lristovic.files.wordpress.com file · Web viewThis situational analysis will include connections to my previous professional experience while discussing the context I am currently

EPT 428 Lana Ristovic February 19, 2013Student ID: 11482621

Table of Contents

Introduction 2

The Situational Analysis: 3

The Proposal

Critical Buddy’s Response 8

My Response 9

Goals 10

Connections to College of Early Childhood Educators Code of Ethics and Standards of

Practise 11

Connections to Previous Course Work 12

The Action Plan 13

The Critical Reflection 14

Conclusion 16

References 17

Appendix

1


Introduction

Last semester, when embarking upon on an entirely new journey, I was filled with anticipation

as to how this new experience would turn out and how and what I would learn from it. It has occurred

to me, that through fostering new relationships and building on my own knowledge within the

community I was able to connect my previous experience to the one I am currently working in. I have

been working closely with Joan once more to identify the importance of using meaningful materials in

the art context. We have brainstormed many ideas as to how we could present these findings and it

turns out that we have agreed on holding a seminar for our fellow educators as well as hosting a blog for

families to make children’s learning visible through documentation. The blog will also include any

additional information parents and caregivers may need to access, such as newsletter and plans Joan

and I would like to incorporate in the program. This whole project was designed to try to answer the

question “What can we do to provide more meaningful materials in art experiences, keeping in mind

that there are budgetary restrictions?”

This situational analysis will include connections to my previous professional experience while

discussing the context I am currently learning in. It will also include my proposal along with a critical

reflection offered to me by Brandi Reader, a fellow colleague in the Bachelor of Early Childhood Studies

program. Subsequently, I will discuss my action plan for the rest of the time that I will be spending in my

professional experience, followed by a critical reflection of my evolving understanding of what

leadership is. This situational analysis will be supported by an appendix which will hold information

relevant to the information covered within the analysis itself.

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The Situational Analysis

During this semester I will be completing my professional experience with an artist from Artists

at the Centre and will be working in collaboration with Today’s Family-Ontario Early Years Centres. The

focus of this particular situational analysis will be to look at both agencies and how they support each

other and better the community as a whole. The Artists at the Centre project

Brings artists into day care centres and family resource centres in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada where the early childhood educators are exploring the Reggio Emilia Approach... The educators in Reggio Emilia invite us to think with them about the ideas they have formulated to find ways to make sense of them in their own culture. (Artists at the Center, n.d.)

This particular agency is focused on enhancing the community as a whole because it starts by engaging

the educators in a thought process that is designed to reform education to a less traditional form of

educating children. It is not every day that we witness educators inviting children to explore their

environments together while learning from each other. This agency also helps to benefit the family as a

whole because parents are encouraged to work together with their children to explore a particular

subject while learning from it. The families and educators that take part in this project are involved in a

yearly exhibit held at the Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts which displays the creations the children,

parents and educators have worked on together. Reflecting on last semester’s professional experience,

this model closely resembles Urie Bronfenbrenner’s Ecological Model. It involves the child at the centre

and works towards involving the child in the community as a whole. This agency speaks volumes about

its view of the child and how much effort is put forth to develop children as citizens in the community

with the aid of parents, caregivers, educators and many other professionals. Artists at the Center works

at enriching communities by involving all aspects of the child’s ecological model and helping to integrate

them into the community at a young age. This approach grants the child leadership by giving them the

materials they need to allow their voice to be heard and their creations to be seen in local

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environments. The programme that is being delivered speaks to a range of target audiences. The artists

that work with this agency have come to realize that “children do in fact, have many languages that

adults can nurture and in the process rediscover some of their own, that we teach best when we are

learning ...and that we benefit from thinking together about how we view children, creativity and

education” (Artists at the Centre, n.d.). I believe that this project can also speak to other children that

are a part of the community as well as their families. It can also appeal to educators on a level where

they are able to study the child’s work and draw on their own experiences while working with children.

It also allows educators the opportunity to critically reflect on their own practise and what they can do

to improve the quality of care and education that they provide for children they are learning with.

Artists at the Centre is offered in a range of service delivery models. They are offered in the

form of drop-in centers, outreach programs and regularly scheduled programme hours. There are

various locations that are considered to be Artists at the Centre child care centres as well as in

collaboration with Today’s Family-Ontario Early Years Centres. This allows for more flexibility in the

families that decide to attend this particular agency. The programming is open to diverse families,

meaning that it can be the parents that come in with their child, grandparents, caregivers and so on.

The doors are also open to English Language Learners, immigrants and families with children of diverse

needs. It is welcoming and open to all families that wish to explore new materials and environments

with their children.

The one link that I see very clearly is also one that I am currently practicing within my

professional experience. The link is between Artists at the Centre and Today’s Family-Ontario Early

Years Centres. Joan, my mentor, goes into various OEYC centres, providing materials and provocation to

children and families that attend. Other links that Artists at the Centre is affiliated with are Ontario Art

Council, Hamilton Community Foundation, City of Hamilton, Hamilton Conservatory for the Arts and The

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Ontario Reggio Association. All these links help to showcase the development the children visiting

Artists at the Centre locations are experiencing.

From what I have analyzed over the past two semesters at the Ryerson Ontario Early Years

Centre, it is evident that the families that attend are rather close knit and give a whole new meaning to

“it takes a village to raise a child.” Not only do the caregivers and parents care for each child, they know

what each child needs developmentally. These families continue to come back to visit the centre,

maybe not on a weekly basis, but do come back for the hospitality and comfort that the educators offer

while they are in attendance. The educators have also been as supportive as they can be within my own

learning environment in that they have tried to provide all the materials I would need to participate to

my fullest potential. After discussing with them my plans for the semester, which are to identify what

we can do to provide better materials so children can have a better art experience, they provided me

with their catalogue for ordering supplies and basically said “whatever you want, put it on the list, and

we’ll try our best to get it for you.” It has recently been brought to my attention that the agency is in a

funding deficit and therefore the money allocated for providing materials is short to say the least, but

these educators have been working hard to provide these experiences for the children, families and

myself.

The local community supports this program by allowing them to use the space at the Ryerson

Recreation Centre so that there is a safe place for families to bring their children where they can explore

their environments and various materials. This centre is located in Hamilton West where, according to

Statistics Canada, in 2011, approximately 16.5% of children resided age zero to fourteen (Statistics

Canada, 2013). Of this age group, 5.3% were aged zero to four (Statistics Canada, 2013). This has

become the target group that attends the Artists at the Centre programs within OEYCs because, as we

know, Hamilton has begun rolling out Full-Day Kindergarten. This means all the four and five-year-olds

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that once used to attend regularly are now enrolled in school full time. Hamilton has a total of 144,120

families, 69.8% of which are married-couple families, 11.3% are common-law couple families, 18.9% are

single parent families, and 2.4% are considered “other” (Statistics Canada, 2013). Of those statistics,

48.2% of married-couple families have children living at home. That is a large number of families that

this organization can cater to and because they work to aid the family as a whole, that means there

need to be resources in place to help the families at the drop of a hat. Of the families that live in

Hamilton, 25.7% reported that English and French were not their first spoken languages(Statistics

Canada, 2013), which means that the clientele has diverse needs and that the agency needs to be able

to provide materials in various languages.

The location this particular centre is held in is within a recreation centre. Families have access to

this facility to come to the OEYC and take part in that program, to engage in healthy, active living

through physical activity or to use the facility as a social context where they can come to communicate

with other families. This centre is in close proximity to parks and a library as well as St. Joseph’s

Hospital. The center is walking distance from the downtown core which leads to a whole new world of

possibilities the children and families can explore.

The staffs employed at Artists at the Centre have various backgrounds, but all have one common

interest, which is to learn with the children through the Reggio Emilia Approach.

This is not a curriculum model or recipe. It is a worldview... Our culture is different. Our questions and possibilities are different. What we can do is to incline toward it – to think about the quality of the aesthetic experiences we provide for children and the beauty of the environment of their classroom, about how we view children, how we view time, how we value art and learning and teaching and collaboration. (Artists at the Centre, n.d.)

This statement shows how the artists work together under the same model and strive towards bettering

the experiences for the children. Having said that, the artists come from differing backgrounds, some

with professional art experience and have been educated in artistic concepts and some of the artists are

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self taught. But since they work so closely with Ontario Early Years Centres, the staff that works here

are all Registered Early Childhood Educators trained in child development, understanding families and

planning programs that are beneficial and effective to children and families. This collaboration works to

offer programs for children and families so that they are able to enjoy the experimentation of their

environment through provocation and various materials. With the knowledge of the artists and the

training of the educators, this is a brilliant combination for the development of a child.

In terms of leadership, what I have noticed is the vast difference between how leadership is

determined at the Artists at the Centre Project and Today’s Family-Ontario Early Years Centres. Like any

organization, there is a hierarchy and Today’s Family does not stray away from that. There are directors,

supervisors and people appointed to “run the show behind the scenes” (Personal Communication,

Denise Dryden, November 2012). While there is reasoning behind all these positions, I feel that the staff

that works on the front lines and directly with the families can sense the difference in these positions. I

feel that leadership could be better dispersed so that staff can carry an equal weight while they are

engaging in their roles throughout the centre. Through personal communication with Joan, she has

stated that this is not the case when working with Artists at the Centre. “Everyone has their own project

and every once in a while we get together and reflect with each other on what went well, what we can

change next time and what can be better” (Personal Communication, Joan Urquhart, January 2013). The

artists take on a different role in terms of leadership, one that is more provocational rather than

following a hierarchy and administration. What I have learned through a reading by Sciarra and Dorsey,

is that it takes a principle-centred person to be a leader. “Prinicple-centred refers to a leader who has

the following traits: they are continually learning, service oriented, have positive energy, believe in

other people, lead balanced lives, see life as an adventure, are synergetic, and exercise self-renewal”

(Covey, 1992 as sited in Sciarra and Dorsey, 2002, p. 190). I believe that my mentor, Joan, holds many of

these characteristics. She not only shows these qualities when it comes to educating me on what she

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knows from her experience, but also when working with the children and other educators in this

particular context. The educators at Ryerson also display these characteristics when they are working

with the families and have continued to throughout my time working with them. Having said that, these

are experiences are included in the practice that I have had thus far. What I feel is missing so far is the

determination that a change needs to take place. That is where my partnership with Joan is relevant to

this particular experience. Once again, Sciarra and Dorsey have enlightened me with some information

that I find important to understanding leadership. They stated that the “first step in determining the

need for change is development of a sound understanding of the current situation. This step is

particularly important when a new leader takes helm...” (Sciarra & Dorsey, 2002, p. 191). I have been at

this centre, interacting and observing what takes place at Ryerson for some time now. I feel confident in

the understanding that there is a need for change because I have experienced it with Joan. The

frustration we both feel in the lack of meaningful materials serves as a basis for this change. I feel that

that is the factor that needs to be addressed to the educators so this change can take place.

Proposal

(Please see Appendix for original proposal)

Critical Friend Response:

Lana, it sounds like you have a well mapped out plan for how you will engage you time in this

final professional experience and it appears that sticking within the same community will benefit your

plans to share your findings from last semester with fellow educators and contributors to the field via a

seminar concerning these findings.

The idea of holding a seminar for fellow educators regarding your own previous work and

ongoing interactions with children will be a great opportunity to utilize new pedagogical strategies as

you will be working toward sharing information with adults as opposed to working directly with children.

8


I am curious to know if you think that this exercise in professionalism will reveal anything new about your

view of education and or training in the field. What do you hope to accomplish by sharing the findings

that you and Joan have collaborated on? Are you more concerned with improving educator’s awareness

of the materials provided to the children in OEYCs or does the opportunity to share knowledge with

fellow educators and the corresponding process of that exercise intrigue you more?

Furthermore, the concept of creating a blog for the purpose of tracking your journey and of

sharing your findings is a great idea with a lot of potential to be far reaching. Once you have begun this

blog, do you plan to continue utilizing it once your professional experience has commenced or will it be

solely for the purpose of sharing your professional experience with the necessary parties? Additionally, I

am curious to know what prompted your decision to use a blog as your platform and how you plan to

advertise the blog to the parents and families at the OEYC. Do you have a strategy set in place for this?

Lastly, I look forward to receiving updates regarding this semester’s experience and would enjoy

following the blog once it is up and running. Thank you for sharing your ideas with me and good luck!

Respectfully,

Brandi

My Response to Brandi:

Brandi:

So far, what I have learned about myself in preparing for this seminar is that I am worried the

educators will find this seminar rather basic and repetitive. I also feel like, because I am a student and

have minimal experience in the field compared to some of the educators I will be delivering this seminar

to, I am rather inadequate. I am aware that we are educated in an environment where we learn

together but in saying that, I know that’s not the case in every setting, so that worries me. What I have

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come to realize is that I am taking on a leadership role and that does not necessarily mean that I have to

lead these educators to a reformative practice, but rather I am planting a seed so that they are aware

that some things can be bettered in their settings. What I hope to accomplish in this seminar, is not only

to revisit the need for better materials in the art setting but also to extend so that they can brainstorm

to see if the rest of the center needs to be updated. As we know, child care centers have a weekly

material rotation, and that is not something Joan and I have observed since the beginning of last

semester. In saying that, I believe that if we begin with discussing the need for improvement of art

materials that it can be extended to the rest of the center. Having said that, I feel that it is more

important to me that the educators become aware of what materials are being used and how it is

beneficial to the education of young children. I believe that this is true because we want to keep the

children constantly stimulated and engaged so that they are learning while they are in the center with

us.

The blog that I have begun is solely for the purpose of the professional experience. Having said

that, once I have completed the professional experience, I will hand the blog over to Joan and she will

continue to blog about the children that visit the center we will be focusing on. We chose a blog

because we found it to be a personal interaction with parents without breaching our own personal form

of communication, for example via our own emails. We are also able to put documentation along with

other announcements that we feel we need to share with the children. Joan is also interested in posting

a research question and asking for the parents’ help in answering it. At this point, because the blog has

not been approved by administrative staff, I have not planned how I will deliver the news that the blog is

up and running.

Thanks for the provocational questions. It really helped me to rethink how I have thought about

this professional experience thus far.

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Goals

While writing the proposal for this particular context, I have sent it to my professor, Randa

Khattar and received a few provocational questions which in turn have become the foundation of my

goals.

Randa: What do you hope to accomplish in this professional experience?

Lana: At this point in time, I am hoping to engage the educators I have been working with and learning

from in a seminar that will provoke their thought in reforming the art setting while Joan is not in

program. The educators provide the bare minimum in terms of art materials, which include some

newsprint, paint and markers so that there is something in the art area for the children to work with.

Although there is an art shelf that is stocked with some art materials, it is often low on what is offered,

not to mention that the materials provided are usually the same for long periods of time. Joan and I

agreed that if there was a turnover in the materials at the art centre like there is in most other sections

of the room, there would be much more engagement and provocation. Therefore my primary goal is to

engage the educators in a seminar that will help them to understand the importance of providing these

materials.

Randa: What do you think would be the structure of your seminar?

Lana: I have discussed with Joan what I would like to do during my seminar with the educators. I realize

the fact that I am a student will not sit well with some of the staff members, so what I would like to do is

provide a hands-on activity where small groups receive a “mystery bag” of meaningful, inexpensive or

even recycled materials so that they can make something that is meaningful to them. I would like to

present my findings to the educators and then, as I have done before in another class, Issues in Early

Childhood, like to put it back on the educators so they are able to brainstorm ways to better their

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materials. That way, instead of me telling them what’s best, they are coming up with the ideas on their

own and hopefully looking at reflecting on their own practise as well.

Connections to College of Early Childhood Educators Code of Ethics and Standards of Practise

With respect to the Early Childhood Educators Code of Ethics and Standards of Practise,

Standard Four applies best to the investigation that I have undertaken. It is called Professional

Knowledge and Competence with a specific focus on A. Knowledge and part B. Practise. Knowledge

which specifically states that

Early Childhood Educators are current in their professional knowledge about the continuum of child development and the pedagogy relation to early learning, curriculum, program planning, parenting and family dynamics. They apply this knowledge in their practise with individual children, and in small or large group settings. Early Childhood Educators know and demonstrate how to address the child’s physical, cognitive, language and emotional/social development and well being in an integrated and holistic way. (Berneche, Gordon, Hill-MacDonald, Kopf-Johnson, Lambert, Masi, Pelletier, Russell, Winters, & Yeo, 2011, p. 20)

This standard applies to my professional experience because one of my goals is to involve educators in

critically reflecting on their practise. As I have stated in my proposal, sometimes we get comfortable in

our careers and it is easy to forget to reflect on what we do on a daily basis. This means that I am

striving to keep the educators on that continuum that the Code is referring to. The next standard that I

believe applies to my investigation refers Practise, particularly focusing on

Early Childhood Educators plan and develop a play-based curricula and programs along a continuum of early childhood development. They plan and prepare a child-centred program that provides learning opportunities for all the developmental domains. Early Childhood Educators provide individualized assistance and opportunities for children to develop a sense of belonging to a group and provide safe and secure supervision of children based on age and stage of development. (Berneche et al., 2011, p. 20)

This is another standard that I would like to apply to the seminar with the educators at Today`s Family-

Ontario Early Years Centre. I feel that it applies to my investigation because it is something we strive to

do on a daily basis as educators. This means that to keep the children engaged and present we need to

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be able to plan and provide materials that will accommodate them. Since the age group of Ryerson has

changed recently because of the roll out of the Full Day Kindergarten Program, the children are much

younger and the focus of the materials needs to change as well. This practise maintains that continuum

in providing children the opportunity to have a sense of belonging in the environment.

Connections to Previous Course Work

The connections that I have made while writing this paper have gone back to previous semester

at Charles Sturt University as well as the training I experienced at Sheridan College. In terms of

connections with Charles Sturt University, I was able to connect this particular experience with my

previous professional experience called “Communities as Context for Professional Practise.” These fit

together because without learning about the community and understanding how this particular settings

function, I would not be able to take on the leadership aspect to and implement the seminar that I am

currently putting together. Another course that I believe is connected to this professional experience is

Thinking and Learning Through the Arts. This course not only taught me how to engage with children in

art experiences but also what the materials to provide for the children so that they have the optimal

experience. The courses that have prepared me for professional experience at Sheridan College were

Learning Environments I and II as well as Play Experiences I and II. These courses were designed to help

us learn how to set up each environment for children to play in as well as how to be play partners so

that they have more engaging and meaningful play experiences.

Action Plan

For the duration of this project, what I intend to do is continue observing and documenting Joan

as she works with the children. Currently, due to financial drawbacks, the materials provided to the

children are less than adequate in comparison to last semester when there were ample materials to

choose from. From the beginning of the current journey, Joan and I have been meeting weekly to plan

13


for what we want to do the following week as well as critically reflecting on what happen the previous

week. I am working towards creating a blog so that I am able to show the educators at Today’s Family-

Ontario Early Years Centre at the seminar why I think this investigation is valid and important to be

considered. I have set a date on March 22nd to attend their meeting and hold my seminar then. By that

time, I will have concluded the findings for this semester as well as hopefully been granted permission to

make the blog viewable by the parents and caregivers that drop in to the centres. Once I have

completed my professional experience, Joan has offered to take over writing the blog so that it is not

something that falls off the radar just because there is no one to look after it. This professional

experience is relevant to my role as a leader because I am taking the steps to ensure my understanding

of the issue at hand. It is also preparing me in presenting my findings so that others can see the

importance as well. “

A Critical Reflection

From our discussions in class, along with what I have witnessed within my practical experience,

my views of leadership are ever-changing. My life-long experience with leadership has been to call one

particular person the leader, while the rest of the people involved in the project were deemed followers.

Throughout our society, that is all we ever know, stemming from when we are young, we used to do

things because “mommy or daddy said so.” It only solidified what I knew leadership to be when I

entered school because I was told to listen to the teacher or professor. As I got older and acquired my

first job, I was told not speak out of line or I would face the consequences and would be fired. Moving

even wider into our society, we vote on one person to be a “leader,” only to realize that the things we

voted for may not be fulfilled. In turn, through these discussions I have come to realize that leadership

can take on more than just the role that has been displayed to me over the course of my lifetime. It can

be the small provocation a child lends me while I am acting as their play partner. I can also take on this

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role with my peers as we work together in bettering our field of education. As I have previously noted

from the Sciarra and Dorsey article, leadership is an act that we need to take on seriously, be well-

versed in and finally implement in our practise. Another important aspect of leadership is governance.

It is discussed in the Bertrand article called “Understanding, managing and leading: Early childhood

programs in Canada.” It defines governance as the “decision-making structure and process in the

management of an organization. Governance is the structure within an organization that has the final

authority and responsibility to make decisions and set policies. The governance structure defines who

decides. Governance also refers to the process of making decisions – what is decided and how”

(Bertrand, 2008, p. 101). This quote tells me that there is a group of individuals that decide on and

appoint one person to be the sole decision maker. It is not a self-appointed role of leadership rather

one that a group of people decide on one person that reflects the needs of the entire group. It helps me

to realize that, although it would be ideal to live in a world without hierarchy, this would be the best

way to create a hierarchy without imposing a view of “super vision” over a group of individuals. Having

said that, I believe that when we spread the role of leadership to more than one person, it I feel that it is

much more likely that we would be able to work better as one team rather than small teams working in

different levels.

Since beginning my academic journey at Sheridan College four years ago, I have been told the

same thing “You are a leader for the children in your care.” Yes, I accepted that responsibility when I

decided to apply for the program. What I did not expect though, was the rest of the leadership that

would come along with it. Sullivan states that “effective communicating, storytelling, team building,

collaborating with families and advocating are ways to practise leadership at all levels in our field and

increase our cohesiveness and our connections to each other” (2010, p. 71). This comment speaks

volumes of the small ways we take on leadership in our roles as early childhood educators every day.

Prior to reading this article, I did not think of speaking to a family about what a certain child’s needs are

15


was a way of leadership, but now that it is in front of me, in writing I see it in a whole new light. I guess

all of my previous educators and mentors were right, I am a leader in the field of child care. I just should

not take it so lightly as I continue my journey.

Conclusion

Throughout this situational analysis, I have provided a written context of the agencies I am

completing my profession experience in. I have used the website of Artists at the Centre to guide me to

an understanding of their goals within the community as well as Statistics Canada, specifically Hamilton

to help my understanding as to why they are situated there. This situational analysis has critically

reflected on the proposal that I have constructed for my professional experience, helping me to revisit

what I had initially planned out. It has also helped me to set goals as I work towards the final product of

this experience. I have made connections previous course work as well as to the College of Early

Childhood Educators Code of Ethics and Standards of Practise to situate why this is beneficial to more

than just me, rather the field as a whole. Finally, I have critically reflected on what leadership in

communities has meant to mean and how that meaning continues to change and evolve as my learning

continues throughout my career academically and professionally. I conclude this paper with my

proposal in the appendix and believe that I have only scratched the surface of the true meaning of

leadership, but as I continue my practise, I am open to critical reflection and new experiences.

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References

Artists at the Centre. (n.d.). The project. Retrieved on February 13, 2013 from

http://www.artistsatthecentre.ca/project.html

Berneche, B., Gordon, M., Hill-MacDonald, L., Kopf-Johnson, L., Lambert, R., Masi, C., Pelletier, J.,

Russell, C., Winters, R., & Yeo, H. (2011). College of early childhood educators: Code of ethics and

standards of practise. College of Early Childhood Educators.

Bertrand, J. (2008). Governance. In Understanding, managing, and leading: Early childhood programs

in Canada. (pp. 101-105, 109-111, 120-121). Toronto: Thomson Nelson.

Sciarra, D., J., & Dorsey, A., G. (2002). The leader as a change agent. In Leaders and supervisors in child

care programs (pp. 187-202). Albany, NY: Belmar/Thomson Learning.

Statistics Canada. (2013, January). Focus on geography series- census 2011 census: Census subdivision

of Hamilton. Retrieved February 12, 2013 from http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-

recensement/2011/as-sa/fogs-spg/Facts-csd-eng.cfm?LANG=Eng&GK=CSD&GC=3525005

Sullivan, D. R. (2010). It takes a village. In Learning to lead: Effective leadership skills for teachers of

young children (2nd ed.). (pp. 71-81). St. Paul, Minnesota: Redleaf Press.

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Documents

lristovic.files.wordpress.com file · Web viewThis situational analysis will include connections to my previous professional experience while discussing the context I am currently