Monthly Archives: November 2013

Professional Resources

Position Statements and Influential Practices:

Global Support for Children’s Rights and Well-Being:

Selected Early Childhood Organizations:

Selected Professional Journals Available in the Walden Library:

  • YC Young Children
  • Childhood
  • Journal of Child & Family Studies
  • Child Study Journal
  • Multicultural Education
  • Early Childhood Education Journal
  • Journal of Early Childhood Research
  • International Journal of Early Childhood
  • Early Childhood Research Quarterly
  • Developmental Psychology
  • Social Studies
  • Maternal & Child Health Journal
  • International Journal of Early Years Education
    • Note: The following article can be found in the Walden University Library databases.
    • Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al. (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42-53.

Books: 

Multicultural Teaching in the Early Childhood Classroom: Approaches, Strategies and Tools, Preschool-2nd Grade (Early Childhood Education)Paperback

by Mariana Souto-Manning  (Author)
  • Series: Early Childhood Education
  • Paperback: 168 pages
  • Publisher: Teachers College Press (February 15, 2013)
  • ISBN-10: 0807754056
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807754054

Theories of Childhood: An Introduction to Dewey, Montessori, Erikson, Piaget & Vygotsky Paperback

  • Paperback: 120 pages
  • Publisher: Redleaf Press; 1 edition (November 2000)
  • ISBN-10: 188483485X
  • ISBN-13: 978-1884834851

Effective Practices in Early Childhood Education: Building a Foundation [Hardcover]

Sue Bredekamp

  • Hardcover: 576 pages
  • Publisher: Pearson; 1 edition (January 14, 2010)
  • ISBN-10: 0205515320
  • ISBN-13: 978-0205515325

Early Childhood Education for a New Era: Leading for Our Profession Paperback

  • Series: Early Childhood Education
  • Paperback: 120 pages
  • Publisher: Teachers College Press (September 22, 2013)
  • ISBN-10: 0807754609
  • ISBN-13: 978-0807754603

These books that I found can be purchased from Amazon.com.  I have bought other education resources from Amazon.com in the past.  There is such a good selection that sometimes just looking through all of these makes you feel like you want to buy all of them.

Quotes from Early Childhood contributors

“The point is that calling nearly every shared effort in schools collaborative, whether it is or not, diminishes the value of the concept, dilutes professionals’ understanding of what it requires, and fosters a false belief that there’s not much to collaborating.”  Marilyn Friend-Myths and Misunderstandings about Professional Collaboration

 

“Collaboration is a vehicle for achieving shared goals and as such, it is reasonable to expect that time devoted to collaboration should lead to results that can be documented.”  Marilyn Friend-Myths and Misunderstandings about Professional Collaboration

 

“I always wanted to be a teacher.”  Louise Derman-Sparks-Professor Emeritus Pacific Oak College, CA

Personal Childhood Web

My childhood was full of a lot of tumult and trials, not really what you would call a positive influence.  My parents divorced when I was 9 or 10 years old.  Being bounced back and forth between parents really makes it hard for a child to have any stability in their life, and that was definitely the truth for me.  But despite the fact that I had such a rough childhood, there still were people that were in my life that had a positive influence on my life.  As I have been looking at it, I realize there have been more than I am allowed to write about.  At the end, I will write down who they are and briefly tell what they did.

Kenneth and Viola Silver: 

My Grandparents

Image

 

I chose them together because both of them were a huge influence on me.  When I was a baby they would both take care of me.  They taught me so much and love me so much.  When I was in high school I lived with them so that I could go to Walla Walla Valley Academy (WWVA) for high school and it was my grandfather that gave me my first job.  I lived with them into my adult years.  My grandfather loves to give me a hard time and that is his way of showing me that he loves me.  I give it right back to him much to my grandmother’s amusement.

Mrs. Warner:

4th Grade Teacher

This teacher influenced me in the way that she cared about me.  When my parents were going through their divorce, I would lie about having homework and as a result, my grades really began to suffer.  If it wasn’t for Mrs. Warner, I would have had to repeat the 4th grade.  During a parent-teacher conference she brought up the fact that my grades were not good at all.  I owe her so much because she believed in me and knew that I had it in me to be a good student.  

Ivy Silver:

My great grandmother

This special lady was just as big of an influence on my life as my grandparents.  Her and I were very close when she was alive.  She taught me how to crochet and do other crafts so that I would have a way to keep that tradition alive in my family.  Her and I used to give each other a hard time.  She passed away in July of 2010, just three months shy of her 105th birthday.  I miss her to this day.

Penelope Silver: 

My mother

My mom, up until the time when I moved in with her, just before I started middle school, my mom really didn’t have much of an influence.  Her and my father were fighting quite a bit of the time when my mom wasn’t out until all hours of the night gambling.  Once my siblings and I (I have a sister who is two years younger and a brother who is five years younger than me) moved in with our mom, she realized that she had to be a mom to us.  She would talk with me whenever I would have problems, when I wasn’t with her she used to write us letters that had continuing story in it, she gave me the opportunity to cook and she would take us on trips.  She took us to Disneyland and the Grand Canyon.  When I moved in with my grandparents, she would either fly me to see her or she would come to see me and on my 15th birthday my mom and I went to Vancouver, B.C just the two of us.  She would also send me care packages and write me letters to show that she missed me.  She called me her “steady angel” because of everything that I had to deal with in my life.  My mom believed in me and gave me an appreciation for classical music and for ballet.  I have gotten to see a couple of ballets with her.  I will miss my mom and am sad that she will not get to influence the life of my children (when my husband and I start having them) the way she influenced mine in my later life.  She passed away on Dec. 1, 2009 much too soon.

Travis:

A leader at the Boys and Girls Club in Carson City, NV

This man influenced me when it came to sports.  He was always willing to include me when I wanted to play flag football.  He also taught me good sportsmanship.  Through his influence and guidance, I learned that it doesn’t really matter if you win or lose, just have fun.  To me that has been a very valuable lesson.

There have been several other influences in my life, some of which may not necessarily be positive, but they are influences none the less.  

Article about school children

Children interpret school, life in often-amusing ways

By Terry Koch

As of Tuesday, November 5, 2013

Part of my retiree volunteering is in a first- and second-grade classroom. I listen to individual students read aloud, then ask them questions about their books to ascertain what their comprehension is regarding what they read.

#I also check over student work in math and spelling and in their journals.

#One day I was checking some papers when the class came back from lunch to get ready for recess. One of the first-grade boys who I had as a student in kindergarten before I retired asked me the following.

#Student: “Mr. Koch, where do you work now?”

#Me: “I don’t.”

#Student: “You don’t? Was work too hard for you?”

#I was speechless at his final question because I had to suppress my amusement at his assessment.

#That same day I stuck my head into a third- and fourth-grade room to say hello to the teacher, a former colleague. The students who I had had for several years before I concluded my teaching career last June began to greet me. One of them asked, “Why are you retired?”

#Feeling in a quirky mood, I answered, “Because I am old!”

#Many times over the years I was teaching I wrote down comical and even downright hilarious questions students asked and comments they made in music classes. The Kindergarten teacher and I would have to hold our lips tight to keep from loudly guffawing in reaction to the things her students would come up with in all seriousness. And we weren’t always successful. Squelching a laugh was certainly a challenge.

#I suppose I could have written a book called “Kids Say the Darndest Things!” but, unfortunately, Art Linkletter and Bill Cosby already used that title for their TV shows. Perhaps I could have amended it to “Kids Say the Darndest Things … In School!”.

#Getting ready for a school Christmas program, the Kindergarten was learning a song about the three men from the East who searched for the baby Jesus after his birth. I asked the students who these men were, expecting to receive the answers “the three kings” or “the three wise men.”

#Instead, one student answered confidently, “They were Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego!” — (in the Bible book of Daniel, the names of the three men thrown into a blazing furnace by the king of Babylon for refusing to bow down to an idol).

#Another one breathlessly exclaimed in music class, “I found out my grandmother went to school with the composer Johann Sebastian Bach!” (Hmmm. Bach lived from 1685-1750.)

#In one music class I had just completed what I thought was a masterful presentation, and decided to ask a question to ascertain the depth of the students‘ understanding of the topic I had taught. A girl’s hand went up quickly and I was excited to hear her answer to my question. Instead she said, “Guess what? I have a dog!” So much for my wonderful teaching.

#We teachers learn a lot about the families of our students by their commentaries. Perhaps more than we want to or should know.

#We have learned about fathers who snore. Then there was the girl who related, “My dad doesn’t wear pajamas. He sleeps with nothing on!” Students also share things parents have said about us teachers, sometimes complimentary, sometimes not.

#One third-grade girl told me that her mother said when they got more money they were going to move up on the hill “where all the rich people live.” The place she was referring to is the street where we live. However, we certainly did not fit her mother’s opinion of the monetary attainments of the people in our neighborhood.

#A young boy stated that his mom and dad had just celebrated their 99th anniversary. Another boy who wasn’t singing during my music class explained that his sister had hit him in the “apple box” so hard he couldn’t sing.

#It took me a while to realize he was referring to his voice box, or “Adam’s apple.”

#One student reported that his grandfather was ill and had a fever of 128 degrees!

#Ah. The joys of life as children interpret it. I do miss those delightfully unexpected pearls of wisdom from the lips of my budding musical scholars. But as I do my volunteering at school, I will endeavor to be ready to listen for more of their unique commentaries on their world — the way they see it.

#Through the eyes of a child.

#In my senior years, I must not forget to savor life as children do.

#With humor and zest.

This article is written by a recently retired teacher that I am acquainted with back in College Place, WA at a school that I substitute taught at.  This was pretty entertaining and I thought it would be a good insight into the minds of children and how they will comment on things that matter to them that as adults we might think is really trivial.

Quotes

“Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it.” Prov. 22:6

“Never put off until tomorrow the assignment that was due yesterday.” Anonymous

my husband and I

my husband and I

This is the most recent picture that has been taken of me. My husband was a truck driver when he got these two shirts for the two of us. We had been in an accident on February 15, 2013 off the side of Cabbage Hill just out of Pendleton, OR after he fell asleep while driving truck for the company he worked for at the time. He had been on the road for 11 days at the time and hadn’t had a lot of sleep. Both of us are very fortunate to be alive.