damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to
children. This principle has precedence over all others in this Code (NAEYC, 2005).
This principal has been my guiding motto throughout most of my career. I have worked with so many children that have been abused and harmed by adults. I also believe in apologizing to children when I have wrongly not understood a situation correctly. I want my students to know that I am able to take responsibility for my mistakes to enable them to do the same. I try very hard to use a calm quiet tone when I am correcting a student's behavior.
I-2.2—To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve (NAEYC, 2005)
I have been in situations where I have had to tell parents some truths about their children that they don't want to hear. Because I am honest with my parents, I have many of them call on me to help them even years after I haven't been their child's teacher. I want to always earn my parents trust and go out of my way to do that. I had a student hand me a $50.00 bill one day. I immediately called the parent and she didn't know that her child had taken the money. It would have been very easy for me to keep that money but I didn't. I also had to tell parents that their child with down syndrome would not write or read beyond a 1st grade level. Five years later, this parent called me to help take care of her child because of my honesty. He has great social skills but has difficulty writing and reading.
We shall honor and respect the rights, knowledge, and skills of the multidisciplinary colleagues with whom we work recognizing their unique contributions to children, families, and the field of early childhood special education (DEC, 2009).
Throughout my 19 years of teaching, I have worked with speech/language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, music therapists and many instructional assistants. Some of these people have been wonderful and some not so wonderful. I encourage these services to be a part of my classroom rather than pull out my students. This way I can support throughout the day, the goals of each program and help my students progress. It is easy to work with therapists who are wonderful. Last year, I had to document when a speech/language therapist showed up and pulled out my students. My data supported a decision to replace her. I had to report to my administrators that she wasn't working with my children. I felt that I handled this situation with professionalism. I did not talk to anyone else about her and handled my data with discretion. I also encouraged her to work in my classroom with my students so I could support her with their behaviors. She did not respond to this encouragement. I am fortunate to work with a speech/language therapist this year who is very professional and works with me. I also go out of my way to let colleagues know that I appreciate their efforts with my students.
We shall use individually appropriate assessment strategies including multiple sources of
information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal
assessments to determine children’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges (DEC, 2009).
information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal
assessments to determine children’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges (DEC, 2009).
This area is a struggle for me as I am required by law to use tests that I feel are not developmentally appropriate for some of my students. I do feel I harm many of my students when I have to give standardized tests even when I use the accommodations that are in their individual educational plans. I do not know how to reconcile my feelings and what I am forced to do in this area. I hope as I continue my journey in this program, I will lean more about this area.
I have enjoyed the videos and many of the readings provided in this class. I have broadened my views of early childhood and am interviewing for pre-k teaching positions. I have enjoyed reading my classmates blogs and even though we don't know each other, I feel like I do know my classmates. I have grown professionally and personally in many ways throughout this course. Thank you all for sharing so much of yourselves and allowing me to learn from you. I am definitely going to renew my membership in CEC and join the DEC. I also am going to rely on many of the websites I have been introduced to such as the NAEYC, and the Project Approach website to keep me up to date. I do not spend enough time reflecting on my school days but I have changed that.
