Part 1: Establishing Professional Contacts

I chose to contact a variety of individuals from various countries.  Learning about child development in other countries something that I am very excited about and looking forward to.  I hope I get a response from at least one in the next week.  Here are the individuals I chose to reach out to:

Haiti

Step by Step Program / Tipa Tipa
Dominique Hudicourt
Email: tipatipa@hainet.net

Romania

Step by Step Centre for Education and Professional Development
Carmin Lica
Email: carmenlia@dnt.ro

 Armenia

Step By Step Benevolent Foundation
Ruzanna Tsarukyan
Email: ruzanna@sbsbf.am

Pacific Early Childhood Education Research Association
Dr. Betty Chan Po-king
20 Somerset Rd. Kowloon Tong, Kowloon
Hong Kong
Tel: 852-23396005
 Email: sannas@ycef.com

 Belarus
 Belorussian Parents' and Teachers' League "Step by Step"
 Iryna Lapitskaya
 Email: sbtbyst@openby.com

Croatia
Open Academy "Step By Step" "KorakpoKorack"
Nives Milinovic
Email: nives@korakpokorak.hr


Part 2: Expanding Professional Contacts

The resource that I chose to read through and subscribe to a newsletter from is NIEER- National Institute for Early Education Research.  The website is: www.nieer.org.
I chose this resources because it seems to have a number of things that interest me and could help me in my career every day. 

Some of the issues it discusses are:

• Assessment
• Special Education
• State Pre-K Evaluations
• English Language Learners
• Governance and Accountability
• Quality and Curriculum
• Economics and Finance

 

I don’t care how independent someone is, we all still need support.  Support offers us comfort and happiness.  This is a tough world and without support, the chances of failure are increased.

I am lucky to have people that support me on a daily basis.  The most important support that I have is my boyfriend, Matt.  Matt works very hard to help support my son and myself.  He works over time whenever he can so we have more money to do fun things.  I have been a struggling single mom for six years and finally have some relief.  He plays with my son and helps him with things so that I can get things done.  Going to school full time and working full time as a single mom is very difficult.  He is supportive of my job and continuing school.  He has taken my son in as his own and nothing means more to me than that.   

The other staff that I work with are also very supportive.  We work together and help each other out when we can.  If I need to leave early one day, I can also find someone that will take my place.  My boss is always understanding and accommodating of things that I have to do, especially when it involves my son.

My mother and sisters have always been there for me.  I talk to them quite often.  They are always there to listen when I have problems and help in any way they can.  One of my sisters lives in Texas.  She felt I needed a break, so her and her husband flew my son and myself to their house for a week.  My mother lives about an hour and a half away from me now.  I hate not seeing her all the time but she is always there when I need her.  There have been a few times where she came over to play with my son so I could get work done.  I can call her at any time and know that I will not be bothering her.

If I were not living with Matt right now, it would be a huge struggle.  I do not make very much money and have a lot of bills that my son’s father left me with.  Working and going to school full time is hard enough.  Plus a child and always stressing about making ends meet.  He is way more than my financial support though.  I have never felt so loved and understood with anyone else.  I can count on him for anything and by more than confident that he will pull through for me. 

 

My Connection to Play

 

“Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.” -Kay Redfield Jamison

“I still get wildly enthusiastic about little things… I play with leaves. I skip down the street and run against the wind.” Leo F. Buscaglia

I remember having so much fun as a child.  I was the youngest of four children and we were all very closed in age.  There was always someone to play with.  My parents of course bought us many fun toys, but they were more about playing things with us then spending money on material things.  My parents always let us explore things.  They weren't over protective and always telling us no and that we could not do things.  They let us be creative and think of fun things to do with each other around the house.   We spent a lot of time outside.  We would ride our bikes, draw with chalk, build forts, play baseball and run all around the house.  We would play outside all day.  We would only be allowed to come home to eat or use the bathroom.  We stayed out until bedtime.  I feel that play is so much different today.  There are multiple reasons behind this thought.  Technology has taken over the lives of children.  Yes I do agree that technology is an amazing tool in teaching children and giving them different options to learn, but there are negative aspects.  Some parents tend to use technology as a babysitter for their children.  A lot of parents are extremely busy and put their children in front of a tv or computer.  Another reason I feel this is happening is because the world is so unsafe.  There is so much crime today and bad people that want to hurt children.  When I grew up, my parents didn't have to worry about us being kidnapped or anything like that.

Ever since I was very young, I LOVED babies.  I always had a baby doll that I took everywhere with me. I liked to take care of my babies.  I always wanted the dolls that came with diapers and pretend food and bottles.  Playing with the dolls made me realize how much I loved kids.  As soon as I was old enough to babysit, I did.  And to this day I still work with babies every day.  I just can't get enough of them!!  Through play I learned what I was good at and what I loved.

 

 

 
 
 

 

 

 

Relationship Reflection

 

Relationships come in many different varieties.  The relationships that have been the most important to me lately are my co-workers, my son and my boyfriend.  I have completely different relationships with each of them but each are special and important in their own ways. They all work together to make me stronger and happier.  There are often times I disagree with what the other says or does, but I think that is how to make the relationship stronger.  If you care about someone, you will do what it takes to make them happy.  That does not necessarily mean that we have to agree with everything they say and do.  It means that we take their thoughts and opinions into considerations and build from that. 

Jordan is my six year old son   J  It is because of him that I went back to school.  Right after high school I got my Associate’s degree in early education.  After I had him I realized I was down a tough and lonely road.  I decided to go back for my Bachelor’s degree.  I made the huge decision to continue on with my Master’s.  He motivated me to keep on going.  When times were rough and I didn’t know how I was going to take on anymore, I just look at his little face and realize all my hard work will be worth it.  Nothing is more important than this little angel and I will continue to work hard to provide for him and teach him how to be a kind young man. 

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Rebecca is the teacher that I worked with for three years.  We worked with special education junior high students.  She is an amazing person and teacher.  Our relationship was very special to me.  I learned a great deal from her.  Working with special education students is difficult for anyone.  When you have someone that clicks with you and has very similar thoughts it makes it much easier.  We had the same feelings about our students.  We were always on the same page and finished each other’s sentences.  I have learned more from her regarding patience and sensitivity than I have ever learned before. 

 

 

 

 

 

Matt is my boyfriend.  He met me when I was a struggling single mother.  He has been my rock, my confidence and my support.  He supports my son and his biological father does not.  He accepts me for who I am and what comes with me.  My son is finally happy for once that he has a “family”.  We have story time together every night before bed and my son gets a special “Matt” hug and kiss before he falls asleep.  It is something that I have never had with my son and I thank God every day for Matt and what he has done for us.

 

“Playing should be fun! In our great eagerness to teach our children we studiously look for ‘educational’ toys, games with built-in lessons, books with a ‘message.’ Often these ‘tools’ are less interesting and stimulating than the child’s natural curiosity and playfulness. Play is by its very nature educational. And it should be pleasurable. When the fun goes out of play, most often so does the learning.” ~ Joanne E. Oppenheim (child development expert, author).

I have always been a firm believer in children learning through play.  Playing should always be fun!  In my experiences, children obtain more information when they don’t realize they are learning.  Play exercises the imagination and allows children to solve problems and experiment with different ideas.

I have never done well at taking tests.  I always dreaded taking any type of test in school to rate my intelligence level.  There are many children who have the same problems.  Children should be tested in many different areas.  Most of these areas should not be “tested” by answering questions on paper.  Children learn in different ways and often take different approaches in showing their intelligence.  It is important to make sure children are where they should be at developmentally according to their age.  I feel there should be a separate list of what children should be able to do at their age.  An example would be an assessment that lists what a six year old can do socially, cognitively, physically and emotionally.  I think professionals should take time to speak to the individual child and perform a proper assessment on each individual skill.  The most important thing is to make sure that each child is properly developing according to their age.  Speaking with the child will help decide whether or not they need extra help and attention. 

In African countries, professionals use a holistic approach to assessment.  The holistic approach assesses the social and emotional well-being of children.  African countries unfortunately see a lot of things such as hunger and disease.  The negative experiences can cause many problems for children, affecting their development.  Professionals want to figure out why a child is having problems and get them help.  If a standard IQ test was done for these children, a lot of them could have low scores.  The reason for low scores could not be because they are not intelligent, there could be many reasons as to why the score was low. 

References:
PEAR. The Holistic Student Assessment. (2014). http://www.pearweb.org/tools/hsa.html

 

 

 

I went to Catholic School my entire school experience.  There was not much variety in the type of students that went to the schools.  Up until my Sophomore year of high school, there was never an African American that attended any school that I did.  This individual was a male. He was a very nice and well mannered young man.  There were many students that were very negative to this student.  I am sure it was because they have not been exposed to any other race or ethnicity before.  He became very shy and uncomfortable.  He never attended any sporting events or activities.  He ended up changing schools and had to be put in counseling due to all of the ridicule he was put through.  He lost a lot of confidence in himself.  I have since spoken to him on facebook. He is currently a school counselor.  He says that is the best decision he ever made.  He is very grateful that he is able to help children that go thought the same type of turmoil that he did.

The experiences for African American Women in the United States can be very negative.  The effects can be very riskful to their health.  “FOUR YEARS AGO, researchers identified a surprising price for being a black woman in America. The study of 334 midlife women, published in the journal Health Psychology, examined links between different kinds of stress and risk factors for heart disease and stroke. Black women who pointed to racism as a source of stress in their lives, the researchers found, developed more plaque in their carotid arteries -- an early sign of heart disease -- than black women who didn't. The difference was small but important -- making the report the first to link hardening of the arteries to racial discrimination” (Drexler, 2007).