Educational Books for Teaching Early Childhood Education - Book Report/Review Example

 Educational Books for Teaching Early Childhood Education Introduction Teaching early childhood education is both fun and challenging. The nature of the work that entails honing skills and progress of little minds brings much joy and inspiration to a dedicated educator. Nevertheless, the different personalities and needs of young children challenge the creativity and capability of the mentor. To overcome the imposed challenges, one needs to seek continually for knowledge about changes and trends in the field. Book reviews, lectures, continuing education and other similar efforts will surely help improve and maximize the benefits that every student receives. This book review and reflection presents a collection of thoughts about preschool teaching from education experts in the field. The views of current authors will empower every teacher to handle everyday challenges with ease and confidence. Book 1: Venn, E.C. & Jahn, M. D. (2004). Teaching and learning in preschool: Using individually appropriate practices in early childhood. DE: International Reading Association. This book is a product of the authors’ more than 12 years of teaching experience and collaboration in the teaching of literacy and reading to preschool children. In the recommendations they make, Venn and Jahn (2004) believe that each child deserves to be given individual attention to address developmental needs. Taking from the views of Vygotsky, the authors pay importance to “social interaction and language, and recognize that learning leads to development” (p.4). As such, there should be balance between play and academic learning in early childhood education. The book provides current information on research and teaching practice in the preschool level. In Chapter 1, the authors explain the theory behind their framework and the rationale behind their teaching approach. Importantly, the authors collaborate not only in writing the book but also in putting up an early childhood school under a public school in the U.S. They have been successful in their literacy and reading curriculum despite the challenges met at the start concerning regulations and varying suggestions from authorities, parents and other stakeholders. The authors basically promote a preschool design that allows students to express themselves, interact and learn from others, and gather varied and meaningful learning experiences from their social environment while maintaining their characteristics as little children. Moreover, the authors promote the need of every child to undergo preschool education. In Chapter 2, the authors identify three critical teacher competencies (24) for providing quality service to preschoolers. These are: knowing and understanding each individual child across the developmental domains, knowing preschool curricula and appropriate developmental compendiums, and knowing how to provide appropriate explicit and implicit instruction. The three competencies serve as the core of the profession. On one hand, the authors do well in identifying these core competencies especially for a starting teacher. On the other hand, these competencies are not enough to achieve success in the profession. In the next chapters of the book, the authors discuss some of the best practices based on their experiences such as zone of proximal development (ZPD) sessions, shared reading, independent work, using print sources, free exploration, thematic integration, creative arts, use of music, gross and fine motor development activities, health and safety measures, among other topics. The idea of ZPD is highlighted in the approach of the authors. In their school, they implement ZPD sessions involving two to three students and the teacher, similar to group tutorial sessions. The authors believe that ZPD sessions promote focused instruction and enhance learning among students with difficulties. However, it should also be noted that Vygotsky’s idea of ZPD is not limited to having older individuals playing the role of the more knowledgeable other (MKO). Even younger individuals such as peers may serve as MKOs to a child. Therefore, in ZPD sessions, the teachers or parents should not be the only ones to play the role of the MKO. It would be momentous to have the students’ peers to play the role of the MKO or let higher level students teach, share or demonstrate their skills to allow modeling and a more constructivist approach to learning. Activities involving peers as MKOs include story telling, reading aloud, reciting poetry, demonstration, or simply role playing. Relying on their peers as MKOs would also promote camaraderie among students. The strategies that the authors employ in their classroom lead teachers on how to go about teaching in the classroom. However, the real difficult challenge is not in teaching students and providing their needs. More than those, it is collaborating with parents, curriculum developers, school and district-level leaders, and other shareholders. Venn and Jahn (2004) partially address this challenge in Chapter 12, titled, “Empowering Parents” (178). The stories about parent involvement and family commitment illustrate the ways to collaborate with parents and other significant people in the life of children. Specifically, the authors impart that collaboration among shareholders is important to achieve the goals set for every student. Parent involvement is a must to promote normal child development and even boost academic performance in the higher levels. Book 2: Prior, J. O. & Gerard, M. (2007). Family involvement in early childhood education: Research into practice. NY: Thomson Delmar Trading. Family involvement serves as an important factor in increasing student performance. In their book, Prior & Gerard (2007) explain that family involvement neither ends in having parents guide their children in accomplishing assignments nor in helping with school projects through parent-teacher organizations. Family involvement may be demonstrated in a number of ways including having teachers communicate openly to parents about their child’s development, teachers providing parents with meaningful educational experiences to be done at home even during vacations, parents helping out in the classroom, assisting teachers during learning sessions, recess or play time, parents engaging in regular communication about school life, working with teachers and the school on school events and statewide projects, schools supporting families in their community service needs, schools serving as community resource center, schools holding fun games and activities for families, and so on. The book is divided into eight chapters and features certain information that makes it ideally unique as a reference guide. First, the book provides activities to enhance family involvement. Second, it lists down several terminologies used in the chapters. Third, it narrates real-life experiences of families in the American context. In Chapter 1, the author enumerates the benefits of strong family involvement and commitment to achieve the ultimate goal for the students. Chapter 1 also suggests the ways teachers can maximize family involvement and the programs that schools can implement to further establish a strong rapport among teachers, parents, and the school. Chapter 2 discusses the nature of present-day families. The factors that may affect involvement of parents are identified, namely, divorce/separation of parents, economic situation, cultural barriers, language barriers, ethnicity, and so on. It is important to note the presence of these factors at the very beginning to address problems competently and immediately. Efforts to know the students’ family background would help gauge involvement and the need for support on the family level. Likewise, problems involving parents may be resolved easily through open-line communication, which should be established by the school at the very beginning. In Chapter 3, the authors further reveal the barriers to family involvement relating to culture and socio-economic factors. Often, parents avoid being involved in school events and activities for their lack of financial resources. In response to this, the school should make them feel that economic factors should not impede the willingness to help in school activities and in the progress of their child. Such can be done by engaging parents in certain roles that do not require the use of money such as assisting during recess time, designing classrooms or program venues, and the like. This way, parents would feel their worth in the learning community despite the lack of financial or knowledge resources. Chapter 4 emphasizes the need to involve the male figures in the family. Fathers and other male figures often lack the involvement in school, thus the authors devote the chapter to discussing the advantages of involving the male figures in the life of a child. In particular, the authors mention that the active involvement of fathers often helps considerably to make the child become more interested in learning. This is an important revelation for schools and families to consider. We should remember that the family will not be complete without a father or a male figure. Thus, the involvement of male figures should be emphasized along with the female figure. In Chapter 5, the authors present models of family involvement and ideas to emphasize partnership between the schools and families. Particularly, the book features the Reggio Emilia and Waldorf School approaches to effectively enhance family involvement in the child’s growth, development and academic progress. These two models provide impressive pictures where the family serves as support system of the school in inculcating values and making students understand social norms, rules and other relevant ideas that students should be exposed to. In Chapter 6, the authors provide some common ways to effect family involvement at home by providing newsletters or simply assigning homework that engage the members of the family in the students’ learning. In real-life practice, these assignments may include organizing a family photo album, drawing family trees, making family collages, interviewing elders and so on. Note that these activities cannot be done by students alone, thus require the assistance of family members to be accomplished. While serving as ways to improve family involvement and relationship, these activities also signal the amount of involvement and commitment parents have in their child’s education. In Chapter 7, the authors mention some research related to the importance of parents’ efforts to mentor their children. The information in this chapter further motivates parents to be involved in teaching their children. Moreover, the chapter challenges the teachers and school administrators to heighten programs to implement family involvement throughout the school year. Evidently, research also helps to back up projects and activities geared towards family involvement. Finally, in Chapter 8, the authors describe ways to build and develop a school-wide program on family involvement in the preschool level. The involvement of stakeholders such as administrators and teachers is a must in this project, whereas the willingness of parents to get involved is a challenge addressed mainly to teachers, school leaders and even other parents. Book 3: Veechi, V. (2010). Art and creativity in Reggio Emilia: Exploring the role and potential of ateliers in early childhood education. NY: Taylor & Francis. In this book, Veechi (2010) explores the progress in the use of Reggio Emilia as approach to teaching early childhood learners. In her introduction, Veechi provides some background information on Reggio Emilia, emphasizing how the city-wide project started forty years ago in Italy by Loris Malaguzzi has developed to become a famous approach now imitated globally. The success of Reggio Emilia in teaching young learners will continue to transform the way education is approached in the early childhood education level. This book review hopefully captures the reasons behind the impressive success of Reggio Emilia. To effectively analyze Reggio Emilia, the author provides a background of the school where children three to six year olds are taught life skills by their teachers and support staff such as cooks, cleaners. In her introduction, Veechi (2010) emphasizes her observation that Reggio Emilia is a postmodern approach that is different from the mainstream and that “truly contests the dominant [features of] early childhood education” (xvi). Reggio Emilia employs strategies that are totally different from the usual practices that have been enumerated in the first book reviewed. In Reggio Emilia, the learning is “unpredictable” (xvii) and indefinite. Unlike in usual preschools where learning can be compared to a staircase where one takes one step after another, Veechi compares learning in Reggio Emilia to that of a rhizome, where there is no beginning and end but everything is boundless, thus learning is limitless. Veechi makes use of dialogues and reflections to expound on the principles of Reggio Emilia. The revelations of the author are really surprising for teachers relying on developed curricula and structured classrooms. Contrary to the usual design of the preschool classroom and its routines, Reggio Emilia employs an environment similar to home and makes use of creative measures to inculcate and enhance learning. The role of the teacher as atelierista is also totally different. Teachers are passive observers who learn from the young children. In Reggio Emilia classes, the children are made to do activities such as drawing, molding, etc. while the teacher observes them and documents observations of the way they think, perform and behave. Compared to the earlier beliefs that teachers serve as MKOs or the source of knowledge in the classroom, Reggio Emilia teachers observe children to learn and interpret the ways they learn thus derive meaning and strategies from the way children learn. Taking from this perspective, teachers in the usual context have been committing a mistake of dictating to children how and what they should learn because as the Reggio Emilia approach reveals, students have their own learning pace and will learn the essential things they need to learn when they are ready, just the way Piaget theorized. Aside from its processes, Reggio Emilia schools also differ in structure from the usual schools. Architects and pedagogistas reveal that several considerations are taken in designing the schools. Among these include functionality, space, future changes, and so on. These considerations imply the concern of the designers on the effects of the school’s physical structure to the mindset of the learners, which may be disregarded in usual classroom settings. The realizations a preschool teacher can gain from reading Veechi’s (2010) book are valuable and limitless. One could marvel at the way the teachers at Reggio Emilia listen to what the children are saying and how they are acting, which serve as bases for instruction. Relevantly, if the real motive of present-day educators is to address the needs of the learners and provide differentiated instruction to suit each learner’s need, then there is no doubt that they should train according to the principles of Malaguzzi, who valued listening and observing each learner and designing personalized instruction based on the findings. Furthermore, the Reggio Emilia approach clears out the argument that Venn and Jahn (2004) face in their implementation of a play-based curriculum. As Veechi (2010) reveals in her reflections, art projects, which are a cross between playing and learning should be implemented instead of using textbooks that limit the learning and potentials of the students. Conclusion The three books reviewed express a common theme in relation to early childhood education: the efforts of teachers and education specialists to provide the best methods and experience to prepare children for the big school. Although the authors differ in their suggestions, they offer some unique and valuable ideas such as addressing the various needs of learners through different strategies and small group sessions (Venn & Jahn, 2004), strengthening family involvement (Prior & Gerard, 2007), and listening to the children (Veechi, 2010). The insights of the authors, gathered from their own reflections and suggested activities guide early childhood education teachers to a renewed faith that despite the challenges and controversies, teaching is still the best profession. References Prior, J. O. & Gerard, M. (2007). Family involvement in early childhood education: Research into practice. NY: Thomson Delmar Trading. Veechi, V. (2010). Art and creativity in Reggio Emilia: Exploring the role and potential of ateliers in early childhood education. NY: Taylor & Francis. Venn, E.C. & Jahn, M. D. (2004). Teaching and learning in preschool: Using individually appropriate practices in early childhood. DE: International Reading Association. Read More