What a new learning experience I am engaging in
during this educational journey towards my PhD! Last quarter it was VoiceThread
and this quarter it is blogging. Feel free to view my VoiceThread.
I am Tracey, and it has always been my goal to attain my PhD, but for a number
of years I tried to pretend that it was not and allowed life to get in the way
of my achieving this goal. Nevertheless, I have finally come to my senses, thus
here I am.
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| On The Educational Journey Road Again |
Currently
I serve as the Department Chair of the Education department for one of the area
community colleges’. The learning context for my much of my doctoral work is
higher education, community college specifically. My area of focus is Early
Childhood, however my target population is community college students enrolled
in the early childhood associate degree program. Specifically
my interest leans towards the social and emotional development of the potential
and developing
early educator enrolled in the community college pre-service early educator
preparation curriculum.
My
experience has been that there is a wealth of information and resources for educators
that address children’s social and emotional development. Unfortunately, I have
not come across as much information and resources that address the educators’
development in this area. This is more than likely due to the assumption that all
educators, especially those that work with young children, instinctually
possess the social-emotional competence that is needed to endure the social and
emotional rigors of the early learning environment. Sadly, the unfortunate
truth is that too many do not. Another unfortunate truth is that just because
someone has chosen the field of early care and education (for whatever reason) does
not mean that they possess the social and emotional capacity to be effective in
this field. In my work as a professor and academic advisor for the education
department, I find that too many times the early care and education field gets
chosen for individuals for reasons such as gender or limited academic skills. Because
the field is chosen for them, for reasons such as gender and academic limitations,
these individuals then choose or declare early care and education as their
interest or major.
So
my thought is how can the community college pre-service early educator
curriculum develop intentionality with regard to developing the
social-emotional skills of the these adult learners. As I am beginning the
process of familiarizing myself with blogs in general, I definitely can see some
of the benefits of blogging. As an educator, blogging affords me the
opportunity to peek inside the personal-professional minds of my colleagues
around the world. As a learner I have the opportunity to further develop my own
personal-professional identity regarding the various aspects of the early care
and education field.
As
a newbie to visiting and creating blogs, I am in search of those that
specifically address the educator’s social and emotional development. With this
in mind, I have come across three blogs that have stirred up my interest: the Garrison Institute website and blog, the Science of Learning blog, and the edutopia
blogs.
Although these links are not blogs,
I feel the need to share. The Center on the Social and Emotional Foundations for Early Learning (CSEFEL) website is valuable
resources to the faculty and students I work with. This article by Rachel Grieve was simply interesting as is discusses a question I been asking
myself since beginning my research focus.
Tracey
Hi Tracey,
ReplyDeleteWow, it's so refreshing to see someone that has some of the same interests as me. More specifically, I am interested in higher education and have worked as a professor at the community and university levels. I'm not going to lie, I absolutely love the universities over the community college level. I think the students are different and are there for different reasons (at least from my personal experiences).
As far as your professional goals and topic that interests you, I find it so interesting that you are interested in social and emotional support for the educators. I have read some literature about this, but maybe that is the gap in literature that you are finding about it not occurring as they are learning to be educators. Have you began your dissertation journey yet?
Thank you for sharing your links. I am very familiar with the Garrison Institute. I find it such a great place and wealth of knowledge.
As far as this being your first blog, I want to commend you on it. You did a beautiful job. I really like the red highlights for the links (I need to learn how to do that)! We are similar as I have tried and blogged before but it was too much. So, I'm hoping that I can build mine as a personal and professional place. I hope to carry it on, but we all know life happens. As you stated, above you allowed life to get in your way of your PhD. I'm glad that you made the decision to pursue your dream because I know you will do great things.
I wish you the best this quarter and looking forward to more blogs!
Heather
Thank you Heather!
DeleteI will begin working on my Prospectus this semester under the leadership of Dr. Darci :0).
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteI understand your frustration with how students are put/choose a major. In my education 101 course as an undergraduate in college, on the first day of class, the professor stood up and gave her "mean speech." I don't remember all of it, but the message and the tone was clear. If you are going into education because you don't know what else to do with your life, drop this class. If you are going into education solely because you want to coach, go drop this class. I sat there with tears in my eyes, because I didn't really know if I wanted to be a teacher. The class dropped from over 100 down to 60 by the next class session! That professor became a great colleague for me, and I was her teaching assistant in future years. I found out she had to give that mean speech in every education class because registrar seemed to dump those who didn't know what else to declare, into education! Hum...what does that say about our field? Really? I get made just thinking about it. Why is it if someone shows promise they are encouraged to go into fields other than education? I know I'm talking to the choir here, but we need creative, innovative, critical thinkers in education. We need movers and shakers, not individuals who will just do the status quo!
Great first post Tracey, you really got me thinking!
Dr. Darci
Thank you Dr. Darci!
DeleteSo many times I feel as though Early Childhood is the dumping ground. I hate to say it like that but that is exactly what it seems like. Just the other day, I received a phone call wanting to know if this student who had limited reading, comprehension, and writing skills along with a criminal record would be able to take some EC courses. I thought I was being "punk'd" by Ashton Kusher. I couldn't believe it, I further responded by asking if this is someone that you would want working with your young learner/child?
I would say that I take pretty much the same approach as your previous professor during advising sessions with new students and with those that call me to say "I want to work with kids." I ask "why do you want to be in the early childhood field?" and I also explain that they cannot say "because I love children/kids." I get funny looks especially when I add in my reason for adding that stipulation. Many of the students that come through my office do not realize that there will be times when you encounter children and families that are challenging to love...then what? I also explain that our perspective of love isn't always accurate and that it is also important to know your "why" for choosing this field. I have had a few students that from that discussion, decided to choose the field that they really wanted. I ask, "If you could do anything in the world and money, time, and education was not a factor, what would you do?" This question has helped to direct some students toward their calling. I explained if you have a desire to do something, do that and don't waste your time and money here. No matter what the song says, time is NOT on your side, so use your time wisely.
Tracey,
ReplyDeleteYou motivated me to go back and do a much better job on my initial post. I misunderstood when Dr. Darci wrote it was a casual place to write, and I did not pay close attention to the directions.
With that said, I like the fact that you are focusing on teachers's emotional mindset. That is important in the classroom. In our program, the focus is deficit based, not on how to create a learning environment for all (teachers and students), but what teachers need to do. That focus create unhappy teaching staff because they believe that they are doing everything they know how and able to do with the population they have. I would add Keller's (2010) ARCS motivational model as strategies to engage these future teachers. The following articles will shed some lights on how to use the model to engage adult learners.
Keller, J. M. (2010). Motivational design for learning and performance: The ARCS model approach. New York, NY: Springer.
Keller, J. (2008) Motivation design. Retrieved Sept. 12, 2012 from: http://www.arcsmodel.com/home.htm
Why thank you Ms. DeeDee. Yes, I can definitely see how utilizing the strategies in the ARCS motivational model can be beneficial. Thanks for the articles.
DeleteHi Tracey,
ReplyDeleteThis is a great topic. I believe that it takes a certain personality to teach is each area of education. For instance, my passion is early childhood education and I have a desire to set the children up for a lifetime of learning. However, I need other educators to jump in and help "my kiddos" continue their learning when they are no longer "kiddos". As they grow into children, pre-teens, and teens, there are others who have a passion for those age groups and will benefit the students. This is something that should be included in beginning college education courses. I wonder if there is something like, "finding your passion in education". Much like the comment from Dr. Darci, I remember a comment early in my undergrad work. The professor let our class know that just because we "love kids" or "enjoyed babysitting" did not mean that we would love teaching. She told us some of the tough parts of education in order to show us that it was not simply playing with children and taking care of their basic needs. It's true that education is more than being in a class with many students and helping them learn. If you have a passion to bring the best education in a given area all the additional aspects of this field are worth it.
~robyn
Hello, Tracey,
ReplyDeleteFor your first blog, this looks really great! I have also been enjoying the learning experiences while on my educational journey to earn a PhD. I admit the challenges are real and the work is demanding. However, at the end of each quarter as I reflect back on what I learned, it's worth the effort. But, no time for extended pauses, the week between courses rapidly disappears.
In addition to earning a PhD, I would like to teach at a university, it has always been one of my dreams. Life feels so much more rewarding when you can obtain/fulfill some of your dreams. Thanks for sharing, Luther