"My Supports"

When I think of the supports that I need on a daily basis, I think first of the support of my husband.  My  husband has always been my encourager.  He encourages me to strive to complete whatever goals I set for myself.  He loves me and supports me along every step of the way.  Without him and this encouragement and support, I would not be doing what I am today.  This support helps me as I seek to grow professionally but also by knowing that I have his love and support behind me as I work toward completing this goal.
I also consider my mother a support to me as she also encourages me as I strive to complete this portion of my educational journey.  She helps me by assisting with my three boys in their daily routines as well as helping do things around the house.  Without these supports in place, I would probably not pursue furthering my degree and I know that I would not be in education today.  I received my degree in education while I my 3 boys were 7, 8, and 12.  It was not easy to do, but because of the support system that I had at home, I was able to complete it and now as they are 13, 14 and 17, I am able to continue and pursue my goal of completing my Master's Degree.

I imagined my challenge being that I had moved to another country and was experiencing issues due to the language barrier.  I had the opportunity to visit Guatemala a couple of years ago and I got a taste of how difficult it was to communicate with people due to language.  I would definitely want/need a translator and someone that could tutor me as I strived to learn their language.  Emotinally, this would be frustrating as communication would be difficult.  Having a translator and a tutor would help as I communicated with others on a daily basis.  Practically and physically, I know that this would take time, but eventually, this would allow me to become a part of their community and gain that sense of belonging.  If I did not have the support of a translator or a tutor, I would become frustrated and probably would really never become a part of their community.  I could potentially become depressed and withdrawn as I felt that I would never really fit in.

As I write this, I think more about children and diversity in the classroom.  We are gaining students everyday that do not speak English and struggle with trying to communicate with others.  We need to be aware of these struggles and make sure that we are making them feel a part of whatever we are doing.

My Connections to Play

Quotes

"Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn." ~ O. Fred Donaldson

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning…They have to play with what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they learn in new forms of play.” ~ Fred Rogers

Essential play items -

When I was younger, I used to put on plays using my Strawberry Shortcake dolls.  I would set up a box and put on a show for my parents.  Of course I always had audience participation!




I loved to create different clothing designs using my fashion plates.  I would create them and then "sell" them to my family members.




I always enjoyed playing the part of the "teacher".  I used to sit and create students names, activities to be taught and would have my family and friends participate in the activities.  I loved to grade the papers at the end.

I am grateful to my family for supporting me through my play.  They never discouraged me from doing what I loved to do.

I feel that play today is much different than it used to be.  Children do not participate in pretend play like they used too.  It has become a more technological world for our children today.  They are playing more games on game consoles, watching more television shows, using ipods, ipads, and computers more now than ever before.  I would love to see more children playing outside.  That is something that you rarely see anymore.  I would like to see less time indoors using electronics.

Play as a child was less structured and more pretend.  Neighborhood friends would gather and we would: play cowboys and indians, climb trees, catch crawdads in the creek, ride bikes, play wiffle ball, and kick ball.  We did not have electronic devices like they have today so we had to be more creative.  I do not think that this was a bad thing.  I feel like I am the person I am today partially because of the activities and games that I used to participate in.

Relationship Reflection

• Relationships are important to me because that is what has helped and what helps make me the person that I am today.  There are several people in my life that I have a meaningful relationship with and am a better person because of them as well as being blessed by having them in my life. 

• My husband Mark, my three sons - Stephen - 17, Collin - 14, and Zachary - 13, my mother, and many other friends and family.  I also am blessed by my relationship with my Savior.  I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me.  Phillippians 4:13  I believe that with all my heart!  All of these relationships are important to me, but in different ways.  I am blessed by the relationship that I have with each of these mentioned and know that when I need any one of them, they are there for me.

• My husband, also a minister, is my encourager.  He listens to me, helps me, lifts me up when I feel like I want to give up, and loves me for who I am. 
• I have a great relationship with my children and they know that I am there for them whenever they need me.  I have always been told that I have the most loving and caring children and that it is rare for boys at the ages that they are now to still be this way.  I feel that they are this way because of the relationship that we have shared and continue to share over the years.
• My mother has always been a loving, caring and supportive mother and seeing how she loved my father and their relationship before he passed away has always been an inspiration to me.

• I think that communication and honesty has been and is key to all of these relationships.  Spending time with each other is important to me in building and maintaining a healthy relationship.  Everyone needs time together and those are special when it comes to forming relationships and partnerships.  I feel that a challenge in relationships is lack of communication.  Without communication, you are setting yourself up for a multitude of problems.  Find a way to communicate so that you do not create a relationship of misunderstanding or confusion.

• I feel that these relationships are also partnerships becuase of the level of commincation, support and love tht is shared among them all.

• I think that because of my personality and my relationships with my family, I have those qualitities that I can share with others.  My principal calls me "The Nurturer".  I take that as a compliment as I try to share these qualities with my students and hope that the families see this and hear this from their children at home.  I think that this can impact my work becuase relationships are a huge factor in the success of our children at school and in throughout their life.
  
                                     My mother and my oldest son Stephen.
  
  
                                       Stephen and my middle child, Collin.
  
  
                                     My husband, my oldest son, and me.
  
  

My youngest son Zachary and oldest son Stephen.

Note of Thanks to my Colleagues

Just wanted to say thank you for all your support and for the posts that you have shared not only through blogging, but also through discussions.  I am blessed to be able to continue my educational journey and am thankful to have the support of each of you as well as your thoughts and experiences on various issues that we may encounter as we look at early childhood together.  I hope to share again with you in future classes.  Good luck as you continue on your journey and I hope that we will "meet" again!

Amy McCoig
"Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart.."
Collosians 3:23

Childhood Development Quotes

“Play permits the child to resolve in symbolic form unsolved problems of the past and to cope directly or symbolically with present concerns. It is also his most significant tool for preparing himself for the future and its tasks.” ~ Bruno Bettelheim

 

"Tell me and I forget. Show me and I remember. Involve me and I understand."

~Chinese proverb

“Children are like wet cement. Whatever falls on them makes an impression.” ~ Dr. Hiam Ginnot

Children Learn What They Live

If a child lives with criticism, he learns to condemn.

If a child lives with hostility, he learns to fight.

If a child lives with ridicule, he learns to be shy.

If a child learns to feel shame, he learns to feel guilty.

If a child lives with tolerance, he learns to be patient.

If a child lives with encouragement he learns confidence

If a child lives with praise, he learns to appreciate.

He a child lives with fairness, he learns justice.

If a child lives with security, he learns to have faith.

If a child lives with approval, he learns to like himself.

If a child lives with acceptance and friendship, he learns to find love in the world.

- Dorothy Law Neite

Testing for Intelligence

When thinking about children as a “whole child”, and consider what should be measured or assessed, I think first about who the child is and where they come from.  What is their family situation?  What is their home life like?  Do they have siblings?  Are they healthy?  Do they live in a safe environment?  Are they being raised by a parent, parents, grandparents or some other person?  After getting a good glimpse into what their life is like, then I think you need to look at assessing or measuring what they know.  Through carefully observing these children, we can tell a lot about what kind of learners they are.   When children enter school, we need to make sure they are healthy and that they feel safe so they are ready to learn.  When a student feels connected to their school, they are more likely to stay in school. 

One thing that I think we need to look at is each child as their own individual.  Children do not learn the same way and therefore we need to carefully observe and think about how we can best meet their learning style.  Do they learn better through:

Ø  hands on activities

Ø  visual – pictures, graphs, diagrams

Ø  music – turn lessons into lyrics

Ø  interaction with peers

I think that we have to identify our children and include all types of learning styles when we are assessing or measuring the success of our children.  I do think that we over assess our children.  We will soon be testing our kindergarten children with a Brigance test, SAT-10 test, and STAR test.  First and second not only has the SAT-10 test and the STAR test, but also will be taking their nine weeks tests.  Third, fourth, and fifth will be taking TCAP, STAR, a 6^th grade placement test and a Math Common Core (CRA) test.  All these tests begin April 23^rd and will be completed by May 9^th.  I do think that we need to measure and assess our children, but I think that we may over assess our children to some degree.  Children are more than a test score.

School age children in Mexico are assessed by teachers who give examinations five times a year in each grade.  The tests must cover the national curriculum, but are developed locally.  There is a national examination at the end of the school year, and students who score less than 6 out of 10 on the test are retained in the same grade level for the coming year (McLaughlin, 2003).  Many children will drop out after primary grades (1-6) or secondary grades (7-9) as Mexico deals with a high rate of education failure.  Only about one-third of the children in Mexico who start school complete a high school-level education and one-tenth complete a post-secondary university or technical degree (Stein, 2004). 

References

McLaughlin, J. H. (2003). Schooling in mexico: A brief guide for u.s. educators. ERIC Digest,

Retrieved from http://www.ericdigests.org

Stein, R. (2004). Mexican and u.s. schools: A world apart. The Term Paper, 3(1), Retrieved from http://www.piton.org

Hunger: Stress on Childhood Development

As a teacher in an elementary setting, I have come into contact with many families that are dealing with hunger issues.  I had a student at one time that had been found eating from a dumpster.  I could not imagine what his life must have been like.  You don't think about stuff like this right here in your own community.  It was not long before this child was taken into custody and became a foster child.  That was when he came into my life.  This young boy of 6 years old had several problems.  He was developmentally delayed and was a sickly child.  He had a hard time relating to the other children and often played alone during recess.  He did not communicate well with others.  It hurts me to think that any child would have to go to a dumpster in search of food.  Families fall on hard times all the time, but there are so many resources out there that we need to make sure families like this know about.  I would love to be able to see this child today and see how he is doing and what strides he has made in his life.  I wondered if he was able to go back to his father or if he was adopted by a new family.  I feel that once he left that lifestyle that he would progress in some way, but have always wondered to what degree.  I do feel that hunger played a major role in his biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial development.  Through his lack of necessary nutrients, he struggled to fight of illnesses, performed poorly academically, and lacked the social skills when it came to interacting with his peers.

Hunger is also a problem in other countries as well.  Just like right here at home, there are children out there seraching for food in the worst of places.  I visited some sites that shared hunger issues as seen in Somalia.  It was shocking to see what was happening in this area.  So many children are dying due to lack of proper nutrition.  Hunger has displaced people, murdered thousands and has put half the population of Somalia in starvation. In fact, charitywatch.org states, “More than 12 million people are affected, with the malnutrition-related death toll in Somalia already in the tens of thousands before famine was declared" (Komukyeya, 2012).  So what is being done to help?  There are many organizations that are working to help Somalia in their fight for food.  Some of the ones mentioned are: The World Food Programme, Action against Hunger, Unicef, Save the Children and others, but still they are fighting to live due to lack of food.  Stomping out hunger is not something that we can change overnight, but over time, is something that we can strive to minimize through the help of organizations. 

Komukyeya, R. (Producer). (2012). Hunger in somalia. [Web Video]. Retrieved from http://prezi.com