EDUC 6162 Reflection

I really enjoyed working with an international contact in the early childhood field.  Unfortunately, there were some consequences with this assignment.  First, not all of my classmates touched based with an international contact.  I was fortunate to reach someone on my third attempt, but I never heard back from my first two contacts.  I can only imagine that they were not interested or completely overwhelmed with their work.  Second, I think it would have been just as effective if we were given the option to research a different country each week in lieu of the podcasts or exchanging emails.  I had to fill in some of the gaps with my international contact with information that I knew or researched.  I think learning about more than one country would have been interesting.  Third, I feel that this assignment was not beneficial for everyone.  For those who were not able to touch base with an international contact, they most likely felt left out.  This was just another research assignment for them instead of a fun activity like it was meant to be. 

My goal for the international community is that everyone becomes aware of the benefits of early childhood education.  Many countries do have a wonderful education system in place, but it usually starts at Kindergarten.  My hope is that everyone becomes aware of the great benefits of starting education earlier thus creating early childhood programs around the globe.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Students were on Spring Break this week, so I did not gain as much insight as I would have liked.  Since our application assignment this week involves re-evaluating our professional goals, I decided to ask Dr. Yurica what some of her professional goals are. 

One goal she is currently working on is having every teacher utilize the resources that they have available in their classrooms.  She said that every teacher has a smart board in their classroom, but few teachers are using them.  At the beginning of the year, she spent time training her student aids and teachers the basics of using a smart board.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with it, it is like a white board.  Teachers can pick a game or a lesson and all the students can interact with it.  I was surprised to learn that such an expensive resource is available in each classroom, yet many teachers are not using them.  Korea is very modern and advanced in their technology.  They take pride in this and start exposing children to technology at a young age. 

Another goal that Dr. Yurica has is to close the gap between the teacher’s aides and teachers.  In the past, teachers put a lot of pressure on their aids to run errands and gather materials for the classroom, but her goal is for them to help teach.  This is so true because the aid is there to assist the teacher teach.  I was once a teacher’s aide and felt belittled at times.  I felt that my job was not as important as the teacher and that I was just an errand girl.  When I was teaching Pre-K, I made sure my aid was well respected by my class, and I gave her the opportunity to help me teach.  A professional partnership among colleagues is also one of my goals.

I have a few more tidbits to share about South Korea.  Teachers are very well respected here. They really respect anyone who is dedicated to preparing children for the future. In America, it seems that teachers are not well respected until about Kindergarten.   Tutors are very popular here.  There are many Americans that come here to teacher English at a foreign school and teach English on the side as a tutor.  A tutor makes about $30-40 and hour.  Anyone who holds a bachelor’s degree and a passport can apply to be a teacher here.  The foreign schools here do not care if your degree is in Engineering.  They are more interested in the fact that you speak fluent English, and people will pay big bucks for that.  The people here dress very conservatively.  You will not walk into a classroom and see a teacher in jeans, but you will see a teacher wearing high heels, skirts, and button up blouses.  The people do value modesty and presentation.  Another interesting tidbit is that children are walking around the streets and taking the subways at a very young age.  It is not uncommon for a seven year old possibly younger child walking around by themselves.  The country is very safe.  I would never let my children walk around the streets alone in America sadly. 

I hope you have enjoyed reading my blog about South Korea.  I had somewhat of an advantage because I live here, but I have really learned a lot from Dr. Yurica.  I knew a lot about the culture, but I did not know as much about early childhood here.   I hope to one day be a Principal of an Elementary School.  It was very beneficial for me to communicate with Dr, Yurica about her role in early childhood as well as the field itself in another country.    

Sharing Web Resources: Pre-K Now- Part 3

http://www.preknow.org/

This week I decided to explore the Family section of the website.  Last time, I examined what was available for teachers, but this week I wanted to see what is available to me as a Pre-K parent.  There was a link for parents to find a high quality Pre-K program for their child, information to help guide their child’s learning at home, stories shared by parents of Pre-K students, and the information was even available in Spanish!  The area that caught my attention was this link, http://www2.ed.gov/parents/earlychild/ready/preschool/index.html which took me to the US Department of Education site.  This site helps guide parents with their preschooler.  I looked into the recommended, “Activities” as well as the topic of, “Taking Charge of TV.” There were a lot of activities that could be use in the classroom, and they were even separated by age group.  The US Department of Education said that by the time a child goes to Kindergarten, he has watched an average of 4,000 hours of television!  That was an eye-opening statistic!  I do let my boys watch a lot of television, but my younger son can only watch educational shows.  They did recommend that a child does not spend more than two hours a day in front of the television.  There is so much valuable information here, so I bookmarked this site. 

I have been receiving daily newsletters from this organization.  The popular issue is still education funding being slashed all across the country.  Sadly, there has not been a day since I subscribed that has said otherwise.  In each newsletter, there are also quotes of the day.  One quote that caught my attention was from a Minnesota State Representative.  She said, “Over the next few weeks, our work on the state budget deficit will begin to intensify. It’s important that we do not make cuts in early education that will end up costing us more in the long run.” -Patti Fritz.  I could not agree with her more.  We have so much research to validate the importance of early childhood education, yet it is the first cut to make.  The newsletter does not really increase my understanding of equity and excellence, but the website and their links to other websites do.  I do hope to teach Pre-K again when I return to the states, and I do plan on sharing the website along with others linked to it with my parents.

This organization has helped me stay abreast of current issues and trend in my field.  Our discussion this week involved immigrant families.  I noticed this week that many of the resources are in Spanish.  Ten years ago, I would have never imagined that there would be such a need for it.  This organization is aware of the current issue.  The newsletters are also keeping me informed of what is happening in my state as well as across the country with Pre-K programs.  This week I read that my home state of Texas is voting on whether or not to pass a bill that would eliminate full day Pre-Kindergarten.   I would definitely recommend this site to fellow Pre-K teachers, parents, or advocates.