"My Supports"

 

 

 

 

 

“My Supports”

When I think of all the challenges that one could have in life, I stop and think of how blessed I am to have so many support systems to make each day a lot easier.  I am a very spiritual person and I have a strong trust in the Lord which helps me overcome any obstacles I may face.  My family is very supportive as I pursue my dream of obtaining a Masters degree and they help me by respecting the time I need to concentrate on my studies.  I am always receiving encouraging words from my sister, brother, and other relatives and friends.  When people believe in you it really makes a difference and that is why it is so important that children have support in their lives very early on in life.  Right now we only have one laptop in the house that is working so it can be a challenge sometimes to reserve computer time but we depend on teamwork to get us through.  Now the computer is a great support mechanism from researching information, conducting emails (personal/business), finding healthy recipes, and of course typing papers and blogs.  Another support mechanism I have is my cell phone because I am able to communicate with people almost everywhere and it serves as a source of security when I am travelling in the car.  These support mechanisms help me to function on a daily basis and I would be lost without these supports.  It is very important to have the love of God and family because it makes me believe that I can accomplish anything!

            If I were to suddenly lose my vision I think that would be very challenging to me because I am a very visual person.  Even though I have a lot of support systems in my life, I pride myself on being self sufficient and independent.  Having to rely on other people to lead me around and to learn Braille would be a challenge for me, but I know with the help of the Lord I would be able to overcome the challenge. Being visually impaired would make me have to trust others for my survival, which is also a true test of faith.  I would have to give up the luxuries of driving a car and watching the sun rise and set.  I would a lot of help in learning how to cook and just taking care of my basic needs.  In retrospect this has made me realize how truly blessed I am and it makes me even more eager to help those that have disabilities and to make their life more pleasurable.

"My connections to Play"

"Play is the work of the child"- Maria Montessori

"Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning"- Mr. Rogers

 



 

When I was young my parents encouraged me to go outside and play which was a very exhilarating experience because there was nothing in the world more fun than playing outside with my friends.  I loved playing jacks, jumping rope, and racing with my friends up and down the streets.  The world was truly our oyster and imagination had no limit!  We learned to create our own rules for games and negotiated how to change the rules when the game became boring.  We also had to learn to regulate our emotions because maintaining friendships was of vital importance, because no one wanted to play with a constant whiner or someone with a bad attitude.

Children today are not afforded as many opportunities to play outside because with the increase in crime parents are fearful of letting their children go outside without supervision. So today’s children are required to stay inside and play video games in the house.  We used to play board games when we did play inside because of inclement weather which would still get our mental juices flowing, but today’s children don’t engage in board games as much.  When we played jump rope and jacks we strengthened our fine motor skills, gross motor skills, and math skills.  Play keeps you young and healthy and stimulates the thought processes in the brain.  Play also keeps the heart healthy and constant movement is the key to longevity.  So adults as well as children need to keep “play” an active part of their lives.



Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection

 

Relationships are important to me because being connected to others is vital to my well being.  I enjoy talking to and being with my family because we are very supportive to one another.  My husband and I have two young adult children and five years ago we were blessed with a granddaughter name Haidyn.  She is the new joy of my life! She is warm, affectionate and smart. Children at this age love unconditionally and remind us how real relationships should function.  I enjoyed my relationships with my children as they were growing and developing and I always supported their educational and extra-curricular activities.  My son who is the oldest loved playing soccer and he established meaningful relationships with his teammates  because they learned to depend each while playing the sport but they also formed lasting relationships off the field.  My daughter studied ballet for many years and she established meaningful relationships through the dance experience.

 Relationships are the bonds that keep people encouraged and uplifted in life as long as the relationships are positive.  I grew up in a very supportive family and interacted with many because my grandmother had nine children.  My mother was a very friendly and involved person and she touched my life but she also touched and inspired a lot of my friends.  I never realized how great her impact was until she passed away in 2005.  Many of her co-workers and my friends commented about what a positive impact my mother had on their lives because of her caring and giving attitude.  One friend commented that he remembered going out of the city for the first time because of a road trip with our family to a suburban mall.  A have another friend who used to run away from home and come to our home because she had problems with her own mother.  So our home was a much needed refuge. My mother was honestly my best friend because she encouraged me academically but she also encouraged activism for the rights of others and had a never ending love for me.  I just pray that I will impact others in the same caring way that my mother did and make life better for others.

In order to maintain relationships it takes effort that some people choose not to exert.  All relationships are not reciprocal because sometimes people don’t have the time to dedicate to a lasting relationship.  Professionally I have tried to create positive relationships with my students and their parents, by always having positive comments and lending a listening ear.  People feel that they are important when you take the time to listen to them and not pass judgment.  One of my goals in life is to build lasting relationships with young students, instill self-esteem and to encourage the love of learning in them.

Early Childhood Quotes

The following quotes express my love and passion for teaching young minds! All children can learn! It is the teacher's job to provide the gateway for learning and to remember that children do learn from wonderful experiences.

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."
- Maria Montessori

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."
- Frederick Douglass

"All of us have moments in our childhood where we come alive for the first time. And we go back to those moments and think, 'This is when I became myself.'"
- Rita Dove

"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand."
- Chinese proverb

"The whole purpose of education is to turn mirrors into windows."
- Sydney J. Harris

"A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops.
- Henry Adams

“If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much.”
Marian Wright Edelman

“Education is for improving the lives of others and for leaving your community and world better than you found it.”
Marian Wright Edelman

 

Views on Early Childhood Assessments

Humans can be intelligent in several ways, so they should not be judged only by an IQ test or even a standardized test (Berger, 2012).  A school systems focus should be to teach the whole child which means that children should be given numerous opportunities to learn and they can be assessed by observation.  Standardized tests put a lot of stress on students, teachers, and even parents because the test is commonly used as a yardstick for achievement.  If a student does not perform well on an achievement test they are often labeled and considered a low performer in everything.  A teacher is often admonished if her students do not perform well on standardized tests.  Parents often ridicule their children if they get information that their child did not perform well on these tests and they often feel that it is a reflection on their parenting skills.  So who wins in this formula?  The companies that produce the standardize test so it becomes a money making venture. Learning needs to be project based and students should not be subjected to the horrors of standardized testing (Tung, 2012).

The country I selected to research is Finland because they have a very progressive and successful approach to education. Some years ago Finland was ranked at the lower rung for education in the world, but now they are ranked sixth, second, and third in math, science, and reading compared to the U.S. coming in at 30^th, 23^rd, and 17^th place in the world (Tung, 2012).  The Finnish school system decided to cut the class time in half, increase the physical education time to 50 minutes, and they drastically reduce the homework time for their students (Tung, 2012).  They also decided to cut out administering standardize testing all together (Tung, 2012).  The schools are funded nationally and all children are entitled to lunch at no cost (Tung, 2012).  The schools that have the least educated parents and a high influx of immigrants receive the most funding because the needs are greater (Tung, 2012).  In contrast, in the United States the schools that have the most uneducated parents located in impoverished neighborhoods receive the least amount of funds.  The US needs to adopt some of the successful techniques of the Finnish schools if success is truly the goal of the country.

 

 

 

References

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New

          York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Tung, S. (2012, January 20). How the finnish school system outshines u.s. education. Stanford

report. Retrieved from http://news.stanford.edu/news/2012/january/finnish-schools-reform-012012.html

 

 

 

 

Early Childhood News

When children are made to live in stressful situations the hypothalamus section of the brain is greatly affected in a negative manner (Berger, 2012).  Children in the US and in other sections of the world suffer from violent situations, poverty, and hunger which impede healthy child development (Berger, 2012). When children are mistreated early on in life the outcome can prove to be emotionally devastating (Berger, 2012).

              I have a neighbor that is now the foster mother of two children that came into care three years ago.  The children were living in a very violent household where the parents fought constantly, used drugs, and neglected their two children ages five months (a girl) and two years old ( a boy).  The mother had threatened to kill the little boy on several occasions as a revenge tactic to the father because he was repeatedly unfaithful.  When the police took the children out of the home, their bodies and clothes were filthy and they were malnourished.  The baby girl was sucking on a bottle that contained very old milk.  So they were taken by Child Protective Services in the middle of the night.  When my neighbor picked up the children they were in bad condition and the boy would not speak and he refused any attachment.  Attachment is extremely important with the caregiver at birth and when infants are denied bonding, they can be scarred for the rest of their lives (Berger, 2012).  It was evident that these children were lacking parental bonding.  My friend has worked wonders with these children because when she first received the boy he was diagnosed as possibly having autism but now he is a bright little boy with great verbal skills and now tests above average.  The children now attend a private school and are thriving well.

              A lot of the children in Somalia are starving and are malnourished because of the constant infighting in the country.  There are 1,500 homeless families that are living in refugee camps.  The NGO created child family spaces (CFS) as a remedy for the terror and hunger that the mothers and children are experiencing.  The constant violence in Somalia has affected children emotionally because they are now malnourished in addition to living in fear.  The Save the Children organization has provided food and medical services for the mothers and children that are housed at the refugee camp in Jawie.

 

References

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth

            Publishers

When children are made to live in stressful situations the hypothalamus section of the brain is greatly affected in a negative manner (Berger, 2012).  Children in the US and in other sections of the world suffer from violent situations, poverty, and hunger which impede healthy child development (Berger, 2012). When children are mistreated early on in life the outcome can prove to be emotionally devastating (Berger, 2012).

              I have a neighbor that is now the foster mother of two children that came into care three years ago.  The children were living in a very violent household where the parents fought constantly, used drugs, and neglected their two children ages five months (a girl) and two years old ( a boy).  The mother had threatened to kill the little boy on several occasions as a revenge tactic to the father because he was repeatedly unfaithful.  When the police took the children out of the home, their bodies and clothes were filthy and they were malnourished.  The baby girl was sucking on a bottle that contained very old milk.  So they were taken by Child Protective Services in the middle of the night.  When my neighbor picked up the children they were in bad condition and the boy would not speak and he refused any attachment.  Attachment is extremely important with the caregiver at birth and when infants are denied bonding, they can be scarred for the rest of their lives (Berger, 2012).  It was evident that these children were lacking parental bonding.  My friend has worked wonders with these children because when she first received the boy he was diagnosed as possibly having autism but now he is a bright little boy with great verbal skills and now tests above average.  The children now attend a private school and are thriving well.

              A lot of the children in Somalia are starving and are malnourished because of the constant infighting in the country.  There are 1,500 homeless families that are living in refugee camps.  The NGO created child family spaces (CFS) as a remedy for the terror and hunger that the mothers and children are experiencing.  The constant violence in Somalia has affected children emotionally because they are now malnourished in addition to living in fear.  The Save the Children organization has provided food and medical services for the mothers and children that are housed at the refugee camp in Jawie.

 

References

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth

            Publishers

Public Health Measures in Early Childhood

One of the major public health measures that affect children all over the word is immunizations (vaccinations) (Berger, 2012).  The US and most nations practice immunizations to prevent childhood diseases such as mumps, measles, whooping cough, pneumonia, rotavirus, and polio (Berger, 2012).  Polio disease used to be prevalent in the United States before the vaccination was created (Berger, 2012).  Immunizations programs are often halted when countries are experiencing war, and this has occurred in Afghanistan (Berger, 2012).  There are some people in the US that are not allowed to receive immunizations safely because they have been stricken with HIV, rubella, or are receiving chemotherapy (Berger, 2012).  If the majority of people (called a herd) in the US are immunized, then the people that can’t take immunization are usually safe from the diseases (Berger, 2012).

I was glad to find out that there is now a vaccine to prevent chicken pox called varicella (Berger, 2012).  When I was a child everyone would get the chickenpox and it was treated like a “rite of passage” Unfortunately there is still no vaccine to stop malaria, typhoid, cholera, shigellosis, and AIDS (Berger, 2012).  This topic is very meaningful to me because I am concerned about children and sickness interferes with a child’s success.  It is my hope that the diseases I have mentioned will be eradicated in my lifetime.

 

References

Berger, K. S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th ed.). New York, NY: Worth

            Publishers.

 

Childbirth Memories

Childbirth Memories

            I can remember vividly the birth of my son because I was in labor for 23 hours.  I had gone to my doctor’s office on Friday morning and I was checked and told to go home and come back if I experienced labor pains.  My husband brought the car around to the front door of the hospital and I told him that I was hungry so we stopped by a fast food restaurant.  While he was inside getting the food I was hit by a strong labor pain that knocked me out of the car seat.  My husband came back to the car and I told him that I thought I needed to go back to the hospital immediately.  I was checked in and I just knew that my son would be born within the hour.  To my disappointment my son was not born until 23 hours later.  I felt like I was in a torture chamber because the labor pains were consistently hard.  I could not have anything to eat but my husband was served meals for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning.  He drifted off to sleep several times but I really couldn’t sleep because of the annoyance of labor pains.  When I was finally rolled into the delivery room, the forceps broke when the doctor was trying to pull my son out and my bladder was ruptured.  I ended up having a blood transfusion because of the injury.  Three years later I have my daughter and I was in labor for only an hour. My son and daughter have grown up to be loving and caring people, and I will cherish them forever.  My history let me know that birthing experiences can differ within the same family.

            In the Netherlands Dutch women decide rather they want a home birth or a hospital birth and most of the women prefer home births (Schalken, 2013).  They are also encouraged to obtain the services of a midwife because doctors only handle high risk pregnancies (Schalken, 2013).  The use of epidurals (pain killers) is a rarity (Schalken, 2013).  The mothers that do choose a hospital delivery barring any complications they are usually sent home after two hours (Schalken, 2013).  The health insurance does cover the use a nurse to help the mother at home for seven days.  The nurse takes care of the baby and also cleans the house and prepares meals (Schalken, 2013).

 

References

Schalken, L. (2013). Birth customs around the world. Parents, Retrieved from

http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=2

 

 

 

Childbirth Memories

            I can remember vividly the birth of my son because I was in labor for 23 hours.  I had gone to my doctor’s office on Friday morning and I was checked and told to go home and come back if I experienced labor pains.  My husband brought the car around to the front door of the hospital and I told him that I was hungry so we stopped by a fast food restaurant.  While he was inside getting the food I was hit by a strong labor pain that knocked me out of the car seat.  My husband came back to the car and I told him that I thought I needed to go back to the hospital immediately.  I was checked in and I just knew that my son would be born within the hour.  To my disappointment my son was not born until 23 hours later.  I felt like I was in a torture chamber because the labor pains were consistently hard.  I could not have anything to eat but my husband was served meals for lunch, dinner, and breakfast the next morning.  He drifted off to sleep several times but I really couldn’t sleep because of the annoyance of labor pains.  When I was finally rolled into the delivery room, the forceps broke when the doctor was trying to pull my son out and my bladder was ruptured.  I ended up having a blood transfusion because of the injury.  Three years later I have my daughter and I was in labor for only an hour. My son and daughter have grown up to be loving and caring people, and I will cherish them forever.  My history let me know that birthing experiences can differ within the same family.

            In the Netherlands Dutch women decide rather they want a home birth or a hospital birth and most of the women prefer home births (Schalken, 2013).  They are also encouraged to obtain the services of a midwife because doctors only handle high risk pregnancies (Schalken, 2013).  The use of epidurals (pain killers) is a rarity (Schalken, 2013).  The mothers that do choose a hospital delivery barring any complications they are usually sent home after two hours (Schalken, 2013).  The health insurance does cover the use a nurse to help the mother at home for seven days.  The nurse takes care of the baby and also cleans the house and prepares meals (Schalken, 2013).

 

References

Schalken, L. (2013). Birth customs around the world. Parents, Retrieved from

http://www.parents.com/pregnancy/giving-birth/vaginal/birth-customs-around-the-world/?page=2