After completing my course on early childhood issues and trends, an article stood out for me that discussed the inequalities in teacher education. For my entire career I have been told that teachers who possess college degrees in early learning will provide better childhood outcomes than those who lack formal education. One of the articles I had read in that course also shed light on the differences in programmatic approaches to learning. Essentially, colleges turn out numerous graduates in early childhood education across the United States yet each graduate brings a different skill set and beliefs to our field. I have also observed teachers, who were parents, conduct the most meaningful activities with the children which has made me ponder if the degree is truly more important than experience with children.
All things considered, my subtopic will be to determine if teacher education is more important than experience with children. I have spent many hours researching the library and looking for articles on this topic and realize that I need to learn how to effectively search for the right criteria. I have entered several variations of the subtopic into the search bar and have come back with results from all fields of study including surgery and technology through higher education. If anyone has any tricks on how to effectively search for articles, I would greatly appreciate it! I feel it has been difficult to locate specific articles that focus on early learning teacher quality. I have had the most success in searching the ProQuest database and creating a "My Research" account that has saved my chosen articles to reference later.
I have found the construction of the research chart to be a meaningful experience as it has helped me to truly focus on the material presented. I see myself inductively researching this topic especially since I have come across other articles that tie into my subtopic but are not specific to the topic. I located one that went on to compare a two year education with that of a four year education. This was something I had not considered prior to researching.
Hi Arlene,
ReplyDeleteI agree, searching for articles in the library can be challenging. I faced a similar issue; actually I also had trouble finding specific articles that were relevant to my topic.
I think your topic is very interesting; I believe that having a degree and having experience with children both play an important role in a teacher's effectiveness.
Ghayna Alsafadi
Hello Arlene,
ReplyDeleteI have seen many amazing teachers that were driven only by their love to children. Many of those teachers sometimes exceed our expectations and prove that they have a great impact on children's learning. I think that bachelor degrees are very important. However, having them without a built in passion to work with children is not enough to fulfill all children's needs.
Very interesting topic,
Good luck in your research
I enjoyed reading your blog and your topic is great!!! I believe that teachers need both education and experience. I have been a preschool teacher for 13 years and I love my job. I finished high school and went to college got my A.A degree and it took me 10 years to go back to school. I achieved my B.S in child development and my knowledge in child development got stronger and I felt I understood the children more and I felt a stronger teacher with more knowledge. I loved the program here at Walden so I decided to achieved my Master's degree and I am so happy because I love this program too and it's making me want to go for my PHD in child development. I wish you the best!!!
ReplyDeleteArlene McMahon,
ReplyDeleteInequalities in teacher education was one of my favorite topics to write about in my previous course; "Issues and Trends." I found myself on the fence when it came to the question teachers "experience" verse "education." If I had to take a stance I said I would chose education. It would be interesting to know if you could shed more light on the topic and make me stronger in my stance or change my opinion all together!!!