Blog Posting- P1

Every parents wants what is best for their child, and every educator wants to see every child succeed. When we get children ready for school or try to prepare them for what is to come, it may be misinterpreted as "rushing" the child to be ready for school. If we look through the lens of the Maturationist Theory, we will understand that young children will learn naturally and automatically as they grow older. But if we look through the lens of the Environmentalist Theory, we will also understand that young children learn through their environment. My personal belief is that children learn both ways and one theory isn't better than the other. The change in attitude about school readiness for young children has changed because of increased expectations in Kindergarten or grade school. Because there is so much required for young children to know upon entering Kindergarten, the highly structured learning starts in early childhood classrooms (preschools). As early educators, we don't want to rush or force a child to learn so many things, but its almost necessary if we want them to succeed after they leave our classroom. We all know that young children thrive on structure, so by creating routines, expectations, and an environment that supports learning will help children develop and promote school readiness.

Piaget and Vygotsky continue to have a great influence on early childhood development. Although, they both have similarities in their influences, they also have differences. The greatest difference between the two is that Vygotsky viewed social interaction as central to the developmental process, whereas Piaget emphasized the children exploratory behaviors in the external world as central to development. I favor the Piagetian theory. Like Piaget, I believe that children learn from their actions and their environment. Also, a child's learning and development is linked to their physical and social environments. In my classroom, it is my goal to create a loving, safe, nurturing environment. You can have the biggest classroom, with the best materials and equipment, but without the appropriate interactions and knowledge of development, children will not be set up for success.

From this weeks readings I had to reflect closely on my own teaching and ask "Am I rushing my children to learn what's important right now, or am I focusing to much of what they need to know later". Another question is "Could there be a way to blend Piagetian and Vygotskian theories appropriately and effectively?"

Introduction

Hi! My name is Ashlyn Nishimura and I am pursuing my Bachelor degree in Early Childhood Education at UHWO. I am a teacher at Seagull School at Ko Olina, working with 3 year olds. Our school is currently in the process of opening our seventh classroom. It is really exciting to see the demand for early education on the west side of our island. While I am not in the classroom, I enjoy spending my time traveling with my husband, bowling, and trying out new places to eat!

When looking through the list of programs, I realized I wasn't familiar with many of them. I chose the programs based on the needs of the children that are in my class currently and how it many benefit the children and families, and I chose programs I have heard of but never looked at the details of the program.

The first program I chose is the Cognitively Oriented Curriculum Model. I believe that even though children are the same age, no two children will develop exactly the same. I think that as a teacher, I need to be aware of each child's developmental abilities and expand their learning on what they already know. The second program is The New School Approach to Follow Through. My classroom is divided by 7 learning centers with the objective of having teacher directed activities but also child-initiated activities or learning. I hope that learning about this program will give me better insight on how to use my learning centers to encourage curiosity. The last program I will compare is the Behavior Analysis Approach. Our school participated in the program Hawaii Preschool Positive Education Program. This program emphasized the importance of positive reinforcement. By learning more about this program I hope to continue to use this method to also learn about behavior analysis methods.

By comparing these programs, I will be able to implement them into my classroom and truly accommodate and meet the needs of each child and family in my classroom. Learning about these programs will also give better insight into how other teachers implement learning the classroom.