May 25, 2015

                                                       
HALF WAY HOME :-)

                                                                National Communities of Practice

This week marks our half way point of our cap stone class and then it is on to graduation and doing good things.  I am really excited.  It has been a long haul for me, but running the marathon has been worth it.

So my national communities of practice are:

National Association for the Education of Young Children

       Several years ago when I first learned of NAEYC I thought it was just some kind of a rule and regulation organization. I was having none of it.  As a Montessori teacher I just shake my head over some of the rules early learning centers have to abide by that are so counter to what Dr. Montessori noted from her scientific observations of young children over many years.  And those observations could and were replicated in other locations using her methods.  When I began my master's program we used several resources from NAEYC and I heard Ms. Derman -Sparks speak with such passion, humility and compassion about early childhood education I couldn't help but be won over.  Since that ititial introduction I have learned many wonderful things through the NAEYC organization.  I would love to one day be more affiliated with them and learn from them what I can incorporate into a parent and teacher training program I want to develop on early childhood development and education.  As I have investigated employment opportunities in NAEYC the positions I would be interested in are not listed on the web site.  I'd like to work on the national level.  There are many positions for early learning teachers or administrators.  Both are worthy endeavors but I'd like to get in on some of the policy planning and making representing the Montessori perspective.

American Montessori Society/ American Montessori International

    These two organizations are the national organizations for Montessori educators.  While the two entities have often been at loggerheads about how to practice the "Method" both have components that I can appreciate.  One follows the child by making sure there are plenty of developmentally appropriate works on the shelves for the child to choose from.  The other delves into Dr. Montessori's philosophy and method in a deep and thoughtful way.  As I said I have learned a great deal from members of each camp.  I think as a Montessori educator I can use a both/and approach in the classroom and if any program I lead that has to do with early childhood development and education.
My dream job would be in a classroom with an experienced teacher to mentor me for at least the first year of teaching. Since there are no Montessori schools within an hours drive of my home I will use my understanding of the Montessori philosophy in other positions and opportunities I can be involved with. Again parent and teacher training would be something I want to facilitate. It would be a joy to do this and get paid well.  In the last year or so AMS and AMI are working together collaboratively to bring Montessori into the larger context of the public sector.

Montessori Education for Autism

     MEfA is an organization I became aware of when I began researching autism and looking for a Montessori teacher training center.  In 2011 I had the opportunity to do the study abroad class with Walden and went to London UK.  I got to spend 24 hours with Wendy Fidler and see her organization working with both autistic and neuro typical children. She also has a post graduate class where Montessori teachers may get a further certification in this field of study.  I am an adjudicator for her students papers and give them feed back on their work.  The field of special needs and the Montessori Method is wide open for interpretation and I want to be a part of that.
      As an avowed Anglophile I want to go back to the UK and work and tour for a year or two one day. There is so much history there I could not begin to see it all and absorb it all in just a few short weeks. I'd like to work with Wendy for a year however as a Yankee jobs are few and far between in the UK for foreigners.  Guess I'll have to find that money tree in my woods if I am to go.

Well it has been a good run so far.
 
Thanks for dropping by

Peace and all good.

                                                           References

National Association for the Education of Young Children  http://www.naeyc.org/

American Montessori Society http://www.amshq.org

American Montessori International http://amiusa.org/

Montessori Education for Autism http://www.montessorieducationforautism.com/

                                        Dream Team and Community of Practice

Week 2

ED 6990

Linda Krouse

              This week we are asked to think about three or four organizations to work with that can support or enhance our vision for early childhood education.  These need to be in the area where we live or work and have an interest in early childhood education.  I admit I have held several positions in the early childhood world but none that interested me so as finding out about the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities.  This organization has several components that I could plug into either as volunteer or an employee.  One is parent mentoring.  This person goes to the schools in the area and helps parents understand things like IEP and classroom main stream assignments for their child.  Another component is as an educator for either parents or teachers or both.  I just attended one of their training this past Monday on “Taking the Sting Out of Challenging Behavior”  This is a topic that is close to my heart.  As a teacher I have not been trained in this area at all.  This is also the biggest area new teachers struggle with.  I attend as many of these kinds of sessions as I can so I can learn strategies for understanding and helping children understand the rules of behavior in the classroom and in society.  I have heard of children as young as three being dismissed from a pre-school for not behaving but in reality it was the teachers who didn't know how to help that child learn to behave.

             The second organization is Help Me Grow. This is an early intervention organization that identifies children who are lagging behind their developmental milestones. They do in home therapy for infants, toddlers to age 3.  “The program is family centered and is available in all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Their services include parent education, ongoing screening, coordination and referrals for community resources and transition at age 3.”   The organization which is nearest me is the Northwest Ohio Help Me Grow.  I have applied for a position there in the past and keep my eye out for any openings.  As a child development specialist I can see myself in a role in this organization. 

             The third organization I would like to get to be involved with is the Good Samaritan School for children and adults with developmental disabilities.  This school has a pre-school I would love to work in this setting for a while.  While I am passionate about Montessori education I know that it takes experience working with children with many kinds of developmental delays and disabilities.  I don’t have enough experience yet to have an inclusive classroom of my own but I hope to one day.   I can see how being a classroom assistant in this setting would benefit me in building my knowledge and skills. 

              I have checked out the employment opportunities in all of these places and at this time there are no openings.  But I continue to monitor that situation.  I feel the right thing will come along for me in the right time.

              I feel I have a great deal of knowledge about developmental disabilities and delays.  I am good at identifying the kinds of delays that children might have that would hold them back in normal development. So I would be a good fit for Help Me Grow.  I am also very good at explaining things and doing workshops so I could be a parent mentor or a parent/ teacher educator and hold workshops on the various topics I am familiar with.  Really what I lack is the experience in the teaching and classroom management and desire a mentor teacher to work with. 

            As they used to say “If you build it they will come.”  One thing I and my partner are working toward is a non - profit organization that will provide programming for children on the autism spectrum.  Geared toward their interests we will be facilitators in the community. We have already talked to several local businesses about participating. One is a stained glass shop who has done this before and was very positive in her feedback about doing it again and an artist who may be interested.  There is a ceramic shop also we want to get hold of.  We have plans to hopefully use the kitchen of the church we attend and have cooking night and do some community activities. We want to have a theater and a movement class too.  I am a certified Autism Movement Therapist so this would be fun.  These would be once or twice a month and the cost would be minimal for the families.  Once we get the pieces in place we can begin to gear the activities toward the interest of the children, and let them lead the activities.  We don’t have a name for our adventure but I did create an organization several years ago called Holistic Integrated Therapy – Make every day a H.I.T.  I have not formally registered it but if Monica agrees we could have the name and hopefully a base of operations by this fall.  I am excited by the possibility of getting this off the ground. 

Well thanks for dropping by

Peace and all good

             

Passion – “Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you."

— Bill Cosby
Comedian

This week is the beginning of the last class in the Master of Science in Early Childhood Studies.  We were asked to create a Wordle I couldn't get the sight to work so I made my own.   

We were to pick four words that we may focus on during this class.  Here are mine. 

                               Diversity

            “We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”

               Max de Pree   

Social Justice

                      “If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.”  Dr. Maria Montessori

       Developmentally Appropriate

“ Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to worlds but by experiences in the environment.”

Dr. Maria Montessori