The Final Blog

So recently Mr. Astill told me that I need to learn how to “sell myself,” so this last blog entry is all about me and all the wonderful things that I have done so far.

I’ve known for quite a while what I’ve wanted to do. Probably since grade 6 or grade 7, I’ve known that I want to work with kids who have Autism. In grade 10 during Planning, I was looking into different careers that involved children with autism. That’s when I came across Occupational Therapy.

For my work experience I shadowed an ABA-SEA who was working with an autistic boy in grade one. Although her approach would have made my mom cry, spending a week with her just solidified my desire to join the field of OT.

I’m not sure what made me want to work with children under 5, but that is the age group that I’m interested in. That’s why, when I was in grade 11 and Camosun offered the ECE-150 course through the school, I jumped at the chance to take it! I’ve never wanted to go into the field of ECE, but I figured this was a great (and not to mention super cheap) opportunity.

So far, things had been working out pretty darn well for me. Why wouldn’t they continue that way? Well there’s really no reason they wouldn’t…so they did.

This past September, my mom opened her preschool, Little Blue Early Learning Center. I organized my schedule so that second semester I would be able to work there at least part time. Around this time I was looking at potential schools and different programs.

I organized my courses so that all the hard ones (Math, Bio, English and Chem 11) were first semester, so second semester could be very relaxed for me. My only requirement would be Chem 12, and my other courses would be Dance 12 and 2 blocks of work experience.

Around Christmas time, I had narrowed down all of my potential post-secondary school to just 3: U-Vic, Capilano, and SFU. At U-Vic, I would get a degree in Child and Youth Care. At Capilano, I would get a degree in Applied Behavioral Analysis focusing on the Autism Spectrum. At SFU, it would be a degree in Education focusing on either Early Childhood Education or Special Education.

Victoria doesn’t appeal to me, SFU is too far out of the way, and so that leaves Capilano. I checked the academic requirements for Capilano and it turned out that I didn’t need Chem 12, so when KC Knight asked me to take Calculus with him, I said “Why not?” and switched my schedule around.

So second semester rolled around my schedule was like so: A- Work Experience, B- Work Experience, C- Calculus, D- Dance. Things were working out so well. I loved spending time at the preschool and classes were great. Then, spring break came along and I realized something; why was I still going to school when I could be spending all my time with the cuties at the preschool instead? Why not just do some courses by correspondence and work full time?

And that’s exactly what I did! I came back from spring break and asked Mrs. Raddysh if I could drop Calculus and Dance and do Family Studies and Psychology from home. Because I’m such a wonderful student, Mrs. Raddysh couldn’t say no.

So here we are, 3 months, 1 conference, 1 Pro-D Day, 1 day of observation, and countless hours spent with 11of the most adorable kids on Salt Spring Island!

Mr. Astill and Mrs. Raddysh: if either of you want to meet with me sometime to talk about my semester feel free to e-mail me or give me a call at home. Thank you so much for allowing me to end my Grade 12 year this way. I couldn't have asked for anything better!!!!!

Salt Spring Island Daycare Center

Today I went to Salt Spring Daycare for observation. I was there from 9:00 to 11:00 in the morning. Salt Spring Daycare is located in a home converted to a daycare, so it is quite different from Little Blue. Instead of being one open room (like LB), this daycare is divided into several separate rooms. The first thing that I noticed when I got inside was how colourful the center was. There were a lot of posters on the walls and artwork displayed in pretty much every room. I also noticed that there was a lot of natural light coming into the building, which was very nice. On the downside, I found the daycare to be quite loud, but I think that has something to do with the echo in the rooms caused by the design on the building, as well as a higher number of kids than I'm used to.

I think it was an interesting day for me to come in and observe because they had two children coming in for their first day at the daycare. There was a boy (age 2 and a half) and a girl (age 4?) and there were some difficulties when it came to behaviour.

One of the things that I observed that I found pretty funny was when these three boys made up a game and for the game they had to "take the ferry." The kids at Little Blue always talk about "going off island." I think it's an island thing!! Another time I noticed these same three boys playing a game where one of them was the dad and the other two were the children. The kids at Little Blue also play games involving families, but I guess I always thought that it was the girls who started them. This game that they had going was very realistic; when the "dad" said he was going to work, the kids started "crying." However, at the same time, the game did have a very unrealistic aspect; the "dad" brought his sword to work!

Today I really noticed peer influence. There were only a couple boys there first thing in the morning and they were all playing with their cars and there was no yelling and no running around, but as soon as some more boys came in and decided they wanted to play something a little less calm, the boys who were playing nicely got totally sucked in to this other game and pretty soon they were all running around and yelling! I find it really interesting that the "issues" that I observe at the preschool level are still so prevalent at the high school level...although, the issues have changed quite a bit!

One of the things I really liked was that there was a lot of impromptu singing from the educators. I also really liked that I saw one of the educators using sign language. I think that is really effective, especially when someone's language isn't developed. I would really like to learn sign language...yet another thing to add to my list!! Another thing that I heard a few times when there was a conflict and someone needed to move to another activity was the phrase "I'm going to invite you to find a new place to play." I think it was so effective because although you're directing the child away from the situation that isn't working, they still have control over what they want to play with next.

Today I learned just how effective giving a child the words for something can be...that makes no sense...Example: when Child A is whining or crying because Child B gets too close to their tower, if you can prompt them by saying something like "Child B doesn't know what you want, so you could say 'Child B, can you please move over because you're very close to my tower'" it really makes a difference in the situation. I think it is very calming and it can take a potentially serious problem and make it not such a big deal.

It's easy to go into another center and judge what's going on, and be picky as to what you like and what you don't like, and it makes me wonder what someone coming into Little Blue would have to say...

To Andrea and Sherry (and maybe Barbra):

I would like to say thank you again, because I feel like I learned a lot, and there are definitely some things that I learned today that I will be bringing back to Little Blue.

Making Tomorrow Conference: Inspiring Young Minds

On May 1st, I went to the 33rd annual Making Tomorrow Conference held at UVic. We started the day with a Keynote Address, and then went on to attend 2 different workshops of our choice throughout the day.

The theme of the Keynote was How to Grow a Child’s Brain and the speaker was Gary Anaka. If you ever have a chance to see him, I highly recommend it. He was incredible!! He started off by saying that we need to “build” the brain, and that one of the ways to do that is through “brain gymnastics.” He kept stressing that children have got to MOVE in order to learn, and that movement and exercise grow a more efficient brain…and what are we actually growing? Dendrites! He told us that TV causes children to: become mentally passive, experience electronic sedation, have a short attention span, and to be socially isolated. The brain learns through INTERACTION with real people, and that early childhood is the most critical time for the brain. He also gave us 10 “brain boosters.”
1) Movement and exercise: what makes us move is what makes us think
2) Learning
3) Brain nourishment: oxygen, water, and a nutritious diet
4) Safety: when we feel safe, we upshift and our brain is open to learning; when we feel threatened, we downshift and close ourselves off from learning
5) Play for FUN
6) Storytelling: it has been said that children need to hear 1000 stories before they can read
7) Reading: reading grows dendrites
8) Experience: experiences determine what kind of brain develops
9) Novelty
10) Caring

However, I have to say that the most interesting, and perhaps the most obvious thing that Gary Anaka told us was “growing your child’s brain requires COMMON SENSE. I think that is 100% true, because almost every time I learn something new, I say to myself “Duh!”


After the keynote address, we split into our separate workshops. I was lucky enough to have chosen the workshop that Gary Anaka was teaching: How the Brain Learns Best- Help For All Children. A lot of what he said was repetition from the Keynote. Children, or anybody for that matter, learn through movement.

However, he also made some really good points that I found applied to me as a student as much (if not more) as they applied to me as an educator. For example, he said “too much, too fast won’t last” meaning that if we try to feed children too much information, they won’t absorb all, if any, of it, and we are actually being counterproductive. Another thing that really interested me was that all learning must relate to prior learning. Doing this, he said, jumpstarts leaning, activates neural networks, and increases memory. He said that the brain needs to take breaks in order to replenish glucose and oxygen, store the information it just learned, and “retune” itself. He also said that the key to getting something in your brain is REPITITION.

Another key point that Gary talked about was plasticity. He told us how the brain can change, and, more importantly, how to positively change the brain. Number one: physical activity, two: challenges, three: problem solving, 4: feedback, and 5: repetition.


The second workshop I went to was called A Creative Approach to Meet the Needs of Medically Challenged Children. It was very different from what I thought it was going to be. I thought it was going to be about different ideas to work with children with mental and physical disabilities. Instead, it was the story of how this woman, Phyllis Lysionek, came up with a way to help her son deal with his fear of hospitals. Her son was born with Down syndrome, and then diagnosed with Celiac disease, autistic tendencies, as well as several other disorders. His entire life was centered around hospitals and he was just petrified. Unfortunately, his communication skills were lacking, so it was very difficult to communicate to him what he could expect at the hospital.

So, Phyllis designed a doll named Olly that was specially designed to “undergo” different medical procedures. These procedures were photographed in sequence and then shown to her son so he could get a sense of what was coming. Now, Phyllis makes custom dolls for all sorts of conditions; she’s even made dolls with cochlear implants!


I feel that attending conferences and Pro-D days at my age/experience level is so beneficial and I’m really getting a lot out of them. I feel like I’m way ahead of the game and I think that no matter which field I finally decide to settle into, whether it’s OT or ECE, or something that I haven’t even considered yet, I’m going to be able to draw from everything I’ve experienced and that it's really going to help me in the long run.

Pro D with Martha McAlister

On Friday I attended the Pro D day at SSE. I don’t think there was a better way I could have spent me day. Martha McAlister, an instructor at Camosun, came to the island to do a workshop for some the ECEs on the island. We had a group of 8 people; a mix of daycare workers, co-op teachers, parents and ECEs who work at the different ELF programs…and then of course there was one student (me!).

We started out with an introduction; we told everyone our name, a bit about our program and then a challenge and a strength we felt we had. It was nice to meet all these different people working in early childhood. I met the women who run the ELF programs on the outer islands, as well as down at Fulford School. I also met Andrea from SS Daycare and Melanie from the Co-op Preschool. When it came to strength and challenges, again, it was very interesting to hear from all these different women. When it came to me, I gave my challenge before my strength because I feel they’re interconnected. I feel that my biggest challenge is my lack of experience because of my age; at the same time, I feel that my strength is the fact that because I’m young and without a lot of experience, I am a quick learner and have a very “moldable mind.” I also said that I’m very lucky to have such a great teacher!

We talked about two main points. The first thing we talked about was engaging families and the importance of family involvement as well as the difficulties we have with family involvement. It was very interesting to listen to the differences in the issues with ELF vs. the issues with a daycare or preschool. It was pretty funny because almost all the women said that they love the children they work with, but they all come with these pesky parents attached! I guess because I’m young I’ve had great response from parents because they’re happy that I’m getting the experience that I am…or maybe we’re just really lucky to have such great parents at Little Blue!

I think that one of the most interesting points that someone brought up was that the trusting bond we form with parents is the foundation for everything else. We were also given a great quote about the fact that children will always do better in life when they have a support network. I find that in everything I do I’m learning something not only new, but also interesting and relevant…except everything is almost obvious in a way. I find myself learning these things like children will do better with a support network and saying (to myself of course) “Well that makes so much sense! Obviously this would be true.”

One of the major ways to engage families was to consider the three C’s: Capable, Connected, and Contributing. It was then mentioned that even though we go out of our way to make kids feel capable, connected and that they’re contributing, but we often forget that parents need to feel that they are capable, connected and contributing. I thought that was really interesting. We also talked about the 3 areas of family involvement for School Success: parenting practices, home/school relationships, and learning at home. A little observation that I just read in my notes (yes that’s right, I took notes): **all of these areas have in common that they show an involved/ caring parent- relates back to children being more likely to succeed with a strong support system.

I guess I never considered that success at school starts before actually attending school. I also never realized that success at school is largely dependent on the home life…another one of those “Well duh!” moments!

The second main point that we talked about was dealing with challenging behaviors. This was the part of the workshop that I was most looking forward to because I think that it would be the most relevant for me. Working with autistic children will definitely have me dealing with challenging behaviors, that is for sure!

We talked about the Behavioral Functional Analysis (Antecedent → Behavior → Consequence), which I found very helpful. I have a feeling that if I get into the Applied Behavioral Analysis program at Capilano University (which is what I’m aiming for), this is exactly the sort of thing that I will be learning about.

Side note: Just Googled “Functional Behavioral Analysis” and the first thing that came up was titled Teaching Children with Autism: Functional Behavior Analysis. Hmmm…

The antecedent is what happens right before the behavior occurs. Connected to the antecedent are the Setting Events. Those are the stressors that the child brings with them. These stressors can be external or internal. One of the ECEs gave us a good analogy. She said that she thinks of the Setting Events as the kindling and the Antecedent as the match. Another women said that she thinks of the antecedent as the “trigger.” For someone who has never heard of the “antecedent” or the “setting events” before, these analogies were extremely helpful! There were two things that were mentioned that I never even thought about: the first was the fact that we don’t want to be an antecedent, and the second was that all behaviors are essentially communicating something; it’s just up to us to interpret what they are communicating. Unfortunately, we sort of ran out of time, so we didn’t really talk about behaviors or consequences, which I found really frustrating, because that was what I was really looking forward to!

The last activity we did was called a Solution Circle. None of us really new what to expect, but it turned out to be a wonderful activity! You chose someone to present their problem and you chose someone to be the note taker. The first step is that the Problem Present gets 6 uninterrupted minutes to explain their problem Everyone else just listens. If the Problem Presenter is done before the 6 minutes is up, you just sit in silence and wait incase they think of something else. The next 6 minutes involve everyone else brainstorming. The Problem Presenter isn’t allowed to speak during this time. The rest of the group must come up with as many creative solutions as they can. The next 6 minutes are dedicated to a dialogue between everyone in the group. This is the time when the brainstormers and the Problem Presenter get to discuss any questions and try to come up with more solutions. Finally, the last 6 minutes are used to come up with a concrete plan of action that the Problem Presenter can take. We decided on a plan of action for the next 24 hours, as well as something they could do in the next 3 days. Then someone volunteered to call the Problem Presenter to make sure they had followed through on the action plan.

Overall, it was an excellent day and I’m really glad I attended! I feel like I learned so much! I also feel that I’m really getting a head start with everything that I’m going to learn in the future.

My next blog entry will be sometime next week and it will focus on the Making Tomorrow conference that I’ll be attending.

Imitation

I realize it has been quite a while since I've last blogged, but from now on things will be a little different...I'm going to continue my observations as usual, but instead of blogging about everything that I observe, I'm going to chose one or two key thing, such as behaviours and try and do some more research on them.

The thing that I really noticed over the past few weeks was how kids copied other kids' behaviours. The first time I noticed it was when one of the older girls got very excited and put her arms in the air and started yelling and jumping around. No more than ten seconds later, her younger brother, who is only 22 months, was doing the exact same thing! Another example would be when the kids are doing art activities: I've noticed that when one child draws a certain pattern, there is usually at least one other child trying to copy her (the specific example I have in my mind involved two girls, both 4 years old).

So...I decided that I wanted to know more about why kids were copying other kids.

The first thing I did was talk to my mom about what I had noticed. She told me that the technical term for this sort of copy-catting is imitation. Right off the bat, I had learned something new! Although I didn't find out exactly WHY children imitate one another, I did find some other information that I found quite interesting.

Imitation: the copying of patters of activity and though of other groups or individuals

Imitation starts right from birth. Babies learn to talk, stand and eventually walk all without formally being taught how so really, when you think about it, how else would they learn if they didn't copy what they see all around them? Another logical point is that, as children age and develop, their ability to imitate develops. Around 8 months, they only imitate simple actions and expressions at the time of the action, but around 18 months children are able to imitate actions with more than one step as well as simple actions that they observed earlier. Similarly, at 36 months, they are able to imitate more complex actions that they observed at an earlier time. As they get older (up until around 7 years old), children mimic almost everything in their environment. That means not only sounds and gestures, but also the attitudes and values of the people around them.

References

Imitation

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/imitation?&qsrc=

Waldorf Education- The Essential Phases Of Child Development

http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/child_development.asp

Foundation: Imitation

http://www.cde.ca/gov/sp/cd/re/itf09cogdevfdimit.asp

Week 5

Not much to report after my 5th week at Little Blue. This week was a little different though; my mom was away Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday so it was just me and the other "assistants." It was...interesting.

Things seemed a little more chaotic. No, chaotic isn't the right word. Less organized is more appropriate. It made me wonder if my mom walks into the preschool each morning with a plan of what she wants to do, or if she is just really good at flying by the seat of her pants.

I really enjoyed working with the other women though. I felt much more confident to make suggestions about games and activities, I guess because I felt more like an equal for some reason. I liked seeing the other "styles" you could call them of educating. Just the different types of games played, inside and out. I also noticed their different reading styles and how they played with the kids. Another thing that I noticed was the difference in how "difficult" situations were dealt with. Overall, I felt things went very well.

My mom suggested that I call the other preschools and ask if I can come in for observation. She said I should just sit in a corner of the school and watch how the educators interact with the kids and with each other. I think I'll try to work that out for the week after spring break.
Stay tuned,
Kaity

Month One

Wow. I can't believe it has already been a month since I started at the preschool. I feel like I've learned so much and that my skills as an educator (as I suppose I could be called) are really developing.

I'm finding more and more that what I'm learning now has to do with specific situations as opposed to just general activities. I learned that if there's a problem with a specific situation, for example, a group of kids are playing with toys and another comes in and "disrupts" their game that sometimes it's better (and easier) to redirect the disrupter than to try and resolve the issue. The particular situation I noticed involved 3 girls playing their little game and then one of the boys came in and decided the toy he was playing with was going to attack the dollhouse. It was better to just redirect the little boy than to try and get him to play the girls' game.

I've realized that one of the major roles of an early childhood educator is to be a mediator. My mom is just a master at that and I'd love to be able to deal with things as well as she does. A couple of times I've caught myself just watching her as she interacts with the kids, because I'm almost in awe of what she can do. I'd love to, one day, have those same skills, and I'm thinking/hoping that they will come in time as I gain experience.

Another thing that I've learned is how manipulating my voice really affects the response I get from kids. For example, I am way more likely to get (and keep) the attention of a child if I lower my voice to a whisper than if I was to just talk normally. I also have noticed that when you want the attention of a child across the room, it's more effective to use a "sing-song" sort of voice than to yell.

Although I'm learning so much, I have to say that the best part of my work experience is getting to experience all the cute things that kids say or do. I love how they laugh at their own jokes and how they find everything so funny. One of my favourites is when they're doing an activity that requires rolling up their sleeves and they're wearing a short-sleeve shirt, they just think it's the funniest thing that they don't have sleeves. I love how they make up their own songs. I love how when they're telling a story about something they find funny that they end up laughing so hard that I can barely understand what they're saying. I love how, when I'm listening to something their saying and I come down to their level so I'm not towering over them that they find it necessary to come in really really close to me.

I'm so excited to continue learning and that I have this great opportunity. I will continue to take full advantage of the time I spend at the preschool and I'm really looking forward to the rest of the semester.