Eliseo's ECE Program

Introduction
My ideal program... to be honest, this is a very hard topic to discuss, for two reasons. One, there are so many amazing programs out there that it is hard to try and choose one to base mine on. And two, I have only had experience with South Korean educational programs. Therefore, I have not really had the chance to experience any other programs firsthand. As much as I have read and learned about them, I have not really seen any of those programs in person and thus, sometimes some of what they say is hard to belief can be done in a classroom.

So what about my ideal program? Well, as stated above, there are so many amazing programs out there! They all have their own strengths and weaknesses. So, for my program, I will just try and incorporate the strengths of some of the various programs in various degrees, and as much as possible. For this ideal program, I will be focusing on grades Pre-K to 3rd Grade for our school(s).


The following approaches will be applied for the Pre-K and Kindergarten grades.

Montessori
One of the biggest strengths of the Montessori system is the fact that they allow children from different age groups to study together. With the older children serving as role models for the younger ones. In Montessori schools, this approach usually covers a three year range. Therefore, in my program, Kindergartners will serve as the role models for their Pre-K friends.

A second strength that will be incorporated is their Montessori based learning tools/toys. These tools were made specifically to help students learn on their own, and to gather hands-on experience of what they are learning.

A prepared environment is a third strength of the Montessori philosophy that will be included. The environment is proportional to children's height and size in order to better help children reach materials, or anything of interest, to help them develop their interests.

Student-centered approach. Teachers are guides to help students learn, while a child's interests will lead the way.

Reggio Emilia
The first strength I will take from this approach is its belief in project-based learning. By combining Reggio Emilia projects and the age difference population of Montessori, students in my program will learn to better communicate, cooperate, and problem solving (other important aspects of the Reggio Emilia approach).

A second strength that will come from Reggio Emilia is their strong belief in documenting a child's work. All over our classrooms, and schools, our students' work will be on display. Students and parents will be able to see not just their creative works, but also photos and videos of the process they went on to create their masterpieces.

The "third teacher," the environment will also play an integral part of my ideal program. The schools and classrooms will have plenty of natural lighting, with large windows; indoor plants; and easy access to the outside world.

The "100 Languages of Children." Any way a child is going to want to demonstrate themselves, will be welcomed in our schools. Students will be able to draw, write, dance, etc., in order to be able to express themselves.

Like with the Montessori approach, Reggio Emilia will also add a student-centered approach to my ideal program. Teachers will be partners with their students to help them as they learn. Again, with a child's interest leading the way.

Parent Involvement (Co-Op Preschool)
This approach does not have an official name (I have seen some call it "Cooperative Schooling," although, this name also applies to a whole other educational philosophy, therefore, it will not be used here), so for now I will just call it "Parent Involvement." In my ideal program, parents will be inspired to be an active member of their child's educational life. A few times a month, parents can come to the classroom and help out. They can read stories to the class, play with the students, help prepare snacks, help on field trips, etc. Parents will be helpers/assistants to the classroom teachers.

The main strengths that my program will gain from this is the fact that parents and children will be able to spend some more quality time together (very important in this very busy world we live in). As well as, it will help parents to have a better/stronger relationship with their children's teachers. This then leads to better communication for everyone involved.


The following approach will be applied for the first to third grades.

IB PYP
Living in a 21st Century world, our students need to have a more international or global mindset. That is where the IB PYP curriculum comes in. With this curriculum, our students will be able to grow with an international-mindedness. The curriculum's focus on local and global issues is a great asset for students. This will help students to be better prepared for this globalized world we live in, since the curriculum helps them learn about the world itself.

A second important feature of the IB PYP curriculum is its high adoption rate around the world. If any of our students were to enroll at another school with this curriculum, they will be better suited for the transition to their new school. Leading to less stress for the student, and more time on them acclimating to their new surroundings.


The following approaches will be applied for all grade levels.

Holistic Education
My ideal program will be designed to not just help our students academically, but to help them grow in all areas: intellectual, social, emotional, physical, artistic, creative and spiritual needs will be developed. By helping our students develop all these areas, they can learn to build better relationships with their fellow people, and the environment.

Play-Based Learning
As a big believer in this style of learning, I must include it in my ideal educational program! Play-based learning, like many of the previous approaches mentioned above, helps students develop in so many areas: physical (and health), gross motor skills, social, emotional, intellectual, academic, problem solving etc. However, one reason I truly enjoy using play in my classrooms is because students are having fun while they are learning! This is the main reason I include it in my class and in my ideal program because it helps student engagement with the lesson.

Community Involvement
It will be important with my ideal program that our schools and the local community have a working relationship. I want our schools to be involved with the local community. It can take field trips to local areas; we can have neighborhood clean-ups; volunteer where help is needed; etc. The community will also provide assistance for the schools. Local firefighters/police officers can visit a school and discuss their occupations; local farms and/or grocery stores can provide plants, fruits, and vegetables for the school garden; and local residents can help with providing safety for our students.

Inclusion of Local Curriculum/Standards
As much as possible, my program will also try to incorporate the standards and/or curriculum of the local country. Similar to the second reason for including the IB PYP curriculum into my program, by including a local curriculum into it as well, our students will be better suited for a transition outside our schools. If they happen to enter a local school, they can more easily transition into their educational system.

Conclusion
Many of the great qualities from one program can be found in another program, but with a different name. No one program can claim to be the only one to practice a certain strategy. All I have done with my ideal program above, is just bring attention to each of the various strengths of each approach and tried to highlight them. In the end, as mentioned a few times before, all the programs I took inspiration from are great and each offer a wonderful learning experience for students. I just hope that my "Frankenstein" approach to them can also help our students learn and grow as well.


References
Barblett, L. (n.d.). Why play-based learning? Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/our-publications/every-child-magazine/every-child-index/every-child-vol-16-3-2010/play-based-learning-free-article/

Core Components of Montessori Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://amshq.org/About-Montessori/What-Is-Montessori/Core-Components-of-Montessori

Gale, R. (2018, October 12). Co-op preschools: Everything parents need to know. Retrieved from
https://www.workingmother.com/co-op-preschools-everything-parents-need-to-know

Holistic Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.schoolaroundus.org/holisticeducation

Loveless, B. (n.d.). Holistic education: A comprehensive guide. Retrieved from https://www.educationcorner.com/holistic-education.html

Stoudt, A. (n.d.). The Reggio Emilia approach. Retrieved from https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/articles/teaching-content/reggio-emilia-approach/

The Montessori Method. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.fundacionmontessori.org/the-montessori-method.htm

The Room 241 Team. (2018, September 27). The importance of play-based learning. Retrieved from https://education.cu-portland.edu/blog/classroom-resources/play-based-learning/

What is the PYP? (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ibo.org/programmes/primary-years-programme/what-is-the-pyp/

What is the Reggio Emilia Approach? (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.aneverydaystory.com/beginners-guide-to-reggio-emilia/main-principles/

Comparing Two Schools from the U.S. and China

Since starting the Teach Now program, I have had to take a better look at many aspects of the school environment. One of those aspects is a school's demographics. Today, I have decided to take a look at two schools from different parts of the world: one from the U.S. and one from China. I chose these two particular schools for a reason. The school from the U.S. is the elementary school I attended roughly thirty years ago. It was good to read up on it and see how it is doing. The second school, the one in China, I chose because that is where I will next be teaching! After being in Korea for over ten years, the next phase in my educational career will begin soon in China! Because of this, I chose this school in order to get to know it better before arriving there. Now, let's take a closer look at these schools.

Short History

Durkee Elementary School is located in Houston, Tx and it was founded in 1912. It closed down and reopened a few times and it even moved locations. While it is amazing that it has such a long history, for this blog, I will be looking at the most recent demographics information from the academic year of 2017-2018.

Bromsgrove School Mission Hills (BMH) is located in Shenzhen, China and it was founded in 2015. Even though it is a new campus, the history of the Bromsgrove Schoool system actually dates all the way back to its founding in 1553 in Bromsgrove, England. However, with this school too, I will be focusing on its latest demographics data, 2018-2019, for this blog.

Already, we can see that these two schools are very different. First of all, we can see that Durkee Elementary is a public school from the United States, while Bromsgrove is an international school based from England but located in China. This first fact will help us understand many of the later facts and figures that we will take a look at. Second, Durkee has a history of over one hundred years, while BMH is finishing up its fourth year.

Students

The demographics of Durkee that will be stated here will cover the grades of Kindergarten to fifth grade. For Bromsgrove, I will cover the preschool demographics, since that is the department I will be working in. 

Durkee                                                                                   BMH

Total:                      609                                                                                         213

Gender:    N/A (48% Female, 52% Male)                            104 Females (48.8%), 109 Males (51.2%)

Ethnicity:  Hispanic: 509 (83.6%)                                         Nationality: China: 193 (90.69%)

                   African-American: 79 (13%)                                                    USA: 13 (6.11%)

                   White: 20 (3.3%)                                                                      Japan: 3 (1.4%)

                   Other: 1 (0.2%)                                                                         Australia: 2 (0.9%)

                                                                                                                     Canada: 1 (0.45%)

                                                                                                                     Colombia: 1 (0.45%)

Since the statistics for Durkee cover more grades, it is understandable to see that it has more overall students compared to BMH. When it comes to gender, both schools seem to have a very similar percentage in the difference between female and male students. While there were no numbers available for the students in Durkee, one can make an educated guess based on the percentage that is available. Based on my (elementary-leveled) math skills, there seems to be about 292 females and about 316 males in Durkee. Again, the numbers are of course higher in Durkee than in BMH, but the important thing is the fact that there does not seem to be a big gender gap in either school (with BMH gender gap being slightly smaller).

However, we now get to a big difference between the schools. A difference that comes about because of the previously mentioned public school/international school factor. For Durkee Elementary, ethnicity is an important factor to catalog. While in Bromsgrove, the nationality of students is the factor that they take note of. So while these two categories might not be the same, they can still help us get an image of the students in the schools.

Durkee is a predominantly Hispanic school. With over 80% of its student population being Hispanic. African-Americans are the next largest group followed by whites. In BMH, the largest group of students are Chinese. After this, the next largest is Americans, followed by Japanese. From these facts we can see that neither school can be labeled as particularly diverse. While they do have more than one group of students in their schools, the largest group in each school vastly outnumber all the other groups combined.

For me, one very interesting fact is that even though the U.S. as a whole is a white-majority country, in Durkee Elementary, whites make up a very small percentage of the population. This can be attributed to the history of the state of Texas. Because of its history, a large Hispanic population resides in Texas and thus, these numbers are not a surprise there. This fact leads to statistics in Texas tending to not align with those of the rest of the U.S. In China, the largest population group is Chinese. The statistics in Bromsgrove align with those of the rest of the country. Therefore, while Durkee's numbers do not line up with the rest of its country's numbers, BMH's numbers do line up with the numbers of its country.

Teachers

While students are the most important demographic group to look at in a school, there is another important one to also look at. The next important demographic group in our schools we are going to look at is, its teachers. 

Durkee                                                                                   BMH

Total:                      35                                                                                           28

Gender:    26 Females (74.3%), 9 Males (25.7%)                 25 Females (89.29%), 3 Males (10.71%)

Ethnicity:  Hispanic: 17 (48.6%)                                         Nationality: China: 14 (50%)

                   African-American: 13 (37.1%)                                                England: 5 (17.86%)

                   White: 4 (11.4%)                                                                      USA: 3 (10.71%)

                   Other: 1 (2.9%)                                                                         New Zealand: 2 (7.14%)

                                                                                                                     South Africa: 2 (7.14%)

                                                                                                                     Spain: 1 (3.57%)

                                                                                                                     Ireland: 1 (3.57%)

As stated before, Durkee Elementary is a bigger school compared to the preschool in Bromsgrove. However, while the student population was almost three times as big, when it came to the teacher population, the numbers were remarkably close. Durkee has 35 teachers and BMH has 28, making it a difference of only 7 teachers. Considering how much bigger Durkee is, the fact that it only has seven more teachers surprised me!

In regards to the gender of the teachers, there is one similarity and one big difference between both schools. The similarity comes in the fact that in both schools, female teachers vastly outnumber their male counterparts. Both schools have 25 or more female teachers, while the male teachers number in the single digits. The big difference, though, is in the gap between the numbers. In Durkee, female teachers outnumber male teachers by about 3 to 1. While in BMH, the female to male teacher gender gap is close to 9 to 1! While I will be adding one more point to the male side of the scale, I do not know how many current teachers will stay and how many will move on. Therefore, it will be interesting to see these numbers (and the student numbers, as well) when I begin at BMH.

Having taught in Korea (a fellow Asian country) for almost ten years, I can say that personally speaking (I admit, I do not have the numbers for this) Korea's female to male teacher gender gap is very similar to BMH's. For several years, I was the only male (or one of two) in my school. I am curious to know how the female to male gender gap is as a whole in the U.S. It will be interesting to see how those numbers align with Durkee's numbers; and to compare them with BMH and/or my Korean schools.

Just like with the student population, the teacher numbers are subdivided into ethnic groups for Durkee, and nationality groups for BMH. For Durkee, the teacher's ethnicity broke down into similar groups as the students. With the largest group being Hispanics, followed by African-American, and then whites. However, there are some big differences between the student and teacher numbers. For the students, the Hispanic group made up over 83% of the student population. However, within the teacher group, the Hispanic number was only 48%. A vastly different percentage. Within the African-American groups, the exact opposite happened. African-American students make up 13% of the student population, while within the teacher group, African-Americans make up 37%.

In Bromsgrove, the teacher population is more diverse than the student population. While Chinese students make up over 90% of the student population, Chinese teachers make up 50% of the teacher population. However, just as with the student numbers, the rest of the nationality numbers pale in comparison to the Chinese numbers. With British teachers making up the next biggest group at just 17%, followed by Americans at 10%.

While both schools have vastly different numbers and ethnicity/nationality groups, one thing is very apparent. The ethnicity/nationality of the largest teacher group matches with that of the largest student group. Also, in both schools the percentages drop significantly between the teachers and the students. Both dropping by over 40%.

For a spreadsheet on numbers for Durkee, please click here: Spreadsheet.
For an infographic on those Durkee numbers, please click here: Infographic.
For an infographic on BMH numbers, please click here: Infographic2.

Equity

The last thing we want to talk about in this blog, will be equity in the early childhood education classroom. Even though both schools above have one student group vastly outnumber the other student groups, this does not mean that educators should teach in a very homogeneous way to all their students. Educators should still come into their classrooms thinking about how to bring equity into their classrooms. The topic of equity in the classroom can be a very long one, however, I will just give a few quick examples for this blog:

- Place items in a location where all students can have access to them.
- Individualize and/or modify lessons/activities in order to include more students.
- Strong support network: between educators, school administration, and families.
- Have every student's culture represented in the classroom: via the classroom itself, or via inclusion in lessons and curriculum.
- Allow student voice in the classroom.
- To summarize: allow ACCESS and INCLUSION to students with their learning.

References
Delaware Department of Education, Delaware Health and Social Services (2013). Guide to promoting inclusion in early childhood programs. Retrived from https://www.dhss.delaware.gov/dms/epqc/birth3/files/guidetoinclusion2013.pdf

Yost, S. (2018, August 29). Increasing equity for all students. Retrieved from https://www.edutopia.org/article/increasing-equity-all-students