Observation and Interaction with Director and Colleagues

During the past couple weeks, I observed and interacted with the director of the child care facility. I learned quite a few things from her that I will use in my research paper and will take with me when I graduate. I learned that her biggest issue with the literacy development of young children with learning disabilities is that they are not getting enough support. Most parents are not aware that their child has a learning disability until they are in elementary school. Therefore, their literacy development is or may be delayed. She also feels that schools and/or child care facilities are not receiving the appropriate amount of financial support in order to provide the necessary materials that promote literacy development. At this child care facility, they go through Scholastic and rely on the families to order books, so they can qualify for free books. Unfortunately, a certain number has to be ordered before they can qualify for a free book. She is a firm believer in repairing books. When a book is ripped, she tapes it. She hates throwing books away, even is it is ruined beyond belief. She also makes a lot of homemade books. She has made books about, feelings, food, pets, family, and anything else you can think of.

I also talked with one of my colleagues. She believes that parents are not doing all that they can do to support literacy development. Parents are so busy with work and daily household chores, that there isn't enough time to sit down and read a book their child. She believes in providing children with journals. Even if they do not known the mechanics of writing, they can get the feel of writing with a pencil on paper. Sometimes all a child needs is time to his or herself writing or doodling.

Observations and Interactions of Colleague

Today, I observed a colleague of mine who I have been working with for about six months. I noticed that she does not do a lot of reading with the children nor does she provide a print rich environment. These two things are key factors in literacy development. Her main focus, I learned, was projects and play. She believes that children should be allowed free play as often as they want. The only time they are not playing is when they are doing art which she focuses on the product rather than the process. This means there is a lot of unnecessary chaos at all times.When I approached her about her advocacy and what she advocates for, she said "I have no idea what you mean." I then explained to her what it meant to be an advocate and she then replied, "I have children of my own, there is no time to be an advocate for something." I was respectful and shrugged it off, but how can you work in the child care field without being passionate about something and making a difference? It amazes me how little we know about someone until we sit down and talk with them. When I leave work everyday, I take work home with me. Sometimes it is unfinished lesson plans and other times it may be unfinished projects, but she refuses to take any work with her because she has children. I may be single with no children of my own, but I still have a life.

At the end of this observation, I learned that when giving her control of the classroom as I have for the last tow weeks on account of this assignment, the whole room falls apart. Children need structure and they need to know that someone is in their corner for them and I do not believe it is my colleague. There has to be some sort of desire or passion to make a change and be an advocate and she does not have that.