Friday, December 20, 2013
Quotes About Children
"If we don't stand up for children, then we don't stand for much".
Marion Wright Edelman
"We have to make sure that our kids still feel good about themselves no matter what their weight. no matter how they feel. We need to make sure that our kids know that we love them no matter who they are, what they look, what they're eating".
First Lady Michelle Obama
These quotes inspires me to commit to doing all I can to assist children in their development and learning process. How I am to serve the whole child
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Testing for Intelligence
Testing For Intelligence
North Carolina EOG standardized test are used to measure the progress of
students from 3rd grade to 8th grade. The results from NC EOG test, and NC End Of
Course (EOC) test for high school students improve academic performance in
reading, math, science, writing, and other subject. These tests are also use to
determine each school’s Adequate Yearly Progress As required by the federal No
Child Left Behind Act.
I do understand the reason for some assessment tests. Yet I only believe these tests should be used to figure out where the child is academically, and how they can be helped, if they need it.
I do understand the reason for some assessment tests. Yet I only believe these tests should be used to figure out where the child is academically, and how they can be helped, if they need it.
I do not think having a child take a test is a
good means of measuring a child’s learning potential. Test only measure a child
knowledge at the point of time it is given. Sometime the test itself can be
unfair to children. Children who have a hard time with test will not do well on
them. There are many reason why some children do badly on test. Some children
might had a bad or sleepless night. Children have not been exposed to the information
on the test. I do not think a single test should determine whether a child is
promoted.
Children as young as 3rd grade are begin stressed to pass EOG test. Teacher start the first week of school preparing children for the EOG test. I think there is too much pressure on school aged children, especially at such a young age. Teachers and some parents put a lot of pressure on kids to do exceptionally well on these test. Having children to do these types of tests does not necessarily do a good job of assessing the child as a whole.
I looked at the Japan school system to see how they assess children. February is the month of school entrance exams in Japan. All children go to the same type of school, until the age of 10. At the age of 10, they are assessed to determine which one of four different tracks they will go into. Each track then determines where they will go from there, whether to a university or a trade school. In Japan, where you go to Jr. High School, High School and College makes all the difference for your future, and the school exams are your ticket into these institutions
.
For some positives in Japanese education, one need look no further than the local kindergarten or the local elementary school. For everything other than English education, they are doing a good to great job of educating the children of Japan. Classes are creative, teachers are caring, on the whole, and students are happy and learning.
It the whole education system was like this from kindergarten to the end of university, the Japanese people would be happier, healthier and more productive, both in GDP and creative terms.
Unfortunately, this all ends at age 12. Those are the years that exam hell starts and from which students never really recover. The standardized test-based education system of Japan that starts in the junior high school years destroys any kind of initiative, creativity and especially thinking outside of the box. Unfortunately, these last three are what Japan especially needs in the 21st century; perhaps Japan`s most challenging 100 years yet.
For many years now, Japan has employed a test-based education system and passing the all-important tests is what educators and students, not to mention parents, are focused on. The result of all this test-taking and stress, is a nation of order takers who have trouble making decisions, let alone stating an opinion.
References
Burn, K. (2010). Japan and Its Standardized Test-
Based Education System
North Carolina EOG Test Prep –www.time4learning.com
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Consequences of Stressors on Children's Development
Consequences
of Stress on Children’s Development
Poverty
This is a story that my daddy shared with me when I was
young. He told me how when he was a young boy he did not attend school he had
to work in the fields to help support the family. He said he worked doing farm
work from sun up to sun down and one time he got paid with a pair of shoes that
was too big for his feet. He said he was very angry about that. He said they
had to walk everywhere they went. They went without a lot of things because
they did not have any extra money to buy them.
My daddy was 22 when he married my mother who was 17. They lived
with his mother for a while. They finally got a house of their own. My mother
and father both worked while my grandmother my mother’s mom babysat. My father got his first public job at a lumber
mill where he worked during all sort of weather. My oldest sister was soon born,
18 months later another sister was born. My mother and father saved their money and
built a house I and my baby sister were born buy now. One of my father’s cousin
moved in to help with keeping the children and housework while my mother continue
to work outside the home.
The house did not have inside plumbing or central heat. But
they had a home for their family. This is where my daddy’s story stop and mines
began. In the later years they remodeled
the house and my mother lives there still.
My daddy worked hard all his live to provide a good home for
his family and he did just that. We were poor but I did not know it thanks to
the satisfices and hard work of my parents. My sister and I had all our needs
met and some many of our wants. My dad taught himself to write his name, how to
add and subtract and how to read a little. We were born and rise in poverty but we were
determine not to stay there. My daddy passed May, 2013 but his determination
and strength live on in his children and grandchildren.
Poverty in South Africa
Poverty is a stressor that is apparently all over the world.
It has been eighteen years since the apartheid ended in South Africa now it is
said to be one of the most unequal societies in the world and it has 19 million
children who bear the brunt of this disconnection (Nicholson, 2012). In South
African 60% of the children cry themselves to sleep at night because of the
lack of proper food (Nicholson, 2012). Children
and their families are often too poor to purchase the necessities. They live in
inadequate housing, lack of clean water, lack of education and many live with their
mother only.
There are many policy and programs that have been put in
place to assist in this matter but as of now only a few has been successful. Children
begin abandon by parents to survive the best way they can has added to the
number of children in poverty. Many babies are born malnourished at birth. Education
is the single most important factor in stopping the transmission of poverty
from one generation to the next.
Poverty is a worldwide problem even here in the United
States there are children who goes to bed hunger. We have many resources to
assist families here in the United States but yet the number of families are
steadily increasing.
Reference
Nicholson,
Z., (2012). Most black SA kids live in poverty- study. www.iol.co.za/...South-africa/most-black-sa-kids-live-in-poverty-study-1.1
Saturday, November 9, 2013
Child Development and Public Health
Child
Development and Public Health
Breastfeeding
I chose the topic of breastfeeding. This method of
feeding babies has become very popular with mothers today. I knew about breastfeeding when I
was giving birth to my children. However I always chose bottle feeding because
of convinces. The benefits of breastfeeding to the baby were not expressed. My
oldest daughter gave birth to a premature baby girl and of courses she had to
breastfeed. My daughter also had to pump and store her milk. So I did some
research on breastfeeding to see what I and my babies missed out on.
Breastfeeding were not promoted back in the days the way it is now and the benefits
were not explained the way they are now. .
I found out the experience of breastfeeding is
special for so many reasons the bonding that take place between mother and
child, the health benefits for both mother and baby, and the saving from not
having to buy milk.
The first breast milk is called colostrum (liquid
gold) the thick yellow first breast milk
that women makes during pregnancy and just after birth. This milk is very rich
in nutrients and antibodies to protect babies. The baby gets a small amount of colostrum at
each feeding, it matches the amount his or her tiny stomach can hold. Colostrum
changes into what is called mature milk. By the third to fifth day after birth,
this mature breast milk has just the right amount of fat, sugar, water, and protein to help the baby continue to grow.
It is a thinner type of milk than colostrum, but it provides all of the
nutrients and antibodies the baby needs. Breast milk is easier for babies to
digest. The protein in formula comes from cow milk and it takes longer for baby’s
stomach to adjust to digesting it.
Beast milk helps babies to fight diseases. The cell,
hormones, and antibodies in breast milk protect babies from many illnesses. Ear
infections and diarrhea are more common in babies who are formula. Research
shows breastfeeding can reduce the risk of Type 1 diabetes, childhood leukemia,
and atopic dermatitis. Breastfeeding has also been shown to lower the risk of
SID (Sudden Infant Death Syndrome)
The physical contact the baby received during
breastfeeding help the baby to feel secure, warm and comforted while the mother
and child bonds. If I had to do over I would breastfeed my children for that
bonding and health benefits.
Reference
Breastfeeding, www.womenhealth.gov
Re-Establishing
a Breastfeeding Culture in South Africa
There is a hospital named Murchison Hospital in West
Cape South Africa that promotes breastfeeding through a program called Baby
Friendly that was establish in 1999. This program encourages mothers to
breastfeed. It provides training and assistance to mother and their babies. There circumstances in which a mother cannot
breast. The high HIV positive incidence among young women has presented a serious
challenge for the health workers. Women are informed and encourage to breastfeed
their babies under certain condition.
The health care worker inform mothers not to mix feed their babies even
when they are begin told to do so by the older women. Many women in this urban
area sees bottle feeding as a status symbol.
There is a war in this area and it is over breastfeeding
and bottle feeding. Many of the doctor in this area has made deals with the formulas’
makers to get there patients to use formulas but we know breast milk is more beneficial
to the healthy development of the babies.
There are no nurseries at this hospital it believes
in Kangaroo Mother care they want the women to know babies grow through love
and breast milk. You would think everyone would promote breastfeeding because this
is the best for babies but there are doctors and other who promotes formulas’
for financial gain.
Reference
Re-Establishing Breastfeeding Culture
in South African
Saturday, November 2, 2013
Birthing Experience
Birthing Experience
The birth experience I would like to tell about
happened twenty-six years ago. It started on a Friday night in April 1987. I spend the day at my mother’s house while
my husband was at work. That evening I
my mother, and two of my sister went to have a family portrait taken. When I
returned my husband my two daughters and I went home. We stayed about a twenty
minutes from my mother’s house.
When we got home that night my husband decided he
would work on putting up some blinds that he had supposed to have put up the
week before. I was getting the girls ready for bed. I had a pain in my side I
through it was happening because I had been moving around a lot that day. The
pain got worst so I told my husband it was time for me to go to the hospital.
He got very excited.
While he was
taking the girls next door to his cousin house to stay until my mother could
get there to take them to her house. I was getting my bag that I had packed
many weeks before. My husband did the funniest thing he started the car twice.
He was running back and for taking the girls. Mean while my pains were getting
worst. We got in to the car and my husband took off like he was in a race. I
did not tell him just how much pain I was in because I wanted us to to the hospital safely.
When we got to the hospital the doctor examine me
and said they wanted to do an ultra sound because they felt two heads. I were
shocked. So in all the pain I was in I had to be transfer to a stretcher to go
for and ultra sound. The results of the ultra sounds came back and it was
discovery that my baby was breached. The doctor had felt the baby head and bullock.
The doctor said because I had two successful vaginal births he did see why I
could not delivery this baby. I was in labor for 12 hour. I was in pain all
night until 11:00 the next morning. I went into the labor room. My husband went in with me. He almost fainted
but it was comforting to me to have him there. He had to sit down as he watched
the birth of our son. Our son was born feet first he weighed 7lbs and 4oz. They
had to use forceps to help get him out. It seemed to had been a healthy birth.
A day after being release from the hospital we
notice that my baby would cry every time we touched his right hip. We took him
back to the hospital and discovery his right hip had been sprung during birth.
We were glad it was not broken this occur because he was born breeched.
Today my son is twenty-six year old and cannot do certain
movement because of his limit mobility he could not pass physical in school to
play sports.
According to 2010 study by Harvard School of Public
Health, 150,000 deaths could be prevented by 2015 if Indian women had access to
better family planning and health care during their pregnancies and deliveries
(Bhowmick, 2012). A report done by Save
the Children suggests that despite India’s booming economy the country is still
one of the most high risk places in the world to give birth. India is ranked
the fourth worst country among 80 less develop nations in its survey, with
nearly half of all births taking place without a trained health professional.
India has been trying to improve levels of maternal
health for years. There are studies that show the maternal mortality rate has
dropped by 66% from 1990 to 2010. India‘s maternal mortality rate in 2010 was
200 women per every 100,000 live birth (Berger,2012). There have been many
opportunities offer to assist with the improvement of maternal health for
years. India has the highest number of
women death during child birth on the planet each year. This could be because
of the many women in the rural or poorest areas of India who do received medical
help from a qualified medical person. If basic maternity care were given many
mothers and babies would survive.
I feel with the wealth India has gain in the past
years some of it should be used to help improve their maternity care for many
women. Making sure these women received the care they need for safe healthy
deliveries. Many women in India give
birth at home with the assistance from untrained individuals. Many mother and
babies lives are lost because of the condition in which delivery takes place. Women
and children lives could be saved if birth were where modern equipment is used.
Reference
Bhoemick, N (201).” Why India Is Still One of the
Most Dangerous Places to Give Birth”. TIME Magazine.
Saturday, October 19, 2013
Codes Of Ethics
Codes of Ethics
I-1.1
To be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education
and to stay informed through continuing education, and training.
With having knowledge on current issues and research
this would assist me in serving and meeting the needs of the children and their
families. My attending professional trainings, conferences, and seminars would
help me to stay up on the changes and discoveries in the field of early
childhood education.
Keeping an open mind to the new things I can be
introduce to through the different children and families. Have materials such as
art, books, and other items that show families of different culture. Display
labels in the language of the families. Making sure families are given
opportunities to share their customs and beliefs when the opportunity arises.
Connect with the children and families.
Making sure staff has the proper education and training
and the staff child ratio is in compliance at all times. The needs of the
families are being met by sharing information of resources that can assist them.
Providing an environment in which all children and families are welcome.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
Growing Your Collection of Resources
Part 1: Position Statements and influential Practices
Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://main.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
Part
2: Global Support for Children's Rights and Well-Being
Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the
rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pd
http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us
World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/
FPG Child Development Institute
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/
Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
National Child Care Association
http://www.nccanet.org/
http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067
http://www.voices.org/
Part 4: Selected Professional
Journals Available in the Walden Library
YC Young Children
Childhood
Journal of Child & Family Studies
Child Study Journal
Multicultural Education
Early Childhood Education Journal
Journal of Early Childhood Research
International Journal of Early
Childhood
Early Childhood Research Quarterly
Developmental Psychology
Social Studies
Maternal & Child Health Journal
International Journal of Early Years
Education
Part
5: Additional Resources
Prevent Child Abuse America
http://www.preventchildabuse.org
Parents as Teachers
http://www.parentsasteachers.org
Southern Early Childhood Association (SECA)
www.southernearlychildhood.org
National Head Start Association
www.nhsa.org
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