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Searched - Transitional kindergarten (last 5 years, English)
The article I found, Beliefs of teachers and administrators regarding developmentally appropriate practices within the transitional kindergarten classroom, strengthened the concerns I already had about transitional kindergarten. To sum it all up there are some major gaps between preschool and kindergarten, mostly due to the lack of training, understanding, and being able to provide a developmentally appropriate learning environment. Teachers are confused between school readiness (more of a kindergarten environment with worksheets and academic based activities) and early childhood, pre-k (play based). Administrators are also found to be unsupportive of the play based (developmentally appropriate) approach to transitional kindergarten education, which I feel, is due to their lack of knowledge of the subject. As an advocate for early childhood education, and play, I surely hope this gap closes somewhat quickly.
Misty,
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading your posts on the research you have conducted so far. It is kind of humorous that we both have the same ambition in mind, to teach, yet we are at opposite ends of the spectrum, you kindergarten, me high school. I always find it amazing to meet those people who want to be teachers as I feel it takes special people to dive into that profession. To be honest, I had never heard of transitional kindergarten until I read your blog posts. I feel that is a great program for children who are not old enough to be enrolled in kindergarten and preschool might not be challenging enough for them. However, by you mentioning that transitional kindergarten does not value play time for the students, I don’t find that to be great at all. Children at that age need to learn how to interact with other children, that is a huge component of school for them at this age. I feel like a child’s foundation is built at this age and if they are not given all the tools to build a firm foundation they may struggle in the coming years. How do you feel about the social and play aspect of the preschool years? Do you think it is an important aspect to a child’s early school years?
I thoroughly enjoyed reading your posts. Look forward to seeing where your research takes you. Good Luck!
--Hillary
Misty, I always look forward to reading your posts! It sounds like we are in the same boat as regards to locating articles on the leatherby library more efficiently. However, this week I had a hard time at first finding the right article for this week's assignment. I believe by the keywords you used that you knew exactly what you were looking for which makes life a lot easier. I wish that I had used the keyword database like you chose, as that is a great keyword when searching for empirical research articles. Do you think as the weeks go by you are finding it easier to locate articles for your research topic? Keep up the great work!
ReplyDeleteHi Misty,
ReplyDeleteI like your topic because as a father of 2 small children and after 16 years since I graduated high school, I am now having to familiarize myself again with the way a school functions. I ran into the same question, what’s the difference between pre-school and transitional kindergarten? Aren’t they the same? And what are the age requirements? Well I did some research and basically every state is different. Some start at age 3, some at age 4 and some as early as 2 ½. My son turned 4 a couple of months ago and I was interested in sending him into pre-school, but was told that he did not qualify because his birthday was not in between the months of September and December, which doesn’t really make sense to me since some pre-school programs can offer a 1 year or even 2-year curriculum. So yeah, this topic is very confusing to me because I assumed that if a child starts kindergarten at age 5, then they can go into pre-school at age 4.
Since you are a teacher, I can totally agree with you wanting to further your knowledge regarding these 2 programs. It makes total sense to be an expert in what you do. I like that you show interest in the teacher credentials because that is extremely important. I too am an advocate for early education and I want my children to have the best available education possible. The part that stuck with me the most was when you mentioned that 24 units of early child development are required within 5 years, and how in those 5 years the children are taught without the proper education and tools. One would assume that they need to have this experience and education BEFORE they teach children, right? I guess that’s not the case. Do you think that this should be a nation-wide requirement?
I had trouble finding some credible articles as well because my topic about illegal immigration can be so broad. Luckily I found something that interested me and I decided to use it. Even though it was a little difficult to find useful information, I knew it was out there and I needed to be patient.
I hope you reach your goal and I look forward to interacting with you and the rest of our classmates!
Rob