Conclusion to International Explorations

Consequences:

Seeing how early childhood education is not existent for some children under the age of 3.
 Obtaining education for little girls is much harder in other countries, along with it limited resources already
Properly trained teachers are at a minimum

Goal:

Stay informed as a country, though we in the United States need more development in the field of Early Childhood education.  Continue to support other countries by supporting organizations that are involved already in providing assistance to other countries.

“Early Childhood Care and Education”

The UNESCO is leading the way for policy making in international early childhood care and education systems.  There purpose is to create holistic development in children in different countries. In Zambia the Ministry of Education incorporated the ECCDE into its national development plan especially in rural areas.  The amount of children receiving education is increasing but after the age of 4.  Programs for those under the age of 3 are not attended by many.  The amount of trained teachers for programs has increased significantly.

Global Children's Inititive

As I continue to explore the podcast about professionals, Meridas Yora who founded an institution for Islamic education, and built boarding schools for children who are orphans.  The teachers in these boarding schools become mentors or  mother/father figures creating an holistic environment.  The children suffered a traumatic event, the tsunami; by being in this environment the children are receiving the therapy and education that they need to cope with the event and have a brighter future.

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre

I decided to research Mongolia, just because I was curious. Over the years the economy has become more stable bit for the people of this country the divide has grown between those who benefit from the economy and those who are living in poverty.  The malnutrition rate is growing as families are unable to afford healthcare. One of the other concerns is the government is not doing anything to support those who are living in poverty.  Children are taking on more roles at home by watching out for their siblings instead of getting the proper education. From what I have read though the amount of children living in poverty is decreasing if their was government programs to help  there would be more progress in Mongolia.

Exploring http://nbcdi.org/

As I become more familiar with the site, I choose to explore some of the sites affiliates.  http://bcdi-atl.org/ is the address to the Atlanta branch of the BCDI organization.  As I explored the Atlanta site and the programs the organization sponsers. One in particular was under the Health & Wellness section entitled "My Little World Curriculum", with the help of community sponsors like Walmart and the Local Partnership for the children the organization created and implemented a program for Early Childhood Professionals.  The program was designed to give professionals tools to teach children healthy eating habits and to promote physical fitness.  Other programs included Raising a Reader, and a program entitled Enter the College Zone to begin encouraging middle school children to focus on higher education.

International Contacts

As I listen to podcast I am learning about several professionals, and in targeting international contacts recently I listened to the podcast that featured Maysoun Chehab who trains early childhood professionals, advocates and creates programs for children in Lebanon and surrounding areas. One of her focuses in psychosocial support projects. What really caught my attention was a program in which they implemented following the War in Lebanon. 126 primary schools where destroyed. The program targeted parents and teachers on the affects children could be experiencing from the trauma of war.The program gave made parents more comfortable in assessing and dealing with the situation support projects range of social and emotional effects. The resource center provides other programs of this same nature.

Current Issue/Sharing Resources

As the we all know hurricane Sandy was devastating for so many individuals, but did any one think about how children are being affected in this aftermath.  Something I found interesting on  http://nbcdi.org was a an blog on helping African American families cope with crisis. The book is entitled Helping Children Cope with Crisis.
"Helping Children Cope with Crisis is an activity book for African American families that was developed by the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) and the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), in collaboration with other organizations serving the African American community."

I find this information very helpful to families.  Especially for African American families because we have a tendency to not address things and assume the children will be ok. Children are very resilient but having a resource like this can help them cope.

Resource:

http://nbcdi.org/blog/2012/11/02/helping-children-cope-with-crisis/

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I have chosen to explore the website of the National Black Child Development Organization.  I have requested to receive there newsletter and am awaiting information from them.  Thus far I have found it interesting the the organization developed a program entitled Parent Empowerment Program(PEP). PEP was designed to give parents the tools to be their child's first teacher and is geared towards lower income African Americans but of course it can be used in a broad spectrum of parents.  I look forward to sharing more as I continue to explore the site.

I have also chosen to listen to podcast on World Forum.  The first professional I have researched is Susan Lyon who is the creator of the Innovative Teacher Project.  The Innovative Teacher Project is a pilot program to integrate the Reggio Emilia approach in a child development center in San Fransico.

MY SUPPORTS

My Supports

Family: My family is a huge part of my support system. My father still provides  some financial support. My mother provides more emotional support, she gives me advice and pushes me to complete my goals or things that I want to do in life.  If I did not have my family as a support system my life would be very different, financially  and I may not be in my current place in life.

Sorority Sisters: The support I receive from these ladies comes in many different forms. They are there whenever I may need them rather it be emotionally, financially, and spiritually. I can call any one of them at any time for any reason and they are there. They motivate me daily to create a better life for myself.  They have helped me grow over the past two years and without them I would not even be pursuing graduate school at this point in my life.

God: Over the years my spiritual relationship has grown. I have learned to lean on his strength through any situation I am facing. I know that my support comes from believing in my relationship with God and the plan he has for me. 

My Connections to Play

Life must be lived as play.

Plato
Greek philosopher
427–347 BC

In our play we reveal what kind of people we are.

Ovid
Roman poet
43 BC–17 or 18 AD

Almost all creativity involves purposeful play.

Abraham Maslow
American psychologist
1908–1970

These three quotes embody what I believe play was for me during early childhood. I lived by playing and exploring the world around me.  I can remember playing with friends at home and at school. Below are the pictures of the toys that I remembered playing with the most; I played house being a mother to the dolls 

playing on the jungle gym at Andy's(childcare center), 

and playing teacher with friends.

I spent many days at Andy's and I can remember how she did activities with us and how I had friends at school that I would play with.  I remember my mom would always let my friend Sharonda come and play at the house and even spend the night most of the time. Play was how I interacted with those of importance to me in my younger years.  I can always remembering playing house as a child,only to become a early childhood professional.

Play was was an essential part of what I did as a child.  As I watch children play and interact in the classroom I see them taking on roles through pretend play, interacting with one another, and settling differences. Play is nit just play, it is how children learn, how they express their feelings and even express themselves.  Everything we learn as a child through play we assimilate into our lives and last with us even into adulthood.  Those same interactions we learned from as a child can impact how we socialize with other adults. Play provides life lessons.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships with people of importance in my life are my family, friends, and sorority sisters.  My family lives about 3 hours from me. I talk to my mother almost every day, and though I do not talk with my father as much he is always there for me when I need him.  From childhood to now my relationship with them has changed I have become closer to them and can talk with them in  a way that I never could before. I have few friends in my life. I believe people come and go for a reason, but I have one friend who has been in my life since middle school.  Though we do not see each other often or talk to each other everyday when we do its like we never missed a day in each other lives.  My sorority sisters have become my family. We lean and depend on each other just like my birth family.  Being away from home and having them around is great. From each of these relationships I learn a lot from each of my relationships and have a lot of guidance from the older woman in my life which is very helpful. As I go through life lessons with the people in my lives it helps me understand how important that being a part of a child's life is.

EDUC 6160 Conclusion

No matter what experiences a child is going through they still explore and learn from things that find intriguing or the "wonders" of life.  Education in early childhood is all about expanding a child's knowledge and helping them positively explore the world.

As I come to the conclusion of this course, I hope that you have enjoyed reading my blog and the conversations that have occurred.  I wish everyone well in their educational journey, and thank you for allowing me to learn from all of you.

Intelligence Testing

According to Berger (2009) "Many developmentalists criticize IQ tests. They argue that no test can measure potential without also measuring achievement and that every test score reflects the culture of the people who wrote, administer, and take it." I believe that a child is a product of the culture that they live in.  Holistic care is not just about intelligence but the development of every aspect.  Currently standardized tests are used at the end of every grade level to measure a child's knowledge and IQ,  I don't completely agree with these test because I believe some teachers are only teaching the material needed for children to pass these test, instead of focusing on helping children learned the necessary and much more.Children should be assessed in all areas  not just focused on intelligence to get an accurate account of what level the child is on.   Take for instance in Africa intelligence is focused on four different areas, and what area is most important is dependent on their culture.
"Over the past several years, Sternberg and Grigorenko also have investigated concepts of intelligence in Africa. Among the Luo people in rural Kenya, Grigorenko and her collaborators have found that ideas about intelligence consist of four broad concepts:rieko, which largely corresponds to the Western idea of academic intelligence, but also includes specific skills; luoro, which includes social qualities like respect, responsibility and consideration; paro, or practical thinking; and winjo, or comprehension. Only one of the four--rieko--is correlated with traditional Western measures of intelligence.

In another study in the same community, Sternberg and his collaborators found that children who score highly on a test of knowledge about medicinal herbs--a measure of practical intelligence--tend to score poorly on tests of academic intelligence.

The results, published in the journal Intelligence (Vol. 29, No. 5), suggest that practical and academic intelligence can develop independently or even in conflict with each other, and that the values of a culture may shape the direction in which a child develops."

References

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/feb03/intelligence.aspx

Stressors during Childhood

When I was was younger around middle school age my family went through a huge adjustment period that was quite chaotic. My older sister was  prison in Virginia and we lived in NC; my mother was informed that her 5 children we being placed in the foster care system.  The four older children where placed in the same home, but my nephew who was only two month old was placed in a separate home. I remember my mother and father having conversations about getting  a lawyer if needed to get custody of the children and eventually my mother and father made the trip to get all of my nieces and nephews.  At that point four of them came to live with us and then one with my aunt.  It was difficult having my little sister who was in elementary school and three other children around her age and an infant in a three bedroom home.  Everyone's routine had to change, all attention was focused on helping my niece and nephews adjust to school, new rules, and dealing with the overall experience.  My role changed too I was the oldest so I really had to step up and care for everyone.  My parents where stressed not only trying to care for everyone but handle what was happening to my sister.  Eventually my sister came on and my niece and nephews moved in with my grandfather, except for my youngest nephew because he was an infant he stayed with us.  To this day he lives with us and considers my parents his mother and father even though they have not legally adopted him yet.  My family dynamic was forever changed but eventually the chaos ended and we settled in.  

Health and Child Development

Nutrition/Malnutrition


Nutrition is affects how a child develops, learns and grows.  When a child is suffering from malnutrition death could be the ultimate result.  I choose this topic because as I work daily in my classroom I see children who seem to eat normally and one that may eat several plates of food.  I never like to see a child hungry.

As I researched the topic I found that:

Malnutrition is more common in India than in Sub-Saharan Africa. One in every three malnourished children in the world lives in India.


In India, around 46 per cent of all children below the age of three are too small for their age, 47 per cent are underweight and at least 16 per cent are wasted. Many of these children are severely malnourished.


I know that here in America majority of children do not suffer from malnutrition to the extent of India but there are malnourished children in our country; it may not be from starving but from not receiving proper medical care.  As a early childhood professional it is my duty to see that all children under my care are receiving proper nutrition and to tack action if not.


http://www.unicef.org/india/children_2356.htm

Birthing Experiences

Though I do not have any children, I have experienced a birth with a close friend. During the birth of her child we sat with her through cotractions until it was delivery time. After delivery we were able to visit  again.  I chose this experience because I was there throughout the whole process.

I researched traditional African births and found that most women give birth alone or with a doula but still secluded from the rest of the tribe.  The difference I found is that these women take pride in facing the pains of birth but most American women prefer use of pain medicines as well as giving birth in hospitals rather than home births.

The end ...

These eight weeks have be challenging in many ways, but as at Student at Walden I have grown.  This is partially due to this blog and making connections to others in the class.   I wish everyone best of luck!

Code of Ethics

This week we were assigned as resources code of ethics from DEC and NAEYC, with the task of choosing three ideals that we feel are important. 

From DEC:

We shall demonstrate our respect and appreciation for all families’ beliefs, values, customs, 

languages, and culture relative to their nurturance and support of their children toward achieving 

meaningful and relevant priorities and outcomes families’ desire for themselves and their children. 

This is a very important part of an educator job.  Understanding the family and their beliefs provides the ideals that the professional should want to help that child achieve.  As a teacher I always want to communicate with the family and make sure we are all working together to help the child reach their full potential in all aspects development.

From NAEYC

I-1.2—To base program practices upon current knowledge and research in the field of early childhood

education, child development, and related disciplines,

as well as on particular knowledge of each child.

As a professional we have a responsibility to provide each child with the best care we can and to do this you must maintain knowledge of the field and practices.  By knowing each child, you know exactly what that child needs and then can assess how to help the child. Every child deserves the highest quality of care.

I-4.6—To promote knowledge and understanding of

young children and their needs. To work toward

greater societal acknowledgment of children’s rights

and greater social acceptance of responsibility for the

well-being of all children.

Many people are unaware just how important early childhood education is or they view childcare facilities as a place where children play all day long.  And yes children do learn from play but it as a early childhood professional we must advocate for the children so they can receive services and education they need.  It is important to me to support the efforts raising awareness for early childhood education.

As a teacher I find many resources helpful including the few I'm sharing with you!


http://www.earlychildhoodeducation.com/

http://www.earlychildhoodnews.com/earlychildhood/articles.aspx?ArticleID=282

My kids love stories....try this for stories read by actors and also provides lesson plan ideas to accompany!
http://www.storylineonline.net

I use this site for craft/lesson ideas http://www.dltk-kids.com/

Enjoy!

Inspirational Quotes


“[P]art of being who you are has to do with feeling your feelings, which means you'll have a wide range of emotions--not just constant sunshiny happiness.”  -Janet Gonzales-Mena

Retrieved from http://www.goodreads.com/author/quotes/568473.Janet_Gonzalez_Mena

“We need to take a less narrow look at our children’s problems and, instead, see them as windows of opportunity—a way of exploring and understanding all facets of our children’s development. If we can understand the underlying developmental process, we can see a child’s struggles as signs of striving toward growth instead of chronic problems or attempts to aggravate adults.”
— Stanley Greenspan, Playground Politics

Retrieved from:http://dadadads.org/dada/2010/05/18/dr-stanley-greenspan-1941-2010/

Personal Childhood Web

This is my mother, she's loving, supportive,and kind.  She has guided me over the years and influenced my like in many ways.  As a child she could not leave me with anyone or else I would cry the entire time she was away, my attachment to her was that strong. She nurtured me by helping me to being grow, develop, and succeed in anything I wanted to do.  To this day she is my biggest supporter and I can turn to her for anything that I need.

My Father(Man in Blue) is a strong individual. As a child his style of caring for me was hidden behind strict rules, he was the enforcer.  But through it all he loved me and I was ultimately a Daddy's girl.  His parenting style influenced me to be the best and has contributed to my success .


Because my parents worked in during the day I had to stay with my grandmother Sadie Ruth every evening until they cam to get me.  My grandmother was my rock, as a child I stayed by her side.  She would always tell me things I shouldn't do when I was older.  She was a fragile individual so she was always very calm with me.  To this day I remember things she would say to me in my younger years.

The Rainbow Fish is one of my favorite childhood stories.  I love this book because it has many themes that can be used in the classroom, I mostly use it when doing lessons on friends or sharing.  The adventures of Rainbow Fish continues in other stories that can be used as well. I love the artwork for the story as well.

This picture is me and one of my students at her first dance recital.  I begin teaching her when she was two, it was her first time in childcare.  By me simply taking the time each day to talk with her parents and having them come into the classroom for special occasions, we formed a close bond.  I remained her teacher until she was four years old when she moved to our other center location for pre-k.This is why I love early childhood; to me its not just caring and teaching children, they are my family and we impact each others lives!

Today is one of the days that make me so excited about being in early childhood education; one of my children has a birthday this weekend so the parents had a birthday party in the class today.  We had cake, cookies, and cheese doodles, and then a pinata.  After a few children got over the fear of the hitting the pinata it turned into all laughs and giggles.  We ended by turning the pinata triangles into party hats.  Its so rewarding to see children    in such bliss. During the party a former parent and child from over a year ago came to visit me.  Sharing moments like this makes it all worth it.

Hi all ! This is my first blog ever. I'm learning as I go, hopefully this will we be an enlightening experience.