Ktantanim Balev

As I wrap my thoughts of the extent knowledge I gained in this class and reflect upon the international early childhood field, I have more profound insights into my role and obligations to support young children and their families. As I studied poverty globally, I deepened my understanding of families’ power in resilience and the role of the teachers as their support group and part of their community. As professional educators, we should provide mental support to children of poverty and offer referrals for physical support. Also, during my study about demographic change, immigrant families, and ELL students, I gained valuable information about promoting equality and access for all young children.  Furthermore, this class validated my beliefs about the vital role in supporting young children and their families. Forming relationships and colliding with parents is essential. Additionally, early experiences and the bond parents share with their young children affect their development a...

In the current school year, I used to work at the American International School in Israel. Teacher’s qualifications were high in terms of expectations, education, and experience. Most of the teachers have a Master’s degree and vast experience in working with ELL students. Every week we had a team meeting where we all had time to reflect upon the past week, about student’s growth, and about assessments. We talked about our inquiry-based teaching. Also, about relationships with the children and their families, and mainly how to view our students as capable and independents.  Also, once a month, the school offered four hours of professional growth opportunities in different areas. Our team Read a professional book about the Regio approach, and each of us had to present a chapter to the group. This provided us with the opportunity to be exposed to different teaching styles and to look outside the box. Besides, every few months, we had the chance to share our own projects, and teaching ...

  The website that I chose to focus on this class is NAEYC. Being a member allows me with greater access to some resources such as magazines, articles, blogs, and books in every topic that relates to the Early childhood field. As I acknowledge the issue of equity that is the focus of my current study, I decided to research this topic, in terms of closing the gap of inequality, and continue to read about advocacy.  In the article, Making Connection. Embracing Equity: Helping All Children Reach their Full Potential, Allvin (2018), addresses the gap between children from low socio-economic families, children of the minority, and of white children from high-income families. NAEYC addresses the inequity by providing mutual and equal respect to all diverse children and families, discusses the role of the families in their children’s education, and the role of bonding in the future success of the children,(Allvin, 2018). Besides, it is the role of early childhood educators to advoca...