Typically, I begin to lose hope during my second year of teaching at any site. September marked the second year at my current place of employment and the decline in optimism has begun. I feel like this may be the core reason why I want to become a mentor teacher. I have recently completed my Bachelor of Arts program in Early Childhood Development and I hope to attend a few practicum classes and special trainings to become a certified California Master Teacher as well as a Trainer for the Program for Infant/Toddler Care program.

Thus,  the aim for me now will be to make small positive steps towards my newfound goals while finding functional solutions to the challenges in the workplace, easier written then done.

I stumbled upon this DVD set, “Your Baby Can Read,” this is a series that offers ways to teach your 12 month old infant to read. They suggest that parents introduce this program to their child at 3 months! I found this fascinating. The success of the program in teaching young toddlers to ‘read’ words is not what I challenge. Instead, I question whether this is age appropriate. Should parents, teachers, and caregivers put an emphasis on reading this early?

Is this DVD developmentally appropriate for infants and toddlers? It is well know that children under the age of two should not watch any television. So why is this ‘educational’ DVD different from other educational programs? Remember the “Baby Einstein” and “Brainy Baby” videos from a few years back? Well, research is now linking this programming with delayed language development and lower levels of brain activity. Infants and toddlers are far more stimulated from face-to-face interactions, with significant adults. Though the author of the “Your Baby Can Read” program emphasizes the need for the parents of the children viewing this program to also interact with them using flashcards and props, I am not convinced that this $199.95 set is the best way to encourage reading in young children.

To read the Times article titled, “Baby Einsteins: Not So Smart After All” click on the following link:

http://www.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1650352,00.html

A few weeks back, I had an important presentation to give for school. I was required to present a health lesson plan for elementary children. Eager and excited I head off to the local Borders to find a specific ‘hand washing’ book. I head to the children’s section with the title and author at hand. I search on the shelf, the book is not there. I then head to the stores computer system and conduct a search. The search results: “item may be in store,” so I turn to the nearby clerk and ask for assistance. She informs me that this is the franchise disclaimer and offers the suggestion to  search through nearby shelves, as the book may have been misplaced. I thoroughly search again to no avail and leave.

I then travel (out of my way) to Barnes & Noble and I go directly to the help desk and give the title and author of the book, I am now frantic to find (the presentation is the following day).  I haven’t completely muttered the rest of the title when the clerk guides me over to the children’s books and politely hands me the book Wow, that was easy. As a result of this contrasting experience I will no longer be a patron at Borders and I have since discarded my rewards card.  All hail Barnes & Noble!