Elevating Child Care by Janet Lansbury
This website is a blog written by Janet Lansbury, a parenting educator and blogger that works from the Resources for Infant Educators (RIE) perspective. Janet advocates that, from the day that they are born, we should be treating children as whole people, with their own thoughts, feelings and ideas. While this is an innately sensible approach, the idea of being intentional with our actions towards children requires practice and reflection. If presented with a student who might require special consideration, I can use the RIE perspective to better empathize with the student. My hope is to build trusting relationships with all the children that I work with so that they will learn at an early age that their feelings and thoughts matter. I feel that this resource is paramount to my practice as it reflects all four of Ethical Standards for the Teaching Profession as outlined by the Ontario College of Teachers. The approach of Janet Lansbury applies beyond working with infants and toddlers and also will help build respectful relationships with all children with a foundation in care, trust, respect and integrity.
Calm, Alert and Learning by Stuart Shanker
This resource is an educational publication by Dr. Stuart Shanker, a distinguished research professor at York University. Dr. Shanker's work is not new to me, however this resource is. This book stressed the importance of supporting a child in their development of self-regulation, specifically in a school setting. Dr. Shanker explains that "self-regulation is the ability to manage the way our brains and bodies expend and restore the energy required to deal with the stresses (positive as well negative) involved in adapting to situations, facing challenges, learning and social relations." In understanding the idea that children's behaviour is greatly influenced by a variety of stressors, educators can carefully consider the role that the classroom and school have an impact on self-regulation.
This resource demonstrates my commitment to ongoing learning. I believe that having a good understanding of self-regulation and carefully considering how I plan and organize for my students will help me to be a better educator.
Lives in the Balance Website
This resource was shared with me by a colleague and I felt it was worth book marking for future reference. Lives in the Balance is the work of American child psychologist, Dr. Ross Green. His work has had the focus of positive and collaborative approaches when working with children who are behaviourally challenged. He challenges adults to look at the behaviours that children are presenting and to consider why they might be acting that way. He also focuses on a collaborative problem solving approach (CPS) in an effort to create a shared responsibility between children and the adults in their lives. I feel that this resource is an examplary example of how educators can show commitment to students and student learning as per the Ontario College of Teacher's Standards of Practice for the Teaching Profession.
The Cafe Book: Engaging All Students in Daily Literacy Assessment and Instruction by Gail Boushey and Joan Mosher
I first heard about "the Daily 5" from my Associate Teacher (AT) when beginning my placement. We also touched on this approach in our 8P34 Language and Literacy class. CAFE is an acronym for Comprehension, Accuracy, Fluency and Expanding vocabulary. The goal of this approach is to build habits of proficient readers. Students are encouraged to reflect on their own practices as readers to determine an area of intention for themselves (assessment as learning). These areas of focus guide and give structure to smaller group instruction. The Daily 5 activities are read to self, work on writing, read to someone, word work and listen to reading. I really like the idea of this approach as it is an example of a well researched and meaningful professional practice. Students and educators work collaboratively to assess and goal set through dialogue and reflection.
Early Literacy Research: Findings Primary-Grade Teachers Will Want to Know by D. Ray Reutzel
As an Early Childhood Educator, a lot of what I do and know comes naturally from experience and having a good understanding of early childhood development. When advocating for certain practices within the classroom, I often feel like experience alone rarely holds any clout. People want to see the research and proof from experiences for meaningful practice in the classroom. This article fascinated me as it addressed and affirmed several approaches that I felt strongly about while also offering the research to support it. The article speaks to the importance of practices such as handwriting, alphabet knowledge, concepts of print and more.
Spiral Math
My Associate Teacher also introduced me to the concept of spiral math. Spiraling allows students to revisit concepts of math that they were previously taught in a way that is continuous and gradually increases in difficulty. Our 8P39 Mathematics I class, our instructor also talked about how spiral math is a great tool to continually assess students for their learning of mathematical concepts. She also extended it further and suggested that students can use spiral math as a way of assessing their own knowledge by identifying areas where they need more practice. Because spiral math worksheets vary in difficulty, there is an element of differentiation involved and student's are given work that is within their zone of proximal development.
Collaborative Inquiry Ministry of Education (Ontario) Monograph
The Capacity Building Series on Collaborative Inquiry is a piece that I felt was important to bookmark because it addresses how working together in a collaborative way moves us towards a culture of excellence as teachers. If we expect our students to strive towards achievement, then we should also do the same as professionals. This monograph connects to the Standards of Professional Practice because it encourages us to refine our professional practice through ongoing inquiry, dialogue and reflection.
Jonathan David So
I first met Jonathan last summer and he is a teacher with the Peel District School Board, TEDxEducation speaker and a loving father of three. What blew me away with Jonathan is his desire to help. When he found out that I was starting the Teacher Education Program at Brock, he immediately offered advice and told me to reach out at any time for help and guidance with assignments. His role with the PDSB is that of an itinerant teacher. Jon's personality lends well to the "Leadership in Learning Communities" Standard of Practice in that he creates a safe, collaborative and supportive learning environment. I was nervous to reach out to him for fear of working with someone who was so good at what he does. I didn't want to be judged and was worried that he would expect more from me given that I am an ECE. While he did hold me to a high standard, he did it in a way that worked with what I knew and encouraged me to become better. You can follow him on twitter at @MrSoClassroom
No comments:
Post a Comment