Maryann Manning is  professor at the University of Alabama at Birmingham and adjunct professor at Chugoku College in Okayama, Japan. Ms Manning is an active member of  the International Reading Association (IRA), having received the  IRA 2005 Special Service Award. She has co-chaired two regional conferences and served on numerous IRA committees, including Administrators and Reading and Infancy through Pre-School Reading. Her current research interest is documenting how young children learn to read and write and parent education.
Manning received her BFA from the University of South Dakota, MEd from Wayne State College, and EdD from the University of Nebraska. She was a K-12 public school teacher in Nebraska for 12 years. She also served as director of basic skills for Birmingham public schools.
Manning is author and co-author of journal articles appearing in The Reading Teacher, Research in Childhood Education, and Young Children. She is the reading and writing editor for Teaching K-8. She has written and co-authored numerous book chapters and several books and presented at IRA conventions, world congresses, and regional and state conferences.

Statement of philosophy
“IRA should have a stronger voice in solving national and world illiteracy problems and should be heard over the clamor of policy makers in all governments in the world’s nations. We should have a voice and presence in the United Nations. Important issues include increasing respect for IRA, decreasing government intervention in literacy programs, and more autonomy for the world’s reading teachers and professors.”

Presentation topics
Reading and writing dinosaurs: Extinct or endangered?
Scientific reading assessment – not the same old testing game
1000 book five-year-olds: We must all help!

Presently, the government provides a fee subsidy of up to RM150 per month for a child from poor families to attend private preschool classes. In 2010,  a total of RM10.6 million was provided to assist in paying school fees for 21,179 children from poor families to attend private preschool classes. A scheme is also being studied so that the government could provide assistance based on certain scales to children from middle-income families to attend private kindergartens and preschool classes. He said that government investment in child nurseries and preschool education was an appropriate move.

Tan Sri Dato Muhyiddin and VIP guests joining the children in a dance at the ECCE launch

“The more knowledge that the teachers have, the more skilled will they be, and their functions as educators in the children’s formative and critical years will be more effective in the children’s development.” Citing an example, he said Russia had long given recognition to preschool education and their teaching manpower had doctorate qualifications or at least a master’s degree. “This should be taken as an inspiration and a benchmark,” he said.

In2011, the Education Ministry allocated RM20.5 million to train 7,420 early childhood educators.

For more reports on the launch:

 http://www.newsabahtimes.com.my/nstweb/fullstory/51569

http://www.nst.com.my/nst/articles/Raisingthebartocreatetop-classkindies/Mobile/article_html

http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/malaysia/article/rm20.5m-to-train-early-childhood-educators/

On 18 August 2011, the ECCE Council was launched by our Deputy Prime Minister, Yang Amat Berhormat Tan Sri Dato Muhyiddin Yassin. With this, a new chapter begins in Malaysian ECCE history. I am honoured to be part of the event, and I am pleased that a good number of SEGi students were present either as guests or helping out with the ushering and stage duties.

The event held at SSM Auditorium on a Thursday morning was well attended by many ECCE figures and government officials. The event was also well covered by the dailies, both in print and online.  It is encouraging to see the growing support  for the industry. With the formation of the Council, we can look forward to greater professionalism in the industry.

what students think about the ECCE profession

How can you be a child advocator when you do not feel good about who you are and what you do as an Early Childhood professional? I once had a student who was a top-scorer in school. When she chose to pursue further studies in the area of early childhood education, many were puzzled at her choice. It was heartbreaking for her to have her mother constantly  defend her decision to enter the profession.

Research tells us again and again that the early years are the most critical years and rightfully those who care for and nurture our young should be justly  recognised. The best brains should be drawn to this profession. Those in the industry should never ever need to find excuses for their choice of profession.

It is encouraging therefore to see emphasis on early childhood education these days.  The recently launched ECCE Council for example is tasked with an advocacy function. ECCE professionals who wish for an avenue to find have their  voice should visit the ECCE Council website. Find out who we are and better yet, join the Council and be heard.

… when the activity started, most of the children actually did not resist mud and they started to touch and feel the mud. Their curious nature actually got them to touch and ask “what is that?” There was a little girl who got some mud on the face and hair too. On the other hand, there is a little boy who just refused to touch the mud at all … but eventually he too started to take a very tiny pinch to try and then moved to a larger piece. The children actually used techniques of rolling, flattening and some even made flat cookies or rolled them into balls.

Alicia rightly pointed out that children are curious by nature. Give them mud and they will be drawn into a sensorial exploration of the material. To mud, however can be messy and Alicia in her reflection, concluded that teachers play an important role in exposing children to different forms of materials. Way to go Alicia!

ALso noteworthy is Vijaya’s (April 10 intake) contribution. For our Art and Class session on 25 June, she brought packets of mud gathered from her neighbourhood. It was a shame that no one explored with mud during our session, but a good many of us did take home a mud package each. My 12 year old daughter therefore got to “mud” on International Mud Day. When you get older, there seems less of a fascination to try new things. She was receptive to the idea of mud play, but she did not dive into like the children in Alicia’s school. She was somewhat squeamish at the start, and this was really clean mud. She found the mud unpredictable, unlike the playdoh she grew up on. The texture she said was smooth sometimes and at other times rough and sandy. She rolled it and tried to shape it and eventually decided to form a mud image of herself, and her dog. She ended up roasting mud marshmallows over a mud fire. At least for a while, she was in touch with nature and away from the world wide web!

Shauna at work with mud for the first time

It takes a while to get used to mud modelling

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

mud sculpture of Shauna and her dog

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Roasting mud marshmallows over a mud fire

 

 

 

View it and it can impress you with the value of water in our lives – a message that you can share with children during culture activities on land, water and air. And do remember to practise water conservation especially during your activities of everyday living.

Calling all SEGi ECCE graduates. This Saturday 2 July 2011 we have the honour of hosting the Child Advocacy Workshop presented by Malaysian Child Resource Institute. Come join us and find out how you can ensure that the interests and the wishes of children are considered in all decisions which affect them.

Who should attend:
All who believe in  the dignity of every human being and the legal rights to which each is entitled.
All who seek to be the voice of children who often are voiceless victims in their own society

Aims of the workshop:
1. Understand the role of a child advocate and the guiding principles.
2. Learn how children’s rights provide a powerful framework and a tool for  advocacy.
3. Discover the knowledge and skills you need to be an effective child advocate.
4. Develop an action plan which is aligned to your mission as a child advocate