My Supports

It is needless to say that God is my lifelong greatest supporter and second is my Husband. Without either one of them, I would be lost. It has been hard letting my guards down and summiting fully to them. Most people do not express that struggles they have letting it all go for God and I know women have insecurities about trusting everything in a man; so I will be the first to say, “I Have, I Did it and It Feels Great”. Building my relationship and trust with my husband was commanded by God. I thank God I have a husband that believes in Him and fear Him enough to honor the vow we both made to each other and to God. I know that without their support my life would be in tremor. It’s hard for me to imagine living my life any differently. I enjoy knowing that I am loved, that I will be provided for and that they will ever leave my side.   

 

My children, grand parents and I have the greatest support system. We support each other when we are financially limited, in sickness and trials. They are my joy and sun shine. We can go to each other to comfort or merely to joke and laugh anytime of night and day. We provide each other with emotional and spiritual support. I can share my happiness as well as my fears without judgment. I love the fact that my grandparents raised me and built that foundation for me, then I did the same for my children and soon they will do it for their children. It is these characteristic that families need to carry on generation to generation. I am blessed to have a family that sticks together when there are so many pulling each other down.

A challenge that I never wants to face is the absent of God in my life. He is the thread that keeps my relationship with my husband, children and grandparents together. He is the reason that I have the love and passion I carry in me to be able to change the negative outcome with children in my grasp. I remember the time that I did not care for Him as I should and He still breathed life into me every day. I don’t want to go back to just existing; I want to live abundantly in His grace.

 

My Connections to Play

“Play is the only way the highest intelligence of humankind can unfold.” Joseph Chilton Pearce

“We don’t stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.” George Bernard Shaw

When I was a child, my grandmother would force us to go outside every day after homework was completed. She would always say, “Go outside and burn up some of that energy cause you driving me crazy. When I was a child, as long as the sun was up, we played. All ya’ll like to do is sit under me and watch TV.” She was right, I loved sitting with her talking about her childhood. I was very inquisitive and asked a lot of question. But I loved playing just as much that she would have to search for me sometimes when the street lights came on.

There was no particular game that interested me more than the other as long as I was allowed to play. I can remember all the different roles we played with friends. Pretend play made me feel as a child that I had the ability to be anyone I wanted to be when I grew up. I would expand my play by trying things that I normally would not try when not in play. It allowed me to challenge my own limitation without the fear of failure because I was only playing.

Play is a self-esteem builder for the young and old. We are allowed to relax, let our guards down and explore. As an adult, I can remember every song, rhyme and activity I did as a child during play. I quotes I choose supports how I view play in my childhood and life. I created my most clever thinking during play and if I mature to point in my life that I am not able to play, I will truly perish.

        

Becoming A Friend

I have always been a very out spoken person that pretty much stated exactly what was on my mind but I am a person that love hard and will do almost anything for those that need it. I learned quickly in my personal and professional life that I made people feel uncomfortable with my comments and often prevented them to want to tell me things. I had to learn to modify my distasteful comments while continuing to be truthful to them and to myself. A close and dear friend shared with me how I made her feel sometimes with the words I chose but she knew that I was truly concern and wanted to deter her from participating in what she was involved with. My efforts were never intended to hurt anyone. I had to look in the mirror and do a self evaluation of myself and I did not like what I had become. I was willing to change and it has been hard; however, the sacrifice is worth it.

Even though I was a blunt person, I had lots of friends and love ones that I spent a lot of time with. Now that I have changed, my relationships have blossomed so abundantly. I can see the difference in my past interaction with my acquaintances and my present and how it has become a more give and receive type of relationships where they are concerned about me too. I guess I never allowed them to show me. I can say nowadays that I am a listener and consoler that have learned to allow other to make their own decisions unless they ask for mine. I receive joy in just having moments or occasion that I can share with someone without being concerned if I have said something inappropriate.  I am a social bunny that loves to laugh, love and relate with others. Relationships are important and it takes dedication from both parties to keep them together.

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