"My Supports."

Factors in my life that provide support for me is rest, a working computer, workable classroom size, knowledge and transportation.  Many of this may sound like common sense but they are things we don’t thing about. We all know that lack of sleep or poor diet can interfere with learning. It is proven that overcrowded classrooms and lack of learning resources make it more difficult to teach. People can tell when I experience stress and anxiety in my daily life it is more difficult for me to concentrate. We know that if a student feels excluded by others in the class, learning can suffer. It’s not often that I give serious thought to such things as planning a lesson.  Even if I do think about these things, I may feel like I have no power to change any of them. I would not be able to complete my job and education would I would suffer as a person.

There was a week in March when I had the task of doing all my work via my cell phone. That week we were talking about stressor that young child deal with in life. This will be a task for me because I grow up where mom and dad were there and I did not have to want for anything as a young child. In addition to that my computer is down and I’m my not feeling my best this week, having to complete homework via my Smartphone. With that said please over look my writing this week, will be back in the game next blog.  This was a prime example of how not having a computer and feeling bad in the body will impact your life. For most people like me and many others that are reading this blog this is what our daily environment involves.

"My Connections to Play."

“It is paradoxical that many educators and parents still differentiate between a time for learning and a time for play without seeing the vital connection between them.”

 Leo F. Buscaglia quotes

Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning....They have to play with
what they know to be true in order to find out more, and then they can use what they
learn in new forms of play.

--Fred Rogers of Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood 

     

As a child I had access to a lot of things. Those things included the sidewalk, alleys, vacant lots, fields, forests, and streams. My friends and I could play, explore and interact with the natural world with little or no restriction or supervision. Today things have changed a lot. Children have to be monitor at all times because of the world we live in today.

The lives of children today are much more structured and supervised, with few opportunities for free play. Parents are afraid for their children's safety when they leave the house alone. That is why many children are no longer free to roam their neighborhoods or even their own yards unless accompanied by adults. Children's lives have become structured and scheduled by adults, who hold the mistaken belief that this sport or that lesson will make their children more successful as adults.

In today’s world children have very little time to play.  When they do have time, it's often spent inside in front of the television or computers screen. For some children, that's because their neighborhood, apartment complex or house has no outdoor play spaces. Children's opportunities to interact in a naturalized outdoor setting are greatly diminished today.

Relationship Reflection

Relationships are an important part of my social development. We it comes to as I was growing up my relationship with my teachers impact my life because they aloud me to see that I could become something in life. Having a family with a relationship like they had made me a better student, they looked at the whole me.  So today I try to develop positive relationships with families so that they can develop the same with their children

Deloris Ragin Felder:  A mother of four children and one husband.  Having to leave school at the age of 16 to raise her sibling so that her mother and father could work and provide for the family vowed that her children would complete high school and become more then her…. I being the first of her child to talk about going to college said to me whatever it takes if that’s what you want to do i will make it happen and that she did.  Haven’t worked in many years in 2003 set out to fine a job so that I could go to college and become great.  For the five years I was in college see worked and I never had to wonder where I was going to get anything from. She looked at me in my last year of school and said “It’s not the time to give up now history is riding on your shoulders.”

Thomas Lee Felder Sr.:  The father of four great children and husband of one awesome woman.  My father have to drop out of school at the age of 12 to go to work to help his family make ends meat haven’t stop yet…  My daddy as I call him has planted in me the value of hard work and what will happen if you work hard. As we were riding down the road one day he looked, we had a long talk about becoming what people say you would not be.  He told me the story of how he was told because of his educational background he would never own anything.  He said but when you pull up on the land you call home that belongs to me and your mother, the house you stay in that belong to use, and even the cars we drive belong to us. So always remember that hard work will get you where others say you can’t go.

Rena Mae Ragin: My big sister and second mother.  Rena is single mother of three (3) great children Lionel, Marquetta and Nadrian.  I call her my other mother is because we are 16 years apart and her oldest child and I are three years apart.  When you saw her you saw me tagging along for the ride.  The thing that my sister would always tell me is that I can become what I wanted.  When I began to talk about going to college she looked at me with tears in her eyes and said, “go become what they said we want become.”  She pushed me when I was ready to give up on my dreams and goals.

Thomas Lee Felder Jr.: The one that taught me how to fight for myself. This is my big brother he is the father of four children Donta, Aaliya, DJ, and Zi”Quajah (my baby).  He calls his self the smarts of my parent’s children.  He would always call me the brains of the family.  When I was getting ready to drop out of college he told me “that he would sit at the gate with a gun if and not let me out because I was doing something no one else in our family tree have done.”  That pushed me to and had me nervous so I had to fight out that last year of school.

Vanesha Almeda Felder:  The baby of my parent’s four children.  Nesha is a senior in high school and the mother of on child Nevaeh. I was her teacher at home.  My parent would make me help her with her homework.  She would always say to me big bruh your going to be great.

Leola Ragin Parks: One of my mother’s sisters. My aunt was the one that they would call at school when I was acting out (lol).  When she would come from her office she would tell me “that’s not how great people act.”  Then she would turn around and go back to her office and call my mother. The Village Affect!  Got it at school then once I walked in the door at the house.

Pastor Eartha B. Carter: The pastor of Prayer House Mission Holiness Church.  She is the husband of one man Perry Carter for over 15 years.  My pastor always encourages me to become the person God has call me to be.  She taught me the being a teacher is a spiritual gift for God.  With the Father working long side me I can become great.  In addition, she would always let me know and others the “Jesus will turn it around what the devil meant for our bad”.

 

Ms. P. Nelson:  My tenth grade high school homeroom teacher. There is so much I can say about Ms. Nelson that I will hold back because tears come to my eyes.  I can remember my 11^th grade year of high school when on of my teacher told me I wasn’t going to be anything. P. Nelson pulled me aside and said these powerful words “Use what she just to you as your stair case to becoming a great person in the field of education”.  In 2006 the Father called her home to be with Him and I miss her dearly.   

These are just a few member of the Village that had a hand I raise this power black educator.

When I Think of Child Development

“Early childhood education has been stated to be the most effective economic development tool available to states. It's time to recognize that as we are seeing more buoyancy in our economy, it's time to address this, or we will fall further behind our neighboring states and our international competitors.”

~ Richard Alexander

Want to tell all my classmate thank you for all of your help during this course.

Testing for Intelligence?

Young children are notoriously poor test-takers: perhaps because they are sometimes confused by being asked questions that they think the tester must already know the answers to! There is reason to suggest that the younger the child being evaluated, assessed, or tested, the more errors are made (Shepard, 1994; Ratcliff, 1995). If this principle is sound, then the younger the children, the greater the risk of assigning false labels to them. Another principle may also be appropriate: the longer children live with a label (a true or false one), the more difficult it may become to discard it.

All methods of assessment make errors: the errors made by formal tests are different from those made by informal or anecdotal records and documentation notes; the errors made by specific checklists of behavioral items are different from those made by holistic impressionistic assessments. Awareness of the potential errors of each evaluation or assessment strategy can help minimize errors in interpretation. It is a good idea to strive for a balance between global or holistic evaluation and detailed specific assessments of young children.

Numerous on-going assessment systems for young children are now available. These assessments guide the teacher's observations and offer a means to assess the curriculum to determine if children are being given opportunities to grow in all domains. The following Web sites offer further information on some of the most widely used assessment systems:

• High/Scope: The Child Observation Record
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Teaching Strategies: Comprehensive Curriculum, Assessment, Training and Evaluation for Early Childhood Education
  http://www.teachingstrategies.com/

National early childhood associations have convened researchers and practitioners to develop position statements around the issue of appropriate assessment for young children. These position statements can be used in discussions with parents and school administrators in explaining the reasons why on-going assessment is a responsible form of gathering real information on young children's progress.

The assessment of young children is truly a celebration of their lives and advancements if teachers view it as such. Information gained in the assessment process can also be used in the planning of work that addresses the needs of the child as evidenced in the collection of work samples and teacher observations. And most importantly, it can be used as a tool in the sharing of progress with the child's family and with the child herself.

Grace, Cathy (2001). Assessing Young Children.

Ratcliff, Nancy. (1995). The need for alternative techniques for assessing young children's emerging literacy skills. Contemporary Education, 66(3),169-171.

Shepard, Lorrie A. (1994). The challenges of assessing young children appropriately. Phi Delta Kappan, 76(3), 206- 212.