This week has been stressful in terms of keeping up on my school work.  Me and my family were off the grid this week so it was not easy to complete my weekly assignments.  Prior to the vacation I was having a lot of trouble with my website not only did I have trouble logging in but I also realized that what I thought I had been posting actually had not posted.  I wanted to retract my very first post where I said “I (am) excited about creating this website and it seemed pretty easy and straight forward to do” (spoke too soon) but I’ve got it figured out now and flooded my website today with all the posts I needed to complete up until today.  I think also the pending Program Models and Approaches Assignment and knowing that the people in my group are counting on my part being completed before class on Monday has been another stressor.  I am definitely feeling better now to have it all figured out and things up to date.  Because I have been having so much trouble with my own website I have been neglecting commenting on other’s posts so that is one of my goals moving forward is to be more engaged in my classmates posts.

 

When I was reading this weeks readings I was immediately having some strong anxious feelings when reading the definition for philosophy.  The idea that “(I) define (myself) by it” (Dietze & Kashin, 2016, pg 86) seems very restricting. I get this image in my mind of having to put myself in a box and that there is very little flexibility within my philosophy.  When I read on and read about what “Early learning professionals’ philosophical approach is influenced by” (Dietze & Kashin, 2016, pg 86)  it was a little bit easier for me to think about my philosophy and how my philosophy can be a fluid idea.  I believe that in the field of ECE we are always learning new things whether in practice or in professional development so philosophies should be reflecting that new learning.  Maybe putting new learning into practice is a part of my philosophy.

While working on my philosophy project I’m finding it hard to put it in words what my philosophies are. It is similar to the question of what do you feel passionate about?  I sometimes have a hard time answering that question because it is just things that I gravitate toward or things that I love to do. It is more of an action rather than a theory to be written about or talked about.  I also have realized I have a hard time talking about myself or my views and values I like to let my actions or how I present myself speak for itself.   “… your practice reflects it” (Dietze & Kashin, 2016, pg. 86) is the part of the definition of philosophy that I can relate to a little bit better.

I do think it is important to have you philosophy and to reflect on your philosophy often.  If you don’t have a clear vision of who you want to be as a childcare educator than you may be swayed too easily from who you feel you are.  Sometimes this could be a good thing and sometimes this could be a bad thing.