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)

Consequences of Stress on Children's Development

Poverty -

In 5th grade I meet a girl who was living in poverty.  At first I didn’t how to help her.  In class she always stayed to herself and away from everyone.  Other kids in the class always picked on her.  Her clothes and hair were not always clean so she had a body odor.  Befriending her was the best thing that I could have done to help her.  When she would come over to the house she would bring extra clothes.  We would wash her clothes and hair, so that she had fresh clothes to wear and did not have an odor.  This was a difficult time for her as she wanted to fit in and have friends like everyone else.  I remember that she would study very hard so that she got good grades.  She always had the answers to the teacher’s questions.  At the end of the school year her family moved closer to other family members in hoping they could offer assistance to them financially.  I asked my mom is I could give her a gift of friendship to remember us.  We went to the store and bought her a brush and comb; along with other personal hygiene items and some items for her hair.  She was excited about the gift but embarrassed at the same time.  She told has that she had not gotten a gift for a long time.

The number of children under six living in poverty rose to 5.9 million in 2010 from 5.7 million in 2009 (Berman, 2011). The number of American children living in poverty has grown by 2.6 million since the recession began (Berman, 2011).  The rate for child poverty has increased in 38 states over the past 10 years (Berman, 2011).   The southern states have the highest rate of child poverty with Mississippi having the highest (Berman, 2011).

Berman, J. (2011). One in four young U.S. children living in poverty, study finds. Huff Post Business. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/22/children-in-poverty-us_n_976868.html

Nutrition/Malnutrition

This is a topic of great concern for me.  When your children show up to school hungry, they do not receive the same education as the other students.  Their mind is focused on what they didn’t have for breakfast and will I have any dinner tonight.  So when this issue starts at an early age their little bodies are underdeveloped and delayed making life a struggle.  All children need to eat healthy to be happy and successful.  Children should not have to go hungry!

Nutrition/Malnutrition in Asia

Asia is home to more than two-thirds of the 148 million children who are under 5 years and underweight for their age (Nutrition, 2009, p2).  Asia still accounts for nearly half of the world’s deaths in these young children (Nutrition, 2009, p2).  Childhood malnutrition can lead to growth stunting, poor cognitive development, and delayed motor development (Nutrition, 2009, p2).  Programs can be set up to assist and manage malnutrition through insuring clear water supply, health education for healthy diets, and improve access to healthy food (Nutrition, 2009, p3).

Healthy food will always be in my classroom and offered to any student who has not eaten breakfast.  This will ensure that each child has had something to eat to start their day off energized. Each child should be afforded the appropriate nourishment to have a successful day at school.

Nutrition Advocacy. (2009). Clinical Nutrition News, p1-8. Retrieved from

       http://anhi.org/learning/PDFs/Clinical/Abbott%20Clinical%208.5x11b.pdf