My Journey through Essay

Interviewing my sons pre naturalize instructor, Ms. Contreras, was a extraordinary experience. I gained so much round(predicate) the field and I was able to connect comprehend her as not merely an educator besides as a mortal as the type of person who does well in this carg starr field. Ms. Contreras is a California state preschool initiateer and has been for 20 long time. She holds an AA and a BS in Early puerility victimisation and loves her hypothecate truly much, and has decided to stay at the preschool level until she retires. alike(p) any educator, she believes that it is fundamental for pargonnts to be involved with their chelarens knowledge. She encourages parents to come and extend whenever they are able, and has monthly parent meeting so that the parents are up to date with what is going on in the class room. To Ms. Contreras, the most important thing around being an other(a) puerility educator is that you are an advocate and advocate for tykeren and t heir education. That you guard and engage to understand that tikeren are just now different and unique and they in all deserve to be in a preschool program no matter what their income or acanthaground.Her favorite thing about being a driller is the innocence of the children at this age she loves how nice the minds are of her students are. She wishes she mint change the fact that preschool is only three hours long, scarcely with state funding so low, that is all she is able to do, and less assessing. She feels that is keeps her from sagaciousness her students and attending to what they hold help in. Family is very important to Ms. Contreras so when she had her children, she knew that she undeniable a career that provide consort around her children, thus star her to pick the field in education. She loved the idea of being a break as her children were on break, home when their home at school when theyre at school is how she put it. While conducting the interview, I pe rceive a vibe that she truly loves what she does and care very much about her students. And as one of the parent volunteers in her class, I can adjoin it when a student randomly give her hugs, or in their eyeball as they walk in the door on a Monday morning time from what seems like a long weekend without her.One thing that I turn backed about the professional field of first childhood education from this interview is that you really have to love and understand children to be in the profession. Patience is a big part of this job when you have 24 to 30 preschool all needing your undivided attention. I learned that you need to understand your individual students in order to help them succeed and do your job to the best you can. Having a job in this profession whitethorn be hard at times, especially when you have so many students but at the end of the day, if it is truly made for you, the job can be very recognize. engine room is a big trend now, in not only in the early childhoo d education field, but in education period. There are many pros and cons about applying engineering to the early childhood classroom.Technology today, consists of TV, computers, exposure games, and now yearn phones and wireless tablets. Technologys long-term history includes everything from primitive hewn-rock weapons to wood pencils to drone aircraft and smart phones. (Estes, 2012) It is no secret that almost every ho accustom now has a computer and probably access to the internet, so many unfledged children top executive be exposed to one or more(prenominal) of these even onwards preschool starts. The question is whether impacts the education of young children, and I believe that it does. Technology impacts the education of young children in many expressions and I believe that technology should be applied to the early childhood classroom. In the preschool and kindergarten ages, technology needs to be instructionally discriminate. Once these technological activities are developmentally appropriate technology-supported activities can be justified by a constructivist philosophy because engagement, agile learning, creativity, and social interaction are all part of what goes on in the classroom (Estes, 2012)Activities such(prenominal) as using the computer and its accessories such as the keyboard and mouse can improve fine motor skills by move keys and moving the mouse around. These fine-motor movements also hone eye-hand coordination, and thatll pay off for years to come as your little one learns to sustain a ball, use scissors, or put together a tricky puzzle. (Folds, 1999) This type of technology will be used in the prox of each child and will be beneficial to the early childhood classroom, not only for the future but for their development. There are many c erstrns about the personal effects of technology for the little ones and to be honest I at one point I thought the same. In our text, many parents agree that it is sick to believe that a ta blet app or an iPhone app can better teach a child to read or teach them math. (Estes, 2012) An when it come to tv serve games, many believe that it isolates and can be one of the causes of another(prenominal) trend, childhood obesity.In my personal opinion, technology has come a long way and there will always be an opposing side. Video games, although may never be used in the classroom, do have slightly benefits to young children. Some video games can teach kids strategy and with video game consoles such as the new Nintendo Wii, force you to get up and move your body in order to dramatic chat up the game. By acquire up and moving your body you are exercising. For different grade levels I think different teaching progressiones are more appropriate. For the junior grades such as preschool and kindergarten I think the creative curriculum approach is more appropriate. This is the grade that I wish to teach. Having several interest areas or displace throughout the classroom wil l stimulate the minds of the students into indispensablenessing to learn, through play. This is the set up at my sons preschool and it does seem to work very well with this age group.His classroom is elflike but he has a block section, library, home living area, an area for puzzle solving, computer play, and tables where the students can make art and a table to play with clay and play dough and eat lunch and snacks. Children age four or younger lack the capacity to sit still for long periods of time so having many options for them to self learn is always great. Children at this age learn through play and I think that the creative curriculum approach is perfect for this age group. I do believe that preschool aged students will benefit from direct counselling, but a limited amount.Maybe a little lecture time before class to discuss small topics such as counting to ten, or practicing letters but all through song, or to lay out the schedule for the day. Songs tend to catch the attent ion on the younger kids, plus song is easier for kids to remember, especially those who learn more through music. There are many different beliefs about how to properly teach a young child.These beliefs go way back to before we were even a country. In my opinion, Children need hands-on experiences that are linked to more than one sense to learn. They need to feel, do, see, (Piagets sensorimotor stage) etc. They should be taught concepts in more than one way (multiple intelligences), and it should be fun. Children should not be made to participate in direct instruction lessons. They should have a choice on whether or not they want to participate and be rewarded for positive port. Learning should be play ground and overall fun.Early childhood education starts before the young child enters the classroom, it starts from the time the child is born, and many believe that it starts even in the womb. It is therefore that a young child begins to learn and see the world. Jean Piaget belie ves and I agree that cognitive development occurs in stages. The first stage is know as the sensorimotor stage and is a blend between a childs motor skills and improvements to the understanding of their senses. (Estes, 2012) This stage takes place from deport to about age two. The second stage of Piagets cognitive development is the preoperational stage. During this stage, usually 18 months to two years, children begin to use symbolic gestures or movements to link to words. (Estes, 2012) In the classroom, I will encourage my students to use their five senses and motor skills to learn about the world around them.In the early childhood classroom, play takes up a big part of the day. match to many early childhood philosophers and educators, children learn through play. Not only is play beneficial to the classroom but to the childs overall health. Erick Erikson believed that play helped individuals cope with a traumatic or emotional past. In my classroom, there will be centers and th ey will all be play based. Different type of playing will take place at each center, by doing this I hope to encourage children to play freely and be themselves but also helping them as individuals.Because each child is different, I think that concepts should be taught in many different ways. jibe to Howard Gardiner, there are seven different intelligences linguistic, logical-mathematic, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, spatial, interpersonal, and intrapersonal. One childs strength will be in logical-mathematical, for example, and another childs strength in musical. As an early childhood educator I will teach concepts in many different ways to guarantee my students are grasping the information provided and having fun with it.Lastly, I think that children need to be rewarded and praised often. I feel like it encourages them to continue to do well. American psychologist, B.F. Skinner, called this operant conditioning. The idea behind this theory is basically that if one changes their be havior they are indeed learning. (Estes, 2012)The theory is simple, if you are doing something good, you will be rewarded. For example, in my classroom I will do this by rewarding with stickers or treats after lunch time.I see myself in the near future substituting at my sons school district. Although I cannot teach yet I will be able to sub once I finish a couple more core classes. after(prenominal) I do obtain my degree in Early Childhood Education, I plan on becoming a preschool instructor. I have wanted a job working with kids for as long as I can remember and being a mom I feel like being a teacher will work great around my family life, as I am able to be available to my son as much as possible. I soon live in California, where school funding is low and has been low for a while especially for education. Because of this I think that I will need to start off my career working in or for another preschool program for better financial stability.It has been a dream for me to also run a special education teacher, so I am hoping to go back to school once I have been a preschool teacher for a couple of years and start my journey toward that field. I apprehend that early childhood special education is a wonderful and rewarding field as well. I think at the end of the day, I want to do something that I love and something that I am self-confident in. Something that I will be happy to wake up to and reckon forward to every day and working with kids is just that.ReferencesEstes, L. K. (2012). Pathways to teaching young children An introduction to early childhood education. San Diego, CA Bridgepoint Education, Inc. Folds, D. V. (1999, Feb 22). Technology for Toddlers. PR Newswire , 1.