Attachment

Children’s socioemotional well-being is critical to school success, and attachment is the foundation of socioemotional well-being. Because of this, educators from preschool to high school can be more effective if they understand how attachment influences their students this is why I chose to take an in-depth look at secure attachment. As a teacher, it is my desire that all my students share a secure attachment with me and I feel that every educator should strive to have that attachment with their students. As a teacher, I want to foster a healthy attachment with my students which lead me to read several articles, “The Prosocial Classroom: Teacher Social and Emotional Competence in Relation to Student and Classroom Outcomes”, “secure attachment”, “Attachment in the Classroom”, and“Map out a successful, satisfying relationship”.

Of all the readings, I feel that “Attachment in the Classroom” was the most helpful because it gave my ways to foster healthy attachments among my students. One thing that stuck out to me was the study conducted in the article which showed that secure attachment is associated with higher grades and standardized test scores compared to insecure attachment. That only has encouraged me to strive to form an attachment with my students. One thing an educator needs to foster healthy attachment is resources. Resources can simply be a co-worker, principal, or class. It is important to have resources because they can assist in offering ideas for helping in forming those attachments as well as understand attachment. When teachers lack the resources needed to effectively manage the social and emotional challenges within the particular context of their school and classroom, children show lower levels of on task behavior and performance (Marzano, Marzano, &Pickering, 2003).  This can make it difficult to form attachments with students.

In order to be effective, teachers must connect with and care for children with warmth, respect, and trust. We as teachers must increase sensitivity and warm, positive interactions with students. Another way for us to foster healthy attachment is being well prepared for class and hold high expectations for students. This is just one way that we as educators can show that we care about our student achievement, in addition to increasing sensitivity and being responsive. Although it can be changeling, we should try to be responsive to students’ agendas by providing choices when available. One way of fostering attachment that stood out to me was helping students be kind, helpful, and accepting of one another. Peer culture is a key component of school bonding (Juvonen 2007).

In closing, I have always believed and now research has shown that in order to be effective, teachers must connect with as well as care for children with warmth, respect, and trust. It may be easier for teachers to establish attachment relationships in preschool or primary classrooms where teachers spend more time with students than in secondary schools, and tend to a broader range of their needs. Indeed, most of the research on teacher– student attachment has occurred in early childhood settings, rather than in secondary schools. Nevertheless, even in secondary schools both teachers and students believe that good teachers establish trusting, close relationships with students (Beishuizzen et al. 2001).

 

 

References

Bergin, C. (2009). Attachment in the Classroom. Educational Psychology Review, 21(2), 141-170.

Map out a successful, satisfying relationship. (2011, November 27). Capital,D.3.  Retrieved December 20, 2011, from ProQuest Newsstand. (Document ID: 2521505961).

Miller, S. (2008). Secure attachment. Published by Ounce of Prevention Fund. Retrieved from
http://www.ounceofprevention.org/includes/tiny_mce/plugins/filemanager/files/Secure%20Attachment.pdf

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

language and literacy development

One area that I am having problems in is the prenatal and infancy section. I would like to add more references and information to this section.

Prenatal and Infancy

As a baby, Mariah had as many neurons as there are stars in the Milky Way (Honig, 2009, p. 96).  During infancy, babies experience speedy changes in their development and growth in the baby’s organs, senses, and size. Each of these transformations produces new capabilities. Mariah gained confidence in herself through her development in forming concepts and motor coordination and learning and using language. Her confidence prepared her to build upon new abilities that were needed for each change in new stages of development. Mariah’s mother practiced self-talk with her while she was at home with her. During self-talk, she would tell Mariah what she was doing, for example while changing her; she would talk her through the steps of changing her diaper.

Victoria also practiced Parallel talk, allowing her to tell Mariah what she was doing. Although talking to Mariah may seem simple, this simply stimulating activity helped develop her language. Using their five senses, Mariah takes information and makes a mental effort to understand it; that’s how the connections form (Brophy, 2007, p. 50). Vincent would do activities that stimulated her touch, by allowing her to feel various textures, which taught her about different environments. Touch also helped Mariah’s brain to make connections.  Mariah’s grandmother Loree would provide activities and opportunities for her that encouraged exploration and curiosity that enhanced Mariah’s overall development when she watched her on the weekends.

Mariah spent the first two months of her life at home with her mother. With her mother being a school teacher she did not have to return to work until August. When searching for daycare, her mother was extremely concerned with the curriculum and the environment. Although both of Mariah’s parents are advocates for education, her father does not believe children can retain information until they are at least one years old. However with Victoria studying the development of children she knew that this was false. The daycare that she chose offered A BEKA curriculum and the infant rooms provided lessons that fostered growth in self-help skills, language development, social development, and spiritual growth. Every day the teachers read and song to the infants. Victoria would ask Mariah questions to engage her in dialogue such as “why so much fussing” or “Are you a happy baby”?  Victoria would then turn around and interpret Mariah’s reflexive sounds out loud by saying things like “are you saying, you want mommy to change your bottom”?

Changes in fetal heart rate and motor activity when a fetus mother is speaking, shows that it can hear and this affects its preferences for language after birth in a number of ways (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001) Studies have shown that infants become acquainted with and have a preference for “the rhythms and sounds of language” that they heard while in the womb (Karmiloff & Karmiloff-Smith, 2001, p. 43). This study holds true for Mariah. While her mother was pregnant, she would read “One Love” and “Peekaboo Morning” every day. At night before going to sleep she would play the baby Einstein station on Pandora. After Mariah’s birth, her mother continued doing these things. Mariah would smile, squeal, or imitate the sounds from the books and music that she heard while still in the womb.

 Infants display pre-verbal communication. One form of preverbal communication is crying, which is known as reflexive. Parents ascribe communicative functions to even the earliest of infants’ vocalizations (C.L. Miller, 1988).  Mariah would always cry when she was wet and hungry. It seemed to her parents that she would cry louder if she was hungry, it was almost like a scream instead of a cry. At eight weeks Mariah begin having problems with colic which according to her pediatrician is normal for that age. If she developed gas after eating not only would she cry she would also do a little squirm this is how her parents knew that it was gas and not anything else. According to Menn & Stoel-Gammon (2005) infants between 2 and four months begin to make more pleasant sounds.

During this time, infants also start to laugh, which was a countless reward for Mariah’s parents. Victoria and Vincent would make silly faces or sounds, and Mariah would often smile or try to imitate them.  Mariah at this stage was joining in a pre-language “conversation” with Vincent and Victoria. Mariah would coo; Vincent and Victoria would talk back; Mariah would look and laugh; Victoria and Vincent would smile and talk. In this way, Mariah is beginning to learn how to use language before she actually speaks. She developed as a typical infant should, making one-syllable sounds at four months. Her mother would always say ma back to her when Mariah would say da. Around eight months Mariah begin combining the sounds to say dada or mama. 

 

 

Advocating for child-centered curriculum and play

To: News and Record of Greensboro

200 East Market Street

P.O. Box 20848

Greensboro, NC 27420

 

Attn: John Robinson, Editor

 

Dear John,

My name is Temeka Thatch and I am currently working towards my masters at Walden University. While studying Early Childhood I have come across an important legislation that impacts the families and children of our city, state, and nation. “The No Child Left Inside” Act of 2007 is an act that many people do not know about and I am writing you to inform our city of what it is all about. “The No Child Left Inside” Act of 2007 was initiated due to the lack environmental instruction and the time children spend outside, that the “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001 was pushed out of our children’s school day. The “No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001 was introduced to ensure every child receives the best education possible from the most qualified teachers which is great, however what are they  learning by being in the classroom all day and getting little or no time outside. “The No Child Left Behind” Act of 2001 has reduced environmental education as well as outdoor opportunities for children. As an educator who is a strong advocate for outdoor play, I am pushing for “The No Child Left Inside” Act of 2007 to be signed into law. Senator Jack Reed of Rhode Island introduced this act and I am urging our senators to get on board and support this act. If this Act is signed into law our schools would receive funding for high quality environmental instruction, it would support outdoor learning activities both at school and in environmental educational centers, further more the highly qualified teachers the “The No Child Left Behind” Act pushes for, would also be highly qualified in environmental education, and be trained and certified to model and operate environmental education programs, which include outdoor learning. If you believe that this is something we need for our children, better yet your children, then stand with me. Write letters to your legislators urging them to co-sponsor, speak with the education staff person, and visit the website www.eenorthcarolina.org to find out what more you can do. If we just sit around and do nothing, then nothing will get done. Lets’ stand together, our children’s future is at stake.

Fighting the cause,

Temeka Thatch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

References

www.eenorthcarolina.org

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VA2Uav5Xk5c

http://www2.ed.gov/nclb/landing.jhtml