Ethical Ideals

"To share resources with co-workers, collaborating to ensure that the best possible early childhood care and education program is provided"

This ideal means a lot to me within the context of the demands placed on us as teachers regarding continuing education. We are mandated to obtain continual training and education, and in this effort there are many great resources that have been provided to us as teachers. There is another elemenent to this that is present, but troubles me, though. I have had experiences where administrators demand too much collaboration-so that we become "cookie cutter" type classrooms, all doing the same thing at the same time. And then I have had recent experiences where administrators demand we all teach the same thing, and submit and create Learning Focused Schools (LFS) plans, and yet do not give teachers collaborative planning time to do this. I have even had experiences where tools, and grade level resources were removed from our access because having idea sharing was frowned upon!!! 

"We shall demonstrate in our behavior and language respect and appreciation for the unique value and human potential of each child."

This component of the Code of Ethics from the DEC speaks to me because I take great joy in seeking out the best in every child that comes into my classroom each year. It is essential as a teacher to understand that each child is unique and has something that they are smart at. I remember talking with my husband about his aunt who has mental retardation. He was telling me, "You know, she is really smart in some ways. She can recite whole segments from things she reads" he went on to say. That got me thinking about what I do, and how it is important to nurture every single child because they all have very special gifts.

References:

The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.dec-sped.org/

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

Good Books for Exploring Patterns in Mathematics

Aker, Suzanne. 1990. What Comes in 2’s, 3’s, & 4’s?

Anno, Mitsumasa. 1982. Anno’s Counting House

Philomel. Appelt, Kathi. 1999. Bats on Parade

Cuyler, Margery. 2000. 100th Day Worries

Dee, Ruby. 1988. Two Ways to Count to Ten: A Liberian Folktale

DeFelice, Cynthia. 2006. One Potato, Two Potato

Giganti, Paul. 1992. Each Orange Had 8 Slices

Guettier, Bénédicte. 1999. The Father Who Had 10 Children

Hamm, Diane Johnston. 1991. How Many Feet in the Bed?

Harris, Trudy. 2000. Pattern Fish

Hong, Lily. 1993. Two of Everything

Whitman. Hulme, Joy N. 1991. Sea Squares

Hutchins, Pat. 1994. The Doorbell Rang

Hutchins, Pat. 2002. Ten Red Apples

Jenkins, Emily. 2001. Five Creatures

MacDonald, Susi. 2000. Look Whooo’s Counting

Merriam, Eve. 1993. 12 Ways to Get to 11

Pinczes, Elinor J. 1993. One Hundred Hungry Ants

Pinczes, Elinor J. 1995. A Remainder of One

Ross, Tony. 2002. Centipede’s 100 Shoes

Sturges, Philemon.1995. Ten Flashing Fireflies

Tang, Greg. 2001. The Grapes of Math: Mind-Stretching Math Riddles.

Wells, Rosemary. 2000. Emily’s First 100 Days of School.

References:

Whitin, P., & Whitin, D. J. (2011). Mathematical Pattern Hunters. Young Children, 66(3), 84-90. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Educational Resources

Wonderful Go-To Resources:

www.literacyconnections.com/ReadersTheater.php

Where to find readers theatre information for your classroom.

http://www.janbrett.com/

Where to find great educational activities for children online

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/

Where to find great tools for the classroom

      http://www.preschoolrainbow.org/resources.htm

A to Z Teacher Stuff   

      http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/

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Wonderful Professional Resources:

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World Forum Foundation http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us

http://www.omep-usnc.org/

World Organization for Early Childhood Education

Association for Childhood Education Internationalhttp://acei.org/about/

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

The Division for Early Childhoodhttp://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Familieshttp://www.zerotothree.org/

WESTEDhttp://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

Harvard Education Letterhttp://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

FPG Child Development Institutehttp://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm

Administration for Children and Families Headstart’s National Research Conferencehttp://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/

HighScope http://www.highscope.org/

Children’s Defense Fund http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Center for Child Care Workforce http://www.ccw.org/

Council for Exceptional Children http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

Institute for Women’s Policy Research http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm

National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

National Child Care Association http://www.nccanet.org/

National Institute for Early Education Research http://nieer.org/

Pre[K]Now http://www.preknow.org/

Voices for America’s Children http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute http://www.erikson.edu/

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Wonderful Professional Journals

• 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

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Memorable Quotes

"Working intently with children and families was almost like earning a doctorate, because every year there was a specific challenge that I had to meet for [myself]...my staff....and from the families I worked with.....I had a child and his father died, and he had lymphoma. We knew he was going to die the year the child was in my program. So I knew it was important to go out and meet him and to make the effort....I had no idea how to support a family that was going through this-but I knew I needed to learn. I learned a lot from that case, and I learned it's not all about you. You have to take your ego out of it, and think about what's best for this child...that you care about them enough to help them transition to what comes next, and what is best...and I think that's really important and I would not have known that if I hadn't lived it."

~Renatta Cooper, Program Specialist, Office of Child Care LA County Chief Administrative Office

"I had a build in passion that it was important to make a real contribution in the world and to fix all the injustices that existed in the world and I wanted to do that through teaching."

~ Louise Derman-Sparks, Professor Emeritus, Pacific Oak College, CA