Early Childhood Passion

Louise Derman-Sparks

'Growing up I always played teacher and it carried into adulthood. I always enjoyed children and babysitting. I always wanted to be a teacher. I had a built in passion that it was important to fix all the injustices in the world and I wanted to do this by teaching. I felt like everything in me was being called on to teach and it made me feel whole and completed. I wanted to make sure that all children were taught in environments and ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and develop to their fullest ability. '

Me:

I understand where her passion comes from and I share the same views. I always 'played school' as a child and from a young age was involved with children and learning about their development and what they need. My profession has always been in the early childhood field. I was always the one that took care of children at family gatherings, functions, and parties. I always knew growing up I was going to work in the Early Childhood Field. I wanted to make a difference in the life of a child, to shape and mold our future.

Excerpts from Contributors to the Early Childhood Field

Sam Meisels 

"In early childhood, rewards can take the form of public attention, additional funds for teachers or materials, increased salaries, or improved facilities. Sanctions include holding children back or enrolling them in extra year programs, wresting control of curriculum from teachers, or even program closure" (Meisels, 1992).

Meisels, S. J. (1992). Doing harm by doing good: Iatrogenic effects of early childhood enrollment and promotion policies. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 7, 155–174.

Aisha Ray

'Teacher preparation programs. The failure to adequately prepare teachers who can

educate all children has been identified as evidence of pedagogical, instructional and conceptual problems in teacher preparation'

'Early childhood teacher education programs may through instructional practices, pedagogy and curricula reward and privilege the developmental and educational needs of certain groups of children over others thereby reproducing inequality.' 

Early childhood teachers with 5 or more years of experience report (Ray and Bowman, 2003) that they had learned to work effectively with culturally and linguistically different children from the children, families, and other teachers, but not from their teacher training programs.

Ray, A., Bowman, B., & Robbins, J. (2006). Preparing Early Childhood Teachers to Successfully Educate All Children: The Contribution of Four-Year Undergraduate Teacher Education Programs, Report to the Foundation for Child Development, New York, NY.

Project on Race, Class and Culture in Early Childhood, Erikson Institute, Chicago, Illinois.

Personal Childhood Web

The five people that were most important and supportive in my life growing up were my Father, Mother, Second Grade teacher, and my grandparents. 

My father is patient, generous, loving, smart, hardworking, humorous and helpful. He is a very loving, caring, nurturing and supportive figure in my life from day one. I was born premature and he came pretty much every day to see me and create a bond through touch. As I grew older he always gave me lots of hugs and cuddles, believed in me, taught me lots of different things like how to ride a bike, helped me with my homework every night so that I would make good grades, he taught me responsibility and respect. He still continues to provide a caring and supportive environment for me and gives me advice whenever I need it or he thinks I do... :-)  He always (made) makes sure I know Im loved, capable of doing anything and that no matter what he will be there for me.

My mother is a perfectionist, caring, somewhat affectionate, organized, and nice. She taught me how to take care of others, clean, be organized (though it didn't stick extremely well), and sharing. She was the one that spent the majority of time with me while my dad was the one who provided for us. She did her best with me though I was a 'difficult' child because of my A.D.D. She wasn't a very patient person and would get frustrated with me easily though she taught me how to multitask. She continues to try to teach how to be organized, cook (i hate) and be more independent.

My second grade teacher was sweet, kind, smart, pretty, generous and hardworking. She made sure all her students knew they were special and could accomplish anything we set our mind too. She provided a nurturing, differentiated and educational classroom. She was the teacher that 'caught' my A.D.D. and brought it to my parents attention so that I could get tested for A.D.D. If it was not for her then school would have been 100x worse then it was and I would have not gotten A's and B's like I did. Because of her my dad spent countless hours a per week studying with me so that I would learn the lessons and subjects taught. She gave me extra attention and modifications so that I could learn to my fullest with my ability. My teacher was very patient and caring with me and she made me want to become an educational professional and touch the lives of any children I cross paths with. She does not literally ouch my life anymore for I have not see her since 5th grade but her influence on my life has lasted through the years and gave me hope and determination as a child.

My grandparents were very sweet, loving and head strong. They were always excited and happy when we came to visit and had little goodies. My mother and my grandmother 'fought' at Christmas over who was going to buy me the coolest gift or whatever I wanted the most. They were both very family oriented and religious. She taught me the value of believing in a higher creation though she believed in God. They always had hugs and kisses and time for me (and my sister). My grandfather passed away in  1995 and my grandmother passed away in 1996 but my memories of them linger on and I hope to be as loving and sweet Grandmother as she was.

Resignation From Adulthood

I am hereby officially tendering

My resignation as an adult. I have

Decided I would like to accept the 

Responsibilities of an 8 year-old again.

I want to go to McDonald's and think

That it's a four start restaurant.

I want to sail sticks across a fresh mud

Puddle and make a sidewalk with rocks.

I want to think M&M's are better than

Money because you can eat them.

I want to lie under a big oak tree and

Run a lemonade stand with my friends

On a hot summer's day.

I want to return to a time when life was simple;

When all you knew were colors,

Multiplication tables, and nursery rhymes,

But that didn't bother you,

Because you didn't know what you

Didn't know and you didn't care.

All you knew was to be happy because you

Were blissfully unaware of all the things that

Should make you worried or upset.

I want to think the world is fair.

That everyone is honest and good.

I want to believe that anything is possible.

I want to be oblivious to the complexities 

Of life and be overly excited by 

The little things again.

I want to live simple again.

I don't want my day to consist of

Computer crashes, mountains of paperwork,

Depressing news, how to survive more days

In the month than there is money in the

Bank, doctor bills, gossip, illness

And loss of loved ones.

I want to believe in the power of

Smiles, hugs, a kind word, truth 

 Justice, peace, dreams, the imagination,   

Fairy tales, mankind, and making angels in the snow. 

 So.... here's my checkbook

And my car-keys, my credit card bills

 And my 401K statements.

I am officially resigning from adulthood.

Unknown Author

In our hands

What  fuels my passion for the early childhood field:

Children are our future and to educate them, shape them, mold them and share with them is to change the future and give each child a fighting chance. Every child is different and while the basic needs are all the same the in-depth personal needs, learning styles and world of each child needs to be unique to that child. We can't just lump them all together and expect them to learn, grow, thrive and develop the same for they are not the same. The world is different through each of their eyes.

Quote that relates to what fuels my passion:

"Children are one third of our population and all of our future."  ~Select Panel for the Promotion of Child Health, 1981  http://www.quotegarden.com/children.html

My Teaching Philosophy

My teaching philosophy to date is guided by my course content and all of the theorist’s theories and individuals I know that have had a part in teaching. The purpose of public education is to build individuals skills, knowledge, morals, values, character and development so that they may adequately and effectively co-exist with others, in society as model adults. Public education should teach individuals the subject matter needed to survive, work and evolve in our ever-changing world. Individuals should also learn leadership, teamwork, self-help skills, morals such as do not ever steal, kindness, values such as treat others the way they want to be treated and respect. Public education should overall inform individuals in all areas of life so that they have the knowledge needed to make proper, logical, educational decisions. A proper education leads to a better life.

To be a professional educator in the ECE field is to give my students the foundations for learning, the basics of knowledge and develop a love of learning for life. Life is a diverse and challenging classroom and the knowledge gained is never ending. I just want to be all I can for the students’ I will teach and cross paths with. I want to teach because I love children and have an understanding of children and how they work. I am able to get down on their level and relate to them.

They are their own person and need help growing and learning in this world. They are the future. Each teacher has different aspects of a teaching philosophy much like each student has a different learning style and how they learn and develop from their surroundings, experiences and teachers. They all learn in different ways and at different speeds. We (as teachers) have to find each student’s style and speed of growth and help them to the best of our ability and theirs to learn and grow. Teachers have to understand each student’s own needs and cater to them. We (as teachers) will make or break these students’, by giving them the means necessary to succeed. We set the standards, expectations and content for our students’. They look up to us for guidance, patience, love, and discipline, nurturing ways, growth, experience, leadership and an education. They look to us as a means to survive in this world. We must utilize all aspects of our teaching profession to form and build the students, from our field of specialized knowledge to our code of ethics. It’s all utilized in the classroom. It’s a gift to teach for we are shaping and molding the future.