Goal Three: To shed light on the importance of relationships in the early childhood years, and to demonstrate the vital role that relationships play in a child’s well-being and education

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To expand upon the third element and to tie in how relationships play a part in the importance of a holistic approach to education and to the importance of health, it is my goal to shed light on the notion that relationships are so vital and important in the early childhood years. Not only are relationships important in the early childhood years, but relationships play an important role as children grow into adulthood, as well. Relationships are not solely between educator and child – relationships are all around us at all times. Children have relationships with their parents, with their families, with their fellow peers, with support staff, with after-school staff, and many others around them. As Malaguzzi notes, “to think of a dyad of only a teacher and a child is to create an artificial world that does not reflect our reality” (Malaguzzi, 1993, p. 9). As well, relationships are not solely based on one’s relationships with others – it is important that children also have a positive relationship with themselves and it is important for educators to help educate children on the importance of a holistic education with elements of identifying well-being in both the physical health and mental health sense. It goes without saying that when we have strong relationships, we feel more confident about ourselves and we feel supported in everything that we do. 

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Artifact One

Knowledge Translation Assignment: “The Importance of Relationships in the Early Childhood Years and How to Support

Social and Emotional Learning During COVID-19” from ECED 531B: Supporting Young Children's Social Emotional

Development in Early Childhood Education with Dr. Molly Lawlor

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At the time of this course, the world was in the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic. As we had not experienced a pandemic before, we had to adjust to new ways of thinking and doing when it comes to education. We also had to think about how we could help support our children throughout the pandemic, especially through online learning platforms where one-on-one interpersonal interactions were not taking place. One of the most important things that I learned was that it's vital for children to feel supported and to maintain those close relationships now more than ever. A quote that really spoke to me is that “love, kindness, and forgiveness promote emotional health, positive relationships and enhanced well-being for children and adults” (Haslip et al., 2019, p. 531). This quote highlights to me that when children are feeling supported and when children have strong relationships around them, they are more likely to share love, kindness, and forgiveness. For me, personally, I believe that these three elements - love, kindness, and forgiveness - are truly at the core of what it means to be a human being. Spreading love, kindness, and forgiveness represents the ability to heal and grow as a person. Similarly, without hate, we would not know love; without cruelty, we would not know kindness, and without mistake, we would not know forgiveness. Relating this to my metaphor of a willow tree, if we never experienced storms or lost any of our branches, we would never grow or become stronger. 

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Artifact Two

Assignment 3: “Considering Leadership within The Roles and Expectations of the Educator in Early Childhood Education”

from ECED 585F: Advanced Seminar on Research in Early Childhood Education - Leadership and Policy in Early Childhood

Education with Dr. Iris Berger

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Artifact two identifies the element of leadership within the roles and expectations of the education in early childhood education. Being an educator is a platform that allows us to be leaders - that is, an educator has the honour of being a leader in their role by helping children to form knowledge about the world around them within the early childhood years. We as educators may not discern just how much of an impact and an influence we truly have on our children, and in this same vein, we are providing leadership to our children every day through every activity, lesson, message, or speech that we share. With being an educator comes a leadership role, and part of being a leader involves letting children discover the world around them for themselves. An example of this within this artifact comes from MacNaughton and Smith (2009), where the authors highlight viewing children as being capable of shaping their own identities and having a right to participate in the social world around them.

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Artifact Three

Assignment 3: “Factors Affecting Children’s Literacy Development Within the Early Childhood Years” from LLED 556:

Theory and Research in Early Literacy with Dr. Guofang Li

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Within this third goal, artifact three demonstrates the factors that affect children's literacy development within the early childhood years, and within this artifact, research demonstrates that there is “a positive association between quantitative aspects of home reading environment...and brain function supporting semantic processing and visual imagery in pre-school age children” (Hutton et al., 2017, p. 208). This finding is notable, as it demonstrates that a child having access to reading materials and books within a child’s home or school environment, as well as listening to stories being read to them, supports semantic processing and visual imagery, thus supporting a child’s levels of literacy development. Within my third goal, it is my intention to share awareness and knowledge of the fact that practices that support relationships in early childhood, such as reading together, play a critical role in a child's cognition and development, specifically in their literacy development.

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References

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Haslip, M. J., Allen-Handy, A., & Donaldson, L. (2019). How do children and teachers demonstrate love, kindness and forgiveness? Findings from an early

           childhood strength-spotting intervention. Early Childhood Education Journal, 47(5), 531–547. 
           https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1007/s10643-019-00951-7

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Hutton, J. S., Phelan, K., Horowitz-Kraus, T., Dudley, J., Altaye, M., DeWitt, T., & Holland, S. K. (2017). Shared reading quality and brain activation during story

           listening in preschool-age children. The Journal of Pediatrics, 191, 204–211. https://doi-org.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/10.1016/j.jpeds.2017.08.037

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MacNaughton G. & Smith K. (2009). Children’s rights in early childhood (Chapter 10, pp.161-176). In Kehily, Mary Jane (Ed.) An introduction to childhood

           studies (2nd ed). Berkshire: England. Open University Press.

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Malaguzzi, L., & Gandini, L. (1993). For an education based on relationships. Young Children, 49(1), 9-12.