Sharing Web Resources

The Global Fund for Children: http://www.globalfundforchildren.org/

The Global Fund for Children is an organization that envisions all children being valuable and sympathetic citizens of a global community. Global Fund for Children strives to provide the tools for children to have self-respect and pride that is necessary for future growth.  They work with creative community based organizations and the vulnerable around the world.  The issue that caught my attention from the newsletter was child labor.  It is estimated that 215 million children are involved in child labor around the world. 

Establishing & Expanding Resources

In attempt to establish communication with professionals outside of the United States I have e-mailed several different organizations explaining why I need to establish communication. I reviewed the e-mail addresses for early childhood professionals worldwide provided by The Global Alliance of NAEYC and UNICEF"s local organizations and representatives worldwide.

I e-mailed Early Childhood Australia: The Australian Early Childhood Advocacy Organization, The Canadian Association for Young Children, and the Early Childhood Council New Zealand (ECC) to establish contact with an early childhood professional. At the present time, the organizations I contacted have not replied. I will continue to email other organization to establish contact.

The website I decided to study is The Global Fund for Children. I choose this website to study for a few different reasons. The main reason is because this organization offers resources to the most vulnerable children in remote areas around the world. As well as partnering with grassroots organizations to best reach young children and youth.

It is a good ideas if the website you decided to study has a place sign-up to receive the latest news to sign-up I recommend you do. This will help you stay current with issues, ideas, and information.

My Supports

My family is the most supportive of me in so many ways.  My family supports my choices, ideas, feelings, and opinions.  Having a supportive family makes all the difference.  If I did not have my family to support me, I could not of accomplished all that I have.  As a child, my family was not very supportive, that's why it is so important for me to have a supportive family of my own.   Without the support of my family I would not be able to have the career I have, nor would I be able to continue my education.  It is the support of my family that encourages me to become who I am.

If I did not have the support of my family, I would face many challenges: emotionally, practically, and physically.  I would be overwhelmed, stressed, and unable to do the things I can with the support of my family.  As I mentioned earlier, I would not be able to further my education or be an early childhood professional.  Without a supportive family I would not have the time or energy to do everything myself.  It takes all of us to help with the household chores.  It is also important for our family to be respectful, kind, caring, and to work together.  With out having a supportive family I would not have what I need and want.  I could not even imagine not having a supportive family.  My family is supportive of me in every way.  Having a family that is supportive encourages openness, respect, responsibility, and strong meaningful relationships.  With out my family there is no way I would be who I am today. 

My Connections to Play

Creative play is like a spring that bubbles up from deep within a child.

Joan Almon
Contemporary American educator

Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.

Diane Ackerman
Contemporary American author

http://www.thestrong.org/about-play/play-quotes

http://thatsamorelikeit.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Children-Playing.jpg

The people in my life supported play when I was younger by allowing me to explore the world around me.  I was able to venture out into the forest and discover all the wonders surrounding me.  My family would take me to the creek or water and we would spend hours playing, exploring, and discovering. 

I feel that play today is different from the play in which I engaged in as a child.  I loved playing outside, building forts in the woods, digging clay out of the side of the hill, climbing trees, digging for snails, swimming, catching crayfish and fireflies.  Children today would much rather stay inside and play video games because it's too hot outside.  Playing outside is important for children.  They have so much to learn from exploring the world around them. 

Relationship Reflection

Stepping Stones Museum at Susquehanna State Park in Maryland    

Relationships are important to me because they needed for healthy growth and development. My relationships with my family, friends, and students are important to me. I want to provide my family, friends, and students with someone that they can trust and rely on. Positive and meaningful relationships promote all domains of development. I believe it is significant to have a source of security.

Having positive relationships with my family, friends, colleagues, and students contributes to the development. To have a positive relationship... we communicate with one another... we listen to one another...we share...we compromise...we negotiate...we are respectful...we are truthful...we are considerate...we are not aggressive....we are not negative....

Challenges are a part of having relationships.  My relationships are based on being truthful.  I have discussions with my children and students on the importance of being honest frequently.  Teaching young children how to be respectful, cooperative, responsible will benefit their future relationships. 

My experiences with my relationships and partnerships allow me to have the ability to be an active, reflective, and effectively impact my work as an early childhood professional.  I am a member of the School Improvement Team and the Parent Teacher Association.  I work with other professionals, including administrators, teachers, school counselor, instructional facilitator, and families to provide children with the most effective and efficient environment for their growth and development.

 

When I Think of Child Development …

Nature, we are starting to realize, is every bit as important as nurture. Genetic influences, brain chemistry, and neurological development contribute strongly to who we are as children and what we become as adults. For example, tendencies to excessive worrying or timidity, leadership qualities, risk taking, obedience to authority, all appear to have a constitutional aspect.

Stanley Turecki

Normally an infant learns to use his mother as a 'beacon of orientation' during the first five months of life. The mother's presence is like a fixed light that gives the child the security to move out safely to explore the world and then return safely to harbor.

Louise J Kaplan

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for all their support, ideas, thoughts, and opinions. I have gained much insight from you all. I am thankful that we had the opportunity to work together. I enjoyed getting to know you all and I look forward to working with you all again in future courses. I wish you the best of luck throughout your journey.

Assessing Children

When assessing children many things need to be taken into consideration. Family structure, poverty, homelessness, and nutrition can all affect how a child performs on an assessment. When using formal or informal assessments, assessment results should be shared with families, used to individualize and differentiate instruction, identify areas of concerns, and provide intervention opportunities (Guddemi & Case, 2004). 

It is important to assess young children to provide instruction which is meaningful, effective, and efficient. Academics, behavior, social-emotional development, and physical development: gross and fine motor skills need to be assessed. Assessing children can be done in done by collecting work samples, observation, using a checklist, anecdotal notes, assessing completed work / projects / assignments for skills taught. These types of assessments are informal. Assessments like running records, benchmarks, and unit assessments are formal ways to assess children. Formal assessments are the same assessment without any variations completed by all students. I prefer to use informal assessment methods to assess children’s progress. This allows me to get a complete understanding of what each child is capable of in a variety of learning experiences. Using different strategies to assess children allows me to check for comprehension of a specific skill of a period of time. Formal assessments are also beneficial for collecting data, providing individualized information which should be used “to provide better teaching, and accountability” (Jones, 1996). 

In Taiwan, high-stake standardized testing is extremely important to the advancement of students next level of schooling. Taiwan students standardized test scores determine if they are able to attend a high-status high school. To apply to a four-year college in Taiwan, students need to complete and pass a standardized test. Preparing for standardized test, Taiwan students spend many late nights at school studying. Taiwan teachers are less unsure on how to use the results of standardized tests to meet the needs of their students compared to teachers in the United States. Taiwan has an extremely high focus on standardized testing (Huang, 2012). 

It is important and crucial to remember when assessing children to use a variety of strategies to fully comprehend what your students are learning. Assessments should be used to celebrate student accomplishments (with parents) and to address areas of strength and needs. Assessments are a beneficial tool to improve and advance children’s growth and development (Grace, 2001).

Grace, C. (2001).Assessing young children.  Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://www.pbs.org/teachers/earlychildhood/articles/assessing.html

Guddemi, M. & Case, B.J. (2004). Assessing young children.  Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://www.pearsonassessments.com/NR/rdonlyres/FD21F054-A5AD-42AE-9A00-43878827FD76/0/AssessingYoungChildren_Final.pdf

Huang, K. (2012). Taiwan and U.S. education comparisons. Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://sitemaker.umich.edu/huangk.356/standardized_testing

Jones, S. (1996).  The neutralization of benefits in standardized testing. Retrieved on April 6, 2012, from: http://eserver.org/courses/fall96/76-100g/jones/