My Supports

     This is a perfect week for me to discuss support.  This week I could not have gotten everything accomplished that I did, if it was not for my grandma.  My grandma decided to come up and visit and hang out for the week, because my family went on vacation, and it was perfect for us to have some bonding time.  When she came up I had just found out that for this upcoming school year I had been relocated to a new school on the other side of town.  So we took a trip south and went to go see my new classroom.  The minute we stepped inside we got to work.  There were supplies not from my old classroom, but from another one.  So we started "cleaning house".  We started rearranging furniture, clearing out the old stuff from previous teachers and making a plan of how we could decorate.  That night we came home ate dinner, and started crafting.  We put her cricut machine to work for house! The next morning we went to JoAnn fabrics to get material we had hunted down the night before for the bulletin board.  We finally make it back to my classroom with all my cleaning supplies, fabric for a bulletin board, our cricut projects and butcher block paper for another bulletin board.  We get to my classroom, and it has been flooded.  Everything that we had done the day before was pushed back to the back half of the room.  Apparently the sink had been left running in another room and had overflowed into my classroom.  Did that stop us? No! We got to work on those bulletin boards, and was there for about 6 hours doing what we could with what room we had.  Thursday we went back with the hopes that the water had been sucked out of the carpet and that we could start moving things again.  We were wrong.  So in the area that we did have, we were able to set up the Library area, and I was able to unpack about 15 boxes and throw away a dumpster full of crud that was left behind by other teachers.  We were there for another 5 hours that day.  When we came home we did not rest, we had more crafting to do.
      My grandma did not have to stay and help me, but she wanted to.  I would not have been able to get all these things done without her, and her crafting supplies.  I am so grateful to my grandma for spending this time with me, and helping me succeed in a position I was nervous about.  Moving to a new school on a new side of town was shocking to me.  I was looking forward to seeing some of my returning students this year, but with my grandmas help I feel better about my situation.  I have been able to make my room my own, and am excited for school to start. 
     I do not want to think of the day where my grandma will not be here anymore.  She has always been someone that I can talk to about our crazy family and she understands, and does not judge me for the things I think.  She is an amazing women, and I treasure every minute I get to spend with her! 

The Flooding

Bulletin Board just missing students pictures

The Library

The Library

Parent Info Board and blanket cubby

Job List #1

Job Chart #2

Library Bulletin Board

 

My Connections to Play

“We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything, than when we are at play.”
― Charles Schaefer 


"You can discover more about a person in an hour of play than in a year of conversation." 
-Plato

“Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing.”
―Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr

I first two quotes I can relate to my childhood, and the third I found reflected my sense of self now.  
 

My brother and I would spend hours riding our bikes around town all year long.  It was essential to my youth.  I even remember getting up at 5 one morning to have a garage sale to sell my old bike so that I could get a new one. 

No matter where I spent my time, I was always doing some sort of art project.  I do believe this was the exact set that I had. 

I loved playing monopoly with my grandma during the summer.  It also came in handy because we did not have T.V. in my house for most of my childhood. 





Growing up in a time where we had neighborhood block parties in Arizona I knew everyone in the neighborhood at a young age.  During the day my grandma always allowed us to go between friends house, and we played outside.  We created ramps to go over our bikes with and my brother and his friend built a race car.  Now it was just made out of plywood, but it was the best creation ever!  Two of us would push and one got to drive it up and down the street, and then we would rotate.  Along with riding our bikes, that was the best outdoor activity.  When my dad would get a couple days off from work, he would take us camping.  He taught us how to read animal tracks, and how to pay attention to the world around us.
Now out at my mom's house we always had a huge yard.  So I spent a lot of time out in these old wooden structures, and would make them my "house".  If I wasn't out swimming, I was out in that house creating my own world. 
I do not think that play today is the same for everyone as it was 20 years ago.  Society has changed, children use to go outside without fear of kidnapping.  Now parents have a close watch on their children, and with housing growing so much there leaves little room for having backyards that I use to. 

I really enjoyed my childhood in regards to play.  I was always given the opportunity to create things.  That has affected me as an adult, because I tend to be an artistic person.  I love that during the summers I was able to travel to different places to see, and experience new things.  I was in a family that came from all walks of life, and each person in my family introduced me to something new.  It was a blessing!

Relationship Reflection

Even when we are children we seek out comfort from the people that we love.  For me it is the feeling of comfort to be around someone who enjoys me for me.  I have flaws,  I have learned life lessons and I have suffered heart ache.  But it is the people that stick with me throughout these situations that I hold dear to my heart.

My parents are some of those people.  They have witnessed me grow and change.  They suffered with me before I knew what suffering was.  Apparently I was not an easy infant, but the stories that they tell, just shows how much they loved me even when I was being difficult.  Now I have known for myself that I have been a difficult child from about 3 - 13.  As a child I did not like sock, shoes, clothes, following rules, naps, milk and following directions.  Most of the rule breaking happened when I was almost 2-4, but I do not remember most of that, so should it really count against me? Non the less my parents were advocates for me, and they still are, I treasure that everyday.

Now growing up I moved around a lot, and it was hard to keep consistent friends.  But I think that I have managed to gain a couple since my high school years, and there is one that has stuck around through all my trials in life too.  Ms. White was a friend in the youth group, who had a rotten living situation at home, but we bonded because we were both quiet people.  Through the years of moving around, she maintained contact.  It wasn't until my 20's that I started to appreciate the friendship that I had with her.  We are able to be completely honest with each other without the fear of judgment. We have both had our life experiences, and we share these situations to learn from each other. 

My grandmothers will always be the voice of reason in my ear.  I could go months without talking to them, and they will question everything and be completely honest with me, whether I like it or not.  Sure they care if it hurts me, but they rather be the ones to burst my bubble rather than someone else that is just going to make it hurt worse.

I have always appreciated my different family relations.  They have been hard to maintain.  The key to them all is communication.  I cannot be afraid to talk to any of them because of the outcome I think will follow.  But to have the courage to talk to them because we care about the same thing.  Without these relationships I would not have the confidence in myself that I have.  They are forever proud in what I am doing, no matter how hard I fall sometimes.  But I know that I can talk to anyone of these people and they will listen, and help me get through it.

I try to make this my example in my workplace.  I do not know everyone's story in their life, and it is not my place to judge.  But I can tell you that I will be there to listen, and I will help in anyway that I can. 

My thoughts on Child Development

We may not be able to prepare the future for our children, but we can at least prepare our children for the future.”
― Franklin D. Roosevelt

This video is from Jimmy Kimmel Live. I chose this video because it shows that children at all different ages learn from people around them. Some are more resilient when they hear the news that their parents ate all their Halloween candy, and others are not.  Some use language, cognitive skills or gross motor skills to show their frustration with their parents. The last set of brothers give their mom a good lecture on why it is not healthy to eat so much candy. Children do listen to what we tell them, so always be mindful of what things you chose to say.

Testing of our Youth

I found this information very interesting.  I looked at how Brazil asses their students and what I found was intriguing.  What they do is they pass out surveys’ to all the public and private schools, to the children and teachers.  Throughout the survey they are asked about their home life situations and their study habits.   Many children from the early age of 7 are put into the labor force, and they go to work after school. This survey takes into consideration what students have to work, students that get to go home and study, and children that do not do either.  From these surveys they randomly select certain classrooms to take the standardized tests.

            It is very interesting that they only give out the standardized tests to random classrooms.  I am curious if the classrooms that are chosen are ones with the majority of students that work strenuous hours after school.

            But here is my question, if only a certain amount of students are being tested, what amount of students are being left behind? 

             I like the fact that students and teachers were asked to take surveys that reflected their home life situations and their study habits.  A child that has a rough home life might not have the ability to study at home.  Or a household that runs a family business, that child might have to work in the family restaurant.  Those are all possible situations that can happen to anyone in the United States.  I appreciate the fact that teachers are required to take a survey as well.  Every teacher in the 2^nd grade can have the same information to teach to their students, but most of them will not teach it in the same manner.  Based on the way that those teachers were taught or how they were mentored. 

            I am always concerned about students being left behind.  I worry that government sets these standards, and they do not see how students are actually functioning in their classrooms.  How do we fix this lack of communication?

Marcio Eduardo Bezerra, A. L.-K. (2007). The impact of child labor and school quality on academic achievement in Brazil. Population Association of America Annual Meeting, (pp. 1-38). Los Angeles.

Child Abuse

Childhood abuse is something that no one should have to go through, but it is something that far too many children see on a daily basis.  When growing up in Arizona I had one best friend, Monica.  We spent all of our time together, and my parents were not happy about that.  I did not understand why they did not want me to be friends with her, she was my age and just lived a couple houses down from my dad’s house.  I remember in the summer time we would do gymnastics in her living room to New Kids on the Block.  I never thought it weird that there was no furniture in the living room, I just saw it as a large cushioned area for my cartwheels.  It wasn’t until one day that I knew things were different at her house when everyone was gone.  It was an early morning, and her parents’ car was not in the driveway, so I went to her bedroom window and she let me in.  Well my brother had followed me, so he came through the widow too.  I do not remember what we were talking about, I just remember that we heard someone coming, and my brother and I hid in the closet.  Thankfully there was a hamper in there that hid us from her step dad that was walking into her room. He swung that door open and was yelling that he heard her talking to someone, she lied and told him that she was singing to herself.  He proceeded to check out her closet, and luckily he did not see us, but that didn’t stop him from dragging her out of her room anyway.  As soon as that man was out of sight, my brother ran through that screen window and bolted for home.  I never saw much of Monica after that, they never let her come outside, and they never answered the door.  Her family ended up moving later that summer to somewhere in California.  I received one letter from her, and all I remember is that she said that her new home smelled like ketchup.

Now I did not see the warning signs that my parents did, I probably saw more of them than they did, I just didn’t know it.  I hope someone along her life path was able to help her out of the situation that she was in.  The verbal and physical abuse that I saw was probably only the beginning.  When I lived out in California I thought of Monica all the time.  Anytime I would go to a different town, I would see if it had the faintest smell of ketchup. 

“There is no single known cause of child maltreatment. Nor is there any single description that captures all families in which children are victims of abuse and neglect. Child maltreatment occurs across socio-economic, religious, cultural, racial, and ethnic groups” (Ameyaw-Akumfi, 2013).  There are many factors as to why child abuse happens, the odds are slightly higher for a child if their parent was abused as a child.

Many authorities have to have proof of abuse before taking action because “there is a reluctance to inter- vene in what is still perceived in most societies as a ‘private’ sphere” (Versiani).  In Brazil low income families often send their children to live with a more stable educated person.  The family sets up the agreement that the child will go live with them and receive good education in return for doing household chores.  Most of the time children end up becoming slaves in factories.  "There are some 5,100,000 children between the ages of five and 17 who work -- around 500,000 are engaged in domestic labor, "it's a hidden form of slavery. Many of them don't go to authorities, and no one knows that they are working illegally and being badly treated in these houses” (Gallego, 2008).

This poor girl was forced to eat dog excrement, she was bound and her tongue was cut off in pieces.  My question is why?  What could a 14 year old girl do that was so bad to deserve this type of treatment? Nothing.  No one should have to live in these conditions, and it is reported that 5, 100,000 children could be in these types of conditions already.  Many people are afraid to report child abuse, because they do not see action being taken by the proper authorities.  How do we change the perception of the world that children should not have to live in fear of their families?

References

Ameyaw-Akumfi, N. (2013, May 30). Social Factors that may Increase the Child's Vulnerability to Abuse. Retrieved from SpyGhana: http://www.spyghana.com/social-factors-that-may-increase-the-childs-vulnerability-to-abuse/

Gallego, S. (2008, March 20). Story of Child Abuse Shocks Brazil. Retrieved from ABC News: http://abcnews.go.com/International/story?id=4488867&page=1#.Uai3pN4o7IV

Godoy, C. E. (2010, June 4). Child Abuse Underreported in Latin America. Retrieved from Gallop World: http://www.gallup.com/poll/139376/Child-Abuse-Underreported-Latin-America.aspx

Versiani, C. (n.d.). Violence Against Children in the Home and Family. UNICEF, 44-107.

 

 

Immunization, To get a Shot or Not get a Shot, That is the Question!

     The topic that I chose was immunization.  I think immunization has become a more popular topic over the last couple of years, regarding the importance of getting your child immunized.  There has been a lot of talk about the controversy of getting children immunized.  “Some parents, however, choose not to vaccinate their children because they fear vaccines can cause conditions such as autism and asthma” (Adams, 2013).  There has been no proof that vaccines actually lead to autism or asthma.  Most of the speculations come from the fact that the measles, mumps and rubella shot coincides with the first symptoms of autism.

     The book defines immunization as priming “the body’s immune system to resist a specific contagious disease” (Berger, 2012).  Since having specific immunizations available to people in the United States, there have been a huge prevention rate of specific diseases.  “In 2010, in the United States, only 61 people had measles, most of them born in nations without widespread immunization” (Berger, 2012). 

   Brazil has noticed the need for immunizations in their country, and has taken action against diseases.  “Brazil has one of the best and most complex immunization programs in the world, offering vaccines against a range of diseases, free of charge” (Portal da saude, 2012). 

     More countries have taken a notice as to how vaccinations impact their survival rates.  Without some of these vaccines there would be a lot more unnecessary deaths that would have taken place.  This information has given me more definitive answers on where I stand with immunization.  There are some immunizations that I think are crucial for children to get, and there are others where I do not.  There are some things that are bodies are designed to fight, and for me it is okay to be smart about which ones are necessary and not.  

Adams, M. (2013, May 18). The Immunization Controversy: Should Your Child Be Immunized? Retrieved from Keck Medical Center of USC: http://www.keckmedicalcenterofusc.org/condition/document/75739

Berger, K. S. (2012). Th Developing Person Through Childhood. New York: Worth Publishers.

Portal da saude. (2012, October 31). Brazil maintains 95% vaccination coverage over the last 10 years. Retrieved from Brasil.gov: http://www.brasil.gov.br/news/history/2012/10/31/brazil-maintains-95-vaccination-coverage-over-the-last-10-years/newsitem_view?set_language=en