Synapses, Neurons, and Glia…Oh My!

Neuroscience, what an intimidating yet interesting topic!  One would think that knowledge of the brain and its functions would come naturally to an educator, especially because the brain is the organ used to gain knowledge. This topic however, has helped me to recognize just how little I do know about the brain and how it functions. Judy Willis explicated in her blog “A Neurologist Makes the Case for Teaching Teachers About the Brain” the need for integrating a foundational understanding of neuroscience into the teacher education curriculum.  In an effort to gain further understanding, as a learner and learning leader, of the brain and how it functions, the Genes to Cognition online interactive brain provided an opportunity take an up close and personal look at the brain. Additionally, Genes to Cognition online provided an opportunity to gain an understanding of the cognitive processes related to learning and memory. 

 

Metacognition is also an area of interest that I have as a learner and learning leader. As a learner developing the skill to “think about my thinking” aids in making connections between new and prior learning and as a learning leader this is necessary skill which will assist me with making necessary adjustments to my instructional strategies. Scoop.it, Pearltrees, and Wisemapping are online thought organization tools. Utilizing organizational tools such as these assist with documenting and cultivating thoughts. ItsMyDiary which is an online diary, is another metacognition tool that learners can use to assist with processing thoughts.  

Introducing ME! Here's to My First Blog Post!

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. 

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