Review of Early Childhood Blog

I reviewed a blog titled "Topics in Early Childhood Education" written by John Funk who is the Director of Educational Programs at the Excelligence Learning Corporation. He has over thirty years of experience as an early childhood educator, including experience in Head Start. The blog is located at http://eceducation.blogspot.com/. I chose this blog because of my interest in early childhood education.

One very intriguing thing I learned upon reviewing John Funk's published articles was that his Head Start program had formerly been chosen to participate in a study with the Center for Social Emotional Foundations in Early Learning (CSEFEL) an initiative to assist early childhood centers, including Head Start program, in giving teaching staff and family the skills to cope with and address children's challenging behaviors. Funk's program was able to implement the Teaching Pyramid Model for addressing challenging behavior. Currently, I am interested in children's challenging behaviors at my own Head Start program and we are in the process of implementing the Pyramid Model. So, this blog was very relevant to me.

I enjoyed reading through his many posts on various early childhood topics. It was most interesting that in each post, Funk related an event from his current life experience to an early childhood education topic. Most of his blog posts focused on giving teachers in early childhood a better understanding of young children's development and the various teaching strategies they might employ in their classrooms. For instance, in a post from earlier this month, Funk talks about how his granddaughters showed him an impromptu "band" over the holidays. This discussion then lead into a discussion on how teachers should always be mindful of the process of learning and that it is the process that is important for young children's development, even if they may not be playing the "right" notes or doing "right" thing.

The one critique I would have is that apparently Funk is a consultant for Discount School Supply and they are a supplier of his products, which are evident throughout his blog page. It was a little annoying to deal with a salesperson of sorts, but overall, the blog was enjoyable.

Meaningful Technology Integration

Meaningful technology integration occurs when the teacher engages the children in learning a new concept through the use of technology. For instance, a teacher using the SmartBoard for population control encourages independence, autonomy and also fine motor skills.

In thinking about the learning environment in my workplace, I have to admit, we are behind the times as far as using technology in the classrooms. While most schools and early childhood programs now have access to SmartBoards, computers for children, and other learning technologies, as a program, we have yet to reach that technological potential. Our program is in the process of looking into SmartBoards and new computers for staff and children, so in the near future, we will have access to such educational technologies. Then, the challenge will be, I think, for our staff to receive training on how to effectively implement technology into their classrooms.

In some of our classrooms there is a computer available to the children. It is always astounding to see how adept our young children are at using technologies that were not available when I was a child. The last time I saw meaningful technology integration happening was when I observed a child during free choice using the classroom computer and playing alphabet games on learning software. Another way our teachers use technology is through music. By using the CD players in the classroom, they engage the children in music, song, and dance, which is always enjoyable to observe.

1st Post

Hello, everyone! Here is my very first blog post! Looking forward to the rest of the semester!