“My Supports”

When I think about support, I think about that thing that encourages me, or keeps me going on a daily basis. The factors within my environment that gives me support is my family members because they believe in me strongly and that believe keeps me going and it’s a kind of motivation, so whenever or where ever I am in difficulties I draw inner strength from them.

I also get support from the people in my environment/community when I have a difficult task to achieve, I  rely on the people in my environment because no man is an Island and I believe there are people out there that can support me or render help to me in order for me to achieve my goal. I believe that no matter what, there are people out there that can support us even though there are others that are not willing the worst answer you can get is a “No” and no does not kill anyone. On a daily basis I meet empathetic people as well as altruistic; I just use the opportunity to achieve my goal.

Recently I have gotten a lot of support from the school community where my children school, this include, the teachers and head teachers, they help me sail through this early childhood course. It wouldn’t have been easy to carry out my classroom observation and interview without them.

I also get a lot of support from my close friends, they also believe in me and see a lot of good qualities in me that makes them keep encouraging me, with their help and good encouraging words I strive to do better in order to keep up with their expectation and as well achieve my goal too.

Role  models/ people that share common interest with me like my early childhood colleagues, every single one of them support and motivate me because we share a common interest of teaching, and advocating for children It would have been very difficult in my career line without the support I get from this support system I have mentioned

“My Connections to Play”

Growing up as a child, I was lucky enough to experience play in two different scenarios, one with my grandmother in a typical African village and also the other in a city. The play I experienced in my village is totally different from the normal play in the city. During holidays in my village, the older children taught the younger children how to dance in a folktale dance, and also hide and seek around the rubber trees; it was so interesting especially the dance that we look forward to every evening.

In the city, the most common play when I was growing up was playing with dolls and kitchen utensils, and also acting mummy and daddy, and sometimes we act the part of a very mean teacher, with the support and understanding of my friends we were able to act these parts.

The play now and the play when I was growing up are similar, acting roles and pretend play has been around for a very long time the only difference in play now is the more modern play items.

My thought on the role of play throughout childhood and adulthood is that, through play a child is capable to learn and develop both socially and emotionally healthy, confident and friendly, has a good relationship with peers, he or she is able to communicate well and this transcends through adulthood.

Relationship Reflection.

Relationship is a connection, association, or involvement, it can also be defined as connection between persons by blood or marriage (Dictionary.com)

Relationships/partnerships are very important to me, I feel because of a particular relationship or relationships we tend to strive high and keep our expectations very high too, it could be a blood relationship between parents and children or between husband and a wife.

The people I currently have positive relationships and/or partnership with are my children, husband and the teachers of my children.

The relationship between my children, husband and I has been a positive one, as parents we talk with our children in a way that they don’t hold back certain things relating to their academic work. We try as much as possible to create an atmosphere that encourages communication. We make them understand that it is okay to make mistakes, but that should not stop them from working hard to achieve their goals in live. As a mother my children and husband believe in me that when I set out to achieve something I try as much as possible to get to my destination no matter how difficult it may be because quitting is not an option. We basically form a kind of support system within us that keeps us going, knowing fully well that achieving our goals makes everyone of us happy.

The relationship I have with my children’s teachers help me in knowing more about their school work, it helps me to assist my children at home to make them understand better whatever topic they treat on a weekly basis. The factors I believe contributed to developing and maintaining each relationship is, communication, respect for one another, trust, understanding and believing in one another.

One of the challenges to developing and maintaining relationships that I have learned from my experience over time is lack of communication, understanding one another and also putting biases aside, when all these things are deep rooted in someone developing and maintain relationship becomes very difficult.

What I see as special characteristics that makes partnership, is the ability to communicate, and understand that between the two parties, if there is a two-way communication, they will definitely reap the benefits.

As an early childhood educator, my main goal is to help children to get to their fullest potential, and I can only achieve this by involving their parents to be able to be successful. My collaboration with parents makes me an active and reflective contributor because I rely on their input to help bring up their children in a more better way by reflecting on the feedback I get from them as it regards to their children

This quote about children draws my attention to how children develop at their own pace, how they progress sequentially through physical, cognitive, and emotional growth and change. As educators we have met a lot of children that are unique in various ways when it comes to classroom activities or outdoor when they mix up with their peers.

         Personally I draw inspiration from this quote, it makes me to have more patience in dealing with, not only children in the classroom but also my children because I believe that when the time comes for them to unwrap those beautiful qualities and knowledge in them, they do it in a beautiful way that you cannot imagine.

Testing for Intelligence?

It is very important in my country Nigeria to carry out a test during mid-terms and examination at the end of every term. But for the past 2 academic session in Panaga School Brunei my children have not gone through any sort of examination, but I can tell that they are doing well academically, so I ask myself “is examination the true test of knowledge”?

One of the things I believe should be assessed is the child’s chronological age and how ready that child is to start school. Viewing children holistically is the best step towards molding a total child and this is one of the goals of early childhood development, preparing the child to be ready for school, socially and emotionally healthy, confident and friendly.

Through this preparation a child should be ready for the school years ahead; he/she should be ready or have the ability to have a good peer relationship, and also be prepared to tackle challenging tasks and also have good language skills and communicates well.

The country I have personal affinity for is America, what they do on school readiness is wonderful. It is basically how prepared a child is before going into kindergarten, it also shows that school readiness is all about children, families, early environments, schools and communities. It shows specifically how young children develop at their own pace, recognizing and supporting children’s individual differences, and also establishing reasonable expectations for what children should be able to do when they enter school.

I would like to share that, even if the use of a child’s chronological age of entry into school is important, as educators we should also have at the back of our mind that children are just like butterflies, each flies with the way the wind blows it, some fly very fast why others fly slowly. With the use of the school readiness children will be taken into school based on age not mastery of skills. A school should be ready to help its children based on how equipped its kindergarten curriculum is, the curriculum should include child-guided and teacher-supported activities.

The chaotic abduction of the Chibok girls

# BRINGBACK OUR GIRLS#

On the 14^th of April 2014, gunmen suspected to be members of terror movement Boko Haram abducted about 270 girls from an all-girls government secondary school in a town called Chibok in northeast Nigeria. This Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization based in northeast Nigeria is opposed to the westernization of Nigeria, which they maintain is the root cause of criminal behavior in the country. Thousands of people have been killed in attacks perpetrated by the group, and the Nigerian federal government declared a state of emergency in May 2013 in Borno State in its fight against the insurgency.

This Islamic Jihadist and terrorist organization has been causing a lot of chaos in Nigeria, they started with the bombing a lot of catholic churches every Sunday morning putting fear in all Christians especially the Catholics. In order to fight against this attack, security measures were taking every Sunday morning before mass.

Since 2010, Boko Haram has targeted schools, killing hundreds of student. One of the consequences of Boko Haram attack on school children especially the girls is lack of interest in continuing their education because of fear of being kidnapped or in worst scenario killed.

One of the country that is experiencing this particular stressor is Pakistan, we all had about the story of Malala Yousafzai  the Pakistani  school girl that was attack on her way back from school with her school mates in the country’s northwestern swat valley. From the interviews carried out by various news networks, to hear from these victims about their experiences, you can tell that most of them are still traumatized by what they went through.

Picture of  Malala and the Chibok girls (Photo from the web)

Malala (Photo from the Web).

Child Development and Public Health

Nutrition/Malnutrition

With so many fast food joints, dense schedule of working, unhealthy food becomes the order of the day in the developing countries. Malnutrition beginning in infancy and continuing through early childhood contributes to the one-third of all child death (UNICEF, 2008, and slows later growth, including growth of the brain). Nowadays we see a lot of obsessed children in developed countries because of their customs of eating a lot of sugary things and their parents just can’t say no to their children over having certain food items, and that causes more harm than good to the children’s health. Studies and researches have shown that an epidemic of heart diseases and diabetes is spreading worldwide as overfed children become overweight adults.

Although high number of children eat more than just enough calories, most of the essential nutrients are left out of their diet for example, iron, zinc and calcium because the now drink less milk and a lot of fizzy drinks. With the generational in life styles in developed country, we see a lot of obsessed children due to lack of exercise compared to the way their parents and grandparents did by feeding animals, walking miles to school and playing outside. With a lot of technological advancement you see a lot of children playing indoors as against what their parents and grandparents did.

This topic is meaningful to me because of the effects of nutrition/malnutrition in the developing child. When we talk about development what come to the mind are the three domains of development which includes, biosocial, cognitive and psychosocial. For a child to be well-rounded, that child’s nutrition should be placed as number one priority before other functions will take place while underweight causes a lot of malfunctions in the human body, overweight causes a lot of social damage to the growing child. Obsessed children are bullied more often even if they possess qualities that can discourage bullies, such as having social skills or doing well in school, this can eventually make them sad and depressed eventually.

Malnutrition is a very big problem in Nigeria, with its constituents of protein-energy malnutrition and micronutrient deficiencies continue to be a major health burden in developing countries. It is globally the most important risk factor for illness and death with hundreds of millions of pregnant women and young children particularly affected. Apart from marasmus and kwashiorkor (the 2 forms of protein-energy malnutrition), deficiencies in iron, iodine, vitamin A and zinc are the manifestations of malnutrition in developing countries.

I believe this information may impact my future work in the sense that I now know the implication of both nutrition/malnutrition as regards to the health and wellbeing of young children whether it has to do with underweight or overweight.

My Birthing Experience.

My first birthing experience was 13 years ago. Though it was painful but a very memorable experience. During my pregnancy I did not consider my diet as an important factor during pregnancy because I had no appetite to eat. I was able to attend my ante-natal classes as scheduled. My baby came much earlier than I expected, precisely 3 weeks before my expected delivery date. I labored for more than 15 hours, my amniotic sac was ruptured, and it was not funny at all to have it ruptured. I was not given an epidural, and did not ask for it because as at that time I had an ‘impression’ that epidural has a bad effect on babies, so I decided to go through the more than 15 hours of labor time pains, because to me I felt why should I risk the remaining hours of my pregnancy after carrying the baby for more than 8 months.

I chose this one because it was my first birthing experience and out of ignorance I did not ask for epidural and I believe most African women that have access to it may do the same thing.

My thoughts regarding births and its impact on child development, reminds me of ‘The Nature-Nurture Debate in chapter 1 of the developing Person Childhood 6^th Edition by K.S Berger. Nature refers to the influence of genes that people inherit. Nurture refers to the environmental influences, beginning with the health and diet of the embryo’s mother and continuing lifelong, including family, school, culture, and society. With this I understand that a pregnant woman’s diet is very important during pregnancy and also how you treat the child or the affection you give after birth also matters in the upbringing, the intellectual stimulation of early childhood, bullying or friendship in the middle childhood affects how genetic codes work.

Births in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Worldbirthaid.org, giving birth safely in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a privilege of the rich, 1 in 13 women die of causes related to pregnancy and child birth. Infection following delivery remains a leading cause of death among both mothers and new born. This risk can be mitigated. Both maternal and neonatal infection rates have been proven to decrease ‘if’ women are given access to the most basic elements of medical sanitation while birthing : soap a length of clean string to tie the umbilical cord, a clean razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, and 1m2 clean paper on which to deliver.

What I learnt from this birthing process is that lack of sanitation, provision for certain medical materials lead to both maternal and neonatal death.

The difference between this and my birthing experience is that I was well taking care of, and also I was provided with the necessary birthing materials in the hospital I gave birth in.

My Birthing Experience.

My first birthing experience was 13 years ago. Though it was painful but a very memorable experience. During my pregnancy I did not consider my diet as an important factor during pregnancy because I had no appetite to eat. I was able to attend my ante-natal classes as scheduled. My baby came much earlier than I expected, precisely 3 weeks before my expected delivery date. I labored for more than 15 hours, my amniotic sac was ruptured, and it was not funny at all to have it ruptured. I was not given an epidural, and did not ask for it because as at that time I had an ‘impression’ that epidural has a bad effect on babies, so I decided to go through the more than 15 hours of labor time pains, because to me I felt why should I risk the remaining hours of my pregnancy after carrying the baby for more than 8 months.

I chose this one because it was my first birthing experience and out of ignorance I did not ask for epidural and I believe most African women that have access to it may do the same thing.

My thoughts regarding births and its impact on child development, reminds me of ‘The Nature-Nurture Debate in chapter 1 of the developing Person Childhood 6^th Edition by K.S Berger. Nature refers to the influence of genes that people inherit. Nurture refers to the environmental influences, beginning with the health and diet of the embryo’s mother and continuing lifelong, including family, school, culture, and society. With this I understand that a pregnant woman’s diet is very important during pregnancy and also how you treat the child or the affection you give after birth also matters in the upbringing, the intellectual stimulation of early childhood, bullying or friendship in the middle childhood affects how genetic codes work.

Births in Sub-Saharan Africa.

According to Worldbirthaid.org, giving birth safely in Sub-Saharan Africa remains a privilege of the rich, 1 in 13 women die of causes related to pregnancy and child birth. Infection following delivery remains a leading cause of death among both mothers and new born. This risk can be mitigated. Both maternal and neonatal infection rates have been proven to decrease ‘if’ women are given access to the most basic elements of medical sanitation while birthing : soap a length of clean string to tie the umbilical cord, a clean razor blade to cut the umbilical cord, and 1m2 clean paper on which to deliver.

What I learnt from this birthing process is that lack of sanitation, provision for certain medical materials lead to both maternal and neonatal death.

The difference between this and my birthing experience is that I was well taking care of, and also I was provided with the necessary birthing materials in the hospital I gave birth in.

This past eight weeks has been a challenging time but in a good way, I started this course with out an iota of what I am getting into. But with the help of my wonderful colleagues I am able to get to this point. You all and Dr Parrish have been a very good support system to me. I thank you Dr Parrish, for guiding me through and also believing in me and  my colleagues I am happy  to belong to this community of highly inspired individuals that derive joy in bringing up children and supporting their families.I have learnt from early childhood professionals that to take care of children I have to be abreast with current happenings and also network with my colleagues. I couldn't have done this with out all of you thanks so much and I believe this is just the beginning of a life long career path for us all I hope to meet you guys again.

Code of Ethical Conduct and Statement of Commitment

Section 1

Ethical Responsibilities to Children

1-1.3 To recognize and respect the unique qualities, abilities and potential of each child. Every child is gifted. They just unwrap their packages at different times. I believe every child has great potentials but they all learn at their own pace. For me to be able to work with diverse children I should be able to identify their unique qualities and also have the patience to learn along with them. According to Palm Leo “you can’t teach children to behave better by making them feel worse. When children feel better, they learn better”

Section 111

Ethical Responsibilities to colleagues.

1-3A.2- To share resources with co-worker, collaborating to ensure that the best possible early childhood care and education program is provided.

No man is an Island and for us to work effectively for the benefit of the children we need a very big support system. We get this support by collaborating, sharing resources with our colleagues or working as a team. As a professional, sharing resources with colleagues is a big step towards achieving our goals.

Section IV

Ethical Responsibilities to Community and Society

P-4.4- We shall carefully check references and shall not recommend for employment any person whose competence, qualification or character makes him or her unsuited for the position.

Even though a child’s first place of learning is at home, the teachers do a lot of teaching and molding of a child’s character too. Of all the things schools can give students to help them succeed, effective teachers are the best bet. In education research, having an effective teacher consistently rises to the top as the most important factor in learning-more so than the student ethnicity or family income, school attended, or class size (Center for Public Education 2005). Acquiring early childhood knowledge will help my professional life positively.

Early Childhood Education Quotes

Quotes from "http://www.pinterest.com/cclas/early-childhood-quotes/".

My Course Resource Center.

My Early Childhood Course Resource Center.

·         Video: Laureate Education, Inc(2010).The resources for early childhood. Baltimore: Author

·         NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through 8. Retrieved May 26,2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap

·         NAEYC.(2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010,fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf

·         NAEYC.(2009).Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26,2010 from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

·         NAEYC.(2009) Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26,2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

·         NAEYC.(2003). Early childhood curriculum, Assessment, and program evolution: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age8. Retrieved May 26, 2010,from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf

·         NAEYC.(2009,April).Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26,2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC NAEYC ECSummary A.pdf

·         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 infanttoddler

·         FPG child Development Institute.(2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families.(FPG Snapshot, No 33).Retrieved May 26,2010, from http://community.fpg.unc.edu/sites/community.fpg.unc.edu/files/imce/documents/FPG Snapshot N33 EvidenceBasedF2006.pdf

Tumull, A Zuna, N., Hong,J.Y., Hu X, Kyzar, K.,Obremski, S., et al.(2010).Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional CHILDREN, 42(3), 42-53.

Retrieved from the Walden Library databases.

·         Part 2: Global Support for Children’s Rights and Well-Being

·         Article: UNICEF (n.d). Fact sheet: A summary of rights under the convention on the Rights of the child. Retrieved May 26,2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights overview.pdf

·         Websites:

      .  World Forum Foundation

          http://worldforumfoundation.org/wf/wp/about-us

          This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the media segment on this webpage

.World organization for Early Childhood Education

  http://www.omep.org/

  Read about OMEP’s mission

 .Association for Children Education International

   http://acei.org/

·         National Association for the Education of Young  Children

http://www.naeyc.org/

·         The Division for Early Childhood

http://www.dec-sped.org/

·         Zero to three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers,and Families

http://www.zerotothree.org/

·         WESTED

http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

·         Harvard Education Letter

http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

·         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/

·         Highscope

http://www.highscope.org/

·         Children’s Defense Fund

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

·         Center for Child Care Workforce

http://.ccw.org/

·         Council for Exceptional Children

http://www.cec.speed.org

·         Institute for Women’s Policy Research

http://www.iwpr.org/

·         National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education

http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

·         National Child Care Association

http://www.nccanet.org/

·         National Institute for Early Education Research

http://nieer.org/

·         Pre[K]Now

http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-know-328067

·         Voices for America’s Children

http://www.voices.org

·         The Erikson Institute

http://www.erikson.edu/

JOURNALS

·         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

Web pages

http://www.earlychildhood.com

EriksonNews@erikson.edu

Teacher’s role in project Approach

“The teacher’s role in education is always complex, regardless of the subject matter or the age of the students. In general the main focus is to help learner understand what they already know more and deeply and accurately while strengthening their dispositions to continue learning throughout life”

-Lillian G.Katz

 

“The teacher is also essential to building a classroom culture of mutual assistance among the children. She may suggest to a child who is having some difficulties creating a cardboard construction representation that a particular classmate might be able to help because he or she has done a similar thing recently”

-Lillian G.Katz

Evidence- Based Practice

“A decision-making process that integrates the best available research evidence with family and professional wisdom and values”

-Buysse, Virginia;   Wesley, Patricia W.

“When I think of the word passion and the meaning to the word passion, what comes to my mind are what are my values, what are my believes, what are the ideas that lead me to action, what do I do so naturally that perhaps seems natural to me but may be challenging to others? What’s in my heart?

-Leticia Lara, LCSW, Regional Manager for Outreach and

Professional Development for ZERO TO THREE

 

Personal Childhood Web

Growing up as a child was very memorable because I had nothing to worry about but lots of family members to visit and play around with. I was fortunate enough to gain some knowledge from my grand mother,as a child I use to visit her during my school holidays in my village, learnt how to plant cassava and also how to harvest it also.Processing cassava in the Nigerian local way is another Knowledge I gained From her,learning how to prepare my local delicacies was part of some of the things I learnt from her as a child. One of the most important things I learnt from her also knowing my other relatives from her.
Another memorable time as a child was travelling with my uncle on a vesper from my grand mothers place to visit my cousins in town,this trip was usually made during weekends.My mum will forever remain my number one teacher in life, she is always in the business of teaching me the pros and cons of our society.She never gets tired of putting me through the right track all the time.My dad has always been my greatest fan and  he encourages me. no matter the position I find myself. My dad was our first Sunday school teacher,he was always telling us stories from the bible,he was also good at telling us history about our country,the civil war in Nigeria and also politics.
I call my dad my greatest fan and he encourages a lot because he does not believe that failure is an option because there is always room for improvement.
My grand dad also made a great impact in my life to, he taught me some of the traditions in my town.

"Kids don't remember what you try to teach them.They remember what you are.
Jim Henson,It's Not Easy Being Green And Other Things to consider.
Tags: Childhood education,learning,teaching

Hansel and Gretel is one of my favorite children's book.What i love about this book is the illustration of poverty in the book, and how poverty can bring division and helplessness in a family.If i have to relate it to recent happenings and the most occurred ones I will relate it to how instability in a family will affect a child,s learning ability in school.Back in my country poverty is so clear that you see a lot of children within the school age hawking by the road side during school hours or the lucky ones hawking after school hours.













This is an image of my child's drawing,and she will be 3 in September. I choose this image because it describes to the child how a beach looks like, the things you can find around the beach the difference in the color of the water and the sea shore.