Getting to Know International Contacts Part 1

My contacts for this assignment are depending on who is available to respond back in time.  This is summer vacation for most of my friends and they are in between places where they can access the internet.  I was able to contact a colleague (Deepa) from a previous course and ask her about the area in which she lives.  She lives in the United Arab Emirates.  Per our conversation the area that she lives in does not have any issues dealing with poverty nor do the children face any challenges. 

My other contact is Jen who lives in Italy.  She has been working in education for 16 years.  Her career started with working with the children on an Indian reservation.  She has worked as an assessor, sure start, kindergarten and 1st grade teacher.  She is a single mom with four children all of whom have special needs.  She is an amazing lady.  Before she left for vacation she told me that Italy has the highest rate of poverty in Europe.  They have garbage piled on the streets and rats as big as cats.  She said the economy is very different.

Sharing Web Resources

The link I like to use is http://www.zerotothree.org

Zero to three site is a non-profit organization that offers support, training and information on the various topics for children in this age range. You can find topics on brain and child development, how to assist children in dealing with separation or divorce, parent separation from the child and many more topics. Most of these topics can also be implemented with a few modifications for older children as well. This is one of the reason I like this web site. There are links to review called “Military Family Projects.” The issue that caught my eye on this site is information it provides from the Early Head Start National Resource Center that deals with caring for infants and toddlers with disabilities and special needs in inclusive setting. The information on the site stays current with the new trends and issues surrounding our children. The site also offers scholarly articles.

One item I found of interest while exploring this site was the “Early Learning Guidelines for Infants and Toddlers: Recommendation for States.” This document assists in guiding states in creating or revising their early learning guidelines for children ages zero to three. Zero to three is a commented organization in working with organizations to create an environment that is productive and healthy for children.

My Supports

Factors within my daily life that offer support are my daughter and boyfriend.  My daughter is my biggest support daily.  We talk several times a day, even with her living stateside.  She has been my motivation for years; now that she is grown she encourages me to continue to be my best.  We are a support system for each other.  With each new task that arises we inspire each other to do our best to be successful.  My boyfriend of many years reminds me of how far I have come over the past few years.  He lets me be me, no matter what challenge I take on.  He continues to boost my motivation in advancing my education to open my own early childhood facility.  I can’t even image what life would be like without either of them.  Life would not be complete without either my daughter or boyfriend.

Living abroad my students and colleagues are my adopted family.  They offer support where my family is not able to due to the distance between us.   My students keep my job interesting, as each day provides a new challenge and new outcome.   My students are like my own child, and I set high expectations for them in turn motivating me to stay current will new trends and issues in special education.  My student’s parents are willing to assist in and out of school.

A challenge that I would not want to have is the same heart condition that my father and grandmother have had for many years.  Living abroad to be diagnosed with this type of condition would be detrimental to me, as my daughter and boyfriend are stateside.  This condition would limit my abilities to participate in the activities I enjoy with my students.  I would not want to be on medication for the rest of my life or have to be treated in a country that I don’t fully understand the language.  My adopted family support is amazing, without them I would be lost. 

My Connection to Play

Children have always learned and created places for themselves through play.

Donna R. Barnes
Contemporary American psychologist

1896–1980

It is in playing, and only in playing, that the individual child or adult is able to be creative and to use the whole personality, and it is only in being creative that the individual discovers the self.

D.W. Winnicott
British pediatrician
1896–1971

Our all time favor game was hid-n-seek, as we used multiple yards to play.

 

As a child growing up play was a way of escaping from the daily chores, since both of my parents worked and as the oldest child a lot of responsibility fell to me.  The neighborhood we lived in was amazing as everyone had gates that connected them to the house behind them.  We will often play hid-n-seek between the yards.  Even the neighbors who did have children didn’t mind us playing in their yards as long as we respected their property.  I can remember playing until it was dark and going home so tired that I was relaxed from my other responsibilities.  The neighborhood supported all of the children in play allowing us an open area to roam and explore.

Play today is different from when I played as a child.  There is so much technology out that children stay inside playing games, on the computer or watching television.  As a child television wasn’t important.   We created our own games as most parents didn’t have extra money to buy games.  Children don’t know what it is like to go outside and play.   I would love to see more parents and education systems encouraging play for all children.  Play offers a nice break in the academic day and is a good stress reliever for all age’s of children.  Play is the first steps to children learning socially, emotionally, cognitively and helps to promote a healthy development all around.

I think play has helped me to be creative in my own hobbies.  Looking back play was a time for me to escape and be a kid.  Often time was not permitted for play and I think that has affected some of my social confidence, especially when speaking in front of others.  I remember the times the neighborhood children got together to play we had fun laughing, hanging out and just being with others our age.

Kickball was the best when all the neighborhood kids could get together for tournament.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are important to me because they are my life line living overseas.  Through my relationships I am able to love and care for the people that mean the most to me whether it is family or my extended family.  These individuals are a support system for me whenever I need to call or ask for help.  It is heartbreaking to build relationships with my extended family as they eventually move, with the military, after three to four years. 

My daughter and I have a wonderful relationship.  Now that she is older we are friends as well.  She knows that we have an open line of communication and can discuss any topic with me.  This relationship has taught me patience and amazing listen skills.  It is because of her that I challenge myself in so many different aspects.  I can always count on her to be there and I likewise for her.  Her relationship is special in that we have grown with each other each and every day since she was born.

For relationships to work you have to care and be able to trust the other individual.  Learning to trust someone is not an easy task.  I’ve trying living by the rule that I will trust until you do something wrong.  I try to enter every relationship with an open mind and heart.

Quote

A quote that I felt would fit with what we have explored during our observations with young children.

"We cannot know the consequences of suppressing a chil's spontaneity when he is just beginning to be active.  We may even suffocate life itself.  that humanity which is revealed in all its intellectual splendor during the sweet and tender age of childhood should be respected with a kind of religious veneration.  It islke the sun which appears at dawn or a flower just beginning to bloom.  Education cannot be effective unless it helps a child to open up himself to life."
Marie Montessori

Assessing

Different disabilities require different assessments.  Working with special needs students I use an assessment tool called Brigance.  This assessment comes in levels from toddler to adulthood.  When using this assessment I look at daily living, independent hygiene, and life skills versus the reading, writing/language, math skills that are assessed in the general education population.  As for standardized  testing I do an alternate assessment on my students based on their ability levels and they are not compared to a national norm.  Students in the general education populations are required to take the Terra Nova stndardized test that compares them to national norms.  Children should be assessed to see what they are learning across all academic areas.  If they are not able to pass these assessments then the teacher may need to reevaluate the way they are teaching to the children.  Assessments are also good in the fact that child who are having difficulty can be identified and receive the necessary support to be successful in school.  The negative side of standardize assessments is that there is so much weight placed on the test for students to pass.  This can be harmful stress.  I have seen children that become sick during the week of standardized testing, from worrying about whether they will pass or fail the test.  Teachers are also teaching more to the test than teaching the curriculum.

The assessment used in South Korea is the National Assessment of Educational Achievement (NAEA) (NCEE, 2011). Korean children are tested twice a year in two subject areas in grades six, nine and ten (NCEE, 2011).  Student school records or student activity records are keep on file and used as part of a child’s admission into senior secondary and university level of education.   South Korean students have to take an exam demonstration what they learn in junior high school as well as an admission exam to process in the senior high school (NCEE, 2011).  Students who want to continue into college must take a College Scholastic Ability Test (CSAT), which does have an impact on their higher education prospects (NCEE, 2011). Before this exam students will engage in some form of rigorous study.  The culture refers to this time “examination hell” as there is an incredible amount of pressure about their performance on this exam.

Center on international education benchmarking. 2011. South Korea - instructional systems.  Retrived from http://www.ncee.org/programs-affiliates/center-on-international-education-benchmarking/top-performing-countries/south-korea-overview/south-korea-instructional-systems/

Other Links:

“Korean Youth Study Longest Hours in OECD,” The Chosunilbo, Aug. 10, 2009.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. (2008). Elementary and Secondary Education Act.
Ministry of Education, Science and Technology. (2006). Rules on the General Education Development Test for Qualifications to Enter High School.
Korea Institute of Curriculum and Evaluation.  (n.d.) The PISA Results and the Education System in Korea. (PDF)