When I think of research....

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I learned not to panic!! The more that I kept reading the course material, the more my research started to fall into place.  So now I have the confidence that with researching as long as I keep looking for valuable information the easier the process becomes.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

When I would think of research I thought that my desk would be covered in papers, open books everywhere with highlighted sections.  Research is more manageable than what I had originally thought.  When you find the right information things just start to fall into place.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I think that it was beneficial to do background searches on the research topic that you are conducting.  Having the insight and information that has been previously conducted on the research that you are wanting to conduct is very helpful.  It gives you ideas of how to conduct your research, and can even perused you in a different way to conduct your research.  It can offer a different perspective about important topics that might have been previously overlooked.

What were some challenges you encountered- and in what ways did you meet them?

I was difficult going through certain chapters in the book, and relating it to my research topic.  There were just different research techniques that made it challenging to try and figure out how it would relate to my research topic.  As long as I continued to do the work, and not give up, it was manageable. 

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

It has made me more aware of the vast abilities of an early childhood professional.  I think as educators in the field we take on a lot of responsibilities that we aren't even aware of.  No matter where we go in our journey as teachers we take on a role of a researcher, observer, a specialist and so much more. As an early childhood professional we are multitasking talented individuals!

Australia Early Childhood

The website that I chose is, Early Childhood Australia.  I went into their recent news section and read an article that they posted on October 30^th.  This article talks about the importance of investing in early childhood education.  “If we are serious about improving the education outcomes for future generations of children, then we need to start at the very beginning and invest in early childhood. The National Quality Framework should be seen as the first step in this area” (Early Childhood Australia, 2013). 

 

The surprising facts that I found, was that there is support for early childhood!

I have been hoping to see more support for early childhood development, and I was excited when I saw it on the Australia Early Childhood website.  There is so much negativity out there about how Americas should not put their money into preschool programs, or early childhood education because they do not see enough growth from it.  The fact is, is that there is growth at all in the area.  It is welcomed to see such support and positivity coming from another country, I hope that they succeed in getting their support, and that other countries will follow!

 

There is a section on their website called Everyday Learning. This part of their website has information about how to create positive learning environments for young children! This is helpful to me because, this is the information that I am researching for our assignments! So I am grateful to find another resource that might hold some extra information that could be very valuable to me in the upcoming weeks!

 

There is a lot of good resources on their website that I will be investigating further, to see if there are newsletters and such that I can sign up for.  It is nice to see that there is all sorts of information in one spot, of information that I have not seen before.  I am eager to see what more information I can gain from the website!

Positive Research

I originally saw this video on Facebook, and decided to research it further.  The title of this video is Fire with Fire. This is an amazing advancement in medical technology.  These doctors have taken the HIV virus and made it no longer harmful.  What they do is they take part of the cancer from the patient and put it with the non harmful HIV and reprogram the cells to attach the cancer. In this specific situation the girls cancer went into remission.  This treatment has been testing with other patients before, but it has only been used on patients that have leukemia or lymphoma.  They are working on testing out theories on other cancer treatments.
When I saw this video I astounded that medicine has come this far, that we are working with a strong lead on how to cure cancer.  I was skeptical about the research findings, and did research of my own, and concluded that it is quality research.  If you would like to see part of the study from the Dr. that is working on the trial click here: http://www.med.upenn.edu/apps/faculty/index.php/g275/p2328. 

It is truly inspiring the way that this research has positively impacted young children and their families.  

Research Simulation

Ladies and gentlemen this is hard! The topic that I chose is positive support in the classroom.  I chose this topic because I feel that I currently work in a position where everyone is against what we (our program) does.  Everyone around us questions why we do what we do, and does not say anything positive about it.  They just kind of roll their eyes and walk away.  These instances set me up for the rest of the day!  If I come into the classroom with a negative attitude my students are going to feel it, and it can change their attitude as well.  So, I am looking for research about the benefits of positive support in the classroom.

I feel that I am going to have a difficult time with this class. I have the tendency to get excited about a topic, and while research it I will find another topic that intrigues me more, so I start researching that one and end up with no information for my assignment.  So I am hoping that with my current topic being short, sweet, and to the point, that I hopefully will not get as deterred as I could be.  Does anyone else have this issue?  If anyone has some pointers on where to begin or articles that they found useful, please let me know. 

Lets master this research class!!

Consequences

First consequence is not being able to make contact! There is such valuable information in being able to communicate with other people in the early childhood field.  The information that we could share between each other is invaluable.  I am sorry that I was not able to make contact with someone to directly talk to.  I was able to talk with coworkers that lived in other countries and worked as teachers, there was valuable information learned, but I was looking forward to more current information.

The second consequence is that there was nothing that I could do. In researching other countries and the way that families and young children are treated is saddening.  It just makes me want to do something.  It was encouraging to see that some countries see the benefits of early childhood education. It is just going to take time to see how it helps their population. 

The third consequence is the lack of governmental support.  In brazil there is a lack of records of children that are born, so there is not a true record of children that are living in poverty.  Governments have a hard time believing the importance of young children.  Having records of what children are born into the country can help a government plan for their future.  It will give them a better idea of how to plan for their future.

I hope that I am able to make connections in the future.  I want to have that connection with someone to work together and collaborate on ways that we can help each other.  I think collaborating with others is one of the most important parts of continued learning.  My goal is to find people that I can collaborate with, I want to have that connection. I think that it is an invaluable learning tool!

UNESCO's Early Childhood Care and Education

The first section that I explored on the website is the IIEP, International Institute for Educational Planning.  This area of the UNESCO advocates the importance of countries working together to educate their children.  When countries have little to no resources to help their community they want them to reach out to others.  If a country has figured out a way to help their community, share that information with others, so that can have a thriving community as well.  "Cooperation among countries to better manage the challenges and reap the benefits of the growing internationalization of education" http://norrag.wordpress.com/2013/10/14/funding-global-public-goods-in-the-education-sector-a-growing-challenge/. 

Next I went to the Governance and Management section.  This area talks about holding the government accountable to different representatives in various areas.  It does not just matter about making changes in the government, but all the people that are responsible below the highest power as well.

The third area that I looked into was the Highlights: ETICO, HIV&AIDS.  It was interesting to read about how teachers deal with children that have HIV and AIDS.  There is a disconnect on how teachers should work with, and teach these children.  There are things that they need to prepare for, that they do not have the knowledge about.  Not only do the teachers have to prepare for teaching children with this disease, children have to learn how to learn with it. 

This is a challenge that needs to be faced by the government, and the information needs to work its way to the teachers.  There needs to be a correlation between the two so that they can have the best outcomes for these children and families.  I would not know how to approach teaching in this situation.  It definitely makes you think about how to approach children and families to accommodate their differences. 

Web Resources

OUTSIDE LINKS
On the right hand side of the National Head Start Association website there are links to articles that are about Head Start. Currently with the federal shut down, there are several articles about Head Start classrooms that have been shut down.
I read  the article from the Bloomberg News with the title Children Play Alone. This article talks about a single mother that is in college and has a daughter that attended a Head Start preschool classroom. Now due to the federal shutdown the mother has to talk her daughter with her to college, to be stuck in offices for hours without much relief. The mothers fear is that her daughters education will regress if she does not get back into school soon. She wrote a letter to her lawmakers stating how this has affected more people than what they might think. " I am not sure if they know, or if they don't care." These are the harsh realities that the government is doing to the American people.


After reading about how the federal shut down has affected families in Florida, I went and clicked on the link Stop The Cuts Rally. This lead me to photos and videos from when they held the rally on Capitol Hill to stop the budget cuts that affect Head Start classrooms. It is a powerful sight to see, having parents and children gathered to support Head Start. No matter what happens on a daily basis in the classroom, it is nice to see people that support the program.


UPDATES section: Philanthropists Laura and John Arnold provide $10 million dollars to help reopen Head Start classrooms that were affected by the shut down! Once Head Start gets their funding after the government reopens, they will be able to pay back the Arnolds. In the mean time their funds will be put to good use, to reopen centers in six states.



I think most of their website is dedicated to equity and excellence for young children. I was surprised to read that someone was able to and landed $10 million dollars, because they understand the importance of early childhood education. Despite all the bad rumors and talks about Head Start not making a difference in children, it is apparent that people do really see the benefits of the program. That is exciting for me, because it makes me feel like the daily struggles that I go through are making a change for the better.