Conclusion

I want to say how much I have enjoyed working with everyone. I wish you good luck, happiness, and success in the future.

Also, I wanted to post the two people I responded to for the blog 5 assignment.


http://jennifermurray.edublogs.org
http://csbrooks.edublogs.org

Parent Interview

     I talked with a parent who has a son in our program at this time. He also had a son in the program last year, and the year before that. He is a member of the parent board, and is concerned about the changes coming to Head Start for the 2012-2013 school year. He has just recently finished schooling to become a police officer. He knows the importance of an education, but he does not feel that it is fair to replace teacher's who have been with the Head Start program for several years. He feels that even though these teacher's lack the college education experience, they have the on the job experience. He also knows the Head Start program provides trainings about how to take care of children, and the families.
     He is a father who comes in the classroom to volunteer when he can. He reads with his son, and will do puzzles with him. He advocates for our program by being a member of the parent council. They meet to discuss ways of providing educational learning trips for the children, ideas for educational activities to incorporate into the classroom environment, and family gatherings that provide cultural/educational learning.
     An example of a family gathering that provides cultural/educational learning would be our annual winter dance. Last year we sent home different colors of construction paper, and encourage the parents to work with their families to come up with a heritage flag. The families did an awesome job. We had flags from Spain, England, Italy, America, Germany, etc. Also, we picked a multicultural book about families to read during the get together. Finally, we had different multicultural foods to serve at the dance. The parents get together to come up with these ideas for family gatherings, and they come and help us teachers set-up, and take down the decorations for the family gathering.
     Finally, some of the parents in the past, and the parents of now, have advocated for our program by sending letters to our congressmen. They have also gone to our capital in Madison to speak about our program. We have had legislators in the past tour our center, and other Head Start centers. I feel we need to do this again, especially now when the economy is such at a low. We had heard that a center close to us had a legislator come in and visit their center. This is such an important way to advocate for our program. The legislators can actually see proof of how we prepare children for school readiness skills.

Interview of an Administrator

I interviewed the Program Coordinator for our Head Start center. We gathered for a monthly center meeting, and the topic of discussion was about a recent meeting she had attended. Ironically enough the subject I picked for my research paper is the hot topic for the upcoming school year. I didn't even realize this when I picked the subject out. The big thing is for the staff to prove they are teaching the children what they are learning from college, trainings, and other classes. This especially being school readiness skills. She gave me a sheet of what Head Start's goals are for school readiness skills. I will share this with you. The following skills are needed:
Social Skills: Able to problem solve, demonstrate empathy, display ability to regulate emotions, be respectful, develop positive self-concept, use friendship skills, resolve conflict. Health Physical Development: Demonstrate self-help skills, demonstrate age appropriate fine motor and gross motor skills, develop healthy hygiene and nutrition habits, exercise. Experiences in Learning: number concepts, science concepts, field trips, sensory experiences, cultural diversity, music, art, drama, and creative movement. Language and Literacy: Demonstrate age appropriate expressive and receptive language. Use good communication skills-including early writing, demonstrates appreciation of books, and displays alphabet knowledge and phonological awareness. Approaches to Learning: demonstrates initiative and curiosity, cooperates with others, displays self-confidence and willingness to try new things.
She also wrapped up the meeting by saying that we may have to reapply for our jobs, or new positions because of what is happening in the government. I just received an e-mail from her today, and we are going to have a special meeting on November 18 to discuss this further with another staff from the administration.

Topic Observations

One of the topics I chose was phonological awareness. The teacher's had been doing a project approach with the children about trains. They had been reading different books about trains. The teacher's were going over different types of cars that connect with the locomotive engine. They were discussing the gandola car, cattle car, piggy back cars, tender or coal car, and the box car. The children were really excited about the train, and the trains different cars. Every time a train would go by the children would yell "train." The children would also name the different cars that would go by.
Another topic I chose was math skills. The teacher's created a graph to do with the children. The graph was about counting the number of trains that went by in the morning and afternoon classes for the week. The children would hear a train, and yell "train." The teacher would put a sticker on the graph for the particular day. The children, and the teacher's would count up the tally for the day, and eventually for the week. They also would compare/count how many trains went by in either the morning or the afternoon. They found out that the afternoon class had more trains than in the morning. They also found out that the morning class averaged three trains a day, and the afternoon average five cars a day.
The last topic I chose was social skills. I observed this being done in a large group setting. The children came together to voice their opinion about what topic they wanted to discuss. The children in both classes answered pets, trains, bakery, trucks, garbage truck, dogs, and cats. The tallies were counted and trains had the most votes. Next, the teacher's asked the children what they knew about trains. The answer the children gave were that trains had wheels, trains go on tracks, trains carry things. Then the teacher's asked the children what they wanted to learn about trains. The children wanted to know what trains carry, what the bar was that went down by the road, and if people go on trains. They found out that some trains are passenger trains, trains can carry gas, oil, animals, wood, and that the bars that come down are called a crossing gate. The teacher's created a web for this, and would go back to it to discuss with the children.
They also wrapped up the discussion of trains by having a person that used to work on trains come in to talk to the children. Before the visitor came, the teacher's had questions they wanted to know. The teacher's wrote them down. The man wore a conductor's suit and hat. He had a real train whistle to show the children. Also, he had some model trains to show the children. Finally, he answered the children's questions. I feel this helps with the advocacy issue by having people from the community come in, and see what are program is about.

Advocacy Interview

The insights I have gained from the interview are that the teachers for Head Start are concerned about the children's school readiness skills. Some of the things they feel are important are the following: early math skills, phonological awareness, and social skills. They are also concerned on how to teach the children. Do they teach them the uppercase letters first, or the lowercase letters first? Do they teach them both upper and lower at the same time? What type of print do they use to teach them to write their name?
This is how I came about choosing school readiness skills for my paper. My three topics will be math skills, phonological awareness, and social skills. I personally feel that if the child does not have the social skills first, they will never be able to learn the other skills.
I would ask my colleagues if they know of any books, or websites I could use for my research paper?