My Support

 

 Family is the main  foundation of my support, next are my co-workers and friends, they  are the lens of my vision. Collaborating with other educational facilities provides me with the tools I need to enhance my skills in my field of study. My spiritual belief of an higher power gives me the strength to go forth and overcome any obstacle; that might hinder me from completing any  task that I might set out to accomplish. Quotes like, THE HEIGHTS OF GREAT MEN REACHED AND KEPT, written  by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, The ROAD NOT TAKEN by Robert Frost, my island's NATIONAL PLEDGE (Jamaica), and the former  GIRLS GUIDE OATH; I took embrace  as a constant reminder of where I'm coming from and the journey set ahead.

Our Cultures and Parent Involvement

Networking with parents and other professionals help me to create a community of learning, either it entails learning about a family's culture or  one's achievement. Other factors are policies and mandated guidelines created by law markers to provide a diverse community for children and their families.Ongoing  professional training and higher education supports my professional development and growth.The ability to abide by the documented policies and procedures on a daily basis help me to construct and design my classroom accordingly to  the need of my students and support their development in all domains. Without professional development I would not be able to cope with the demographic changes in the population of children and families served. Laws and policies help to  protects the rights of children and families where as all children are given an equally education despite their sex, color, race, ethnicity, and physical or mental ability. I cannot imagine where I would be today in my professional field had I not involved in professional staff development.

My Connections to Play

In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior. In play it is as though he were a head taller than himself.

Lev Vygotsky
Russian psychologist
1896–1934

The playing adult steps sideward into another reality; the playing child advances forward to new stages of mastery.  ~Erik H. Erikson

My childhood may be over, but that doesn't mean playtime is.  ~Ron Olson

How I view Play

Play is the 'Pursuit of Happiness ' in a child's world and the 'Blue Print' to future adult roles. Play holds no grudges or prejudices as it enfolds in the roles or choices of the child; it creates a lens that only the child can visually dissect the world around him while  it's conjoined with the  symbolic existence of life. 

Younger Self Play Items

                                                
 
  ( Early mechanical thoughts)      (Architect discovering)       (Aviation / Physics  discovering)

              
 (Early Physics discovery)    (Early Science discovery)                   (Early math skills explored & fine motor)

The above were some of the childhood toys that I've built and played with my peers. Dolls were sometimes mad out of already eaten East Indian mango seeds.Sometimes adult would join in a play with me. Usually the males would push and steer the Go Cart or they'll sit and have the children push them up and down the street. The men help to strip the bamboo for the kite and they help the younger children to build their kites while the older children are on their own. There were several ways of making kites, paper airplanes were only shared by children. Jacks game is one of my favorite toy, neighborhood women usually join. They often show us how to control and balance the  metal or plastic spokes on top of our hand. The soil was a toy for me, I use to dig for a bug called  'Back Back Nanny'. My mother was not fond of me playing in the dirt, my grand-daddy didn't mind, he always say,"Come her child see a Nanny hole there, go find Nanny". My grandpa use to beat me in a game of marbles, he flicks his marble so hard that it sometimes breaks the other marbles.

Compare & Contrast Play then and now
Some play items remain the same just a bit advance, for example, the soil is now inside the classroom and it's labeled 'Sand table'. The only difference is the limitation of how many people are allowed to play in the sand table, while I had no limitation. Most kites today are already made which takes away from the creativity  I  had as a child, marbles are seen as  chokable toy or placed in a fish tank for decoration. Go Carts are very much advance in comparison to the recycled materials from an old  tire, woods nailed together, as  the patent of a car is created. The paper made airplanes and boats are replaced with plastic models; both items does not require rebuilding because of the material being used. These items are place in specific areas of the classroom, for example, airplanes are often found in the Block Area and the boats in the Water table. My childhood paper boat sailed on the rushing water from the rain on the roads. Play had helped me to discover many skills in life, such as taking turns, being creative, enhance social skills, fine and large motor development, and problem solving. During my early adolescence years play was part of my everyday life engaging in  more advanced activities such as dodge ball, know to me as Dandy Shandy, and baseball (these balls were  made out of an empty pint milk cartons stuffed with newspaper, and our hands were the bat). Today I must say play for me was the best opportunity I had to enjoy the outdoors and learn from the people that I've shared those playful moments with.

Ingredients of my healthy relationship

My daughters 

They give me unconditional love, my eldest(Ma'laylay, on the left) is the technology genius who supports me in all areas of cyber world. Whenever I get frustrated with connection to my classes, in her soothing and comforting voice  she'll say,"Mom, mom just walk away and tell me what you need to get done. Mommy maybe you're tired and you've got to much on your plate. Take a break and I'll help you, TayTay(she call her sister) please get mommy something to drink"

Taytay (center) my youngest, always have a smile to share and randomly throw kisses and hugs and refuses to leave me alone if I'm in distress, or overwhelmed with my workload.

My sisters,cousins, and close friends who are always there for me through thick or thin. These woman are my cheer leaders, my pillars, my campaigners when all hopes are loss.

My parents

Arthur(left) my step-dad who treated me with respect and never let me felt like I was not a part of his world. Edgar(my dad) and Mae(my step-mom) surrounds me with love and the true value of family. These three individuals call everyday or they'll just pop up if they don't hear my voice 'or haven't seen me in a day or two. My parents still give me hugs and kisses and tell me how much they love and appreciates me regardless of my flaws.

My sisters, Heidi and Stacey who are always there to catch me when I fall, they keep me mentally, spiritually, and physically recharged.

The Dynamic System

Ms. Rosita (co- teacher, center) help me to bring balance to the classroom and my home. We have built a relationship beyond the classroom.This woman is like my sister,when I'm hurt,she's hurt, if I cry , she cries. We have establish a relationship that other teachers ,like Ms. Guzman( left),often say,"I envy you guys, you two work so good together, I wish I was on your team".



The interconnection of family , friends and other co-workers throughout the years had helped to shape the individual that I am today. As human we are born with the gift to socialize,nurture, and build relationships. The relationship that I have with my immediate family taught me how to build a positive relationship with others. The constant nurture that receive from my grandmother, sisters,dad,step-dad,and step mom I'm able to reciprocate the same to my students and everyone that intercept my path.

Children quotes with a word of "Thanks"

Children need models more than they need critics.

JOSEPH JOUBERT, Pensées

If a child is given love, he becomes loving ... If he's helped when he needs help, he becomes helpful. And if he has been truly valued at home ... he grows up secure enough to look beyond himself to the welfare of others.

DR. JOYCE BROTHERS, Good Housekeeping, Aug. 2010

Children are the boldest philosophers. They enter life naked, not covered by the smallest fig leaf of dogma, absolutes, creeds. This is why every question they ask is so absurdly naïve and so frighteningly complex.

YEVGENY ZAMYATIN, On Literature, Revolution, Entropy, and Other Matters
Emma Goldman
No one has yet realized the wealth of sympathy, the kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure.

As we continue our professional growth I would like to take this opportunity to say THANK YOU to all my colleges. You have shared some insightful articles on Child Development  from  Europe,  the USA, to the seas of the Caribbean. Through each other's lens we were able to value and embrace this wonderful field of studies. I hope that we could continue  to support each other as our unremitting passion guide us  on the roads least traveled, with the acceptance that we are the foundation that shapes the  future.

Standardize Testing

Do you think standardize testing gives every child a fair score? I don't think so. Children are all unique, some are fast learners others are slow to warm learners. There's one standardize testing that use to bother me during my childhood years in Jamaica. It was the infamous Common Entrance Examination presently known as the Grade Six Achievement Test(GSAT). Children with hidden special needs/learning disabilities suffer the effect of these testing. Physical disabled children escape the wrath of rigorous study habits and constant rote learning. The agonizing preparation was a stressful experience for children whose coping mechanism lack the positive and nurturing support of the dynamic system. Children are force to prove to their parents, teachers, and their entire community that they are smart and not dunce(name given to children who didn't pass these test). These tests have cause controversy among educators and other private sectors. In addition to controversy, children suffer the wraths of their parents verbal and physical abuse  for not being successful. The Common Entrance examination were originally designed for preparatory school it was not until the later years after Jamaica Independence(1962) that poor and wealthy children could compete to attend a prestigious high school. Two articles from the daily gleaner shared a horrify tales  about a disappointed father, a stress out mother and a child:
THE WHOLE country must be scandalised at the report of a father mercilessly beating his daughter because she did not get a place at a traditional high school in the recent Grade Six Achievement Test. His frustration is understandable: the life chances of thousands of Jamaicans are often determined by the type of secondary school they attend. But why take it out on the child? Frustrated parents and children must learn to direct their frustration in the appropriate direction.At Independence in 1962, we had 41 traditional high schools and 8 senior schools. Only at high school could one take the Cambridge GCE Examinations, which would allow entrance into higher education, but space in those 41 schools was limited. At the same time, we had the Grade 6 students of the 672 All-Age Schools and 21 Junior Schools competing to enter the traditional high schools.The first problem was addressed by the introduction of a competitive examination called the Common Entrance Examination (CEE), where selection would be on the basis of performance, and not wealth. Here for the first time, rich and poor would compete in the same examination for entrance into the same schools, and cracks began to appear in Jamaica's rigid class- and colour-conscious social structure. In 1959, 24,819 students sat the CEE and 1,916 students were placed in the 41 high schools. Those who failed to get a place in a high school went to the senior schools or remained in all-age schools until Grade 9 when their school careers would come to an end.
Parent Experience:

"Last night, he told me he wanted to bang his head on the wall. He can't take it anymore," she says.

The boy, one of the estimated hundreds of GSAT candidates who react in this way to the exam pressure, recently started having migraine headaches and suffers every night from complications, such as swollen temples and neck glands brought on by bronchitis, according to his mother. Emotional problems started surfacing several weeks ago, and this prompted her to consult a child psychiatrist.

"Nobody must fail in that school," the mother remarks angrily. "They put them (to sit) in different averages, like 90s sit here, 80s sit here, 70s sit there and then the 90s criticise the 70s and the 60s which my son is in. They (classmates) tell them they are dunce and they are going to gunman school.

This is just a tip of the iceberg displaying the ramification of standardize testing, who is  the true  beneficiary, parents, educators, students, or examination councils? These tests unfairly assess academic performances on one level when all children does not learn at the same pace. Improvement is necessary in preparation of these tests so that children are assessed  not only on their academic performance but on the overall development of the child.


Read more: http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/56730_Ghost-of-Common-Entrance-haunts-GSAT#ixzz2WLW0Mv8N
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Jamaica

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20020703/cleisure/cleisure2.html
http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070221/letters/letters1.html
http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/56730_Ghost-of-Common-Entrance-haunts-GSAT

Divorce

Divorce is an emotional stressor that affect young children. Some children may have a high resilience to cope with the change while others shows signs of trauma. In most divorce cases, children are caught in the middle of a custody battle in which they feel as if their life is left in the toss of a coin. Young children often feel guilty if they choose a parent of preference to live with or the court often make the decision in the so call best interest of the child/children. In places like Jamaica where marriages are not quiet common as a   common law relationship. Separations do take the same effect on the child/children as in the nature of a divorce. Children who are caught in the midst of these broken union are force to readjust their life, that is, changes in their financial support and the dual parenting network. From my personal experience of a broken union, losing one parent to another relationship was a very difficult experience. It was  the unexplained reasons behind the broken union, my parents never include the children in their decision to separate. Even though both of my parents lived in separate homes, visitation was a daily routine, so I guess there was no need for a judge's decision as who was right for the children. There was no cultural guilt or shame as it was a norm in my culture. However in China before the early 1970s children of divorced parents suffers societal shame. A recent  research show that children from divorced families suffers anxiety and depression.  Fathers are often given custody of their children but if the mother gain custody, the children suffer financially and lives in  poverty, sometimes their education get affected. Divorced or common law bond when children are in the midst of these broken relationships, they need to be inclusive of the decision making. Parents need to realize that their children emotion is just as valid as theirs. Parents ought to be civil about building a healthy relationship so that their children could inherit a healthy life.

http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20060918/flair/flair9.html


http://mfr.haworthpress.com © 2007 by The Haworth Press. Used by permission

Health/Anemia (prenatal care)

Health  is a  broad statement , however  it can be narrowed down to a specific topic or concern.  Health care is  essential for pregnant woman and their babies. Access to adequate health care  services provides educational information that encourages healthy eating habits, immunization, and parenting skills, which leads to healthy babies ,who might later manifest into healthy adults. In the USA  most families are insured privately or enrolled in  a State Health Care Plan. Similarly no one is denied healthcare services despite  their socieconomic status. For example in the city of Bridgeport, Ct. Americare operates a free clinic where residents receive immediate health care free of charge. The clinic partnership with hospitals and other health facilities that meet the need of the residents.  In countries like Jamaica healthcare is accessible with limitation. The Jamaican residents who rely on the government for healthcare services aren't lucky to receive adequate care as those who can afford private insurances. The cost for prescription drugs and the lack of availability put  a continuous  financial  strain on the residents. Hence I read an article  about anemia and the effect it has on pregnant women and their babies. There was a  study done on pregnant women in Westmoreland, Jamaica. The result detected a high rate of pregnant women that were anemic. My concern is, what happens to the percentage of mothers who are not  able to pay for the prescribe iron pills? Do they eat products that contain iron or do they stick to their own cultural belief ? I firmly believe all neonatal health facilities in the island should have trial iron supplement at hand to offer these women.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2995917/
http://www.jamaicans.com/articles/primearticles/health-care-in-jamaica.shtml
http://www.americaresfreeclinics.org/newsroom/news/weisman-clinic-opens-in.html
http://www.who.int/maternal_,child_adolescent/topics/newborn/en/index.html