Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Course Goals Module 1: Assignment Blog Post As an elementary music instructor, I have some experience about the educational needs of early childhood educational systems. Having experience with grade levels Pre-K-5, I must say, I honestly believe the earlier children learn musical and basic academic concepts, the better understanding they will have of why they exist and how education impacts the world around them. Early childhood systems are currently changing rapidly in order to try and improve underlying deficits in certain programs already implemented in educational systems. In order to prevent underlying deficits, three goals I believe that may help professional educators of young children become more effective are establishing a more clear and positive working relationship with parents and the surrounding community, using the Arts to instill positive emotional development in young children, and providing parental guardian academic training workshops for the parents of those young children. Looking at the first goal, establishing a more effective clear and positive working relationship with parents the surrounding community; this goal may be the most important goal due to the fact that positive relationships often have the most positive effect. Teachers, parents, students, and the community must work together towards the same common goal when it comes to education. Education is part of a community of leaders; that is why this goal is so important to teachers. Secondly, most young children have a love for music, dancing, singing, acting, and drawing. One of these interests can have a great impact on students’ emotional and social development. As a teacher allowing creativity to flow throughout the classroom opens doors for other possibilities that may not have been noticeable beforehand. Young children area motivated by their own creativity and are anxious for others to see what they can accomplish independently; therefore the Arts allows their individuality to shine in a creative and structured setting. I chose the third goal, providing parental guardian academic training workshops because parents and guardians that understand the importance of their child’s education will become more involved in helping the child as well as the teacher. As a teacher, this is important because parents need to understand the skills their children and working on in order to assist them outside of class. I believe all three of these goals will make an impact not only for early childhood educators but as well as higher education. www.mygoalsare.blogspot.com
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Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYou would love a program that some of the teachers utilize in our school. Some teachers were lucky enough to be trained in a program called Arts in Action a few years ago. Unfortunately, my schedule did not allow me to be involved at that time, so I do not reap the benefits that some of my colleagues do. The ones that did partake in the program have received digital devices that the kids can use to create projects. They also have the opportunity to have a professional come into their classroom and teach lessons in an art area. For example, one of our 1st grade teachers uses a great deal of crafts and art projects to help her students learn. They have a puppeteer come in every year to create puppets that go with information they have learned in class. The puppets are quite impressive! They then use the puppets to put on a performance for the primary grades in our school. She also utilizes all kinds of technology to enhance her instruction. Her students absolutely love it, and you can tell they learn an immense amount of information (and remember it) due to the way she teaches them. It is unfortunate, however, that those teachers unable to be trained due to scheduling conflicts are not allowed to be participants in the "extras" of the program. I feel this is a gap that should be addressed so that others have a chance to give their students the same types of experiences.
Jessica,
ReplyDeleteMusic can be used in such a positive manner in the field of education. Thursday I watched a video of a student with a severe stuttering problem. His teacher put a set of headphones over the student’s ears and he followed the beat of the music as he spoke. As he followed the beat of the music this student could speak with much less stuttering. I do not know all of the dynamics involved as far as what music has to do with lessening the stuttering, but I believe it is a useful tool and one that obviously is treasured by this young man.
Darla
Hi Jessica,
ReplyDeleteYour second goal of "using the Arts to instill positive emotional development in young children" stood out the most for me. Currently, I am teaching a classing on "Educating young children about the arts." This is the third time instructing this class for ECE Associate degree level students. It is awesome to discuss with them how the arts impacts children's overall development. When I initially ask them about their thoughts of the arts, they immediately think about visual arts. They are amazed to learn the arts include music, dance/creative movement, visual arts, and drama. This past week we discussed the different types of music. I shared with them a young man by the name of Akim Camara. You may have already heard of him. He has played the violin since age two. He is now thirteen. I shared with them the importance of integrating the arts into the classroom. There may be a child such as this one in their classroom. The exposure can have major impacts in every area of the life of a child. Thanks so much Jessica.
Vanessa
Hi Jessica. When you talked about music, I will be attending a workshop about "How music can help with behavioral problems in the classroom." I teach Pre-K and I use music a lot in my classroom. When we are having a hard time listening or just to get their attention I would put on my class favorite song and I kid you not, they stop everything and start dancing. The sad thing is they are taking the arts out of schools. At the center I work at we have special guest from different forms of the arts into the classroom and the children really enjoy this. Your goals are very interesting and I appreciate the interest you have taken in early childhood education.
ReplyDeleteJessica,
ReplyDeleteYour second and third goal, using the Arts to instill positive emotional development in young children, and providing parental guardian academic training workshops for the parents of those young children relate directly to a parent/child program I am developing. Basically, through literature and art the child and parent participate in monthly session that will provide parents instruction on working with their child at home. The fun is watching the creativity of the parents and children working together. I love Gingerbread House Building by families for this reason.
Thanks for sharing the importance of music and arts for early childhood.
Sharon Lloyd