Sharing Web Resources

The website that I have subscribed to is Zero to Three. It is a great website with a lot of information for children from birth to three years old. Although I am a Kindergarten teacher right now, I feel that the information presented on this website is still relevant to my current profession.

The main reason this website pertains to my current profession is just for the ideas and suggestions on how to deal with families, as well as information on how to help improve family units. Many children in my class right now have younger brothers or sisters. Most are the oldest in their family. At home, their family unit can get hectic with a little toddler, a baby, and a school aged child. My job is not only to help the children in my classroom, but to also help improve family units in any way that I can. This website give me great information to relay to my families when needed.

Even though this organization is wonderful, there is always something that is going to be controversial to some people. The current hot topic on their website is titled, “Parenting from a Distance”. It talks about how children that are in repeated situations where parents leave are emotionally damaged and can be attuned to stress and anxiety. This can occur for a number of reasons, such as parental separation and divorce, hospitalization, incarceration, foster care, and military deployment or other work-related relocation. It then gives all the negatives, but did not give many ideas for helping the situation. I was surprised about this and made me somewhat dissatisfied with this article. Some parents cannot help what is happening during this situation and I do not believe it was fair to group them in the statistics that they presented. I was also shocked that they did not include any statistics for the main time when families were separated in most people living’s lifetime which was WWII.

This website is designed to also contain information from economists, neuroscientists, and politician support throughout the website. The have tabs on the main page that direct a person to all these different viewpoints. Early childhood sites usually do contain this information to give people the latest theories, research, ideas, and to help families become great advocates for their children. They can also find out who is going to make the best decisions in the field of education and child welfare.

I feel that with this website always changing, new trends and issues can always be found. The ages of birth to three are very crucial in a child’s life. With new research and articles posted everyday this organization is a gold mine for parents and educators alike. 

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Poverty and School in Other Countries

I have found two great conversation partners to understand two different cultures. The first person is named Heather.  She works for the US school system in Europe, but does interact with the cultures their and also knows about the different school systems. She has told me so far that in Spain and Italy the kids go half days Mon to Sat. They go home for lunch and stay home. This is for many reasons. The first reason is the emphasis on family bonding. The schools also save money on only having the building open for a couple of hours a day, and do not have to include “wasted” time in the school day such as lunch and recess. The children then are able to go to work (in older grades) and the younger children can help their parents around the house. I think that being able to go to school and work for these children in a wonderful opportunity to learn time management and also how to support themselves once they are out of school. They can also start their careers very early and progress quickly. Poverty is not very high in Spain because everyone is mostly the same economic status. They all help each other and live only in their means.

The second person I have been talking to is John and he lives in Cozumel, Mexico. He has been harder to contact since he does not have internet in his home and only can use it at the school when his time is slotted. He has told me that whenever a cruise ship or big groups of tourist come, the children are to leave school and help their parents in the shops or stands to earn money. Their whole schooling is based around travel time and the main way of money for most families is from tourism. Many people in the city also work at tourist attractions (dolphin encounters, parasailing, fishing boats, etc) because they know that they will have a steady income. He says that school takes place Monday – Thursday and his class roster is 35. He said on good days he will see 15 of the students. School is not a big emphasis in this tourist town. I have never really considered the idea of tourism before for these countries that are poor and how much it means to them. It is crazy for me to think about risking a child’s education like this, but the child is learning the value of money and social skills.

I have learned a bunch about difficult cultures this week and hope to use my resources to learn even more.

Sharing Web Resources

This week I review an organization that I have researched before. The organization is called Zero to Three. The organization’s focus is to train and support professionals, policymakers and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. You can visit their website at http://www.zerotothree.org/.

While viewing their websites I registered for newsletters to be sent to my personal email. There newsletters are monthly so I have not received one yet, but am waiting patiently! I was looking at their website to see an issue or trend that caught my attention. I found an article named, “Good Nutrition Feeds Healthy Development and a Healthy Future”. This article was about the reestablishment of The Child and Adult Care Food Program (CACFP) and The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC). In the article it showed research on the impact of child nutrition programs. The article states, “A young child who goes hungry or consistently lacks nutritious food or breast milk is less likely to grow and develop properly. In fact, infants and toddlers living in food insecure households are 76% more likely than those living in food secure households to be at developmental risk” (2009). I feel that this impacts many different families from around the world. In some places in the world formula is not used. In today’s society in the U.S., I hear people all the time saying the breast feeding is too difficult and does not work for a baby that is over 8 pounds. This could be an issue for families around the globe that breastfeeding is their only option. It also could be an issue for different people in our society that do not have money for formula. The article also stated that people that live in rural areas have limited access to nutritious food. This surprised me because I would believe that farmers that live in rural areas would grow crops that would be nutritious. I guess at the same time, there are only so many crops that will survive in one area. By looking at this data, I believe that more relief programs should be looking to support our rural communities. The article also quoted, “Because poverty is often not as geographically concentrated in rural areas as it is in urban areas, this method of reimbursement unfairly affects providers in rural districts” (2009).

 I can truly believe this fact.With this current issue happening right now, I hope that other people read this data and agree with it. Being able to give all individuals the same help should be a priority in our country.

(2009). Good Nutrition Feeds Healthy Development and a Healthy Future http://main.zerotothree.org/site/DocServer/Nutrition.pdf?docID=9081

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Hello and welcome to my blog! I am now in my 4^th class at Walden University and excited to start a new class, learn new information, and obtain new resources. During this class I will be reflecting on how education is set up differently around the world. To do this I needed to set up some contacts around the world to chat with. At first I was overwhelmed. I do not know anyone personally overseas that is employed as a teacher. But then, I remembered that we have the internet, so I did not panic! I ran to facebook! I put out a post to all my friends for help and I got 15 responses within an hour. This was great news! From there, I contacted 2 individuals that I thought would be extremely interesting to talk to. One is a male teacher from Mexico. Mexico has many different aspects of education and I would like to know first-hand what it is like to be a teacher there. The second person I contacted was a female that has works for DOD and has been many places around the world and has taught many different children.  I was very interested to see what she has to say. Basically, facebook was a life saver here!

Reaching out to other educators and learning about their education system has always been a passion of mine. I think this is one reason I choose the specific master’s program I am in. It is all about finding the best way to educate these children. Children are all unique and diverse. Having a specialization that helps me understand all the ways that a child is diverse can only help! I hope for all my colleagues for this semester to be filled with knowledge and understanding of ESL children and children from diverse backgrounds. 

The newsletters I bookmarked where from NAECTE. I felt that this was appropriate since I am a Early Childhood Teacher. I use to have a membership to this organization during my undergraduate years, but did not renew. I am glad that I am able to view their useful newsletters again. I would highly recommend joining this site!

My Supports

Having supports within one’s environment is very important. I have always been lucky to have such great supporters around me. I have a wonderful husband who emotionally supports me as well as physically helps by cleaning the house, cooking, etc. I also have wonderful parents who do the same things. I also have support from the staff at the school where I work and some amazing grade mates that help me get through the day. I also use a personal support of making lists for myself that include anything from what I have to do today, a grocery list, a homework list, to a menu of all the meals I am going to make this week. Having these supports make my life more Zen. It helps me feel secure and helps me to do my best at anything.

I know that some individuals are not as lucky as I am though. I came to the inclusion by watching the news, reading articles online, checking Facebook and seeing some horrible situations that my friends are going through. Yesterday I was flipping through channels and landed on MTV’s “16 and Pregnant”. I was thinking that if I was 16 and pregnant I do not think I would have all these supports and “the perfect life” that I have now. I know I would not of had supporting parents of myself getting pregnant. They would be disappointed and that would of made me feel bad about myself. I also might not be married today and have the support of my husband. Or on the flip side, I might have married my husband early (we have been together since I was a freshman in high school) but our relationship might not have matured as it has and we could be very miserable. I do not know what I would do about losing these two main support systems in my life. I would feel incomplete, sad, and depressed. I think that in the world maybe this is why we have so many people that are depressed. Maybe they do not have a great support system and in retrospect do not support themselves then.

It is important for every human being to have some type of support. It could be the support of working out and feeling good about them, it could be the support that a therapist gives; it could be the support and idea of knowing that when you get home your dog is going to cuddle up with you. Anything that gives a person drive and motivation I think is a support within their life. 

My Connections to Play

This week at Walden University we have been discussing play and the benefits to play. It made me think of myself playing when I was a child, and boy do I miss it! Not a care in the world, out all day all summer, and making up the most outrageous games with my sister and friends.

Here are two quotes that I think sum up play in ways that I could not say:

“You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation.” 
― Plato

“If you want creative workers, give them enough time to play” 
― John Cleese

When I was growing up I had my certain play toys that I love!  I feel that these twos things were essential for me growing up! Those would be Beanie Babies (first generation child here!) and any type of playground. I can remember spending hours and hours with my Beanie Babies!

                                                   

                                       

                When I was little playing was so different than it is today. My parents would encourage me to play all day basically. The only exceptions were during meal times and in public places like a mall or restaurant. They would let me ride my bike down the street to my friend’s house and stay there all day. They would give me and my sister big boxes and anything that we wanted to play in. My dad also created games for us to play with him and was very creative. My dad was the biggest part of encouragement for my sister and I for playing. When he got home from work every day he would play with us no matter how tired he was. He was always there and I looked forward to him coming home every day.

                Today play is different because of how parents act and how our society is now. Parents rarely let their children play outside without supervisor when as a child I could remember playing without my parents watching me. Parent’s schedules now are also different. They are busier with longer hours and more stress in the work place. Coming home sometimes parents do not want to play with their children and encourage solitary play for their child. Playing needs to have interaction because socially that is how a child learns.  Solitary play does have it benefits, but I believe most playing should be done at least with another person. I feel that without the play time that I had growing up with my friends and family members I would not be the person I am today. My creative playtime as a child has turned me into a creative person today. I hope in the future children are given the same opportunities for playtime as I was when I was a child. 

Relationship Reflection

Earlier this year I reflected on relationships and partnerships that are important to me. Now it is time to reflect again.

The first relationship I am going to talk about is my relationship with my Husband. My Husband’s name is Patrick and we have been together for 8 ½ years and have just passed our one year marriage anniversary. I have been with him through high school and college and our relationship has had its turn of ups and downs. It has also grown and matured as we have. Our relationship is a positive because of the support and love that we give one another. Patrick is always there to help me out in a tough times and not so tough times whether it is cleaning the house, grading papers, supporting me with my many hobbies, or being there when I need someone to talk to. He was a great friend, boyfriend, fiancé, and now husband. Our relationship had to grow and mature because of how we were growing. Being 14 with someone is different than being 23 with someone. We have experienced a lot together and I cannot wait to experience more with him.

The second relationship I would like to share with you would be my relationship with my mother-in-law. She is like a second mother to me. She is caring and supportive with everything that Patrick and I do along with everything that I do personally. She is a great support in my family and is always ready to help. Throughout our relationship we have grown closer and have bonded in many different ways. She is a great and strong person and I am thankful to have her in my life.

The last relationship I would like to share is not a relationship with a person. It is a relationship with my cat named Aspen. I have had animals in the past when I was growing up but I have never had a connection with an animal like I do with her. She makes me feel so comfortable and in her own way communicates to help me. She is my cuddle buddy and helps me release my inner child. She is even more special to me because this is the first animal that my husband and I have adopted together. She is like our child and gets us through the days with laughter and love.

I feel that all these relationships help my work as an effective early childhood professional in many ways. First, all of them are there for me in different ways. My husband is there for the active part when I have a billion different papers to grade and write a newsletter and plan the next field trip all before I have to go to bed. He helps out with a lot of “chores” and without him; it would make my life very stressful. My mother-in-law is there to listen to my stories and give me ideas on things to do with the kids. She helps out in many ways and supports me in my graduate school work while teaching. My cat is there is cuddle when you just need a hug type of day. She makes me calm and realizes that the small things should not be stressed over but the big picture is what matters. She brings me back to reality.

Positive relationships help out every individual. It is important to have many positive individuals in your life as a friend, guide, and companion through this thing we call everyday life.