Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

    This week, I tried to establish several contacts through the Global Alliance website, however every email that I sent was returned as undeliverable.  I then contacted several contacts through UNICEF.  I chose countries that I have a personal connection with or countries that have a successful education system.  As of today, I have yet to hear from any contact, but hope to hear from at least one country that I contacted.  I am excited about learning from an early childhood professional in another country.  I believe that everyone benefits when we are sharing and implementing new ideas.  I hope that I won't have to choose the alternative assignment and I am looking forward to gaining more insight into the early childhood field.
    After spending some time browsing the websites, I decided to choose the Children's Defense Fund.  Since I will hopefully be connecting with professionals from other countries, I thought I would choose a website that was committed to the well being of children here in the United States.  I chose the Children's Defense Fund website because of it's commitment and advocacy for children.  Children do not have a voice in this country and I believe it is important for adults who have a genuine concern for our nation's youth to speak up.  I am also interested in joining an advocacy group in order to be a part of that voice. 
    The Children's Defense Fund has a clear focus and many "priorities" that they believe need to be addressed in the United States, including poverty and children's health.  A main point made throughout the website is that in order to continue to have a thriving and successful country, investments need to be made in our country's youth.  As an educator, I couldn't agree more.  Politics come into play through the website as well.  They encourage investing in children's education and not cutting funds from the education department. 
   The Children's Defense Fund was created my Marian Wright Edelman, who was a civil rights advocate along with Dr. Martin Luther King.  I love how the group is continuing the pursuit of rights for those who may not be able to do it themselves.

If anyone has had more success establishing contacts or knows of a better way to establish a personal contact, I would like to have that information!
 

Issues and Trends In the Early Childhood Field

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.    

Relationship Reflection



Relationships and partnerships are very important.  As a person with an introverted personality, it has always been difficult for me to develop deep relationships with other people.  The relationships that I do have, have taken time and effort on both sides.  This means that every single person I have a relationship or partnership with truly knows me for the person I am and understands me as a person. 

Positive Relationships 


My Husband, Matt

                                               



The most important relationship that I have is the relationship with my husband, Matt.  We are truly a partnership in everything that we do, including parenting and the household.  Since we are complete opposites, we actually serve as compliments to each other.  Where I am emotional, he is logical.  Where I am a bit disorganized, he is the epitome of organization.  Having each other to balance the other out helps to create a very positive relationship.  Matt is always willing to do whatever it takes to make sure our family is taken care of.  It is an amazing feeling to have a partner so dedicated to the success of our relationship.  We make joint decisions regarding our daughter and share in each other's interests. While it hasn't always been easy, we try to live by the idea to love each other unselfishly.  I think this has made a huge impact in the success of our relationship.  In order to maintain our relationship, we both had to spend time learning about each other and making adjustments to our behavior and actions to compromise.  This was at times very challenging because often times we were on opposite sides of the spectrum.  We are still learning how to communicate effectively with one another, but never give up on making our lives together better. 

My daughter, Isabel

 The relationship I have with my daughter, Isabel is also extremely important to me.  This relationship is positive because it helps me to be the best person I know how to be.  I know that I am a role model for my daughter and strive to set the best example for her as possible.  I want the very best for her and, with the help of my husband, work tirelessly, to ensure that she is raised with good morals and values as well as an understanding of responsibility.  She is a very loving and thoughtful child and is in every sense of the word a "mommy's girl".  Supporting each other with unconditional love of one another is a huge contributor to our relationship.  Although she is only four years old, I do find some challenges with being a good parent and trying to maintain the relationship.  At times, I struggle with enforcing rules or helping my husband enforce some rules because I'm concerned about hurting her feelings or making her upset.  I try to use effective techniques such as communicating with her about the importance of rules and following directions. It continues to be a learning experience between all members of my family to function in a way that is the best for everyone. 



My group of friends

Another positive relationship I have  is with a group of friends I made in college.  They were all in my education program which gave us time to work together and get to know one another through several years.  All three of these girls share similar personality qualities with me and are all truly good people.  Although we are spread out in location, we all make an effort to see and talk to one another.  We are also very understanding about the fact that we lead very busy lives.  Even after months of not seeing one another, when we do see each other, it is easy to pick back up where we left off.  I know that anyone of them would do anything that I needed of them and I would also do the same.  Some challenges we have faced is time and location.  We all make efforts to spend time together or contact each other.  We are also all very understanding and don't get offended about time or other commitment restraints.  Although we face some challenges, it's wonderful to know that no matter what, I have a group of friends that will support me through anything. 



I believe I have a partnership with my husband.  We make joint decisions and consult one another about personal and professional concerns.  We work very well together and are more than just a relationship.  We rely on one another to make our lives successful.  I feel that my other relationships are not truly partnerships.  We do spend time with one another and work to develop and maintain strong bonds, but do not have a partnership in which we make joint decisions.  Perhaps as my daughter grows older, our relationship will develop more into a partnership in which she can participate more in the decision making about her life and our family life. 



My understanding of relationships and partnerships plays a large role in my work as an effective professional.  I understand that in order to best meet the needs of children, it is essential to develop partnerships and relationships with families.  Through understanding my own relationships, I know that it is difficult for me to build relationships, so in order to be an effective professional, I need to develop strategies to be more extroverted and open to building and exploring new relationships.  Through all of my relationships, I realize just how important communication is to maintain these relationships.  Communication is also essential to a positive relationship with children, parents, and families. The main characteristic I saw that set a partnership apart from a relationship was joint decision making.  This is very important to being an effective professional because I want to incorporate parents and families in the educational decisions concerning their child.  Pulling from my own personal experiences with relationships and partnerships will allow me to be a more effective early childhood professional.     

Quotes About Children

"I continue to believe that if children are given the necessary tools to succeed, they will succeed beyond their wildest dreams!"

- David Vitter, U.S. senator

"Children are likely to live up to what you believe of them."

- Lady Bird Johnson, former U.S. first lady

Testing

Standardized tests are a reality in the public school systems in the United States.  Children prepare the entire year in order to pass the standardized test.  Children get further away from exploration and play and focus on developing skills in order to pass the test.  Standardized tests are often biased, meaning that some children don't have the experiences or background understanding in order to comprehend what the test questions are asking.  This is unfair as it is supposed to be assessing skills, but instead is assessing background knowledge or understanding.  Often the math tests also become a reading test, requiring the children to read in order to demonstrate understanding of a math skill. 

Tests among states also have different standards.  The assessment taken in Maryland (MSA) is not the same assessment that is used in Mississippi or California.  Therefore, a child that is considered proficient in Mississippi is not necessarily considered proficient in Maryland.  If standardized testing is required, states should adopt national assessments or standards to hold all children and educators accountable at the same level. 

I don't agree with the use of high stakes testing because of the reasons mentioned above.  I do feel that children need to be assessed in academics (math, reading, social studies, sciences).  In order for our country to be competitive in today's economy and with other countries, math, science, and technology need to have a huge emphasis.  This can be achieved however, without the use of standardized testing.  Assessments need to be used in order for children to demonstrate their independent understanding and as a tool for educators to use in order to continue developing the children. 

I researched education in Finland.  Finland incorporates play and learning to help master academic knowledge.  They also emphasize optimal learning environments and establish content to best help students reach their instructional goals.  Instruction is the key element that helps students learn, not standards or assessments.  Finland also encourages and helps build strong, educated teachers.  Nutrition, health services, psychological counseling, and guidance are regular elements of every school.  The educational community in Finland is unconvinced that high-stakes testing increases student learning, but the Ministry of Education has introduced new measurements for schools and teachers where they are assessed and rewarded or sanctioned for performance. 

Source: 
Sahlberg, P. (2009).  A short history of educational reform in Finland.