readiness, along with literacy, health and well-being, and obesity.

The issue that kept floating in the room was the number of Latino children in our community that are not being prepared for school and are lacking the basic literacy, and writing skills necessary to begin kindergarten. The issue regarding poor health care, along with asthma, and obesity as being a big killer in the community is creating alarm, and a need for advocacy is important.

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

Answer: These interviews opened my eyes to see that these issues are more than just involving my children or the childcare center that they attend. These issues need to be dealt with and who better but the community to get involved. The issues brought up in the interview directly affect my children and my extended families because we all reside in the high risk communities that suffer from the issues of not being ready for school and poor read skills, along with issues of asthma, and obesity.

These issues hit home and with my assistance I believe I can help create some change. I will be attending an early childhood action partnership meeting through the Logan Square Neighborhood Association on Oct 29^th to help get a better understanding of what is needed and what I can help do to get these issues resolved.

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

Answer: The areas of interest I want to focus on, where we stand on school readiness, as a community what are we doing to prepare our children for school. Literacy, what are we doing as educators and as a community to help get our children ready for reading and at their level of reading.  Health/well being, what we can do to educate the community and our children on the Asthma and Obesity related issues and how we can cut the number of children that suffer from these issues to half the number by the next 10yrs.

Questions you have for your colleagues related to your area of interest and/or three topics

1. For my friends and colleagues does anyone know how we as a group can modify some of our learning programs so the issues of health, literacy and readiness can be addressed throughout  the school year without having to make more time in the school day?

2.  Does anyone know of any links or other organizations in Chicago that are helping with advocating for the children in regards to health and wellness?