Blog Posting- P9

Living in Hawaii, we are truly blessed to be called the melting pot of all cultures. It is no secret that this island we live on embraces differences and is accepting no matter what language you speak or what color your skin is. As teachers, we need to display this type of acceptance in our classrooms if we want the children in our classrooms to do the same. Professor Ladson-Billings gave three components of culturally relevant pedagogy. I really appreciated point number two when she said "an attempt to develop all students cultural competence". This means that we help children to understand their culture while learning about another. As teachers, it may be easier to teach what is familiar to ourselves and what we know. However, it does not give the children or us a chance to learn something new.

In my classroom, this year I am happy to say that I have several students that speak another language fluently and have lived in different states/countries. The children who speak different languages are eager to share words that they can translate and even bring books in their native language from home. By allowing these children to express themselves from their culture in front of their peers enthusiastically, it is exposing the other children to something that is unfamiliar and new.

In this day and age, it is no lie that society bases everything on what a person looks like. However, children have a gift of being non-judgmental, accepting, and loving to each other no matter what their wearing or what kind of hairstyle they have. If we want our children to continue this "gift", we as early childhood educators need to embrace differences in our classroom and keep trying to make everything how everyone thinks it should look like.

When it comes to the terms achievement "gap" or "debt", I agreed with Professor Ladson-Billings when she said that "gap makes it seem like you need to catch up. The debt, for me helps to evoke some shared responsibility". I relate this to the achievements in my classroom. Families are always concerned about their child hitting crucial milestones, however they blame or put the pressure on the teacher when their child doesn't achieve at their expected time line. How can we as educators get families out of the mindset "its the teachers job to catch my child up?" After this reading I can ask myself "how can I share the "debt" instead of feeling the need to always be the one to catch up?"

Blog Posting- P8

The word curriculum can carry a variety of meanings depending on what age group you work with, the school you teach at, and your own personal values as a teacher. I think it is very important to explain to the families in your classroom, what curriculum is used in the class. There are benefits and a negatives to standard curriculum and emergent curriculum. Standard curriculum generalizes the children instead of looking at each as an individual. This type of curriculum does not focus on the child's individual interest of knowledge. Yet, this curriculum is very responsive to the needs of learning objectives/goals in the large educational system. This type of curriculum allow the teacher to plan well in advance and can maybe even mimic another teachers lesson plans or activities since the lessons are based of a set planning and assessment.

On the other hand, the goal of emergent curriculum is to respond to the individual interest of every child. This learning is self-directed with no right or wrong answer. As I always say, "its not about the product but the process that counts". This curriculum focuses on the interactions between the child, teachers, and environment. Emergent curriculum takes time and effort to develop and it means that the teacher is focusing on observing the children's play, needs, and interest. Focusing on all of this in a full classroom (I have a class of 25) can prove time consuming and maybe even a little overwhelming. This type of curriculum is not based on outcomes, rather on how the child arrived at his/her discovery (learning) which is the best part!

In my classroom I make sure that I display emergent curriculum in my classroom. As much as my center does not follow rigid standards, we do base our learning and periodic assessments on the Hawaii Early Learning Development Standards (H.E.L.D.S). After reading this article I asked myself "Do I have a clear curriculum set up in my room?'. And another question that comes up is "how can I accommodate my families that are focused on academics to be open to an emergent curriculum?". The diversity of outcomes my families have for their child's preschool experience can vary. Some may say that they want their child to develop strong social and emotional skills, while others make it clear that academics (writing, reading, math) is their highest priority. But is there a way to mesh a standard and emergent curriculum together?