Looking back on EDUC 6160

As I look back on what I have learned this week from my fellow colleagues and the resources read I think of a quote I use often and that is at place atop my resume.

One hundred years from now it will not matter what the size of my bank account was, the type of house I lived in, or the kind of car that I drove but the world may be different because I was important in the life of a child.

I want to take a moment to thank all of my colleagues for all you have taught me and hopefully continue to teach me as we progress through our journeys together in future courses or simply as blog followers. I wish each of you the best in your endeavors and all that life may have to offer you.

Testing for Intelligence

When I think about standardized tests and a child being 'tested' it kind of makes me cringe. Kottler, Zehm, Kottler (2005) state that to be an effective educator one must use varied groupings and lesson formats to reach all the children in the classroom. So, if we are teaching and children are learning in multiple ways, why are we testing with only paper and pencil? This issue truly bothers me from a personal standpoint as well, I have members of my family who do not test well; it doesn't mean they are not competent in the areas being tested. I have strong beliefs against standardized testing being used as the only means of measurement for achievement. I am in support more of measuring the 'whole child' and using multiple areas of assessment to determine the 'academic level' of a child. Additionally, I feel a more wholistic approach should be used to assess the effectiveness of teachers too; I have heard that the scores on standardized tests, in some places, determine an educator's job. So that means if a teacher has a classroom full of children or even a quarter full of children who are not test takers, he or she will lose her job? That's wrong on some many levels.

There is so much more to a child than a score on a test!!! Anyone who has stepped foot into a classroom for even a short period of time should be able to tell you that and it's time that we take the stress off of standardized tests and find new ways to assess the children in our classrooms.

Kottler, J., Zehm, S., & Kottler, E. (2005). On Being a Teacher The Human Dimension. Thousand Oaks, CA: Corwin Press.

Haitian children face what sounds to me as a much harsher outlook. On a 10 point scale a child must average 5 points to pass a class given three "trimestrial exams a year with a final in July, families must purchase textbooks (and most do not have the money to do so) and if they do have a textbook it may not be in alignment with the Haitian material, children are in school from Oct to July with a vacation at Christmas and Easter. This information came from http://education.stateuniversity.com/pages/598/Haiti-EDUCATIONAL-SYSTEM-OVERVIEW.html but every article I looked in for information discussed how the Haitian education system needs to be redone. Some even mentioned how the earthquake in 2010 seriously impacted an already struggling educational system through the loss of teachers, children, and buildings that housed the schools.

So the 'testing' to assess not only occurs here in the USA but in other countries as well. But again, I cannot stress enough how important I feel it is to find an alternative to assessment than a test.

Stressors on Children

To be an effective educator, we must take the time to get to know our students and the backgrounds of the families they come from (Kottler, Zehm, Kottler, 2005). Therefore, when we encounter a family that has had a stressor altering the life of that family, we can be better prepared.

One such stressor in Haiti if you visit the World Vision website, worldvision.org, is hunger. Child in Haiti suffer from hunger and are therefore malnourished, under developed, and often sick. Some children in Haiti will die from hunger or complications associated with hunger. It is so sad to think of children and families dying from a lack of food.

On the other hand, growing up although I never viewed it as a stressor at the time, I had the stress of not knowing if I would have a home in the morning. I lived in Florida for most of my life and hurricanes were a frequent happening in Florida. We lived in a trailer so when a hurricane was coming, we took important and necessary items and went to my grandparents' house. Not only did I leave not knowing if my home would be there when we returned, but my dad was a part of a team to move people from the beaches so he was never home the night the hurricanes would hit. I never realized it then, as I said, because I knew I was well taken care of, but looking back now that had to have created tremendous stress not just for myself, but the rest of my family and others who lived around us.

A stressor for a child can be something as simple as not getting to wear a certain shirt to those stressors that are more complex as learned about through the resources this week. How we as educators help our students handle these situations as well as assisting the families sometimes can be beneficial in changing what could be the outcome(s) for the student.

Nutrition and Education

This week I reflected on the topics and while some, as you will see in this post intertwine, I felt nutrition was an important topic. So many children, not just around the world, but here in America are suffering from malnutrition. I remember as a child, my mother teaching and her and my father taking Happy Meals on the weekend to a family whose child was in her classroom. When I asked her about it, she said that the only time he got to eat was for breakfast and lunch at school during the week and that while McDonald's all the time was not good for you, he got something to eat over the weekend. I do sponsor and support a child in Haiti, as I mentioned last week and I am grateful for the opportunity. But sometimes I wonder why all the ads you see on television are to support children in other countries and not here at home in the USA?

Nutrition is important for all, from the prenatal infant to the grown adult. At different stages in life, people will need different amounts of the nutrients required for good nutrition. In infancy, most will say that breast feeding is best for a child to receive the necessary nutrients she needs to develop successfully. However, for some who do not get breast feed, as long as nourishment is meant with the necessary nutrients that child will develop successfully as well. What I have learned over the years, through watching and listening to my mom as a teacher and being a teacher now myself is that if a child is hungry he will not learn. A child who is hungry is distracted, unable to focus, and his mind is only on one thing 'I want to eat.' Additionally, as I learned through the Foundations course and then again in the Berger text, if a child does not receive proper nourishment he is more likely to become sick and if a child is sick he will not even be present at school (and if he is, he won't be focused either). So nutrition does affect development, but nutrition also plays in impact in a child's ability to stay focused while at school to learn.

What I found interesting while researching nutrition in other countries is that through World Vision educational services are provided to women on nutrition and these women then go out into their communities and educate others on the value of nutrition. The article I found, specifically dealt with a woman in Peru who said, 'nutrition is not so much about money as it is about education.' I love that! Too often I believe people chalk up their inability to eat right to the amount of money they have available and that isn't it. If you have adequate knowledge on and about nutrition you can receive good nutrition no matter the budget.

http://www.worldvision.org/news/peru-child-malnutrition-hunger

The more I am re-learning about child development as well as the new things I am learning, the more excited I am to learn more. The more I learn the greater the difference I can make with the children I teach.

Childbirth here in the US and in Hati

As I thought about this assignment and researching an area other than the US for how childbirth takes place, I thought about Hati. The reason I thought about Hati is because I currently sponsor a child from Hati. What I found in my research was alarming. Through an article on msnbc, http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29706995/ns/health-pregnancy/t/giving-birth-fraught-danger-haiti/, I learned that health care for most in Hati is not affordable or not accessible. Therefore women in Hati are giving birth at home with 'the highest maternal death rate in the western hemisphere - 670 women out of 100,000 live births die from pregnancy related causes.' With lack of health care, regardless of the reason, these women lose their children to death, die themselves, and do not receive adequate care prior to or during their pregnancy. While this article makes me feel for these people, it makes me grateful that my birth turned out differently because my mom had access to good quality medical care here in the US.

The only birth story I can communicate since I do not have children of my own, although I have had several cousins born during my lifetime, is my own and my sister's as a comparison. My mom and dad told me years ago that I kept my mom (I was her first) in labor for 36 hours. My mom said that is why I have what they call a strawberry on the top of my head because she was so tired that the doctor had to go in with forceps to finish pulling me out because my mom could no longer push. On the other hand, when they called the doctor to say my sister was on the way, 2 1/2 years later, the doctor jokingly said (as I have been told the story goes) have dinner, take a shower, go to bed and I will see you in the morning. My parents headed to the hospital immediately anyway and from what I have been told over the years, the doctor almost missed my sister because she was coming before he entered the room. I think about the birth story of myself and my sister and how my mom had access to care before and during her pregnancy as well as during my birth and my pediatric care after my birth, and can't help but think how differently the stories could have been if we lived in Hati.

All women, whether planned or not, should be able to have some type of access to medical care to insure themselves and their unborn child receive adequate care. Without adequate care or knowledge, women may intake elements that are harmful to their unborn child, illnesses the woman may have will affect the unborn child, and the environmental elements the woman lives in will affect the unborn child. There are too many factors that affect the development of a child even before birth.

We as educators need to go back (as I have this week), sometimes to the initial development of a child, which starts before birth to find the source or cause of children we teach being as they are.

Note of Thanks

As the EDUC 6005 course comes to a close I wanted to extend a note of thanks to all of my classmates for visiting my blog, sharing your comments, and posting your own responses on your blogs to the prompts we were given. I hope to work with you all again in another course but if not I wish you all the best on your journey.

Code of Ethics

As I read the code of ethics as outlined by the NAEYC I wanted to sign my name on a dotted line accepting the statement of commitment at the end. I then compared the NAEYC code of ethics to the DEC code of ethics and although different in wording I do believe the basis of each is the same. The DEC recognizes the need for evidence based practices which I believe is outlined in the ethical responsibilities we have to children as outlined by the NAEYC. These are important because as educators we already assume responsibility for children and by following evidence based practices we are giving the children we teach the most effective means of learning. Responsive family centered practices, as outlined by the DEC and in connection with the ethical responsibilities to families as outlined by the NAEYC is the second code that struck a cord with me. I have always said that the more we can work together in a partnership with families, the more successful a child will be in school. Therefore having both the DEC and NAEYC outline this fact as an important core code proves my feelings were correct. Finally, there is an ethical responsibility to colleagues thus allowing for collaboration to take place. I have learned a lot through EDUC 6005 and have found that collaboration with colleagues can benefit all involved. Whether it is a lesson, particular behavior, opinion, or second look colleagues can provide that and I need to remember that the more I collaborate with a child's family and fellow colleagues the more effective I will be in the classroom.

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf
The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.dec-sped.org/