Looking abroad... finding a professional contact

Finding a professional contact in another country seems to be more difficult than I thought.  I have e-mailed over 10 people with different organizations and counties.  I used the Global Alliance and UNICEF websites.  I have not made any contacts yet, but feel I might be able to find something in a week or two.  Dr. Dartt also gave me some names of other contacts I might be able to make.  I have also e-mailed professors from my undergraduate degree to see if they might be able to lead me in a certain direction.


I really like the idea of this assignment and I hope that I am able to make some contacts to learn more about early childhood in other countries and more specifically special education.  When I was in my undergraduate I worked with a professor to learn more about special education preschool services in India.  I choose other Asian countries so that I could try and compare. 

I will be looking at the zero to three organization.  I picked this organization because I have used it before and after talking with my mother, who is a birth to five pre-school coordinator, she recommended that I could get a lot out of this site.

http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/

My Supports

Since I am on summer break and only teaching extended school year two days a week my supports look a little different.  My alarm clock is less fequently used (and that makes me happy) and I use my car less, which are huge supports during the school year. 

My biggest support each day is my boyfriend and dog.  My boyfriend, Blake, provides me with the emotional support that I need each and every day.  He always has is listening ears and is willing to listen to my venting while I try and figure out what to do at school or how to handle a particular behavior.  I know that he doesn't understand everything that I talk about, but he does pretend rather well.  My other daily support is my dog, he is my unconditional love and even when I feel lonely I have him and I can always walk with him or take him to the park, which gives me something to do. 

Other supports that I need are a computer (with internet), my phone so I can talk with family and friends.  I also use lists to make sure I accomplish everything I need to get done. I also write all the directions down for our class because it helps me understand the questions being asked better (even though it is time consuming). 

If I didn't have these things I think that I would be lonely with out my boys and it would be vary hard to complete a online graduate degree without a computer and internet.  I would have to reevaluate how I would get my masters.

Hypothetical situation:
My computer broke during my graduate program.  My computer is my lifeline to my graduate classes and if it broke I would have to get very creative.  It would be difficult to feel like I could exist without a computer to complete all my school work (but I do know that I would be just fine).  If it did break other supports would come into place, I would use the public library more frequently and probably stay at work longer to work on school work. I would be a benefit to have each of these supports. The obstacles would be I would have to budget my time better, especially in the school year.  It would be more inconvenient but manageable.

My Connections to Play

"Play is training for the unexpected."

Marc Bekoff
Contemporary American biologist

"When children pretend, they’re using their imaginations to move beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magic wand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero."

Fred Rogers
American children’s television host
1928–2003

My beloved American girl doll.  I was 8 when I got her for Christmas.  Yes, I cried.  I was so excited.

 

 

Seems so simple a street.  Though this is not the exact street I learned to play on it gives you a good idea of the starting off point for our imaginations.  My best friend and I used a street similar to this one as a starting off point for many imaginative games.    We play lifeguards, runaway princesses, shot HGTV TV shows and pretended it was a house for our American girl dolls. 

Play was a huge part of my childhood.  I like to think of myself as a master of imagination.  My friends and I created stories that lasted years and we always preferred to be outside pretending (please note that I lived in one of the rainiest cities in Washington State, but we could of cared less).

My mom was a big supporter of play.  We had to play outside.  There was no choice about it.  We played in the yard, in trees, next door neighbors yards, in the forest and on the front steps.  

I feel that play is very different from even 10 years ago.  I feel that children are kept inside for safety reasons and they prefer the TV or computer.  I can remember my mom saying that I had to be outside for certain amount of time during the day.  Most the time she would say you have to find something to do and I can remember grumbling about it but I would always find something and then I would end up staying out for longer periods of time. We always had TV when I was growing up but it was very limited when we were allowed to watch it.  I am trying to think of my earliest memory watching TV.  I can remember periodically watching Sesame Street but I don't remember watching TV until I was about 8 or 9.  I have observed on several occasions parents using TV or the computer as a babysitter.  I see children obsessed with TV shows at an early age.  My niece is two and she could say "wiggles" by 18months.  It makes me sad, that children are literally becoming obsessed with TV and computers.  I think that it is parents role to monitor how much of TV or computer a child is using.  It is important as educators and parents to help children understand how fun play is and what we can use to make our world playful.  Children are often content collecting pine cones or sand dollars or flowers.  It can be fun to use kitchen utensils and nuts and bolts.  My hope is that parents and educators realize how much they used play is their everyday life growing up and how they turned out to be intelligent people.  

Relationships

Relationships are one of the most important aspects of my life.  I am never without someone, someone to share excitement, love, sadness and knowledge.  Relationships are so important to me because it encompasses everything that I do from my personal life to my school life I am always building relationships. 

There are many people whom I have built strong relationships with, some live close and some are animals. :)

My mother and father is my strongest relationship.  I adore my parents, both were special education teachers and therefore we have a lot to talk about.  My parents are my biggest supporters, but are also my biggest resource.  Our relationship is positive because of the love and mutual respect that we have for one another.  We maintain our relationship by talking continuously and finding time to spend with one another.  For example, I talk a lot with my Mom about the field of early childhood because she knows so much and it is a common interest. Also, I might go house shopping with my Dad because he loves it and enjoys spending time with me in that way.

Other important relationships to me are some of my best friends that I have developed over the years.  I still have friends from first grade.  We grew up together.  Some of us went to college together and some of us did not, but through it all we have remained friends.  I have one friend who lives in New York City (opposite side of the country from where I live) and we maintain our relationship by talking at least monthly (and hopefully I can go visit her this next year).  Other friends live closer to me and we try to see each other every month or so.  It can be very hard to get people together.  Sometimes peoples work schedules can be tricky but the important thing is that it can be done, you can make time. 

My relationship with my work colleagues is very important.  I teach children who have significant needs and the special education team that I work with would not work well if we did not have a positive relationship.  I work very closely with my Psychologist, Speech Language Pathologist and Occupational therapist.  We have bi-weekly meetings and my SLP and OT push in to my classroom to help me with specific strategies with each child.  I do not think that I could do my job without them, they are more than helpful and go above and beyond for our students.

Lastly, my dog Winston.  I just love him so much (maybe obsessed).  I am lucky that my dog is a cuddle bug.  Sometimes when days are so overwhelming at school I can come home to him and it seems to make everything go away.  He is a true kindred spirit.

 Obviously he is precious...

It can be very challenging maintaining relationships.  I have learned that it takes a lot of work sometimes to keep those partnerships.  My best friend and I have had several ups and downs over the years trying to stay in communication with each other.  Sometimes we are so close and other times it feels like we are very far away.  I keep reminding myself that a relationships takes two people and that we both need to try and keep in communication if we want to maintain our relationship.

A special characteristic that I see in these relationships is a common interest.  With my parents it everything in my daily life, with colleagues it the students we work with and the passion for the job and with my friends it might be music, books or traveling. 

There can always be a common interest with people; sometimes we just have to be willing to find it.  This is what I keep in mind when I am working with parents always find a common interest.  I feel that sometimes the common interest might not be their child, but it might lead to an opening to begin a conversation about their child.  For example, I got a new student this year and I had heard a very difficult parent was coming along with her.  I invited her into the classroom the first Friday her daughter was there and brought her out to recess with her child.  I asked about the adoption process for her child and she gave me a weird look. I explained that I have always wanted to adopt children from China and that I taught there last year. She immediately told me everything and we had an instant connection.  This mom was ecstatic to be talking about something she knew about and ever since then we have had an amazing relationship. I will always remember this experience and keep it in mind with each parent that I work with.  I will also remember to never pre-judge my parents based on someone else’s experience with them.  Always take the time to get to know parents individually.

"I feel happy of myself"

I love this video!  This about how excited this kid is to ride his bike! It is an important to recognize that each step in a child's development is just as important as the last.  As educators think about how many inspirational moments we get to witness, it might be riding a bike, learning colors, using the potty, or singing songs.

Roots to Empathy

For anyone who read the Empathy articles, I found this video on the organization Roots to Empathy. Just thought I would share! :)

Assessment

My first thoughts about assessment are to gauge where a child is at, when you add in assessment of the whole child my thoughts begin to expand.  To me the whole child is academics, social/emotional/adaptive skills, cultural/family influences, and socio-economic influences. If you are assessing the whole child I believe that the list previous should all be addressed/measured.  But how do you go about addressing cultural/family influences so that it is standardized (as much of our assessments are today)?  I am not sure.

When I assess my students, for example when I write my present levels for IEP's or 3 year Evaluations,  I write what students can do in a school setting specifically.  I try and give parents a clear idea of what the students CAN do, not what they can't.  All of my students have significant learning challenges and their parents know that and, I feel, they don't need to be reminded how their child does not do the same things as their same aged peers.

As for standardized assessments that seem to taking over the US in hopes to reform public education, I understand why they have it, but, I believe, are not a true measure of where ALL students are at.  For example, I have a student who does not have the ability to speak.  No one knows why this is, but she can't talk.  We have a district wide assessment that assess early numeracy and early literacy.  Students have to be able to talk to answer the questions and because she can't she is excluded from the test.  All year I have tried to push for us to test her in a different way (using receptive language), but it is not allowed.  Therefore, our district wide test that assess to see if students are at benchmark are skewed because they are not able to account for this child.  It is a good thing that this is not the only assessment we use, but just because this particular girl does not speak doesn't mean that she doesn't know her letters and numbers.

I worked in China and tutored high school girls who were preparing for University and the assessments in China where very interesting to me. It was clear when I arrived in China that being successful in country wide assessments was a vital part of student ultimate success in life.  The high school girls I worked with had so much on their plate, going to school 7 days a week, at least 10 hours a day and then were tutored in their "free time."

As for school-aged children I think there is a lot being done to reform China's 'examination-oriented education.'  China now has a goal for quality based program, the goals being:
1. Increasing parental and public understanding of assessment.
2. Increased emphasis on diagnostic and formative assessment.
3. Improving the ways of assessing schools and teachers. 

When I was in China, it seemed that assessment was a huge part of each child's life.  I talked with other professors and even young school aged children had weekly, mid-term and end of the year exam.  The article that I read said mentioned that the two types of assessment would be end of the year exams and exams to move up (skip) to the next grade (Min & Xiuwen, 2001).  There was such an amount of pressure to perform well in China and I think it is very different in the United States.  Of course we provide assessments on our students but it more through observation and formative assessments, whereas in China there seems to be a summative assessment at the end of each grade.

Min, H., & Xiuwen, Y. (2001). Educational Assessment in China: lessons from history and future prospects. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 8(1), 5-10. doi:10.1080/09695940120033216