DAILY SUPPORT

I have several factors within my daily environment that supports me and gives me strength each day which are:

Ø God-Faith

Ø My Family

Ø My Assistant

Ø My students

First of all I could not make it through the day without my faith and god strength. Through my faith I’m able to overcome obstacles and persevere through the stressors of everyday life. Without faith and my belief in God I don’t think I could make it through the day, how does anyone?

Secondly my family and my immediate family which consist of my husband and two children are a large part of my inspiration to make it through the day because I know when I get home I will be spending the evening with my life partner and two wonderful children.  I think sometimes what would my life be like without my two children and husband and I become frightened of the thought of not having them in my life.  My mother is also a great inspiration in my life, she has always been there for me to give me the love and support I need.  My mother lives about 30 minutes away from me but I speak with her at a minimum of twice a day. I also have a great support system within my extended family, my husband parents are very supportive and are very special people in my life that also help me with picking the kids up from school, running errands for me and may other favors they do for me when I’m not able to for myself.

Thirdly, my assistant is a supportive part of my daily routine. We have worked together for nearly ten years and have a fantastic relationship.  She is the type of person that I can depend on and she can depend on me which makes great teamwork.  My assistant never fails to jump in and lend a hand if I need help with something she is always there for me.  I could not imagine working with her, she is a God sent.

My job is rather challenging at times, but it’s such a rewarding and fulfilling profession. I look forward to going to my job each day and seeing all of the little similes on the faces of the children I serve daily.  If I’m a little down or need a laugh my children are always there to uplift me and my day is instantly better. I have often pondered over changing my profession, but I cannot see myself doing anything other than working in the educational field. Even as a little girl my favorite play was “being a teacher”.  

The benefits of these factors make my day better and they help me get through my sometimes challenging days. Again I just cannot imagine my life running smoothly without my faith in god, my family, my assistant and my students.

MY CONNECTION TO PLAY

My Connection to Play

Play is not only our creative drive; it’s a fundamental mode of learning.” ~ David Elkin (psychologist, author)

Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” ~ Joseph Chilton Pearce (author)

During play children are able to use their creative imaginations to discover and learn through play.  Play and creativity is the fundamental or the building block of learning.  

As a young child I think back to those long summer days of spending the day with my cousins at my grandmother’s house.  We loved to play on swings, riding our bikes and just playing outside. I one of the two girls out of five boys around so needless to say we also played with trucks and cars a lot.

I also had two older brothers at home who were a bit too old to play with me because my baby brother was 11 years older than I but that didn’t stop me from begging him to ride me around on his four wheeler or to pull me around in my wagon. As a child you could hardly ever find me playing in the house or watching television.  I wasn’t a big fan of playing with baby dolls but instead rather be outside playing.

At school I was a fan of the swing set and I loved to paint. Another thing I absolutely loved at home and school was playing house and cooking. I can remember many times cooking up a concoction for my family members that they would try sometimes but would often refuse to try.

I feel as though play has changed so much since I was child. As a child I was always outside in the yard playing and our parents didn’t expect us to come in until dark. However, youth today doesn’t spend as much time playing outside because they are consumed with music, playing video games and watching television.  

I’m a mother of two sons, ages 14 and 6 who both rather be outside than inside and I think my love of the outdoors influenced them and for that reason I believe that’s why they love the outdoors.

REFLECTING ON BUILDING RELATIONSHIPS

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

I consider myself very blessed and fortunate to have the relationships I have with my family, friends, coworkers and parents and families I serve.  I will start my blog off with the people I have a very special relationship with first which is my family. I am a product of a mother and father who were still married and living together when my father died 11 years ago and I have two siblings, two brothers.  I was considered the baby of the family because my baby brother was 11 when I was born.  I had a very close relationship with my father who was in his late forties when I was born and he passed away 11 years ago.  My father is one individual who I shared such a special relationship with.  As a little girl I can remember all of the times I would be sick or needed someone to hold me, he was always there.  I can recall many nights I would be up with a virus or fever and he would be the one who would get up with me. I love my mother deeply, but my dad never hesitated when I called his name.  As I began the adventure to adulthood and begin dating I compared the men I dated to the characteristics of my dad. However, when I begin dating my husband some 20 years ago he was so much like my father that I fell in love immediately.  The next person whom I share such a close and special relationship with is my husband, whom I will be married to for 19 years  in June.   We married in 1992 and blessed with our first child in 1996 and our second in 2004.  When we first announced that we were getting married we had a lot of family and friends who were against us who thought we were too young and we would never make it but I can say, “they were wrong”.   We not only have a marriage but a partnership which in cooperates a lot of compromising.  In order for a marriage/partnership to be successful there has to be compromising.  As a golden rule if you see one of us then you will see both if we are not at work. A newly made friend of mine asked that I go away with her for a weekend and I had to explain to her that I’m married and me nor my husband go on vacation without the other one, however, a day of shopping or dinner I will do. To some this may sound silly, but for us it works because we rather are together than with our friends.  I feel that my life would not be complete without my husband. It is so very special to me as well as my children and other family members.

I also have a very special relationship with my co-worker.  I can call my co-worker at any time of the day or night and she is always there for me. We don’t participate in outside work activities but I consider her as a best friend. Having this special relationship with my co-worker enriches the environment of our early learning center which is conducive for learning, which produces a positive outcome. I also feel that having this relationship also makes my work more productive. I have worked at many different places and have had to work with people whom I didn’t get along with so well and my work suffered.

I also feel that I have several parents whom I currently have special relationships with. I feel that it’s so important that I have these positive partnerships established with the parents and families I serve if I want to see my children and families to be successful.  Research has shown the importance of building a positive relationship with the families of educators.  Research has shown if these relationships are formed then academic success occurs and social and emotional skills increase.

Child Development

I have worked with children for nearly ten years and I no matter how challenging my day maybe I can’t imagine doing anything else.  You will never hear my say that it’s easy everyday working with three and four year olds, but you will hear me say that I rather be in a classroom full of children rather than an office full of adults bickering and complaining.

Young children are so impressible and their brains are like sponges, ready to learn so when I found this quote “A child mis-educated is a child lost” by John F. Kennedy it really touched my heart.  As I read this quote, mis-educated to me can be anything from an academic to a social/emotional stand point. As an example, I choose resilience as my topic to research this week and writ. Resilience is something that our children should be taught to be successful.  Children need us an educators and parents to show them the correct way and our children will learn by example.

Another quote I found very interesting and touched my heart was “A torn jacket is soon mended; but hard words bruise the heart of a child” by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.  The US is currently feeling the stress of living through an economic recession and research has shown that due the stress of unemployment and economic hardship that there is an increase in child abuse which can consist of physical and emotional abuse. However, there are also situations in which the economy has nothing to do with this quote, for example, a teacher may have negative things to say to a child which will affect the child for the rest of his or her life. A teacher may say things such as “You can do it, but Johnny can”, this is something that this child may take to heart and have long lasting negative effects.

As parents and educators we have so much influence over our children, so we must always be weary of what we say and do in front of our children. Children are watching us and listening to everything we say. I can remember back in early elementary school and throughout high school I thought my teachers were superior and I thought they were “perfect”.

I have to say a special thanks to Evlyn and Theresa. Evlyn and Theresa have been very supportive during this term and I have enjoyed and learned so much from their blogs in relations to Early Childhood. I wish them both much success and hope to have them in another class very soon.

STANDARDIZED TESTING/ASSESSMENT

As a resident of Georgia, I decided to specifically research the way Georgia children are assessed and measured in relations to their academic ability. Students in grades 1-8 must take the Criterion-Referenced Competency Test (CRCT).  The CRCT is designed to measure how well students acquire the skills and knowledge described in the Georgia Performance Standards (GPS). The assessments yield information on academic achievement at the student, class, school, system, and state levels. This information is used to diagnose individual student strengths and weaknesses as related to the instruction of the GPS, and to gauge the quality of education throughout Georgia (2). Beginning in 2004, the state phased in the use of these tests in promotion/retention decisions in grades three, five, and eight. Students in grades three, five, eight, and eleven are required to take a writing assessment each year. All kindergarteners are assessed for first-grade readiness with the Georgia Kindergarten Assessment Program. This is a performance-based test which is administered to each child individually by the child's teacher three times per year. Local school districts are also required to administer a nationally norm-referenced test annually in grades three, five, and eight. The CRCT consist of assessments in reading, english/language arts, and mathematics. Assessments in science and social studies are assessed in grades three through eighth.  Additionally, assessments in reading, English/language arts, and mathematics are administered in grades one, two, three, five, and seventh.

Personally, I’m not a promoter of standardized testing for several reasons. One reason is that the test puts a lot of stress and pressure on a child to perform. If a child has done well and shown the ability to master the goals of his or her grade then that should be enough evidence to promote this child to the next grade. However, I do understand that the Department of Education needs to have some way of measuring the knowledge of children, but I think that is all standardized testing should be used for.  Also in Georgia there is so much pressure for the students to pass this test that many teachers just teach the CRCT all year.  I think that Georgia should change the ruling that children must pass this test in order to be promoted to the next grade. I think the child’s performance in the classroom should be the determining factor.

The Japanese elementary curriculum is cumulative and demanding. At each grade level, children are required to learn large quantities of new material and proceed quickly from one new concept to the next. Although most children manage to keep reasonable pace with the instructional objectives, some fall behind. These children are termed ochikobore, which is those who have "fallen to the bottom" of the system (1). Although detailed evidence is scarce, the problem clearly exists and receives considerable sympathetic attention in the mass media and from the public. Some evidence regarding the extent of the problem is found in a recent comparative study of reading achievement among first and fifth grade children in one city in Japan. Results for the Japanese sample showed that although most children enter first grade well prepared in reading, but by fifth grade a significant number of them have fallen seriously behind (1). However, this type of assessing ends and standardized testing begins at the age of 12 year of age.  

I found it very interesting that Japan doesn’t implement standardized testing until the child reaches the age of 12 years old.

1.    http://members.tripod.com/h_javora/jed3.htmerences

2.    http://www.doe.k12.ga.us/ci_testing.aspx

Stressor of Isolation

Isolation is the act of isolating something; setting something apart from others. This is definitely very traumatic and stressful for a child. My best friend adopted two girls when the girls where 10months and 5years old, however, the children have grown to be 10 and 15 years old now. The 15 year old, who I will call Jane has recently suffered from isolation at school from peers and other students. Jane is a very sweet and caring young lady that just hasn’t blossomed into a flirtatious teenage girl who isn’t chasing boys, who someone might refer to her as a “tomboy”. She has a father who is very involved in her life where he takes her fishing, hunting and four wheel riding, so she isn’t the prissy type at all. However, a group of students at school has started a rumor that she is gay and has isolated her completely. As she would walk down the halls of her high school she would be called names and teased.  This has been going since the beginning of school which was August. However, he has gradually gotten worse and it was affecting Jane’s academic status. Her mother would call me often and she would be in tears because her daughter was suffering and there was nothing she could do but pray.  It had even gotten so bad that the mother had to take Jane to counseling three times a month which was very costly.  As the problem continued the principal called my friends and asked her a personal question, “Can you explain Jane and Judy’s relationship?” In other words the principal was insinuating that her daughter was gay and was bringing all of this on herself.  Well in my opinion it doesn’t matter if she was gay, that doesn’t give the right to condone other children being mean to others and isolating them. So this was the “straw that broke the camel’s back” and the mother withdrew her from school and put her in the school system I currently work in. This took place last Monday, so Jane has completed two full weeks at her school and has been so happy since her move.  Her mother states that Jane comes home happy everyday and talks about how friendly her classmates are.  It’s so amazing how her own well being has changed since she has been removed from the environment of isolation.

Being in this situation affected this child’s entire well being from her biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development. She was in an environment where she wasn’t happy and it was affecting her cognitive development and academic status. She was also detrimental to her social development and self esteem

Child Development and Public Health

I choose to research and discuss the topic of immunization.  I choose this topic for several reasons, one of which is because working with young children and the increased discussions over whether immunizations where the cause of increase cases of autism and because my son had a severe allergic reaction to his three year old immunization. Therefore, I found this topic and this research to have a personal meaning for me.

According to the CDC immunization and vaccinations has side effects from mild to severe.  Also according to the CDC getting diphtheria, tetanus or pertussis disease is much riskier than getting DTaP vaccine. Side effects range from fever and redness around the vaccination site to rare but severe side effects such as seizures, comma and permanent brain damage.  According to the National Survey of Children’s Health, one in 91 American children has an autism spectrum disorder. Thirty years ago, it was one in 2,500. Rates of other neurological and immunological disorders affecting children have skyrocketed as well. Today, learning disabilities affect approximately one in six kids, and asthma one in nine.

I choose the research immunization in Mexico and according to my readings a survey/research was completed in 1990 and Mexico’s mortality rate was 46 per 1,000 live births and its progress in reducing the mortality rate to 28 per 1,000 live births in 2004 has been well-documented with increased immunization. However, prior to researching this topic I would have figured that Mexico’s mortality would be more, so this was an eye opening fact.

References:
http://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/

http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/cgi/content/full/114/1/e16