THE CASE FOR EARLY EDUCATION HAS NOT BEEN MADE (& HOW TO CHANGE THAT!) Early educators could be excused for feeling a little frustrated these days. It really shouldn’t be this way, but they still feel like they have to constantly justify the value of early childhood education and cheer for others who do likewise.
Voices From The Village – Richard Edward Gonzales, Jr. Richard Gonzales is a lead teacher at the University of California Santa Barbara (UCSB) Early Childhood Care and Education Services Center. He has been teaching in ECE for five years and recently led a session at the 2nd Annual SALSA Learning Stories Conference entitled “Voices from the
Deborah McNelis is an award winning author of Naturally Developing Young Brains and the Neuro-Nurturing Interaction Series and founder of Brain Insights. She has devoted her life to helping adults make a positive impact on children’s development. This is a review of her recent webinar with Educa. You ARE Making a Difference Deborah began her webinar
Teacher-Family Collaboration, The New Normal? I work for Educa, a company that encourages best practices in the early education sector. Educa is out of New Zealand where it’s commonplace to not only self reflect, observe and grow as individuals but also as educators. People are encouraged to “live to learn” as opposed to “learning to
Social and emotional skills benefit from effective parental engagement So, while the educator in the case study ticked all the boxes to meet the quality standards there was something significant missing: a “sense of the parent as having agency, of being more than a recipient of the opportunities provided by the teacher,” said the researchers.
“We cannot punish a child for making mistakes. To do so would be to punish them for being children.” -Jayne Mallin Recently Educa hosted a webinar entitled Positive Responses to Children’s Behavior – an outline of Guidance Approach in early childhood education by Jayne Mallin, a New Zealand based educator and home-based early childhood centre coordinator.
Make it about the child, using learning stories Assessments can be time-consuming with unclear benefits. Or they can be life-affirming and precious for teachers, families and children. Many early educators around are not fond of documentation, defined here as assessments with supporting evidence. They see documentation as: Time-consuming, Of questionable value for helping learning outcomes,
Or How Does Early Education Get Some Respect?! In her recent article for the New York Times, Why the U.S. Has Long Resisted Universal Child Care, Claire Cain Miller discusses motherhood and professional child care as if they are equivalent. They are not. Most child care services have trained professionals. They make daily contributions to
The Fight Over Food Play “Mei did not understand why the children were playing with rice. At home, her mom cooks rice for meals. She refused to play with these children because they were playing with rice. She knew that rice was for eating, not for playing.” “No food, no glitter, recycled paper or cardboard,
Benefits, Method and Tips – Jane Warnock Explains “Teaching as Inquiry ultimately benefits self and puts you in the forefront in ‘what you do’ that benefits the children. It should be part of your day, not an addition to what you already do.” In New Zealand, teachers are required to undergo an annual appraisal process,