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