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Scholar Practitioners Who Impact Future Change

           As a scholar practitioner, it is my responsibility to lead evaluation initiatives.  I believe that as educators we often become stuck in a rut of teaching.  I believe we become accustomed to doing things a certain way and then we find it difficult to change those ways.  Therefore, it is important we evaluate our practices to ensure we are meeting the needs of all of our students.  The NAEYC Self-Assessment Teaching Staff Survey would be a great survey for me to recommend to my colleagues to evaluate our practices and our program.  This survey would allow myself and my colleagues the opportunity to evaluate ourselves, the curriculum, families, and even relationships (Major Findings, n.d.).  

           The greatest barrier I might face will be from the teachers who have been teaching long than myself.  I have noticed that many of these teachers tend to believe they cannot learn from a rather new teacher as I have only been teaching for eight years.  The best way for me to avoid this downfall is to work with my colleagues and not go to them as a leader.  This will give them the idea that we are on the same team, ready to work together to promote positive change through evaluations.

        In order to minimize this barrier, I will begin building positive relationships with all of my colleagues now.  I have learned that once relationships have been built and respect has been formed that people tend to be more willing to work together even on projects that no one wants to be a part of.  I would also be sure to praise my colleagues on all of the positive things they do on a daily basis to teach their students.  This will make them feel appreciated.  I will also talk to administration about different ways to boost morale where everyone within the walls of the school would be more willing to buy into the concept of change.  For example, I will do almost anything for a jeans day.  By simply throwing jeans days out there, morale will be uplifted and teacher buy in will begin to occur.  

        As a teacher leader, it is my responsibility to ensure evaluations within the school setting occur.  Along the way, I am sure I will face barriers from my colleagues.  However, by finding ways to boost employee morale and by finding ways to make everyone feel appreciated, employees will be more apt to buy into the idea of evaluations.  

                                                     Reference

Laureate Education. (n.d.). Major Findings. Retrieved November 7, 2019, from.

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Scholar Practitioners as Program Evaluators

           Currently, I am a fifth grade teacher.  In the future, my goals are to teach college students who are in the Early Childhood Education program.  The content from this course will impact me in the field of early childhood by helping to prepare me for more than just teaching.  It will help me my teaching me how to properly evaluate early childhood programs to ensure they are truly meeting the needs of their students and families.  According to the Administration for Children and Families (2018) Jennifer Branch spoke of how her program studied the needs of her families for thirty-six months and determined that they needed to open more spaces to meet the needs of the families in the community.  Branch spoke of how after collecting data for twenty-four months her program that they were able to take the data to Early Head Start, the local board of education, the school system, etc. and that a new school was opened for the children to attend.  

           From my experience with program evaluations, I have learned that program directors come into a school, evaluate it and the data may or not ever be seen by the classroom teacher.  I have had this happen on more than one occasion.  I would like to know what the evaluator does with the data.  Who do they report it to?  What types of programs are in place to ensure the early childhood educator in charge of the classroom or facility gets the proper professional development to ensure the program is successful?  

           I will be impacted by the process of evaluating program quality by learning the ins and outs of what a high quality program consists of.  I will learn the role of stakeholders and how to involve them in the evaluation process.  Through this course, I will learn how to take data from program evaluations and how to use it to make decisions for the betterment of the program itself.

                                                   Reference

Administration for Children and Families. (2018). Voices from the field: Dig into             data-director. Retrieved from https://eclkc.ohs.acf.hhs.gov/video/voices-               field-dig-data-director

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Blog: Assessing for Development, Emerging Knowledge, Intervention, and Modification: Using Assistive Technology

April McBride

Walden University

Blog: Assessing for Development, Emerging Knowledge, Intervention, and Modification: Using Assistive Technology

Introduction

           In the early childhood classroom, as with all other classrooms, students enter with differing abilities.  Whereas some students enter who are gifted, others enter who are average learners, while others enter who are behind academically, socially, and emotionally.  Because of this, it is important that early childhood educators modify instruction to meet the needs of all students.  This may be done by using assistive technology in the classroom to support students who need extra help learning the content.  

Two types of assistive technology

           After much research, I decided upon the following assistive technology:

1.     alternative mouse, and

2.     speech recognition technology.

According to the National Council for Special Education (n.d.) when choosing a form of assistive technology, it is important to consider the student who will be using the product.  With this in mind, I chose the two aforementioned types of assistive technologies with students I had in the past.  

          I chose to use alternative mice as an assistive technology because of a student I taught two years ago.  This student had Cerebral Palsy and struggled with his fine motor skills.  He had not yet learned how to write simply because he was unable to form the letters.  He also could not use a regular mouse, yet he understood how to use the technology on the computer.  When he would need to use the computer, either another student, a co-teacher or myself would have to sit with him and click the mouse.  As a regular education teacher, I never knew such technologies were available to students.  According to Spectronics (2019) there are several different types of mice to assistant disabled students who struggle with regular mice.  Some of those different types of mice are track balls, joysticks, head tracking devices and touchpad mice.  I would have chosen a touchpad mouse for my student.  He was not able to use his fingers to assist with fine motor skills.  For example, he could not button his pants, open his milk, and do many other tasks that would require the use of all fingers, but he could pull up his pants and even zip his book bag simply because he learned how to do them with his thumb and hand.  He could also use an iPad and touchscreen phone with ease.  Therefore, he would be able to use a touchpad mouse during instruction.  This assistive technology could be used for both development and content knowledge. He could have used it to help develop his fine motor skills.  He saw an occupational therapist several times a week who helped him work on his fine motor skills, but they were still a challenge for him.  In terms of content knowledge, he would have been able to complete the assignments as his peers as he could use the mouse to answer questions on the computer.  He could have used it to work math problems, draw, and even write.  The touchpad mouse could be used for almost any aged student who does not have full control of their fine motor skills.  This mouse will support learning as students and teachers will not need to be constantly at this student’s side to assist them in their coursework.  They would be able to assist other students, and even assist this student in extension as time would not be needed for basic work

          I chose speech recognition technology with a student I taught this past year in mind. This student has a severe learning disability and inadequate writing skills.  One of his hands is completely paralyzed while the other hand has limited mobility.  According to the National Center for Technology Innovation (2017) “Speech-to-text has been used to help struggling writers boost their writing production and to provide alternate access to a computer for individuals with physical impairments” (fourth paragraph).  Speech recognition technology would be beneficial in terms of development and content knowledge. It would help this particular student to develop a learning path that is conducive to success.  This student spent so much time on trying to actually write the information that he never really understood the content.  With this program, he would be able to spend more time on the actual mastery of content rather than on trying to write.  Once spoken, the information is processed by the computer.  This particular student was rather intelligent even though he had a severe learning disability.  This program would allow him the opportunity to produce work that would show educators how much he has learned.  This assistive technology is conducive to any age group needing such assistance.  It supports learning by allowing the student the opportunity to focus on the content and processing it and not on the task of writing the information.  

Culturally responsive

             Both the touchpad mouse and speech recognition program are culturally responsive.  The mouse is culturally responsive because it allows the student to touch objects to answer questions.  The culture of the student does not affect whether or not they can use the mouse.  The speech recognition technology is culturally responsive because it can be used in different languages and translated to languages as needed.  This is great for English Lanugage Learners (ELL) as they can learn in both their native language and English.  I could determine the effectiveness of these assessments by the quality of work the students produce.  I would also examine the student.  Are they happy?  Are they content?  Are they no longer stressed about school?  By answering these questions, I would know how effective the assessments and assistive technology is.

Issues with the technology

             The touchpad mouse might pose an issue if the student is unable to properly work the mouse and touch the intended items. The speech recognition technology would probably be the most problematic for several reasons.  If the student has a speech impediment, it may not produce the correct words.  Secondly, as a southerner, we tend to have a southern drawl.  This is common for almost all children I teach.  Whereas, I can manipulate my voice and drawl to where I can be understood by such devices, I do not see young children being able to do so.  This would pose an issue when they are trying to use the speech recording program.  The cost of such items may also be problematic for school systems if funds are not available for such programs.  

Conclusion

           As an early childhood educator, it is up to me to make sure all of my students learn.  However, not all students learn at the same pace, same style, and same capacity as others.  Using assistive technology in the classroom is a great way for educators to be able to enhance the learning paths of those students who may need some support. Therefore, it is important for early childhood educators to be aware that not only can they enhance classroom learning from modifications, but simple technology can go a long way to help students in need.

References

 Assistive Technology. (n.d.). Retrieved July 27, 2019, from

        https://www.sess.ie/resources/assistive-technology-overview

Mouse Alternatives. (2019). Retrieved July 26, 2019, from

        https://www.spectronics.com.au/catalogue/mouse-alternatives

Speech Recognition for Learning. (2017, September 25). Retrieved from

        https://www.readingrockets.org/article/speech-recognition-learning

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Choosing the Proper Assessment Scenarios

       According to  the Wisconsin’s Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning (WGPTL) (n.d.) educators give purposeful assessments when they give a variety of assessments.  “No one assessment can provide sufficient information to plan teaching and learning” (WGPTL, n.d., p. 1).  The reasoning behind this is so that educators can truly obtain data concerning student understanding and progress.

Below are two different scenarios of students in a Pre-K classroom.  Please read them and provide answers as to the correct assessments for each scenario.

Scenario 1:

        My scenario is based on an actual student I had two years ago in Pre-K.  J.H. is four years old and suffers from cerebral palsy.  J.H. is also non-verbal.  This is not from having cerebral palsy, it is from a problem that has not been diagnosed.  J.H.’s parents have been to numerous doctors for a diagnosis, but they have not found the root of the verbal issue.  J.H. tends to have meltdowns almost every day, and he hits his classmates when he gets upset.  On the other hand, when J.H. is happy to see his classmates or wants to praise them, he hits them hard on the back to show them he cares.  J.H. does not have the words to express his anger, nor does he have the words to express his happiness.  J.H. loves Peppa Pig and will respond to a reward system.  What strategies can be used to help J.H. communicate, and what assessments would best fit this scenario?

Recommendation from a colleague:   I would suggest using a checklist, or running record and writing down the action before, during, and after the meltdown.  Doing this for a week will give you great insights into what may be the cause of the meltdowns.  

Scenario 2: 

C.O. is a four year old little boy who attended Pre-K in a different town from August 3rd until September 15th.  While he attended this Pre-K, C.O. was moved to three different classrooms.

C.O.was sent to my classroom by our Pre-K director to specifically be in my class.  In comparison with his peers, C.O’s social and emotional state was not developed as much as theirs    He spoke using baby talk and not in complete sentences.  During carpet time, he always wanted to be the student at the board participating.  If he was not the first student to be called on, he would become angry.  At this point, he would scream at the teacher, clench his fists together, kick his feet, etc...  He would often hit his peers and oftentimes he would bite.  

I sat with C.O.’s mom for a meeting and learned that his younger brother had drowned in April, and his dad had left his mom.  She was a single mom who worked as a waitress to make end's meet.  She explained to me that C.O. loved playing on the iPad and when he spoke, she immediately jumped up and gave him what he wanted.  C.O. never displayed the aforementioned behaviors with mom.  He only did this while at school or daycare.  

Even though C.O. could wreak havoc on a classroom, he would often hug the teacher and other students.  He was constantly seeking approval.  He always wanted to make his mom happy, and he showed her love every time he saw her.  He would say, "I love you mama" often when mom was present.  C.O. loved trains and reading books.

What interventions would you recommend for C.O.?

Recommendation 1 from a colleague: 

I would recommend ‘The Behavior Intervention Monitoring Assessment System’.

Recommendation 2 from a colleague:

This colleague recommended  the Pre-Kindergarten and Kindergarten Entry Assessment.

                                                           Reference

Wisconsin’s Guiding Principles for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Guiding 

        Principle 3: Purposeful assessment drives instruction and affects learning. 

        Retrieved July 21, 2019, from 

        https://dpi.wi.gov/sites/default/files/imce/cal/pdf/guiding-principles3.pdf

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Policies and National Regulations and Standards for Early Childhood Education

Early Childhood Education in the state of Georgia operates under Bright from the Start: Department of Early Care and Learning (DECAL).  The standards used by Headstart and Pre-K are The Georgia Early Learning and Development Standards (GELDS, 2019).  The link to the GELDS is listed below:

http://gelds.decal.ga.gov/Search.aspx

I had a difficult time finding the policies for ECE in Georgia as the manual was eighty-nine pages, and I did not know how to adequately summarize it.  However, I did find the Georgia Association for the Education of Young Children (GAEYC). According to the GAEYC (2013) the vision and public policy for young children in Georgia is as follows:

§  “Ensuring that all families can choose among options that meet high-quality standards and afford the early learning setting that is right for them

§  Defining and fully funding access to high-quality early childhood education at scale, regardless of state or setting

§  Ensuring that early childhood professionals are diverse, effective educators, and leaders working within a compensation and recognition system that supports their excellence” (paragraph one).  

 The National Association for the Education of Young Children’s (NAEYC) principles are as follows:

1.     “All areas of development and learning are important.

2.     Learning and development follow sequences.

3.     Development and learning proceed at varying rates.

4.     Development and learning result from an interaction of maturation and experience.

5.     Early experiences have profound effects on development and learning.

6.     Development proceeds toward greater complexity, self-regulation, and symbolic or representational capacities.

7.     Children develop best when they have secure relationships.

8.     Development and learning occur in and are influenced by multiple social and cultural contexts.

9.     Children learn in a variety of ways.

10.  Play is an important vehicle for developing self-regulation and promoting language, cognition, and social competence.

11.  Development and learning advance when children are challenged.

12.  Children’s experiences shape their motivation and approaches to learning” (2019, 12 Principles of Child Development and Learning).  

As I compared the GAEYC to the NAEYC I learned that they are completely different, yet they are so much alike.  When I read the national principles, the GELDS are what comes to mind.  Number one of the national principles informs us that “All areas of learning and development are important” (NAEYC, 2019, 12 Principles of Child Development and Learning).  According to the GELDS (2019) early childhood educators are responsible for teaching social and emotional skills, mathematics, social studies, language arts, science, fine motor skills, gross motor skills, play, reading, writing, creative movement, dance, art, music, drama, thinking skills, and problem solving skills.  All areas of learning and development are taught in early childhood settings in Georgia which allows the state of Georgia to meet the principles of early childhood education in one principle.  In order to improve the GAEYC’s, the 12 Principles of Child Development and Learning from the NAEYC should be used as a guideline to create twelve principles for the state of Georgia.  

Three questions on Georgia’s policies:

1.     Do families in the state of Georgia have a choice as to what early childhood setting is the right fit for their child?

2.     Name three qualities of an early childhood professional that the state of Georgia expects from their teachers.

3.     List the five domains from the GELDS websites.

  References

12 Principles of child development and learning. (2019). Retrieved June 9, 2019, from

https://www.naeyc.org/resources/topics/12-principles-of-child-development

Bright from the Start. (n.d.). Retrieved June 9, 2019, from http://gelds.decal.ga.gov/Search.aspx

Public Policy. (2013, July 22). Retrieved June 10, 2019, from https://gaeyc.net/policy/