Establishing Professional Contact

We Got The Whole World In Our Hand

I chose to collaborate with two of my fellow colleagues. I felt they would be best at keeping contact with and understanding the importance of our communication. Due to time difference our main source of communication will be through email. I will also keep notice of their posting in weekly discussions to help can insight on educational issues.

Delores Thompson is a native of the Cayman Islands.  Mrs. Thompson has a Bachelor of Science in Business Education and is currently working in the Education Dept as Head of Testing and Exams.

Carolyn General is our fellow neighbor, a Canadian. Mrs. General is a Intensive Behavior Intervention  (IBI) therapist. She treats preschoolers and children up to 8 years old who have been diagnosed with Autism.

Through the course of 8 weeks I hope to gain insight on the state of Early Childhood field, as well  as their concern, hopes, dreams and any current issues that are going on in their part of the world.

Expand Resources:

I chose a organization I felt that I could relate to as well as gain useful information as a parent. I will be studying the National Black Child Development Institute (NCBI.ORG). National Black Child Development Institute was created by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation whose concerns were that of the unsatisfactory conditions faced by families wanting to raised healthy children, they decided to organize a national advocacy group. Its mission “To improve and advance the lives of black children and their families through education and advocacy.”

My Supports

There are a few things and people that make the every day life of Chantay run smoothly

The thing that make my life a little bit easier would have to be my phone. I use my phone a a means of communication, an alarm clock, and instant access to my e-mail as well as the internet. I have my phone on me at all times. It has never completely died on me and is never powered off for extensive periods of time. My phone also serves as a family photo album, holding all memorable moments I have captured.

Next would be my daughter child-caregiver. My daughter attends an at-home care center where she socially interacts with other children in a nurturing setting. During this time I am able to attend to house duties, run errands, and focus on online school work. Also I am able to squeeze in a little me time. Childcare allows me to receive breather without neglecting my child. 

Finally,my significant other is the backbone to this well oiled machine. He gives me that extra push I need when I jut don't feel like going anymore. He isn't afraid to assist in house duties and truly understands I can often have more on my plate than I can swallow.

These are the pieces of the puzzles that make Chantay look like a pretty picture. If I didn't have my phone I seriously doubt I would die, it's just more convenient but I could surely survive without it. I would surely have to get a house phone. I cannot be totally disconnected from the world especially in emergency situations, I would also rely on my desk top more without my phone. Without childcare I would not be able to tackle my daily to-do list such as cleaning and classroom assignments with a 10 month old crawling around. I have tried and failed!!! I value the service and time of my childcare. Juggling a full course of classes and a toddler is far from a circus act. I thought I could just work around her nap schedule but some days naps last shorter than others and it's easy to fall behind in class that way. If It wasn't for my guy I'm not sure if I would be where I'm at to day. Although, I am self driven he is definitely the gas. Without him not only would I be missing a part of me I would also become a single parent and that relief that he gives me with our daughter would no longer exist

Relationship Reflection

Relationships effect the way we interact with others. How a person treats us determines how we respond. When dealing with a child, it's not just the child you are dealing with, along with that child comes that child family. The relationship between a parent and child effects the relationship that child will have with others.

The two most important relationships I have right now are the one with my guy and my daughter. The relationship I have with my mother influences the relationship I'm building with my daughter. My mother allowed us to make mistakes and explore the world in result I am not an overbearing mother to my daughter. I understand the importance of giving a child space. The relationship I have with my father as well as the relationship between my mother and father had a major impact on the relationship I have with my guy. I looked to my mother to determine the role and duties of a woman. I am a "daddy's girl", my guy had similar characteristics that reminded of my dad which drew me to him.

Communication is a vital part of maintaining each relationship I have. I have always be able to talk to my dad about anything under the sun without feeling judge it was very important to have this same feeling with my guy. My mother has always been a great listener and I was her talkative child so the two worked well together. My mother always told me I need to listen as much as I talk (ha,ha).

Although communication is important a challenge I face is recognizing it's not what I say but how I say it. When expressing myself I can get emotional, loud and even shut down. Now that I am a mother and my child has not reach the stage of expressing herself verbal I have to control those emotions, develop patience and learn to communicate in other ways beyond vocal.

A special characteristics that make these partnership work is being genuine and love. The sincerity is obvious and without love these partnership would no longer exist.

These relationships impact my work as an effective early childhood educator because I view each student as my own. I also recall how I wanted to be talked to and how sometimes I just wanted someone to listen to me just like students today.

When I Think of Child Development

''Each day of our lives we make deposits in the memory banks of our children." Charles R. Swindoll



Some people pass through this world
And leave it just as they found it.
But people like you take the time
To do special things for others
They make the world more beautiful.
Thank you My Friend!

Quality Not Quantity

CRCT:

As a part of the No Child Left Behind Act several state implemented test to hold teachers accountable for teaching their students. The test has been helpful as well as harmful for both teachers and students. I am against state standardized test being used to determine if a child should be promoted to the next grade level. I believe that the test should be used to see where a child stand compared to other children in their age/grade range. Test bring upon stress for both the students and teachers. When looking at the child as a whole educators need to look beyond book-based knowledge. For example physical exams can be used to look at growth development.

FSA

British Columbia's students take the Foundation Skills Assessment exam. A number of boards, academics, teachers and parents, contend that such grading leads schools and teachers to teach towards scoring well on the test and not to enlighten students. They maintain such tests are too blunt a tool to gauge how well specific students or schools are doing. Parent uses the testing result to help decide which school they should send their children, many teachers and school administrators claim the tests draw an unfair comparison between schools, raise unnecessary stress on the children and are too expensive to administer.

Too Blessed To Be Stressed

If You're Light You're Alright

If You're Brown You Can Stick Around

If You're Black Step Back

As an African-American racism is something that I am familiar with. In Elementary I went to a predominately Caucasian school. During those years of Elementary I did not see skin color. I responded to how a person treated me. It wasn't until I entered into middle school that I was exposed to racism-where I actually attended a majority African-American school. In middle school we were grouped based upon intelligence, meaning all "smart" students had most of their classes together while all "special" students were in the same class. I was grouped with the "smart students" but I was one of few African-American students in those classes. Often my classmates did not want to work with me during group assignments causing the few African-American students to always work together. Also during test our teacher would constantly stand by us to make sure we were not cheating as if we weren't smart enough to actually be in those classes. This made me feel uncomfortable and unwanted. I begin to purposely fail so that I could be demoted to "regular" classes and be around other African-American students. When I was placed into those classes the African-American students actually picked on me and did not accept me because they felt that I was "acting white". I could not understand and with encouragement and support from my mother, father, and grandmother I begin to own my smarts again. I realized that it wasn't me but it was actually the bullies that had issues within themselves. No matter if I was smart or dumb they would find a reason to pick at me. For these reason I do not believe in "identical grouping" I believe that groups should be a mixture of intelligence and learning styles so that students may learn from each other.

A Natural Disaster

In 2008 Haiti experienced a horrific hurricane, not fully recovering from its damages, Haiti was then struck by a earthquake in January 2010. Among the many building that came collapsing down were schools, an important stable to the citizen. Education was viewed as a way to a better life for Haitians.Where would the students go to school? Who would teach them? Two of many important questions that ranged through Haiti. Although education is important it was no longer a priority. Many children along with their families were preoccupied with finding food and shelter even work to make it through such tough times. As teachers were being located and student records recovered Haiti begin to slowly piece together their education system. Some students were sent outside the country to go to other schools as they awaited for their own schools to be repaired, teachers held class and taught in any place that was available, tuition were lowered for the very few schools that received minimal damage after the earthquake.

More on the recovering of schools in Haiti:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2010/may/31/haiti-earthquakes-schools-trauma
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/02/19/haiti-needs-schools-who-i_n_468287.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/17/opinion/17tue1.html

Breast Milk is the Best Milk

 The 2nd most question I was asked during my pregnancy was "Are you going to breast feed?"

     I knew from the moment I found out that I wanted to breast feed my baby. Even though I had heard many stories of how painful it would be I stuck to my guns when it came to breast feeding. I looked at breast feeding as a way to bond with my child as well as giving my baby the best milk I could possibly give.
     Because my baby girl was born premature the nurses encouraged me to breast feed. Not only did the breast milk help her gain weight it also improved her immune system.
     There are many benefits for both mother and child when a woman chooses to breastfeed. Human milk is custom-made for babies, with all the right nutrients and in the right amounts. There is no guesswork involved & of course it is FREE!!!
     Here are just a few of the benefits babies stand to gain from the breastfeeding relationship: less gas, diarrhea, and constipation, higher IQ, less risk of childhood obesity and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS). The rewards of breastfeeding are often overlooked when it comes to mom. Breastfeeding for mom promotes uterine contractions after childbirth and reduces bleeding which leads to a quick recover as well as promotes weight loss. It is also convenient and saves time.

Breastfeeding in Africa

When breastfeeding mother's have to be careful about what they eat and drink because it can be passed to the baby through the breat milk. We are all aware of the AIDS epidemic in Africa. This epidemic could threaten the number of mother that choose to breatfeed becaue the virus can be transmitted through breastmilk. HIV-positive mothers may find it difficult to cope with the constraints of replacement feeding, in terms of cost, workload and time, and with the additional health care needs of non-breastfed infants.

aditional resource on breastfeeding:

http://www.breastfeeding.com/