Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2
I
have not heard from my resources outside of the U.S. as of yet, but I am still
hopeful. I did go to http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/
website to listen to some videos and conversations about educating young
children. While I was researching different videos, I found a video that truly
struck me as important. The name of the video was Building Adult
Capabilities to Improve Child Outcomes:
A Theory of Change. One insight that I
gathered from this was that when thinking of a child and the most important
years of learning, which is between birth and 5, if a child misses the proper
developmental needs that should be met from parents and caregivers, the brain
has the ability to develop flexibility and plasticity to learn skills to the
age of 30. It is amazing that even if children do not gain the skills needed
due to toxic stressors early in life that they can still learn how to cope and
important analytical skills later in life up to the age of 30. Another insight is the fact that in order to
be stable and great role models for children, parents and caregivers have to be
able to have the necessary skills to maintain order, how to plan, have
executive functioning and self-regulation, as well as being able to work in
teams are all essential skills that adults need to have in order to be stable
enough to teach and mentor children. When we have those skill sets, we can run
a well-regulated home and school environment. What is also so interesting is
that the Harvard website understands that in order to be effective in teaching,
there needs to be a certain level of commitment by the professionals who educate
children. Educators and parents may need coaching, mentoring, and training to
be able to execute skills that are necessary to our youth. When it comes to
equity and excellence, we as educators are accountable in how we teach children
in our care, and we have to make sure that we are fair and uphold the best
educational practices.
Resources:
Hi Ketrice
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of building adults in order to help children. Often times when I meet with teaching teams they have complaints about what one team member may or may not be doing in the classroom. I have to explain to them that every team member has a different level of experience and we learn as we go from one another and with formal education and training. I also tell my teachers that they should be patient with one another just like they are with the children.