Looking a little deeper... zero to three

•  A specific section that really has stuck out for me is the mental health section under the behavior and development tab.  Currently, I have three students who are currently under evaluation for mental health issues.  It is something that I have not dealt with and I am trying to do my best to help them through their day.  It has proven to be challenging to help them each individually and to use strategies that are very beneficial for them.  They are all very different children, but they share the same common characteristic of violent outburst.  I would highly recommend looking through some of the articles. 

I read an article from the website called, getting ready for school begins at birth. The article gives great ideas on what to do with your child, but it does use the term "school readiness." I have grown not to love this term because all kids are ready for school, they may not have certain skill sets, but will be coming to school regardless if they are ready.  To me, the term feels like you have to be 'ready' in order to attend school.  However, besides the term the article offers great ideas for parents, one that would be very beneficial to handout to parents to help in all academic areas and social/emotional development.   I wonder if a different terminology would be more appropriate?

I searched for neuroscience on the website and I was linked to a podcast called, Early childhood development and public policy: closing the gap between what we know and what we do.  It talked about closing the achievement gap here in America and how research as proven time and time again that a early start helps children who at risk tremendously in the future. This issue I think is really important when we are considering issues and trends in early childhood.  We see it all the time the achievement gap when children are in elementary school and we see children from low-socioeconomic backgrounds being referred to special education services.  This falls into education reform and working from the bottom up, instead like Dr. Grace mentions this week working from the top down.  We must start with our youngest learners!

Link to podcast  

Professional Contact... slow to respond, going with podcast

Since I last posted I have established 3 professional contacts.  They agreed to work with me and answer questions, however I have yet to hear back from them after are initial e-mail.  So with that being said, I am on to the podcasts.

I went to World Forum Radio and clicked on the most resent podcast which was dated 2/10/11.  I am glad that I clicked on it because I was immediately hooked.  Susan Lyon, the speaker of this particular podcast, got her start in the education world while working with children with special needs.  She told a story of working with a little boy who was trying to read the word "city" and once she told him what it was he said "such a small word for such a big place."  This was her "ah-ha" moment, she was able to see the window to children's mind and wanted to learn more about how they see/understand the world.  She became interested in the Reggio Emilia approach, as she thought it was progressives.  She was so inspired that she started the Innovated Teacher Project (http://www.innovativeteacherproject.org/) in San Francisco. She wanted to see quality work happen in the public sector. The Reggio Emilia Approach was the foundation of pilot project for the San Francisco Unified School District.  There was a focus on the Reggio approach as well as professional development and teacher research. Teachers spent time observing and listening to children and documenting their work.  It was not just teacher collaboration but community collaboration that made it such a success.

I enjoy finding out new organization that have found success in what they have sought out to do.  It is uplifting to see that our thoughts and ideas can happen. 

www.innovativeteacherproject.org

Zero to Three

I chose to look at the nonprofit organization Zero to Three because I wanted to learn more about the organization. Also, because I am a high needs special education teacher for kindergarten and first grade, about have my students cognitively are at a 9 month-3 years age range.  I feel like this website might give me more insight to brain development and more developmentally appropriate activities for some of my students.

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Zero to Three strives to promote healthy development for infants and toddlers.  Their mission is to provide parents, policymakers and professionals with the training and support they need to help improve the lives of our youngest learners.

Check out the video on the front page of the website.  One person in the video I would like to highlight is Richard Atlas, the founder of Atlas Family Foundation.  He use to be a partner for Goldman Sachs and states, "... it became very evident and very early on that the highest return in investment is investing in very young children."  It was nice to see that a non-educational person it is able to see the value in our youngest children. 

One issue/trend that is being promoted was the how important play is to a child's development.  The website provides parents with information on how to play with their child and why play is so important.  http://www.zerotothree.org/child-development/play/make-the-most-of-playtime.html

Another highlight of the website is the download of the week.  It offers something educators could give to parents or educators can use for themselves. This week is healthy food development.  It is on the right hand side of the main page. 

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.