The core of my pedagogical beliefs about children is to provide a nurturing, peaceful environment where children are viewed as respected and curious beings. When engaging with children, I like to get down to their level and make eye contact. I always greet each child at the door in the mornings by shaking their hands and saying, "Good morning." I believe that children are capable of way more things than they are given credit for. For example, children can manipulate tools such as knives, hammers, irons, and scissors. These objects are viewed as dangerous. Often, adults believe in keeping these items away from children. This does them a disservice as they do not learn how to use these tools appropriately and safely and can end up hurting themselves if they come in contact with them.

I like providing a calm, neutral environment for children to learn and explore. I like equipping the classroom with beautiful glass, wood, and natural materials from my travels all over the world. These objects often open up conversations about other countries. I have many real plants in the classroom that the children water, wash, and care for. Ultimately, the classroom environment is the child's environment. Montessori called the classroom "Casa Bambini," which means "Children's house" in Italian. This is because the environment belongs to the child. Children work together to complete tasks such as prepping snacks, serving their peers, cleaning the classroom environment and practicing grace and courtesy with their peers and educators. Montessori is a peace education. Through learning about different cultures, children learn to respect one another and the environment.

I absolutely love learning and being in school. I have a Law Clerk diploma from Fanshawe, Assistants to Infancy with Association Montessori Internationale, Montessori Casa Assisant's Training, and, lastly, my Head Guide Montessori Diploma through The Canadian Montessori Education Institute. I believe that being a good educator means continuously working on your practice and keeping up to date with learning, networking, and other professional development opportunities.

I am a mother to a 13-year-old girl and have been happily married to my husband, Corey, for 7 years. I am a big lover of books (especially a good thriller-Shari Lapena or Riley Sager being my favourites) and cannot resist both buying and smelling new books. We enjoy walking the trails with our 9-year-old Golden Retriever, Harley. When I am not at work or studying, I care for dogs. I am a lover of all animals! (just not bugs).

1. Kids Have Stress, Too!

2. Alcohol During Pregnancy

   
   

Courses:

1. Promoting Pro-Social Behaviour, ECED-1053

2. Child Development 0-3 Yrs, ECED-1075

Reflection:

I have chosen the following two artifacts: examples of work I enjoyed working on and learned from completing. These artifacts provide important information relevant for educators and caregivers when caring for children. They both serve as important reminders of how stress and environmental factors can play in a child's early development.

Educators must learn about child development. Our studies can inform our observations, lesson plans, and curriculum. Understanding how children work allows us to support their physical, cognitive, and spiritual well-being. We can assist the child's learning by providing a supportive and inclusive environment, providing play opportunities, and fostering relationships within the child's family.

1. Outdoor Play Newsletter

2. Transition Song Video

3. Pedagogical Documentation Showcase

Courses:

1. Curriculum & Pedagogy: 0-3 Yrs, ECED-1076

2. Foundations of ECE, ECED-1084

3. Curriculum & Pedagogy 3-6 Yrs, ECED-3042

Reflection:

To begin with, I chose to include my outdoor play newsletter under the program and curriculum development tab because I believe outdoor play is essential for early childhood development. In my teaching practice, the outdoor environment is an extension of the classroom. Children learn valuable life skills such as gross motor skills, fine motor skills through manipulating loose objects and language skills by learning how to identify various plants, animals, and flowers in their environment. Outdoor play offers a variety of sensorial experiences for children as they get to explore various mediums such as rain water, sand, rocks, mud and foliage. Each season brings unique experiences and play opportunities. For example: in the winter seasons, the children enjoy building forts, snowmen and using shovels, in the spring children participate in planting and caring for the gardens, in the summer, the children engage in more water play opportunities and in the fall, the children use rakes to make piles of leaves to jump into.

The second artifact that I chose to add to the curriculum and development is the transition video assignment. Transitions can be incredibly hard for some children. In my experience, making transitions fun by engaging in music or singing opportunities helps alleviate some of the stress and anxieties felt by the children.

Lastly, the third artifact is a document that helped me learn more about what pedagogical documentation is and how it differs from other types of documentation. Pedagogical documental is essential in capturing the child's learning from beginning to end. Documentation can include notes of activities that children are working on, photo's of the child engaging with their environment, peers, and materials, or can include specific examples of the childrens work to showcase. All of these examples listed above are evidence of learning. Documentation assists educators in developing lesson plans based off obervations and what the children are interested in.

1. Mental Health & Wellness in Children and Adolescents

2. Secure Bonds with Children

3. The Importance of Social-Emotional Learning

Courses:

1. Child Development: 3-6 Yrs, ECED-3038

2. Child Development: 0-3 Yrs, ECED-1075

3. Promoting Pro-Social Behaviour, ECED-1053

Reflection:

Throughout the ECE program, I have learned much about social-emotional wellness and how I can help make a difference as an educator. Early learning environments should be fully equipped to help children work through their hardships. The educator and the environment need to work together to support the children. Having a trauma-informed classroom equipped with resources needed to help children is extremely important in ensuring children are successful with managing conflicts. As a child, I grew up in a very unstable and unpredictable home environment. The one thing I could find solace in was the predictability and routine that my time at school offered me.

I want my classroom environment to be a safe space where children, regardless of their living environment or social status, can feel that their voice is heard. In my classroom, I facilitate promoting pro-social behaviour by slowing down and mediating conflicts between children when necessary. I give the children the vocabulary needed to express their thoughts and feelings to their peers. I also have a "cooling tent" in the classroom, set up with books and fidgets. When a child is feeling tired, sad, or down, they are free to take some time for quiet, independent reflection in the tent. In the Montessori environment, we often facilitate group conversations around grace and courtesy topics such as waiting our turns, being a kind friend, helping our peers, and treating others with respect.

I chose to include these best works as I felt they were the most important to my work that I completed in socio-emotional studies. Children's mental health is something I hold strongly in my heart. Both I and my own daughter, who is now 13, have struggled with our mental health. Through my research, I discovered that a supportive educator can reduce adverse mental health effects in children struggling with anxiety and depression. It is my goal to be an adult to whom the children in my class feel safe coming to talk.

1. Hand washing Video

2. WHIMIS Training Certificate

3. Elected Official Letter

Courses:

1. Health, Safety and Nutrition, ECED-1005

2. Professionalism, Ethics, and Advocacy

Reflection:

As ECEs, we must diligently practice health and safety practices within our classrooms. The goal is to provide quality care for children while maintaining health and safety practices. In my classroom, I ensure a monthly health and safety form is filled out and submitted to the administration. I look for things such as tripping hazards, ensuring a clear path to an emergency exit, checking that the windows are all in working order, and that all outlet covers are in place.

In addition, I am responsible for ensuring that the children follow proper hygiene practices, such as handwashing. In my classroom, I have visuals that help teach the children the correct order of handwashing. I chose to incorporate the handwashing video in this section as I believe it to be a very effective way to teach children how to handwash properly in a fun way. Children retain more information when they are interested in the material, and what better way to encourage engagement than singing? The actions, along with the song, provide ample opportunities for the children to memorize hand-washing procedures, all while singing and dancing.

The second artifact that I chose to include under the Health, Regulations, and Practices tab is my WHIMIS certification. I feel that this training is very beneficial to all staff working in an environment with chemical and cleaning agents. I found this training to be very heavy in content. I may not remember every single thing covered in this training, but I believe that I received the main message of practicing precautions around chemicals and taking the time to protect mine and others' safety by reading labels and warnings when appropriate.

Lastly, I chose to include my Elected Offical Letter as I feel that it relates well to regulations and practices in the field. In this letter, myself and my group members, address concerns that relate to ECE's such as low-wages, poor working conditions due to lack of supports, and recognition of our hard work.

1. Community Assignment

2. Reflective Theorist Comparison

3. Self Assessment Paper

Courses:

1. Child Development 3-6, ECED-3038

2. Educational Perspectives, ECED-3003

3. FLDP-1038-Field Seminar

Reflection:

Research and professional development have always been among my favourite parts of my job (aside from working with children, of course). I have always loved education and learning, so it should be no surprise that I became an educator. In our field, it is crucial to learn about various aspects of education consistently. Topics such as child development, parent communications, social-emotional learning, loose parts, risky play, and more are essential to growing and expanding our pedagogies.

I personally believe that there is always an opportunity to learn more, regardless of the person or their occupation. As educators of young children, we must reflect frequently and be open to learning about other ideas, opinions, and pedagogies. Professional development is a great opportunity for educators to network and meet other educators.

I chose to add my Community assignment as I felt that it reflected how I view professional learning and how to support child development by being a part of a dynamic multi-disciplinary time. I work alongside our school's resource consultant, a resource consultant with KW Hab (the organization I chose to base my project around), administration, my co-teachers, and the parents to ensure each child is properly supported in their learning journey. KW Hab helps support children's cognitive, physical, and spiritual development by equipping educators and families with tools, resources, and strategies to implement in the child's daily routine. It is crucial for educators to be open to other strategies and suggestions from team members in order to support the children in our care.

The second assignment that I chose to include under this category is my Reflective Theorist Comparison. This assignment was completed in two parts, where we had to compare 2 separate early childhood theorists and how their views, ideas, and pedagogy are similar and/or different from one another. This assignment was crucial in my understanding that no matter the pedagogy (Montessori, Forest School, Regio Amelia, etc), educators all share one or more ideologies in common, the most important one being committing to supporting children in their early learning journey. It was interesting to step back from my own pedagogy and beliefs on childcare and research and develop an in-depth understanding of other pedagogies. I found that I shared similar views with some of the other pedagogies. For example, I really like how Forest schools allow children to explore the outdoors as the classroom environment. I believe in the importance of allowing children to learn and explore by getting muddy and engaging in risky play scenarios.

The third assignment I had added under Professional Learning is called Self Assessment Paper. For this assignment, I had to take a mini quiz on reflective practices. My scores were very accurate. This assignment confirmed my strengths in the skill of reflecting. Reflective practice is critical for educators. It helps us improve our communication skills which is helpful when advocating for the children in our care. Educators are apart of a larger, dynamic, multi-disciplinary team, and must effectively, and professionally, be able to communicate their thoughts and feelings. Additionally, self reflection is critical in growing into a stronger educator. Not only are we working close with other professionals on our team, but we are communicating with families and administration.