My Supports

I looked up the word support to give me a jumping off point and Webster's II New College Dictionary gave this as one of its meanings: to maintain in position so as to keep from falling, sinking, of slipping. This says it for me, a form of support which holds me up during the day .I work in a stressful job and I am of the "sandwich generation" as I tend to my own parents and children.
I have several supports in place which minister to me physically, emotionally, mentally, and financially.
       1) Helping Others
 This a very important aspect of my life. Besides the fact that helping those in need is a moral obligation in my life it also takes my mind off of my troubles or stressors as I focus on others. If I did not have this support in my life I would begin to sit around and over think the worries I may be going through or make up worries as I reel through imagined scenarios.  

       2) Church
This is the most important support for me and should probably have gone first. When I am at my wit's end because a child is taking me to "that place" or a student's family member is screaming in my face, I find if I focus on prayer it sooths me. I have many church friends who I can turn to who do not judge or belittle me. If I did not have prayer or Jesus in my life I think I would easily fall into the negativity that is not only a common part of the job and area I work but is so much part of the news these days. In fact, I KNOW I would fall into the negativity around me.

         3) My Kids and Grand Children
Those of you who have children know what I mean. My children have grown into positive influences in my life and their wisdom guides me often. Other times, it is just great to hang out with them and their children to forget about the day. If they were further away from me and I could not see them as often as I do I think there would be great loneliness. Not having these guys in my life would cause great stress and sadness.

       4) Disengagement
This support system works well for me. The way I can do this is through reading a book or, I am embarrassed to say, those computer games of matching-three objects. Nothing can turn my busy brain off easier that a half hour or so of mindless matching and clicking. My life would not be over if I was not allowed this luxury. I would definitely need to find another sort of disengagement tool however because I cannot keep thinking things over and over in my head.


        5) The Lake
My favorite place in the world is "The Lake", a place I go during the summer for two weeks. Water soothes me and this is a place I have been going to since I was a child. My children come as well and we all forget about what is going on in our various homes and just enjoy nature. If this was not in my life (and sometimes I have had to forgo a trip) I am overwhelmed by life. I need to get away from it all and rest. If this was not a part of my life I would become over exhausted and that leads to forgetfulness for me.    

    
         6) Learning New Skills
My final support is a relatively new one for me. I have rediscovered a love of researching and learning new skills which span anywhere from health and beauty to how to best handle a situation in the classroom. It stretches my brain and gets me out of the daily rut we can sometimes fall into. To not have this support I would fall victim to how things "used to be" and forget there are new and interesting findings discovered every day.



                                                       Imagined Scenario
       One of the aspects of the Head Start program is every five years the agency, which is an umbrella type of agency, must re-compete with other agencies to keep Head Start funding. So far the same agency has won that competition for the grant money. My scenario is that this year ACAP (our umbrella organization) has not won the grant money and now a new organization has taken over. This new organization has its own staff so there is all new management. This organization, though well versed in child development, has not worked with Head Start before and does not know the program as well as it should. I will most likely keep my teaching position the first year as the new organization does not have teachers in place yet. This fact does not guarantee a teaching position the next year however.
      Some of my support systems mentioned above would be of great value, some would not, and some I could not even entertain. Prayer would definitely be a major part of getting through the stressful time of change as I put my trust in the LORD. To not have this in place would send me reeling into all kinds of doubt and confusion. My children would definitely be there to support me both emotionally and financially if need be. To not have them there to boost me up or even to live with if the case arose would leave me floundering with no place to go. I would need to make myself indispensable to the new agency and this can be done through learning new skills in child development and ELL knowledge. If I did not have my degree and was not further educating myself I would most likely be asked to leave and then I am homeless with no income. The Lake would be out of the question if I did not have a job and then the tumbling affect of overworked and exhaustion would take away clear thinking. I would continue to help others as this is a reminder of how blessed I am in my life. I know for a fact if this was not in my life I would sit around feeling sorry for myself.
      This is a pretty bleak scenario but one which actually could happen every five years of our Head Start program and it can and does lead to stress. This is why I am thankful for the supports I have in place.

"support."( 2001) In Webster's Dictionary II New College Edition. Boston, MA:
Houghton Mifflin Company 

My Connectin to Play

My Favorite Toys

I spent hours playing in trees. It amazed me all the place I could go while sitting in its branches.

Blocks were my favorite indoor toy (sometimes outside too). I could build any place I wanted and escape into that world for hours.

The stream by my home was the best. I could be anything from an explorer traveling along its banks, to an ice skater in the winter, to a scientist examining all the pond life I could find.

My parents were my biggest support system for play, one a kindergarten teacher the other an art teacher. Creativity was huge to them and still is. We were not allowed to watch much television so it left time for nothing but imagination. I lived in a rural setting so the rule was, we could play as far into the fields as we wanted as long as we could still see the top bricks of the chimney of our home. The role of play for me, looking back, was a way to escape the world. It calmed me, it excited me, it made me think I could be or do anything I put my mind to.

Play today is not the same as what I experienced growing up. Children do not (or cannot due to safety) play outside all day long, lost in the pretend, using materials of the world. I find I need to teach my students how to play when they come to my Head Start classroom. I also find that some of the teachers are uncomfortable when the children take items from one center to another to aid to their creativity. Technology is part of today’s world but I want creativity back in a child’s life. I want children to take a stick and make a whole world of play with it.

Play I lived as a child is still a big part of who I am today. I tend to think outside of the box and see the glass half full. Not only is the glass half full, but it is not a glass at all, it is actually a pitcher. I am a big advocate for play in the classroom and creativity is its base.  Working with inner city and immigrant children who may seem destined to what is dealt them need to learn creative ways to look outside of where they are to what truly can be.        

Relationship Reflections

                                      Relationships Reflections

These are the most important relationships I have in my life-my children and their growing families!

Wow! There are a lot of them. I guess having five children tends to create a mob scene when placed all together, but I wouldn't have it any other way. We have had our share of ups and downs but somehow we always seem to come through them stronger and closer than before. Having so many separate individuals in one family teaches us to be kind and forgiving of each other which is important. I feel this dynamic group tends to teach each other tolerance for another which goes beyond the family unit. The challenges we have faced were growing up and me letting go and now it is just plain distance and busy schedules. We are partners as well because when one hurts we all hurt and when one needs help we are all there for them. Right now we are all struggling with the sudden and unexpected loss of their father a few short months ago which is -hard.

I also wanted to add this partnership. These are not only my TA's but work friends. I refer to them as work friends because we spend seven and a half hours five days a week together for ten months, we better learn to get a long. We do a lot of laughing together to help us cope with a job we love yet is intensely stressful and at times heart-breaking. We have learned over the years that our differences make a strong team and it has shown itself to our superiors and families who most often want us for siblings coming up. The biggest challenge is we are from different cultures. I am not just stating the obvious but in our family upbringing and child rearing theories as well. These differences sometimes present themselves in our teaching styles and so we have had to learn to talk about this without hurt or angry feelings.

These various relationships have taught me how to give and take when building relationships with my Head Start families. It helps me to notice body language when discussing some topics. It has taught me to be patient when building trust with the families. I have also learned the family-teacher relationship cannot be all one-sided or thinking I know it all. The families I have worked with have taught me so much more than I could ever learn in a book.

I Just Wanted to Say Thank You!

I know we are to say thank you to at least two classmates (and I will), however, I also wanted to thank everyone. I have learned from all your comments, posts, and blogs. You have taught me, helped me look at myself. and stretched me to look even further outside of the box than I already do. I wish you all the best of luck in your life's journey in developing, teaching, and loving our future society-our children.

It's All in the Relationships!

The information I gained on brain development and the effects of stress on that development is what is driving me to learn all I can about ways I can make a difference.


I have always dreamed of saving those children no one really sees. Now I feel I am equipped to do just that!

Final Thought on Testing

Curious kids learn how to learn and how to enjoy it-and that, more than any specific body of knowledge, is what they will need to have in the future.

Amanda Lang (Wright, 2013)

 Children need to play to learn and in my humble opinion it only makes sense to "play" to be tested or assessed. Sal Khan (2016) made a very good point in his Ted Talks presentation stating that even if a student receives a 95%  on a test there is still 5% that same student does not know in that one particular subject. Instead of teachers going back to reteach the 5% the student did not know we move onto the next subject. This may continue on and on always leaving 5% which adds up until the child hits a wall in a more advanced subject. The student then believes she/he was not meant to learn. What is suggested by Mr. Khan is to teach mastery education which is learning all there is to know and to make sure that each child knows 100% of the subject. Children love video games so there are now computer games that assess while the children play. When children do not know there are tests going on they are less stressed. We need to teach our children how to learn not how to memorize. 

Khan,S. (2016) Let's teach for mastery-not test scores. Retrieved from https://www.ted.com/talks/sal_khan_lets_teach_for_mastery_not_test_scores.

Wright, S. (2013). Academic teaching doesn't prepare students for life.  Retrieved from plpnetwork.com/2013/11/07/obsession-academic-teaching-preparing-kids-life/

Standardized Testing in China

I chose to look at testing in China for two reasons. The first is becasue I hear the U.S. is often compared to China and Japan in our educational strengths or lack of it. My main reason for looking at this country is because I am seeing more Chinese in my classroom and I had an interesting parent teacher conference with the father of one of my Asian students. Keep in mind my Head Start students are three years old and some are non-English speaking. I feel this little guy I am going to speak of is doing an amazing job with all his learning feats. As I spoke to the father about the various skills we look at in our program there were a couple of areas this little one "graded" lower due to the language barrier. What surprised me was when we spoke of a lower area the father would apologize for his son not doing better. I kept explaining this was completely normal for an English Language Learner and a three year-old. This whole long story to say, Chinese students face a highly competitive and stressful examination system (Rotberg, 2006).  In China it is all about the test because that is what gets you into college. The main problem is the rich are the ones who do well as they can afford to prepare the students for the test. The very rich families send their children abroad to learn to avoid testing all together (Lensen, 2011). High school curriculum is entirely based on preparing for the tests completely dominating all other material (Lensen,2011).


Lensen,B. (2011). Standardized testing in China: what it says about American college prep. Retrieved from http://www.straighterline.com/blog/standardized-testing-in-china-what-it-says-about-american-college-prep/

 Iris C. Rotberg(2006) Assessment Around the World November 2006 | Volume 64 | Number 3 NCLB: Taking Stock, Looking Forward Pages 58-63 http://nespap.unescobkk.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/Assessment-Around-the-World.pdf