When I Think of Research....

When I first began this course the thought of research terrified me and having 3 different professors really worried me. After it is all over I realize how important research is in working with young children and their families. I want to be able to provide them with the correct information and make them comfortable in every way possible.

This year in my classroom I have a child from India, this being rare in our area. This child and his family are also vegetarians, which put a bind on our cook, who has never dealt with this in her years of head start. It began as a challenge for our staff but through research and communication we have done our best to make this family as comfortable as anyone else in our classroom. Every time I speak with this family I hear from them, thank you and you are so kind. If it wasn't for research on his culture and beliefs I would not have known how to accommodation them and for this I am thankful.

I want to say thank you to all of my colleagues for all your support, ideas and sharing of your knowledge that helped me though this course.

I especially want to thank you Dr. Walker for taking over our class and being so kind to us and not making and major changes to the course. Again, Thank You!!!

Best wishes to you all and I hope to continue this journey with you.

Research Around the World

I decided to explore Early Childhood Australia, A Voice for Young Children,   http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. Their mission statement: Early Childhood Australia will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years. This says to me that we are all striving for the good of the children.

The resource themes explored on this site are Being Belonging and Becoming, School Readiness, Baby and Toddler Sleeping and Childhood Obesity. These are all issues that we have explored and experienced and should have further research.

I found the Research and Practice Series very informative, the discussion of topics such as Partnerships, Respecting diversity and The Code of Ethics are just a few of important issues deserving further research.

This is a website that I will go back to for more research to gain new ideas for everyday classroom issues. This site contains an abundance of information for educators.