My Support

  There are a few people in my life that I would consider to be my support system. My parents, cousin, friends and a few co-workers. My dad is like my live google calendar he is always reminding me of what day it is and always asking don't I have any assignments due. So he really keeps me on task with my assignments since certain days off the week my life seems so busy. My mom, we both work long days. There are  days that I come home from work completely drained. I literally have to go and take a nap at 3:00 pm in the afternoon, just to get up around 9:30-10 pm just to work on homework.
  My mom knows how much completing my masters mean to me that she will wake me up around 10 and sit in the kitchen with me just to keep me company while I either work on or complete an assignment. Some times it will be all 1:00 am in the morning before we both are going to bed. And then back up around 5:30 am to get ready for work.  My cousins all ways are giving me encouraging words and providing me with financial support when I need it. My friends and co-workers for always  encouraging me and giving me new ideas to try in the classroom. 
  What have been a challenge for me so far, these past few weeks I have been feeling overwhelmed with working and all the responsibilities that I have there. Making sure that I am attending and completing all required training's for my teaching license. I am also feeling overwhelmed by trying to keep up with my class assignments. I have thought about taking a break until the summer, I have set my goals for completing my masters degree. My support system is always reminding me when I finish a class that's one down. Just to take it week by week. I like that quote at the top of the page, there is things that we would like to change but it is not possible that's the way it is. So we need to change the way we are looking at things and make it work for us.

                                            Reference
Angelou, M. Brainy Quotes. https://www.brainyquote.com/authors/maya_angelou

My Connections to Play

This quote to me summarize that play is meant to be enjoyed. This is a time where a child can just play and not worry about an exact out come. As a child I played hard, from making forts in the woods in my backyard to making dirt cake and kickball or basketball with the neighborhood kids. I have only have memories of having fun even though we didn't always agree, we worked through it and continued to play.

This quote was me as a child. I always had a mess around me when I was playing. As long as I cleaned it up when I was finished my parents didn't have a problem with it. During my play, I learned how to manipulate different items to come out with an outcome that I desired. This is actually how myself, my brother and some friends came up with an idea to build a tree house in the woods next to our house.

An easy access off the tree house

Floor Plans For Tree House

One of the way to enter the tree house

For my younger self I would focus on building the tree house since that is just one of my memorable moments. These three pictures displays what would have made our tree house an bigger success. I would tell my younger self to actually have some kind of visual floor plan. I was between the age of 10- 12 so we could have put one together. I also would include the rock wall with the rope for one of the access to get into the tree house. This would be safer than trying to climb the tree on some pieces of wood. 😁 The next thing that I would tell my younger self is to add a slide to get off the tree house. Even though the way us as a child learned and stayed fit is by trial and error, we used those large and fine motor skills. It would have been nice to have it a little easier. 

When I was younger my parents supported play by actually making us go outside. Yes, my brother and myself had a game system and tv, but it was limited to how often and long we can be on it. My parents provided us with items to play with outside, and what we didn't have we needed to use our imagination and make it work. There were no running in and out the house, you came in to many times they found something for us to do, so encouraged our play greatly.

Play today is very different than when I was a child. When I was a child yes we talked in groups for a couple minutes but then after that we found something to do. Either going around the neighborhood gathering other kids to get a game of some sorts going, or even walking around in the woods, riding our  bikes or go carts, we did something. Now a days I see the children out they don't do much physical activity. When you do see them outside they are on their phone texting or playing a game. I believe my generation knew how to play better than this generation. We were more open and willing to play with any child, we didn't discriminate on the child's physical or mental disability. I also guess it depends on the type of up bringing. My generation were more respectful, so we played and interacted in that way. We were just happy to be playing.😎

My thoughts about play is this, the quote that I mentioned earlier "sorry about our mess, we are learning here" I love it. As an adult and working with children in the classroom, sometimes it can be come messy. Some of my co-workers are real neat freaks so it bothers them to see things out of place. Myself, if I can see it is a control mess, and we can have a conversation about the creativity about what that the child is building I am fine with it. Sometimes I found when a child is in this kind of play, they are manipulating the toys to come out with a specific outcome. Also if I can see that a children are expanding on their social- emotional skills.

Relationship Reflection

Relationship Reflection
I have a strong relationship with my family. Since I have already expressed my appreciation for them in previous blog assignment, I will mention my friend Danielle. I met Danielle over eight years ago working at the hospital. Our  friendship developed due to the fact that we have similar values, work ethics and the drive to advance our careers and education.  Danielle friendship has turned into a more family style relationship. Her relationship has affected my life in the sense that she is going to always  push me to achieve the goals that I have set up for myself even when I feel like giving up. She tells me the truth and at the same time provides words of encouragement to complete a task.

What I believe that makes a relationship healthy and strong, is always be honest, respectful and know when to give each other space. I also believe what help us to keep our relationship healthy and strong over these years is also putting god first. Having a good and healthy relationship with him allows all of your other relationships to flourish. What I contribute to a relationship is honestly, compassion, respect, love and loyalty. I expect the same in return. My life without this relationship would be boring. We have so much fun and enjoy learning new things and living life. That it would be hard to not see her in my life.

This is Danielle in the front, I am sitting in the back. Fun times at my job Christmas party.

Inspirational Quotes and Thanks

Children inspirational quotes

I have chosen this quote, because in our classroom we are always trying to teach our students to be good friends, make friends and to use kind words.

I like this quote because it encourages children to think outside of the box and use their imagination and become more creative. It also helps the children to understand that it is okay to be different and accepting others thoughts or creativity.







Thank You For The Support
 I would just like to thank everybody that responded to my page, and help me through this educational process. I enjoyed reading what everyone has wrote and seeing their point of view.  The peers that are in our group has really helped me grow as an educator. I truly appreciate it, and look forward to interacting with you guys next class.

How Children Are Assessed In Different Parts Of The World

 Children In Panama
  As an adult now, I cannot remember the stress that felt at the end of each year as a child waiting to see my report card to know if I was promoted to the next grade level. Even though now, children that comes to the center after school talks about how if they do not pass the (EOG'S) End Of Grade Testing at the end of the school year, they can take the test up to three times. 

 The third time you have to repeat your grade level. This can be very stressful for children. Why should their level of understanding be evaluated on one test at the end of the year?  The grades that they obtain throughout the year should do. 

 The country that I picked is Panama. In Panama, there are six years of primary education. From kindergarten to ninth grade goes to school for free. From 10th grade to 12th grade there is a small school fee to pay.  The teachers in Panama states that math is where the children scores the lowest on their testing. 
  
  The way that Panama assessment systems goes like this, both secondary schools both public and private schools operates on a five point system. The children have to score a three or higher to pass. They get four times to pass the test or if they fail the same class within the same year, they can fail the grade or be transferred to another school if there are no signs of improvements. 

 The way that Panama are trying to improve there test scores especially in the area of mathematics are by incorporating more technology. For example smart boards, computers and educational  programs  to help educate the children in different ways of learning. They say that basic math like adding, subtracting, division and multiplication is where the children are needing much help.  

  Hopefully with this new system that they are trying will help improve the test level and understanding of mathematics in their schools.

Reference

The School System of Panama. www.angloinfo.com

The Affects of Violence

   The Affects of Violence in a house hold is becoming very common now a days. The type of violence that the children have to deal with now is so sad. Some of the children that are being born now are in homes with people that either do not know how to deal with certain behaviors, are witnessing violence in their home between their parents/ caregivers or was brought up in an rough environment.
   My childhood friend and her brother were victims of violence in the home. This violence were their mom hitting them. You would have never known, that was how much covering up that my friend did. We always knew that their mom were particular on how things were done,but we never knew how intense it was. In the video The signs of early childhood development, the video mentioned that a person brain is shaped by their experiences and how stress can affect a child's learning. This is so true, it affected my friend brother in a big way. The stress was so much in that house that he decided to stop going to school by the ninth grade.
   This is what started the bad choices. Her brother began to hangout with the wrong people, stealing and having problems with authority figures. He tried going into the army but just could not get it together so that option did not work out. Eventually the choices that he made had landed him in prison. Her on the other hand ended up moving to Philly with her father and finished school and have five beautiful kids and a husband. The way that she dealt with her experiences was by talking about it and the support of her family, church and friends. Now that my friend has children of her own she uses her experience in raising them. The life that her children is having is different than the one she lived.
   My brother and I weren't raised the way that my parents were. We had consequences for our actions either positive or negative. We were in a home with two parents that never got divorce. They showed us the importance of working hard and making the right choices. They actually talked to us and lead by example. Like the text said that parents are their children first teachers. So what that being said we as adults need to help nurture and guide our children so they will be productive teens and adults.

Reference

Center on the Developing Child-Harvard University. (n.d). InBrief: The science of early childhood       development. [Video File]. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/index.php/resources/miltimedia/videos/inbrief series/inbrief science of ecd/. 

   

Breastfeeding

Breastfeeding Around the World
  The research that I did is about breastfeeding. Breastfeeding is a natural way that mother's feed their infants/ child. Breastfeeding is such a debatable topic because everyone wants a mother to breastfeed their baby, but just not where they can see it. I never saw the logic in that. When it is time for that infant to eat it's time to eat. For myself seeing women breastfeeding their child in public do not bother me at all. For others they see a problem with it even though the mother is covered up.
  The first article that I read was from Medline Plus. This article basically told the positive things that comes from a mother breastfeeding her child. A few of the of the benefits are breast milk contains the right balance of nutrients to help the infant grow. Breast milk can help protect the infant from some of the childhood illnesses and infections. And also it may help the mother with their health, like certain types of cancer may occur less often with mothers that breastfeed their babies.
  In the article  " South Africa has made giant strides in breastfeeding, but still taboo in public places" this article talks about how important breastfeeding is for a infant. It talks about the history that South Africa has in promoting a child's health.  The South African government has been very active in protecting and supporting breastfeeding. Even though breastfeeding is encouraged, breastfeeding in public in South Africa just like so much of the United States is frowned upon. One thing that South Africa did was try to educate the public about breastfeeding in order to help others to understand and be more sympathetic to these mothers that choose to breastfeed in public.

References 

MedlinePlus. (November, 2017). https://medlineplus.gov

TheConversation.com. South Africa has made giant strides in breastfeeding. but it's still taboo in public places.