Sunday, February 24, 2013

Quotes about children



"Children must be taught HOW TO THINK
Not what to think."

 ~Margaret Mead~

"Character, not circumstance, makes the person."

 ~Booker T. Washington~
"Children are like wet cement,
whatever falls on them makes an impression."

 ~Haim Ginott~

















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Saturday, February 16, 2013

Testing for Intelligence

In viewing young children holistically, I think children should be assessed on many levels. Since there are many types of intelligences, a work sampling in each of those realms would enable an educator to gain a wider snapshot of what the child knows. Observation of the child in cooperative learning groups or at play will also allow for objective, specific notes which can be quite effective in documenting children's progress. 

 In England, children aged 5-11 are assessed at the end of the year and attain grades from a level 1 (the lowest) to a level 5 (the highest). The English Department of Education is trying to reform this system by instituting grades which will range from A to G and the end of the year tests will earn either a ''pass'' or ''fail'' grade in subjects such as math, science, and English. The DOE feels this new grading system will enable educators to pinpoint which students need help in any of those subjects. Opponents of the new grading system say that it is not fair to basically pass or fail a child as all children learn at different developmental speeds and that the government is not taking into account those children who are younger or in special education. 

 I feel that standardized tests are not a real measure of a child's knowledge. I was one of those students who could memorize something and spit it back verbatim. But did I learn anything? I doubt it. A true measure of a child's intelligence comes to light on so many levels and a test cannot measure for everything. The pressure on the school system institutes pressure on the child and children do not need to be stressed any more than they already are. 

 References 
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9324726/Primary-school-grading-system-to-be-overhauled.html
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Saturday, February 2, 2013

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

For myself, I had to overcome the stressors of environmental pollution in the form of second hand smoke. Both of my parents smoked, indoors, and my mother smoked throughout her 4 pregnancies. In the early 1970's, there was not much published knowledge about how harmful secondhand smoke could be to a child. I constantly hd a cough when I was younger. The pediatrician gave me cough medicine that I remember calling "the yucky purple stuff". I took this daily for many years.

When I was a preadolescent, it was discovered that the chest pain and heart palpitations I was having was due to asthma. I wasn't prescribed anything until I was an adult except the awful purple medicine. As an adult and an early childhood teacher, I always catch respiratory illnesses that are going around. I had pneumonia once and will have bronchitis at least two times a year. I see a pulmonologist four times a year as well.

Nowadays, we know the devastating effects of smoking and how it affects children both pre- and post-natally. Most parents will not smoke indoors and many pregnant mothers cut down their smoking or stop altogether.

I compensate for asthma by exercising, meditating, and see my doctors regularly. If i start to wheeze or cough, I use a nebulizer to try and clear it up. Usually this works but sometimes it does turn infectious.

I was shocked to read that Ireland had the 4th largest incidence of asthma in the world. The article I read discusses how helpful an asthma app can be for people with asthma and how critical a condition it is. About 50 people a year die from asthma in Ireland which is way too many. Adults lose time at work and children lose time at school as a result of this chronic disease.

Children with this condition who miss school will miss out cognitively on school lessons. Psychosocially, they might not be able to participate in all types of outdoor play or gym class thus missing out on informal social interactions at school. Biosocially their lungs will forever be weak and they too will become sick when respiratory illness is prevalent.  

References
http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/finance/2013/0121/1224329102389.html
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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is important to me because I see children at the Head Start where I work who, if they do not eat at school, go hungry at home. Poverty is one of the worst precursors to malnutrition. When a child is malnourished they do not grow and develop as they should because they are lacking in vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients which impacts their growth and development. 

 It is sad that this occurs in the United States. We are supposedly the richest country in the world yet people still die in our country from not having enough food to eat. I find that very atrocious. At my school we give our leftover food to some of our families because we know via home visits and calls from the social worker who is going hungry. 

 Malnutrition is very prevalent in Central America where "one out of every three children under fiver years is affected". (The World Bank, 2006). The countries most affected are El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. 

 When you have such disparaging poverty, it affects the whole country. Malnourished children do not perform well in school and when they grow up the poverty cycle continues. This affects the country's "economic growth" (The World Bank, 2006). 

This information will impact my future work because I never knew that malnutrition and such severe poverty existed in Central America. It is as bad as the malnutrition you see in Africa and yet you do not hear much about it. This affects my work because I have students from El Salvador, Honduras, and Nicaragua. I now know why they come to the United States - they want more opportunity and a better life for their children. I have always had the utmost respect for my students and their families and the obstacles they had to overcome to come to this country but now I am also very proud of them for it as well. 

 References 

 http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/COUNTRIES/LACEXT/0,,contentMDK:21161481~menuPK:258559~pagePK:2865106~piPK:2865128~theSitePK:258554,00.html
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Saturday, January 12, 2013

Personal Birthing Experience and Birth Around the World

What I remember about my first born's (my son) labor:  I was 17 years old (not married yet) and in a ton of pain! I remember that part like it was yesterday! After 22.5 hours of labor  they told me I had to have a C-section because I am very small and my son was huge. He also was in some distress after 3 hours of pushing. They gave me an epidural and wheeled me away. The next thing I knew: We had a son! My daughter's birth was quite different; she was a repeat C- section and we scheduled when she would be born and it just so happened to be on my mom's birthday. I remember more about her birth perhaps because I was not in such horrible pain. When they took her out the anesthesiologist had her dad bring her to me so I could touch her since I could not hold her. He was very much for immediate bonding which was really great. I remember crying the instant I touched her hand :) 

 For birthing practices around the world I choose Mexico. In Mexico, midwives attend only 50% of births. These are women and they are of the same culture and same community as the women they attend. Only women attend a birth in Mexico. If a woman gives birth in a hospital, the cleanliness of it and the qualifications of the staff could be called into question. You also have to bring your own essentials such as food, medicine, and soap. 

 References 

 http://www.midwiferytoday.com/international/mexico.asp

 http://www.oaxacaadvisor.com/uncategorized/giving-birth-mexico/ 
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Thursday, December 13, 2012

Ethics and Early Childhood


Three ethics that are meaningful to me from this weeks readings are:

1. “We shall use individually appropriate assessment strategies including multiple sources of information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal assessments to determine children’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges” (The Division for Early Childhood, 2000).

2. “To use assessment instruments and strategies that are appropriate for the children to be assessed, that are used only for the purposes for which they were designed, and that have the potential to benefit children” (NAEYC, 2005).

3. “When we become aware of a practice or situation that endangers the health, safety, or well-being of children, we have an ethical responsibility to protect children or inform parents and/or others who can” (NAEYC, 2005).

These three principles are meaningful to me in my professional life. The first one speaks to me because it is how I assess my students. I go their homes, see parents formally at parent-teacher conferences and parent meetings, and also informally at places of worship or community sponsored events such as carnivals and parades. I use observations to assess what they know but keep in mind that during play is the best way to assess a child.

The second one is about the assessment tool that I use. It is called the Child Observation Record or COR and is a component of the High/Scope curriculum that I utilize. I type in the data and “score” a child based on their developmental abilities. I then utilize this data in order to evaluate their progress and also to plan my lessons.

The third one is important to me because I have had children who were in danger at their own homes and I do everything and anything I can in order to rectify the situation. I know the DYFS workers in the county with which I work very well and know what is expected of me if a situation occurs. I know the procedures and if I do have questions I have a network of individuals within my agency who can guide me.

The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from
http://www.dec-sped.org/

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved November 13, 2012, from 
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf


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Friday, November 30, 2012

Course Resources

This week our class explored many resources available to those studying early childhood. Three additional resources I have found that relate to children, their families, and early childhood are :

http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/archive.html - PBS lists many articles about early childhood for teachers.

http://teacher.scholastic.com/products/ect/resources.htm - Scholastic allows you to search for over 2,000 articles in its data base for early childhood professionals.

http://www.lee.k12.nc.us/Page/8311 - this site has articles available to help a preschool ELL children.

The following are a list of resources available to me and my colleagues this week from Walden University:


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