Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

        Establishing Professional Contacts

At times I get so busy with what surrounds me, both personally and professionally, that having this opportunity to connect with other early childhood professionals outside Canada and the United States is an amazing chance to gain more knowledge and learn from other professionals from around the world.

I have had the pleasure of teaching many students who bring an abundance of diversity to my classroom. I also have the opportunity to teach many International students who come to Canada to study Early Childhood Education. We have students from Egypt, China, Japan,New Zealand, India and Africa. Some of our students in our program are also very fortunate to have the opportunity to do their last practice teaching placement abroad. I just supervised two students who completed their final placements in England and Italy....what an experience that would have been for them! 

Being so fortunate to have connected with so much diversity has been amazing. These connections helped me with the process of contacting other early childhood professionals living outside Canada. Last year I had a student who did her final placement in New Zealand and she had an incredible experience. I contacted the manager from “KiNZ Early Learning Center” in New Zealand and introduced myself and explained the reason for contacting her. I was so surprised that she replied the following day explaining that she would love to share their experiences with me. She added that if there was anything I needed in particular that she would help as much as she could. She expressed that they are involved in many changes and it would be great to connect. In her e-mail, she sent me the link to her program. https://kinz.org.nz/Kinz/Templates/KinzHome.aspx?siteId=4&menuItemId=122

One of my students who just graduated from our program in April is from Nigeria and I contacted her to see if she could help direct me to the path towards finding an early childhood professional in Nigeria. She explained that her sister who stills lives there is also studying early childhood education and that she will contact her and see if she can help. My student was so excited to have the opportunity to help me with this request….I hope it all works out!!

I thought that I should try and make another connection just to be sure! One of my students who just completed her final practice teaching placement is England had an amazing experience, so I thought it might be great to connect with them. I contacted the manager of “Daisies Day Nursery” in England and explained the reason behind my e-mail. I am just waiting upon her response.

Expanding Resources

Wow! What a great list of resources to choose from that not only enables us to expand our resources, but also our knowledge. I must be honest as it took some time to choose! J  The early childhood related website that I decided to choose is, “ZERO to THREE: National Center for Infants, Toddlers and Families.” I find that their website has so many relatable topics that are relevant and meaningful for parents and educators.  ZERO to THREE is a national nonprofit organization that provides parents, professionals and policymakers with the knowledge to nurture early development. Their mission is to promote health and development of infants and toddlers. Here is the URL for their website. http://www.zerotothree.org/about-us/

I was successful with signing up for their newsletter and I received my confirmation on Wednesday that they received my request. In my confirmation they explained that I will receive my first newsletter the first of next month! J

I am very excited to begin this journey of connecting with other early childhood professionals and building my resources. It will be interesting to read the different websites that other classmates chose and to learn from one another!

My Supports

                      

I have been very fortunate to have been surrounded with a support system throughout my life. I have had the support needed each time I was introduced to a new adventure, when I ventured off the path and needed to be pulled back, or when I worked towards a new milestone in my life. I have been given advice, hugs, smiles, suggestions or at times left to make mistakes and then given the support I needed after realizing the choice I made wasn't the best....without judgments! The support I have received throughout my life has made me the person I am today. Even though the support that I necessitated remained a constant, the type and level of support has changed and evolved with the transformations that were occurring in my life at the time. When I stop and take a moment to reflect, I realized that the varying amount of support from varying people was priceless!

As I became a wife, mother, and a professional, my view on supports changed as now I view myself more of a supporter rather than the one needing support. Why is that? I think that I began to re-evaluate the level of support I might need in my life when I began thinking about starting a new journey and applying for my Master’s degree. I didn’t have the confidence in my skills and abilities and thought that I wouldn’t be successful. The support that began to flood around me with not only encouragement, but also the push to believe in my skills was outpouring. I had to reflect and see if I had a big enough support system to help me balance being a wife, mom, professional, and now a student.....oh, and how could I forget.....house cleaner, cook, dishwasher, clothes washer.....! :)  Do you get my point! I thought, how am I going to be able to handle all of this and that is when I realized that I will now be the one who will once again need help. I remember speaking with my enrollment officer from Walden and he told me that we could write up a contract for my husband with all the things he will now have to do when I begin my studies! If I think back, I don't think we got my husband to sign it!!!!!! Since I began my studies, I have realized that once again, I do have an amazing support system! I not only get constant encouragement, but I do get help around the house. My husband is a great cook and the best at getting groceries. My son will come by as I am sitting at my laptop and rub my shoulders and he is always the first one to say, "Great job mom!" when I get my marks back. My daughter keeps me balanced and knows when it is time to take the dog for a walk when I need some fresh air or when it is time to go out for ice cream! Humor is a huge part of my life and the best support is when I can be silly with my family and share laughs together. The most important support of all is when we share our "I love you!' at the end of the day....that is the best support I need! I know that I have just begun this journey, but if I didn't have support, I would have had many more challenges trying to balance everything. I am not saying that it is not challenging, but without my friends and family it would have been a lot harder!!

Mild Intellectual Delay Combined with Anxiety

If I were to imagine that I had a specific challenge, I would choose the challenges listed above. 

I am not working at the same grade level as my peers as it takes me longer to learn concepts than it would typically developing children. I am working at least 3 grades behind other students for most subjects and I read 4 grades behind most children in my class. I also worry when there are changes in my daily routine or schedule and I get very upset when these changes occur. 

When I think about my challenges, I know I would want to be treated the same as every other child in my class. Yes, it may take me longer to learn academic skills, but I wouldn't want to be treated differently. I don't want my teacher to assume that I learn the same way as everyone else, so I will need the teacher to adapt her teaching style as I am a very visual learner and I learn better when the learning is hands on.  I have troubles keeping up writing notes or writing in my agenda, so having it broken down or having the teacher post the notes in our classroom website would be helpful. Spelling can also be challenging, so having access to a computer at my desk at all times with programs such as "Word Q" would help. I will also need my curriculum adapted to meet my needs as I wouldn't be able to understand work given to me if it is not at my level. I find reading challenging, so it would be helpful to have books that I am interested in so it will motivate me to read. I would also need plenty of praise when I accomplish a task and encouragement when I am trying my best. This praise and encouragement will help me to feel good about myself and keep my confidence up. It would also be beneficial if there was an educational assistant in the room that could help me and other children who needed help. It would also be helpful to have to have a daily schedule with pictures so I know what happens next. This schedule is also helpful at home so I know what happens and changes can be identified so I can adapt to  new things. Speaking of home, I would also need support from my family. I want to feel loved and the encouragement to show me that I can do anything that comes my way. When my family believes in my skills and abilities then it helps me to have the same beliefs. I may need a tutor after school to help with my studies and support with my homework. I also want my family to see my strengths and what I do well instead of focusing on my challenges all time! I have lots to offer too!! I am funny, a great swimmer and great snowboarder, so that should be a focus too! I just want to be loved for who I am as an individual regardless of my challenges. 

I couldn't imagine what it would be like if I didn't have a support system put in place. I feel like I would be lost as I would as wouldn't be able to keep up with the expectations. I don't know what my self-esteem or confidence would be like either? For me, support is what is going to help me be a positive and successful person. Everyone deserves support to help them attain their goals!

Childhood Connections to Play

"Every child should have mud pies, grasshoppers, tadpoles, water bugs, tadpoles, frogs, mud, turtles, elderberries, wild strawberries, acorns, chestnuts, trees to climb. Brooks to wade, water lilies, woodchucks, bats, bees, butterflies, various animals to pet, hayfields, pine-cones, rocks to roll, sand, snakes, huckleberries and hornets. And any child who has been deprived of these has been deprived of the best part of education."
     - Luther Burbank


"Play fosters belonging and encourages cooperation."
     - Stuart Brown MD

My memories of play are truly represented in the quotes that I found. I had the privilege of spending all of my summers with my family at our cottage where I spent the majority of my time outside. Our parents encouraged us to think creatively, explore and investigate, solve problems and engage in the inquiry process, and to share our learning with others. The learning that occurred each summer was so valuable....better than anything I could have learned from a worksheet.

                  

                                                                                                                   
When my dad taught us how to build a camp fire, chop wood or fix something it was "learning", but to us it was play. When my mom taught us how make crust for a pie with the berries we picked it was "learning" but to us, it was play. This play was meaningful and relevant to us, and we wanted to embrace each new skill. Even though my brothers and sister were older, they took time to scaffold my learning and help me learn skills that I couldn't do on my own, like how to put a worm on a hook, how to build the best sand castle, or how to catch fireflies. I cherish the play that occurred each summer as it was rich with learning experiences. We swam, caught frogs, picked berries, built forts, roasted the best marshmallows ever, and played!!!

We all have seen play change and evolve, especially since technology has become a significant part of people's lives. Children are spending more time engaged with technology than with nature. Children still play outside, but not as much as when I was a child. When my children were younger, they were always busy building forts and using their imagination and creativity when they played. I always offered them a variety of loose parts to incorporate into their play and you wouldn't believe how long they would be immersed in play. Now that my children are school age, their play has changed as now they crave the technology play. In a few months it will be summer vacation where we will spend our whole summer at our cottage. My children will have the opportunity to transition from the tech world to the world of nature as we don't have internet access. My experiences with play as a child has helped me to understand how valuable play is and the learning that occurs while children play. I ensure that our summers at the cottage are rich with play experiences......similar to what I experienced as a child.....where play is valued! My husband and I make sure that we engage our children with same learning opportunities that I did......meaningful and relevant!

Relationship Reflection

“Some of the biggest challenges in relationships come from the fact that many people enter into a relationship in order to get something: they’re trying to find someone who’s going to make them feel good. In reality, the only way a relationship will last is if you see your relationship as a place that you go to give, and not a place that you go to take.”                               Anthony Robbins

Throughout my life I have experienced some relationships like the type mentioned in the quote above where it was one sided, where the person on the other side of the relationship was there for different reasons than how I intended. It takes experiences like those to make us truly understand the mechanics of how relationships work. I have had to learn and gain the necessary foundation skills needed to lead me to the path towards building healthy relationships. It is challenging to learn how to filter out the unhealthy relationships so we can make space for the healthy ones. The array of relationships that I have experienced have all been amazing learning experiences which has truly guided with helping me to unravel the understanding of what positive relationships are. I know that will still encounter these types of relationships, but now I am more empowered with tools to help me funnel through them.

     

                                                                                   

Relationships have been very important to me as they have made me feel valued and given me a sense of belonging. I have gained and developed so many skills due to the positive relationships that I have made. Over the years, the relationships in my life have helped to develop communication skills, understand how groups work, how to negotiate, solve conflict, give support, have fun and laugh. All of the skills that I have developed and still developing have had a deep impact with my current relationships. They have helped with making me a better daughter, sister, wife, mother, friend and colleague. What else could I ask for! I still have not perfected each relationship as there are bumps along the way, but now I look at these bumps in a more positive way. There will still be conflict, but I have realized that conflicts are a natural part to relationships. It is how we handle the conflicts that arise. Conflicts can be win-win, but it is being open to letting go and coming to a point where we can agree to disagree and move on in  a positive way. 

I cherish the array of relationships that I have and I work hard at maintaining them. Humor is a huge element that I bring to all of my relationships, especially my family. There isn’t one day that we don’t share a belly laugh as these belly laughs help us to stay connected and build positive relationships. My relationships with my husband and children are ever so special and we work hard as we take to time to connect, talk and listen to one another. Relationships evolve and change, but we need to work with the changes. Since I began working on my Masters, my relationships with my friends have changed. My friends know that this is very important to me and there are times when I might forget to call as I am probably busy writing a paper. They understand and support me and we try to make time for one another so we can stay connected. They know not to take it personally as this change will not affect our relationship in a negative way, but just altered while I pursue my studies. 

What I have learned regarding my own personal relationships has definitely been very impactful as my role as an effective early childhood professional. In this field, we strive to build relationships with the families and I have been able to take those skills and apply it to the families who I have worked with.  We need to build trust, be open and listen to parents in order to foster positive relationships. Some parents may address concerns they have and we need to be open, listen and use our communication skills. My diverse experiences with varying relationships helps with knowing how speak with parents and giving them time to talk while I listen. This shows that we value them as a whole. Together we come up solutions or strategies as this helps to be positive while working through conflict and make it a win-win situation. Taking time to work together builds trust and value which in turn results in healthy relationships.

I have been so blessed and lucky to be surrounded by so many people who have made such a positive impact on my life. I cherish each relationship and work hard in maintaining them. Although the array of relationships I have may be different, they have the commonality of trust and respect and  I value each and every one of them!

When I Think of Child Development........

“Children aren't coloring books. You don't get to fill them with your favorite colors."   Khaled Hosseini       

This is a great quote as it reminds us of the importance of individuality. Our purpose is to guide and support a child’s development, not mold them with our ideas of who a child should be. We shouldn’t be “painting” children with the same paint brush in the sense they all learn or think the same way. We are reminded that each child does not come with a template, rather with an open canvas in which to learn and develop to their fullest at their own time and pace.    

“Pausing to listen to an airplane in the sky, stooping to watch a ladybug on a plant, sitting on a rock to watch the waves crash over the quayside – children have their own agendas and timescales. As they find out more about their world and place in it, they work hard not let adults hurry them. We need to hear their voices.”    

      Cathy Nutbrown

I love this quote as it reminds us that children are about the “sense of wonder”. To adults a ladybug on a plant is just that; a bug on a plant. For a child this lady bug creates many new wonders. They watch it crawl, notice the colors and try and touch it to see how it feels. Hurrying children denies them the opportunities to explore their wonders of the world. That may be a bug to us, but to that child it is like a new found treasure. We need to give children the time to explore the things around them. Children are naturally curious and learn through their senses, so it is our role to show some elasticity with our rushed routines and transitions and allow them the opportunities to explore. If we took the time to take a child’s lead and sit with that child and explore the lady bug together, we would realize that we are learning alongside with that child.

This video clip links with the lady bug quote. Watch for the child’s sense of wonder and see who is patiently waiting, not rushing the child as he explores his wonders of the world!! Enjoy!!!

This quote caught my attention as we have discussed this throughout this course. We can’t expect children to learn the same way. Each child is individual with different learning styles and needs. It is up to us as professionals to adapt, modify or change our teaching styles to meet the needs of all children so they can learn in way that fits their learning styles so they can be successful.

“If you haven’t time to respond to a tug at your pant leg, your schedule is too crowded.”                 Robert Brault

Just thought that I would end with one more quote that is more reflective than anything!!!

Testing for Intelligence?

     Assessments are an important aspect when working with children. Building on our observational, developmental and curriculum knowledge, we are able to make summative and formative assessments of children’s growth, development, knowledge, skills and interests. These assessments help us to communicate this information to families as well as other professionals. Assessment skills help us to create effective curriculum for both groups and individual children but also to assess our early learning environments. Assessments are intended to identify, document, support and promote children’s learning and development (ELECT, 2007). My role with assessments has never been targeted in the area of IQ testing; rather I use assessments as a tool to gather information regarding children’s skills, interests, development and how they learn. Gardner’s theory has been instrumental with the education of children, as it shows teachers that children can demonstrate knowledge in their own ways (Berger, 2012). With the tools that we use for assessments, it will give us information on how children learn. Gardner’s theory shows us that we should present concepts to the children in more than one way as each child will have his or her own preferred way of learning.

     The information from continuous assessments about individual children helps to plan curriculum and tailor interactions that responds to their strengths and needs. This information ensures that the program meets its goals for children's learning, developmental progress and can inform what improvements are needed to improve the program. Assessments also help to identify children who may be experiencing developmental difficulties and may need additional developmental assessment and specific interventions (ELECT, 2007).

Assessments on Children in Africa

We know that all children will develop and grow meeting the different skills and milestones at certain stages of development. With this, we also know that children will develop and meet these skills and milestones at their own pace and time.

It is important to recognize that developmental milestones can be different depending on the cultural background of a child. In an article, “Refining the Milestones: Assessing Child Development in Africa” it explains that some items in Western tests are not culturally appropriate for rural African populations and therefore cannot assess if children from those communities are developing normally (Trust, 2010). For example, activities such as preparing breakfast cereal, using a knife and fork, pedaling a tricycle and playing board games would be uncommon for children in rural Africa. A pink doll used in a ‘feeding the doll’ test can be terrifying to many children who may have never seen anything like it before. And some of the questions feature pictures – problematic when many children have never seen a book or a pictorial representation of an object before, let alone some of the more foreign objects (Trust, 2010).

Now, researchers from the College of Medicine in Blantyre, Malawi, and colleagues have designed a more culturally relevant developmental assessment tool to be used with children in rural Africa. Unfortunately, even with the tool, there are obstacles to improving child development in low-and middle-income countries. Many are limited in the resources they have available for screening children and for helping those whose development is delayed or disrupted.

According to the article, it states that tools such as MDAT will probably be used for research studies rather than for routine developmental assessments. However, it is an important development- the study illustrates an effective method for creating and validating a new, culturally relevant, assessment tool, and may aid the development of similar tools for other cultures.

     References

Berger, K.S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6th edition). New York, NY: 

           Worth Publishers

Early Learning for Every Child Today, 2007.  Retrieved from

http://www.cfcollaborative.ca/wp-content/uploads/2010/10/ELECT.pdf

Website:

Refining the Milestones: Assessing Child Development in Africa

http://blog.wellcome.ac.uk/2010/08/11/refining-the-milestones-assessing-child-development-in-africa/

Hunger

Whenever I hear the word stressors, I would like to believe that only adults are impacted by the different stressors that inhibit our lives. Children should be free to be children…they should be nurtured, loved, fed and not have to take on the worries of the world. How luxurious that would be, however, we are not so fortunate, as children are just as impacted by the stressors that come in and out of their lives.

One stressor that has touched someone close to me is hunger. Hunger was a stressor that played a significant role throughout my husband’s early childhood. His parents moved to Canada from Germany when he was just a baby and they did not speak English. His parents struggled financially and there were many countless days where he went hungry. He remembers not being able to focus in school as all he could hear was his tummy rumbling. At that time there were no “breakfast clubs” as this was seen as an issue for developing countries, not in our community. His preoccupation with his talking tummy labeled him as a child who couldn’t pay attention and couldn’t focus. The teachers never identified the true reason for his lack of concentration.  His experience as a hungry child has impacted him now as a father of two children. He goes above and beyond to make sure that all of their wants and needs are met.  This experience also gave him the internal motivation to continue with his education and obtain a good job, so he wouldn’t have to experience a rumbling tummy ever again! I never question our grocery bills as his relationship with food and the lack of is something that I could never relate to.

We tend to think of hunger as something typically associated with underdeveloped countries, but in fact hunger is a stressor in our own communities.  Poverty is a main contributor to hunger (World Hunger Education.) Without the financial means to fulfill all expenses needed to live, may leave at times empty plates on the table.  I have worked in many programs where the majority of the clientele were low income families.  We made sure that we provided healthy and nutritious meals rich with protein, fruit and vegetables as we knew that might be the only meals they would consume for the day. We even sent home left over food at the end of the day to families who were open to take it. In our communities we have the food bank, breakfast clubs, and other organizations to aid families who are dealing with hunger, but what about the developing countries? How do they deal with hunger? 

An estimated 146 million children in developing countries are underweight - the result of acute or chronic hunger (Source: The State of the World's Children, UNICEF, 2009).

Africa

"More than 30 million children and adults across the swath of Africa face a devastating hunger crisis." Hunger in countries such as Africa due to poverty, poor rainfall, crop failures and skyrocketing food prices make it challenging for families to provide nutritious food for their children. Everyday children go without eating the right nutritious foods puts them behind in their growth and development. This hunger due to lack of food causes death, illness as their immune systems are down which make them vulnerable to diseases like diarrhea, malaria, and pneumonia (Save the Children Federation, Inc.). We think that poverty causes hunger, but in turn hunger causes poverty as poor health, low energy levels, and hunger can lead to greater poverty as it increases the inability for people to work and learn.

Hunger around the world either in developing or developed countries will persist to be a stressor that we will maintain to battle as a universal issue unless we can put an end to hunger. Whether we are directly or indirectly impacted by it, we can choose to make a difference whether big measures or small!