Sharing Web Resources

The organizaton I chose was the International Child Resource Institute [ICRI] found on http://www.icrichild.org/ website.  ICRI work to develop the lives of children and families.  They concentrate on early childhood care and education, children's rights, empowerment of women and girls, maternal/child health, and grassroots community development.  Their programs progress local leadership and encourages public teamwork.  Since ICRI was founded in 1981, they have created or worked over 300 programs in over 50 countries, having the aim to empower the community to educate children.  They are a highly entrepreneurial organization, and always open to collaborations with other organizations or partners interested in supporting early childhood care and education.  In some occassions this organization is able to offer fiscal sponsorship to emerging or organizations that serve children and families.  They provide volunteer opportunities for those able to demonstrate a strong level of cultural sensitivity and awareness of local culture and willing volunteers for at least a 3 month period.

Something that caught my attention is ICRI has implemented early childhood education centers and teacher training in Ghana that is having a powerful effect throughout.  ICRI has taken over many operations and brought along success.  One for example is the Heart Leap School.  This Berkeley child care center has been recognized both locally and internationally as a model early childhood program.  Hearts Leap utilizes a discovery-based emergent curriculum.

Getting Ready—E stablishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

Hello everyone,

In this weeks's blog assignment there are two parts to tackle in learning about someone's different educational experience in another country.

For part 1, I was not able to get into contact with anyone so I am choosing to take the alternative route and listen to archived and subscribe to current podcast's.  I believe I will retrieve valuable information for myself and others to take in as well in a timely fashion.

For Part 2, the organizations website I chose was the international Child Resource Institute.  After viewing the website it caught my attention and I figured it was a great place to find good sources.  As the weeks progress, I will be finding out as much information I can to share with everyone, so please come on by and view my blog to see how great the International Child Resource Institute is.

"My Supports"

When I think of support I look at a stable job, a roof over my head, water, food, family, and friends.  Without these life can be very miserable and can leave a very empty spot inside a heart, a feeling of not even wanting to live.  I have been blessed to have all this support in my life.

Stable Job:  The job I work at currently supports me by giving me an opportunity to make money so that I can have a roof over my head, water, food, and other "Needs" in my life as well as "Wants" that I can afford to buy from my hard labor.  This job also supports me by providing me a chance to do something in life I love and that is working with children, being a good role model and leader.

A roof over my head:  Of course having a place to live is vital to giving me a place to lay my head at nights and really do what i need to do on my free will.  With a roof over my head I am protected from weather, and have a place to store and cook food.  I am supported by a place to ensure protection, baring burglary.

Family and Friends:  A huge support system in my life and has been since day 1.  Even when my mother was going through her tough times, I was blessed with family members that stepped in quicker than a snap of the finger to provide and support me.  I grew up playing sports so support is what I really need to push my success over the top.  My family and friends provided me with that always coming to my games and cheering me on.  I had such a great supporting cast every time I think about it I get the chills and smile because having support is bigger than what a lot people give it credit for.

Many people who commit suicide do it because of lack of support.  I believe every one in life needs a supporting cast because life is surely not easy and trying to beat life alone is very stressful and hard without someone there to laugh and joke with and tell you "your doing good" or "you need to do better."  Even when people think they don't need support, really they do.  Without support life can be a spinning roller coaster leaving any direction for a person to fall.  Support will have someone or something in that spot to catch you before you fall.    

"My Connections to Play"

When I think of play these two quotes jump to mind for me:

•  "Play is our brain's favorite way of learning."

            by Diane Ackerman

• "Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning."

            by Fred Rogers

Pictures of Play Items:

As a kid I loved G.I. Joe action figures.

Toy cars was another thing I loved to have as a kid.  I could take them with me anywhere I went and I also had the race tracks to go with them.  Brings back great memories lol!!!!!  I know I'm such a kid at heart now as well.

Supporters of Play and how it differs from when I was growing up:

People supported play tremendously during my times of growing up because technology was not a huge factor.  Kids went outside to play all of the time.  It seems like back when I was young parents loved for their children to run and play but had to yell for their children to come inside, now parents yell for their children to go outside to play to get them off the video games.  Teachers even supported play and during school time there was more recess time even in middle and high school.  Now all of that is either being short changed or not happening at all.  Things have change big time when it comes to play and I don't feel like children are getting the necessary play time they need to exercise their brains.  Health issues are even coming up a lot more now because children are not "Playing" anymore.  Everything is about reading, writing, and math and less on how to explore the three in play.

 

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are significant to me because they are worthy for our physical health, but our spiritual and emotional health as well.  It is through relationships with other people that we mature and progress and how we extend and magnify our experience of love and importance.  Relationships construct emotions and help on how to communicate with others particularly people of the differing sex.  A good connection with someone is vital to humans as good nutrition and exercise.

Several people whom I have positive relationships with are for starts my girlfriend.  We just have that great understanding with each other.  We can talk to each other about anything and 5 years of building has really grown into a strong relationship.  The communication and teamwork is there as well.  She is my best friend and knowing our relationship is strong makes me go about my day in a positive manner.  

My mother is another person I have a positive relationship with.  Although I do not talk with her on an everyday basis like my girlfriend, we still have a very loving relationship.  She is always there for me and knows when I am feeling down.  We have been through some tough times, including my sisters.  Even with the hard times of no electricity in the house or cable, we really had to push through and come together with positive love.  My father and I also display a positive relationship.  He was the inspiration in my life that got me linked into the sports world.  We can talk about sports all day every day.  He like my mother is always there for me as even though they weren't together.  My father and I always found time to communicate.  He would take me fishing or to ball games and everything just felt positive.

Building a positive relationship with someone is challenging because everyone has their own thoughts about how a relationship really works so people bump heads with each other.  Trust is a big issue as well, because if two people want to be friends with each other but cant really trust each other, nothing positive will come out of the relationship.  I think by me understanding relationships will help me become a better instructor because I will have the experience of teaching children how to communicate and build positive relationships with other people.  Also my experience will help me when I am collaborating with other teachers.  Being in this field it is all about teamwork and communication and building a positive relationship with children, parents, as well as staff. 

When I Think of Child Development

A quote that pops up to me when I think of child development is:

“Children must be taught how to think, not what to think.” 
― Margaret Mead

Here is also another one just some food for thought:

“You think the only people who are people, are the people who look and think like you. But if you walk the footsteps of a stranger, you'll learn things you never knew you never knew." 

-- anonymous

I would like to take the time to thank everyone who has commented on my blog or have just came to read.  This is still a far journey for us and I am enjoying every bit of it so far.  As long as we continue to encourage and motivate each other I believe everyone will come out successful.  Lets stay strong and positive and continue to strive for perfection.

Should Young Children Be Assessed?

When considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically a child's physical health should be assessed.  I'll take obesity for example.  Technology is improving rapidly and children are shying away from running and playing outdoors or even indoors.  This play allows a child to run off the food in which they consume.  Children eat more junk food so more running around is needed for them get rid of fat that maybe building up.  Overweight children more often have asthma, high blood pressure, and elevated cholesterol (Berger, 2012).  Over time it gets worse:  If they stay heavy, obese children risk diabetes, heart disease, and strokes and are less likely to marry, to find jobs, ad to live to old age.  Because of obesity, some children are not able to function well in school because they maybe getting picked on and laughed at from other children.  In 2007 the Australian government announced the development and promotion of healthy eating and physical activity guidelines for children.  These measures will form part of the government's plan for early childhood and plan for tackling obesity.  One quarter of all Australian children, or around 600,000 children age 5-17, were overweight.  The 2004 Australia's Physical Activity Recommendations for Children suggest that children aged 5-17 years of age need a minimum of 60 minutes of moderate to vigorous physical activity every day .

Sources: 

Berger, K. S. (2012).  The developing person through childhood (6^th ed.).  New York, NY: Worth           Publishers.

World Health Organisation Global Strategy on Diet, Physical Activity and Health, Overweight and Obesity

viewed, (6 July 2009).  retrieved from: 

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/1301.0Chapter11062009%E2%80%9310