Thinking of Child Development/Thank You

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but if you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives. - Clay P. Bedford

Get over the idea that only children should spend their time in study.  Be a student so long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life. - Henry L. Doherty

In early childhood education, children develop a love for learning.  This love it what propels all future learning forward.  These quotes reinforce the idea that we should never stop learning. 

Thank You to all of Early Childhood Development Colleagues

This course has been amazing.  Here we have learned about develop from infancy up through middle childhood.  I have truly enjoyed the discussions that we have had with one another.  This insight has forced me to think critically and differently about the development of our students and the issues surrounding their development such as: attachment, resiliency, and trauma.  I wish you all well within the field of early childhood. 

Regards,

Deirdre

My Supports

Sources of Daily Support and Their Benefits

God-provider, protector, and a Father that makes life easier

Family-emotional, physical support, and love

Friends-emotional support and extended family

Community-ensures all aspects of the above support systems coming together

All of these supports are important and essential to my well being.  Each plays both an interconnected and isolated role.  All are centered around a relationship with God.  Therefore, without one the system is off balanced.  Without family as sense of belonging leaves, while without friends peer interaction becomes difficult.  The community serves as the collaborative support of all of the above.  Without a community, how would friends and families interact differently with one another? 

The Challenge

The challenge that I choose was that of being blind.  A blind person relies on others for transportation.  Family and friends would be needed in order to aid in this area.  However, blind individuals are able to cook, feed themselves, and take care of themselves daily.  With proper systems in place, tasks such as getting dressed can be quite simple.  However, family members and friends would be needed to create these initial systems.  Tasks such as managing finances would require the assistance of a trusted family member.  How would the life of a blind person be different without these supports?  While service dogs can be provided to aid in daily life, tasks such as allowing someone else to manage the finances require trust.  How can such systems be developed without the supports of family, friends, and even members of the community?   

Assessing in Early Childhood

Today the focus in on accountability.  That is the ability of teachers to demonstrate growth in their students.  As a result of this, the education movement focuses more and more on standardized assessments.  Several early childhood professionals  agree that children should be assessed.  The question is, how should they be assessed?  Often times this manner of assessment is deemed to be developmentally inappropriate.  For example, as a kindergarten/first grade educator I feel as though I find myself conducting more assessments than instruction.  Is this the environment that we desire?  It is my belief that young children should be assessed through observation and authentic assessments or through producing a product.  Verbal assessments serve as a critical way of determining student progress as well.  Only then, with a combination of the above assessments can we get a true holistic picture of the growth a child is achieving.  A standardized assessment is only a glimpse into how a child thinks.  Nonetheless, some children are excellent test takers while others are poor test takers.  As a result of this, how can we ensure that the assessment is both a reliable and valid indication of a child’s progress?  

According to the Programme for International Student Assessment, Australia ranks sixth in reading, eighth in science, and thirteenth in mathematics amongst fifty-six countries (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This intrigued me and made me what to investigate their approach to primary education.  In Australia, children attend preschool-kindergarten between the ages of four and five (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This is not a part of compulsorily education.  It serves to aid children in social learning and introduce them to formal schooling the next year.   Kindergarteners are between the age of five and six.  This experience is categorized as transitional.  As a result of this, emphasis is not placed on this part of the educational experience (Wikipedia, n.d.).  This would lead us to believe that assessment are not valued at this part of the educational experience.  A few years ago, an Aussi foreign exchange student  informed our English literature class that they were not given grades.  Rather, their performance was looked upon holistically to determine promotion to the next grade (Personal Interview, 2002).  Will we ever begin to view education as a holistic approach as opposed to isolated evidence of an assessment?  If so, what strides must we take to get there.  I too agree that observations and work samples should be used to determine promotion.  How and when will our educational system evolve to include more than standardized assessments?    

References

Education in Australia. Wikipedia (n.d.). Retrieved from www.wikipedia.org  

My Connections to Play

Quotes about play and my childhood:

Play fosters belonging and encourages cooperation. 

~Stuart Brown

In our play we reveal what kind of people we are. 

~Ovid

My Essential Items of Play as a Young Child:

As a child, I loved to play with dolls.  Through them I learned how to be nurturing.  As an only child, they also served as “friends.”  My favorite doll was a Cabbage Patch doll that went everywhere with me. 

The model kitchen was also a favorite pastime of mine.  It was later passed down to younger cousins.  Here through socio-dramatic play we learned how to interact with one another and probably assumed gender roles as well. 

How People Supported Play and the Role of Play in my Childhood:

Play served as a means of exploration, learning, and reinforcement.  I learned how to interact with others, play alone, and how to experience the world around me in a fun manner.  My parents were always receptive to listening me play and often interacted with me.  As an only child, I often played with older cousins who would teach me through play.  From playing with them I learned how to tie my shoes, braid, sew, and even make peanut butter and jelly sandwiches.  Everyone around me supported play including interacting with my imaginary friend.  I now know that imaginary friends serve the purpose of teaching us how to interact with others around us. 

Similarities and Difference in Play Then and Now:

When I was young, most play occurred outside.  We loved to explore nature and run.  It was nothing like having the fresh breeze brush against our skin.  Today, most play occurs indoors.  Video games and television monopolize the majority of play.  People are also less trusting to send children outside to play.  However, children do still have imaginary friends and still play in a “rough and tumble” fashion as well as pretend play.  I believe that play still serves the purpose of learning and exploration.  My hope for younger children is that they are able to learn through play in schools like I was able to.  This made school fun, exciting, and engaging. 

Role of Play Throughout Life:

Play not only builds schema for young children and affords them to the opportunity to practice new skills, but it also allows them the ability to experience life in a fun and exciting way.  Adults often forget that play serves to re-energize us and relax us from the daily stresses of life.  Play later on in life provides opportunities to meet new people and experience new things, just as it does in childhood.  

The model kitchen was also a favorite pastime of mine.  It was later passed down to younger cousins.  Here through socio-dramatic play we learned how to interact with one another and probably assumed gender roles as well. 

Poverty

As an educator in a low income school, 95% of my students live at or below the poverty line.  How does this translate over into their academic lives?  What effects does this stressor have on them?  How do they cope with this?  As a primary teacher, most of my students are unaware.  Their older siblings however are aware and often times have to assume the role of a mini-parent in that parents work long and extended hours.  Since our school district is in favor of neighborhood schools our students all live around one another.  Since the majority of them are living in poverty, this stress is not as evident.  In terms of future development, children living in poverty begin to have experience lower performing schools as well as assume responsibilities within the home.  This can be stressful in childhood, especially if these responsibilities equate to financial stress.  However, programs such as: WIC, Medicaid, Food Stamps, Welfare, and Head Start help to lessen the stresses of poverty.  But in an affluent nation the disparities in income continue to increase as there is a significant gap between the wealthy and those living in poverty in comparison with developing countries.    

Other Regions of the World

Wikipedia (n.d.) states a third of the world’s poor reside in India.  Most individuals survive off of less than $2/day.  Efforts continue from the Indian government to aid in reducing poverty.  These include but are not limited to: subsidized housing, access to food, improving access to loans, reducing illiteracy as well as malnutrition, and promoting education/family planning.  As a result of this, children in India must experience poverty as a stress.  Institutions such as the Caste system still exist in rural areas and may deny some families access to governmental programs.  A lack of food results in malnutrition.  When the brain and body is malnourished, it does not focus on achieving developmental milestones, but rather survival.  Thus poverty experienced here impacts development in all areas socially, cognitively, and physically.   To date the efforts that were made as an attempt to reduce poverty in India still exist after being implemented in the 1950s.  

References

Poverty in India, (n.d.). In Wikipedia Online Encyclopedia.  Retreived from: http://www.wikipedia.org/

Immuizations

In developed countries, immunizing children is a common practice.  In the United States children begin to receive immunizations with a weeks of birth.  Immunizations serve as a way for the immune systems to build up defenses to foreign bodies.  In doing so, the person is protected in the event that they were to come into contact with the disease.  There are two types of immunization.  The first is active immunization.  Active immunization occurs naturally when a person comes in contact with a foreign body.  On the contrary, passive immunization occurs when an individual is given pre-synthesized elements that in turn do not require the body build up its own defenses.  This generally occurs through a vaccine.  This topic is meaningful to me in that many diseases can be prevented through vaccination.  Living in a country where we have access to vaccinations, this eliminates the spread of many diseases.  As an educator, states mandate which vaccinations children must receive prior to entering school.  This helps to ensure overall health.  Healthy children are such to perform better and lead more productive lives. 

In contrast, children in developing countries in Africa there are not many resources for vaccination.  Outreach agencies such as the American Red Cross and the Measles Initiative help to ensure that children have the ability to be vaccinated.  Vaccination in rural developing areas is difficult given the fact that many children do not have access to clinics and doctors.  Likewise, facilities are often far away.  With programs such as the American Red Cross and the Measles Initiative medical professionals are able to enter the villages of Africa.  It is here that they are able to administer vaccinations free of charge.  Poverty and lack of public funding make it difficult for vaccinations to occur in developing countries.  Support from world organizations, enable the children of developing nations to receive the vaccinations that will ultimately keep them healthy. 

Birthing Experiences

The Birth of My Cousins

Nineteen years ago, my aunt gave birth to my twin cousins.  As is common in being pregnant with twins, she was put on bed rest months before they were born.  Following going into labor, she had to have a cesaran section.  The twins were born three minutes apart from one another.  She went into labor before 38 weeks, which is common with twins.  The older twin weighed about a pound more than the younger twin.  They weighed four pounds 3 ounces and three pounds, 15 ounces respectively.  I do not recall much more about the birth as I was very young.  I choose this example because it was a special day.  While all births are special, it is always amazing to witness the birth of multiples.  At the moment, I knew immediately that our lives would be different.  I knew that my identical twins would have to decipher their identity from one another and that this would uniquely impact their childhood.  I knew that they would have to develop a way to coincide in experiences but yet have identify themselves as individuals.  Now that they are nineteen I see two very different individuals despite what genetics may say.  

Childbirth in Ethiopia 

Very few women in Ethiopia are able to get to health care facilities because of their distance or they are unable to pay for the services.  Most women give birth at home in an unassisted manor.  Very few women have access to prenatal care.  The facilities of which they give birth are not the most sanitary and often only have minimal staff. Due to the lack of prenatal care and birthing assistance, women who are in need of help during labor often labor for days at a time, only to give birth to a still born child.  Efforts are then made in repair centers to assist the women with any damage that results from childbirth.