When I Think of Child Development

Yes, I am unique. I am beauty and I am smart.

 I am loved beyond measure.

 I have hopes and dreams. I can accomplish anything.

 I have the ability and confidence to learn, engage in play, explore,

build relationships and face the world.

 I am secure and supported.

Yes, I believe in me because you taught me.

Written by Katrice Harris

Thanks You from the Bottom of My Heart

I have received great support, ideals, resources and feedback from a lot of my colleagues during this course. Even with the years of experience, there are times that I felt that I have tried every resource I have to reach a child. You have been a supportive colleague that has extended your hand to lift my hopes and gave me the strength to keep going by supplying me with your concern and suggestions. This experience to communicate and be social with fellow educators has been wonderful. It is expiring to hear all the glorious things we are during for children all around the world. Hats off to all my fellow classmates of 6160; I pray that this journey fills you life with wisdom, knowledge and a greater opportunity to affectively influence a positive change in every child and family you teach. Thank you all



Assessments: What is the right approach?

 All week we have been studying that children learn from exploration, experiences and maturity. I believe the problem is that our testes do not reflect any of these areas. Our tests only measure our knowledge of academics and not over all knowledge. Sometimes they are so complex. Most of our theories prove that children learn through play; yet, we have not designed a test that allows children to play while being tested. It is easy for children to follows rules to games and implement them without having to be reminded what the rules are. Children easily adapt to quick changes in rules of games and learn different strategies to win the game. Games keep children using and building their thinking and problem solving abilities while engaged in physical activities.

I believe if we revisit how testes are administered by making them active and engaging we may see better results. And if we provide questions that allow children to relate to their culture, beliefs, experiences, and surroundings while blending knowledge of academics, we may see the true measurement of the IQ’s of our children. No one child is the same, thinks the same, learn the same or test the same. We need a more diverse and active test. “Learning the tool skills of reading, writing, arithmetic and computers brings work to the forefront. But play and love are still important. Children make the most progress when all three dispositions (play, love, work) are involved in their learning and instruction” (Elkind, 2007, pg. 121).

Europe

In Europe, I found an article called Re-assessing the current assessment practice of children with special education needs in Europe. They are reviewing how their children are being assessed and if it is affective testing especially for the special need children. There tests were primarily used only to determine if a child should be placed in a special needs classroom or school. The test did not provide them with opportunities to follow up on areas that showed weakness. Europe used the same standardized test that we use in the United States. These results are very similar to the findings that our test revealed. Studies are being done to fine a more effective way to assess children in Europe.  

References

Elkind, D. P. (2007). The Power of Play. Cambridge: Da Capo Press.

Sage Journal s, Re-assessing the current assessment practice of children with special education needs in Europe. Retrieved 02/11/2012.@ http://spi.sagepub.com/content/early/2011/07/12/0143034311409975

Violence

Because of life’s unexpected circumstances at the age of 8, my younger brother and I were blessed to move in with our fraternal grandparents Jimmy and Mary Ray. My grandparents worked very hard as a team to keep a strong connection with our mother with the help of Emma Jones my material grandmother. They all ways wanted us to know that our mother loved us but was not able to properly care for us because of her sickness. How blessed my brother and I were to have so many people loving and providing for us despite our need of able parents in our lives. We were raised in an environment of love, support, encouragement, discipline and religion. We had everything that we needed except for our father active in our lives.

At the age of thirteen, my father began to come around and wanted to spend time with us. My brother had no interest at all but I want to get to know him. It’s every little girl dream to be a daddy’s girl. My father was a very handsome, well groomed, muscularly man; and every time he came to visit there were always different women with him. One day he came along and wanted me to take a ride with him. He took me to the homes of most of his women. He charmed them then he would flip the script and hell at them and beat them.

I had never been around anything like that. I had seen violence on TV but that was a pretend world to me. I was scared to death and wanted so badly to go home. Home after home; he did the same thing to each woman. With a few of them, he would start the beatings first then love on them after. I could not believe what I was seeing. I thought I was in a nightmare that would not let me wake up. I was to frighten to ask to go home because he my get mad and beat me. So I sat there; powerless.

On the way home my father stopped the car. Look over and said, “Baby…if a man really love you, he will never treat you the way you saw me treat them. That’s not love. Stay away from men like that. They don’t care anything about you.” He reached over hugged me very hard, kissed me on the forehead and took me home. Before I got out he said, “Daddy loves you." He never let me see that side of him again. That lesson had been taught and learned very well.

Even though I was not abused by him, the abuse and volience he exposed me to damaged me and my view I had on men as a whole. I believe he thought that his "stupid and brutial act" was his way of protecting me from violence by exposing me to it firsthand. What an awful and cruel thing to do; especially to a child. It is hard for me to imagine that children have experienced that type of abuse or live in an environment where violence is an everyday occurrence. I am 44 years old and I still sense that anxiety and fear from that day so many years age. If it had not been for my grandparents instilling positive things in my life, that experience alone could have changed my life outcome dramatically.

Violence in Japan

There has been an enormous increase of reports of violence committed by youth in Japan. A girl at the age of 11 has killed a 12 year old girl with a box cutter at school. A 14 year old boy decapitated a 11 year older on school grounds; he left the boys head at the entrance of the schools gate for everyone to see. There were 29,300 reports of violence committed by children on Japanese schoolyards in 2002. Japan feels that the children are getting these ideals of violence from video games, movies or TV; media. When interviewing the 11 year, they found out that “Battle Royale” was one of her favorite games. This game was once a movie that became an internet game where children kill their classmates in vicious ways.

It is not really clear way children in Japan have become participates of such crimes; the children are not showing any signs of being troubled nor are they showing remorse. “In many of the cases, the children involved seemed to snap without warning, in fits of kireru, sudden acts of rage.” (Failoa, 2004) Are they snapping or are they merely acting out want we as a nation have allowed them to be exposed too. Have we taught them through our media system that violence and outrageous behavior is a part our everyday world? Japan has lowered the age to prosecute a minor to the age of 14 to eliminate any more violence from children.  

Reference

Faiola, A. (2004, August 9). Youth Violence Has Japan Struggling for Answers. Retrieved January 27, 2012, from Washington Post Foreign Service: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50678-2004Aug8.html

Healthy Water

Access to healthy water

It is important to have access to healthy water. Our body is two third of water, brain is made of 95%, blood is 82% and the lungs is 90%. If a child or adult is exposed to unclean water it will affect their immune system. There are parasites that can live in water that will attack your immune system.  If children are behind on immunization it will be very hard to fight of the parasites. There are certain agents that are intentionally put in the water that may also affect us and our children in good and bad ways. Clorite can cause infant and young children to suffer from anemia and damage the nervous system, lead can cause delay in physical and mental development and Nitrate or Nitrite can cause an infant to six month old child to die or suffer a serious illness. All three of these can be found in what they call clean water.  

Even though there are more resources of clean water in America, there are still areas in our country that use wells, ponds and springs to get their water. As parents and educators, we need to provide our children with proper nutrition, immunization, safe healthy environment and love because there are so many things that can affect us that were are not aware of. Our children need a fighting chance.

  

Haiti

After two years Haiti and the American Red Cross is still trying to rebuild their country after the earthquake disaster. Haiti is still working hard to provide housing, water and sanitation units for a half million people who are still living in tent community’s camps. 660,000 gallons of clean water is being delivered daily for drinking, cooking and bathing in these camps by trucks. Even with their efforts to provide clean water, children and their families was still exposed to a break out of cholera. Cholera is an infection in the small intestines.  The infection is transmitted through the consumption of feces contaminated water and food.  The break out is now under control.

Haiti’s was already considers one of the poorest country. Before that earthquake, people earned 2 dollars a day and only half of the people had previous access to clean water. Most likely the presents of disease were already spreading but it was addressed until volunteer doctors and nurses came.

Some of the communities are now using community-managed water kiosts in neighborhoods that are still not connected to piped water supply. Millions of dollars are being spent on just supplying clean water. Children are presented with a greater access to clean healthy water and housing. Even though the earthquake presented a great disaster, it’s clean up efforts has improved the living conditions of the children and their families.

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers    

American Red Cross, Retrieved Jan. 13, 2011 fromhttp://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.86f46a12f382290517a8f210b80f78a0/?vgnextoid=f326d3db31b36210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

APEC Water, How do Water contaminants relate to health effects?  Retrived Jan. 13, 2012 from http://www.freedrinkingwater.com/water-education/water-contaminants-health-effects.htm

Birth in China

In China, there are a lot of superstition beliefs of the does and don’ts of pregnant women. The mother and father participate in a tradition to eat certain foods so that can ensure desired sex of child. They must avoid the presents of foul language because it will curse the baby and invoke demons.  If there are any deformations of the baby it is blamed strictly on the mother. They do not encourage the mother to physically interact with her fetus because it will cause the child to become too demanding for attention.

After birth, the age of babies is considered same as the months the mother carried them. For example, if the child is born in the mother’s 7 month the child is 7months. Words of praise to babies are not encouraged because it is believed to summons evil. We all have superstition and traditions that makes us different from other nations or cultures.    

There are a few similarities in our different cultures. Their women are encouraged to work and eat nutritionally so that they will have an easy labor. The community gathers to celebrate the arrival of the new member of the family with relatives and friends.

Reference

Baby and birth in China, Retrieved Jan, 8, 2012 from                                                                                                                   http://www.4panda.com/chinatips/culture/baby.htm

My First Born

I can remember the long hours of labor that I endured and other complications that followed. But my only true concern was my baby, not myself. I began to wonder if I did my best; if the areas that I lacked in was the cause of the delay of her birth. So many things go on in my head of all the many things I could have done better when presented in this crises. Now time is out, my anxiety is building and I began to pray.

Heavily sedated I hear the words, “It’s a Girl” then I wait for the sound of her cry. Now if I can just see her, count her fingers and toes and introduce myself to her, my worries will be over. I had always been told the stories of child birth and how it was important to look for those things. I did not know all the things I have learned about in our first week of class about the embryonic stages and how her brain development could have been affected or damaged. I realized how blessed I am that she was fine inside and out.

Reference

 Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York,
              NY:Worth Publishers.

End of EDCU 6005-7 Foundation: Early Childhood Studies

The beginning of this journey to my Master has been very enlightening. I have enjoyed the support, encouragement, positive criticism and resources provided from Walden and fellow colleagues.  I truly believe that I have made an excellent choice by choosing Walden.  It is great to have access to so many educators with the same goal in mind of becoming qualified early childhood educators. I wish you all well in your journey. Talk to you in the next course