My Supports

My Husband

By far, my greatest support is my husband.  He supports me in many different areas of my life.  He supports me emotionally.  I tend to be an emotional person and my husband is always there to offer a comforting shoulder to cry on or listen to concerns I may be having.  His biggest support emotionally is probably adding some logical thinking to my emotional responses.  He also supports our family financially.  He is a planner and budgeter.  He is responsible for the majority of our family income and he also plans how to best appropriate our money, while always allowing some for some extra activities.  He also supports me around the house.  He gets home from work an hour before I do and he always has dinner started and my lunch packed for the next day.  He takes care of laundry, yard work, and the animals anytime I am falling behind.  Without my husband and his supportiveness, I would not be able to live in the wonderful area I do or provide as well for my family. I would be under constant pressure and stress to balance my school work, career, family, housework, and finances.  Having the support of my husband allows me to live a less stressful life.  He is wonderful! 

My Daughter 

Unintentionally, my daughter provides me with emotional support as well.  It is truly a wonderful feeling to know that there is someone who loves me unconditionally.  When I am having a rough day, I can always look to her to make me smile and forget about what may be on my mind.  She is a very sweet, caring little girl.  I’m so lucky to have her.  She is also at that age where she is working toward her own independence.  This new interest in her own independence allows me to have less work to do with her.  She gets dressed in the morning, brushes her teeth and makes her bed so I don’t have to do those things.  That is a huge help as I’m trying to rush out the door.  Without her, I would be miserable.  She provides me with constant joy wants to help her mommy as much as possible. 

My Teammates

I have two wonderful fellow fifth grade teachers at my school.  We truly do everything together to take care of our school responsibilities.  We plan together, share concerns and joys about students, and collaborate to be the best teacher’s we can be.  We also work together to make sure that everything is taken care of.  I know that if I need to be out for a day, I can count on them to take care of anything I would need.  It’s wonderful to have someone to count on unconditionally.  Without my teammates, I would spend a great deal of time planning and preparing materials to teach.  I also would not have that emotional support and understanding when the job gets tough.  My job would be a great deal more difficult without their support. 

Challenges     

One of the main challenges I see in the public education setting is autism.  Many children who are autistic are affected in different ways.  Some children are very high functioning autistic children while others are not.  Most of the time, these children have a special education instructional assistant to help them in the classroom.  One student I am thinking of in particular, who is not the typical autistic student, was also border line MR.  In this situation, she needed to have the support of an aide in every part of her day.  Her assignments had to be modified to her level as well as the reading material she was working on.  These supports allowed her to be a part of the general education classroom.  This allowed her to feel that sense of community instead of being pulled out of the classroom to receive services.  Many times children with autism have a difficult time socializing with other children and interacting with others.  It would be important to have understanding individuals around who understand the needs of a person with autism.  Another support may be an expectation chart of how the child is expected to interact with others.  After meeting these expectations, there could be a reward for the appropriate actions.  The particular student I was imagining was unable to meet the grade level expectations and was enrolled in a Learning for Life program.  This program will support her by teaching her the essential skills she needs in order to become a functioning adult.  Without these supports, it would be very challenging to function in a school setting as well as in the real world.  These supports provide the necessary skills to help this child become a functioning member of society.        

My Connections to Play

Quotes
Each of these quotes describe play as a doorway to imagination and dreams.  I believe that play for me, as a child, revolved completely around imagination and creativity.

Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child.

Joan Almon
Contemporary American educator

When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

Fred Rogers
American children’s television host
1928–2003

We all need empty hours in our lives or we will have no time to create or dream.

Robert Coles
Contemporary American child psychologist

Essential Play Items

While I had plenty of toys to occupy my time, most of my play occurred through imaginative play with my brother and sister.  We used our surroundings to create an imaginary world in which to occupy ourselves. 

Play was essential to my childhood.  Living in a rural area of Maryland, we did not have access to cable television or Internet until much later in my life, so activities revolved around my brother, sister, and I creating our own entertainment with what we could find around us.  We were lucky to have a large outdoor area and a variety of objects to occupy our time.  All of my free time was spent engaged in meaningful play activities which were supported by my parents and family members.  I was held to standards to achieve in school and complete my homework, but there was no forced academic work after school or during the summer vacations.  My siblings and I were provided with many toys in which to play, but also used objects that we could find around the house to make believe with. 

Play today is much different than play when I was a child.  Children today have access to so much technology, including computers, video games, and television.  Hours are spent in front of the television or video games, which can limit children’s creativity and imagination.  These items were not as accessible when I was a child and therefore, I had to use my imagination to create these images myself.  There is also a huge push away from play and more towards academics.  When I was in Kindergarten, (I didn’t attend a pre school) it was only half day and much of the day was devoted to play in the classroom.  I clearly remember playing in the kitchen with other children, which was one of my favorite activities.  There was also a lot of time spent at recess, playing and exploring outside.  I do not see hardly any opportunity for play in Kindergarten in the school in which I work.  The classroom is set up with tables and a group area, all emphasizing the importance of literacy and math skills.  The environment I remember from Kindergarten seems to be non existent in the classrooms I see in the public school setting.  I hope that the concept about the importance of play can be communicated to parents and educational leaders.  I hope that play can be incorporated into the school setting once again because children are clearly lacking the social skills that develop through the important skill of play. 

Having the ability to play unrestricted helped me to develop into the well rounded individual I am.  After reading the articles for this week, I understand the role play has in the development of both cognitive and socioemotional skills.  I believe that the skills learned through meaningful play are carried on throughout childhood and into adulthood.  Play is essential to developing into functioning adults.