Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I have used The Global Alliance of NAEYC as a resource to get in touch with professionals outside of the United States. I looked into each website and chose certain people to email, with hopes of hearing back from them. So far I have tried to contact four individuals from Romania, Spain, and Canada and all attempts have been unsuccessful. I will continue to try to reach someone because I think it will be very interesting and insightful to talk with an educator outside of our country.

I chose to investigate the website Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families because I have read quite a few of their articles during my experience at Walden University. I have subscribed to some sort of electronic newsletter. The website seems very interesting. It contains information on child development mentally, physically, and emotionally in children from 0 to age three. I am really looking forward to looking more into this website and receiving their newsletters.

My Supports

I have many factors in my daily environment that are supportive to me. The first factor I want to mention is God. He is always there for me in every aspect in life: physically, emotionally, mentally, financially, etc. Without Him, there would be no point to life. Another factor is my family. I am very close to my immediate family members. My father and mother support me emotionally through encouraging me to strive for my toughest goals. They also support me if I become in a financial bind. My sisters are always there for me if I need somebody to talk to or if I need help making decisions. If I didn’t have my family, I would feel lonely and abandoned. My job is another supportive factor in my life. It allows me to provide food for myself and my dog, buy things for other people, and go out and do things socially. Without my job, I wouldn’t have anything that I own at this point or have the experiences that I have shared with so many of my students. I could go on and on, but those are just a few of the supports in my life.

Recently, my 82 year old grandpa was hospitalized due to failing health and I went to visit with my father. While visiting, I couldn’t help but to imagine what it had to feel like being in my dad’s shoes at that moment. To be raised by a man all my life and that, that man may be gone soon.  Then I realized that it is a possibility that one of these days I may have to experience that challenge of something happening to my father, whether it is illness or even death. I would need support from God and my family to comfort me because I know I’d be emotionally stressed. They would help to keep my spirits up and be there for someone to talk to when needed. My job would remain being a supportive factor too, when it comes to taking any needed days off work.

Everyone has supports in their lives. Without some kind of support, we wouldn’t be able to survive.

My Connections to Play





Here are a few quotes about play that I enjoy:

“Play is our brain’s favorite way of learning.”-Diane Ackerman

“A child loves his play, not because it’s easy, but because it’s hard.”-Benjamin Spock

When reminiscing on my childhood, I thought of a few toys that I played with quite often: Barbie dolls, basketball, and bikes. I had a lot of toys when I was younger, but when it came down to it I loved just being outdoors playing with the neighborhood kids the most.

My siblings, parents, and friends supported play. My parents were the ones to get me my toys, of course. They always strongly encouraged us get outdoors and play outside though. My sister, Ashley, was just a year older than me so we would play together quite often. The neighborhood kids, Ashley, and I would play simple games like Tag or Hide and Go Seek. I also liked riding my bike around the neighborhood. Sometimes my sister would go with me but most of the time I’d go by myself.

I feel that play is a lot different now than it was then, and that’s only been about 20 years ago. In my day of play, I spent a lot of the time outdoors. When I played indoors, it was with dolls, puzzles, or game boards. According to what I hear from my students, a lot of time spent playing is on the computer or some other form of game system.

I believe that play served a purpose of just simply letting go. When children are in their world of play, everything else doesn’t matter. “It allows them to digest life and make it their own” (Almon, 2002). I feel that as children grow older and enter adulthood, the form of play changes. They no longer run around playing Tag, but move on tow “grownup” things.

Resources

Almon, K. (2002). The vital role of play in early childhood education. Gateway, 43. Retrieved from http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW43almon.pdf

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are an important part of my life. Whether it is with my family members, friends, pets, or God, it gives me a feeling of completeness. Being able to discuss matters in life and my thoughts with others keeps me “sane”. As a result, I don't feel lonely. Humans, by nature, show high interest in human faces and even know their mothers’ voice minutes after birth (Edelman, 2004). I have many relationships in my life and want to mention just a few of my closest ones.

The relationship I carry with my mother is strong. Despite all of the mistakes I have made throughout my 26 years of life, she has stuck by my side through it all. She voices her opinion about certain issues, but encourages me to make my own decisions. She has always said that it is best to learn from my own mistakes. I talk to her just about every day and visit with her every week.

My father and I are very close. I, too, talk to him about every day and see him every week. If I go more than a day of not talking to him, I feel like I am clueless as to what is going on in his life. We share a love for sports, particularly basketball, so we bond a lot through that similar interest. He also happens to be a pastor. Being aware of his knowledge of the Bible and his closeness with God, I confide in him quite often.

The last relationship I want to mention is that of one of my closest friends, Amanda. We aren’t related but still remain fond of each other.  We went to high school together and I went to college with her fiancé so we have kept in touch with each other despite going our separate ways in our adult lives.

Through my experiences in relationships I have found that sharing common interests and goals, being caring, making time, and having honesty and consideration with and for each other are the contributing factors to maintaining positive relationships. Without these characteristics, relationships tend to become a challenge. It takes time and effort to keep people in your life. A friend of mine just recently got married and had her first child. She is so busy with the new additions in her life and I’m so busy with my schooling that we scarcely talk to each other. As a result, I’ve felt a space gradually grow between us.

Having these relationships can impact my work as an early childhood professional. Within relationships and partnerships, comes learning. I can take whatever is learned and apply it in the classroom. For example, I have friends who are teachers and we bounce ideas off of each other when planning our curriculum.

Resources

Edelman, L. (2004). A relationship-based approach to early intervention. Resources and Connections, 3(2).

Thank You!!

I would like to thank each and every one of my group members for sharing their thoughts on my blog and on the blogs of their own. It was truly an experience that I have enjoyed over the past 8 weeks. I pray for the best in all of our futures!

Quotes about Children and Education

“Indeed, education without research or innovation is education without interest.”-Malaguzzi

This quote means a lot to me. It says to me, no matter how many years that I teach that I should always be researching and looking for new, innovative ways to teach. If I don’t do this, I’m just going through the motions.

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children.”-Nelson Mandela

This quote explains that a society is only as much as it treats and raises its children. The way we view children is the way we expect our nation to grow. Our nation won’t better itself unless we better our children.

Testing for Intelligence?

I believe that children should be assessed in all of the areas that affect learning. Howard Gardner described multiple intelligences as linguistic, logical-mathematical, musical, spatial, bodily-kinesthetic (movement), interpersonal (social understanding), intrapersonal (self-understanding), naturalistic (understanding nature), and existential (life and death). Once children are assessed, educators can receive a general idea of how to teach them due to what they are skilled in. The question still remains, “What is the best way to assess children?”

In Australia, children are given standardized tests to assess their intellectual abilities. This has known to be problematic because the results seem to never give a true result of the child’s IQ. Children are referred to as having an intellectual disability in Australia, instead of mental retardation. These intellectual disabled children have a 70 or below IQ score. Children that are below 70 are categorized into four groups: mildly (score of 55-70), moderately (score of 40-55), severely (score of 25-40), and profoundly (score of 25 and below) disabled. None of the formal testing is completed independently of other skills. The tests require children to already possess language or motor skills. Because of this, these tests are considered biased therefore inaccurate for the children who don’t have these skills or struggle in these areas.

Resource

Colmar, S., Maxwell, A., Miller, L. (2006). Assessing intellectual disability in children: are IQ measures sufficient, or even necessary. Australian Journal of Guidance & Counseling. 16(2), 177-188.