My Personal Research Journey

The topic that I have chosen for my research is about teenage mothers as it relates to the early childhood field, since I deal with some teenage parents at my job. I want to learn more about how teenage parents comprehend how important early childhood development is for their children, also what kind of goals some of these teenage parents have for providing a better life for their children. I would also like to learn about how teenage parents feel about being parents at a young age. So far I am very nervous about this course. The glossary at the end our text book has gave me a better understanding of some of the terminology used in this course. Any advice or information anyone is willing to share, I would greatly appreciate it and vice versa. Thanks!!!

Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization that I selected was the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI), http://www.nbcdi.org/. The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) mission is “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy, which ensures a successful future for all children.” “NBCDI supports and works primarily with Black children birth through age eight and their families, through coalition building with community-based organizations, foundations, corporations, school systems, elected officials, government, child care, Head Start and many other public and private partnerships.” “The organization was launched by the Black Women’s Community Development Foundation, whose leadership, in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, was deeply concerned about the unsatisfactory conditions faced by families determined to raise healthy Black children.  By organizing NBCDI as a national advocacy group, they created a unified movement to develop strategies to improve the life circumstances of the Black child through policy change”.

 

References

 

National Black Child Development Institute

 

http://www.nbcdi.org/

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

This assignment was very challenging. As I explored the naeyc website under their global alliances I set out to contacts of the alliances. I contacted all the alliances from Africa and Asia. I emailed these alliances and stated my names, where I'm from, the university that I attend, my major, and the class I am currently enrolled in. Also, I stated the purpose of this email. As of now none of these alliances have responded to my email. So I began my search and I can upon this website http://www.nbcdi.org/, the National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI). The National Black Child Development Institute (NBCDI) mission is “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy, which ensures a successful future for all children.” “NBCDI supports and works primarily with Black children birth through age eight and their families, through coalition building with community-based organizations, foundations, corporations, school systems, elected officials, government, child care, Head Start and many other public and private partnerships.”

References

National Black Child Development Institute

http://www.nbcdi.org/

The Global Alliance of NAEYC

http://www.naeyc.org/resources/partnership/globalalliance

 

My Connections to Play

Two quotes that I feel summarize what play represented for me in childhood.
 

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” – O. Fred Donaldson

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -  Fred Rogers

Essential play items for my younger self.

My bicycle with training wheels, my Barbie doll, my Nintendo with duck hunt game, coloring books and Spirograph to draw and color with.
 

 

The memories that I have of play in my younger years is playing outside with my friends, riding my bike, playing video games with my cousins, and coloring and drawing with my mother. I use to go play outside with my neighborhood friends, we would run, jump, play outdoor games like it and hide and go seek. Also, outside I would go bike riding with my neighborhood friends up and down the block. I used to go visit my cousins who had Nintendo and we will play duck hunt all day long. While at home I will play with my Barbie dolls, and which I loved to do my Barbie dolls hair and put new clothes on my Barbie dolls. I also loved to color and draw, especially with my mother. As a young child my mother taught me how to color in the lines and we used to color in coloring books together. Nowadays I don't see a lot of young children engaging in outdoor physical activity, and due to their environment a lot of parents aren't letting their children go out to play as a safety precaution. I also see a lot of children not enrolled in daycare or early head start programs, which can have an effect on young children socially. If the children were enrolled in such program they will be able to learn through play how to become more sociable, physical, emotional, and cognitive. Play is a very important aspect in children’s lives. Play is an action that allows young children to develop cognitively, socially, physically, emotionally, and creatively, which are the elements to a healthy development. Here below is a video about the importance of play:

 

Reference:  
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XXyYQccegEk

 



Reflecting on Building Relationships

 

Relationships are important to me because it is something that you have to deal with on a daily basis. By having relationships with people can give you a better understanding of who you are. For example, if you come from a loving and supportive family then more than likely you have a good healthy relationship with people which tell you a lot about your character. In the photos below are some of the people that I have a great relationship with. In the first photo is a picture of my immediate family which consists of me, my uncle, my grandparents, and my mother. My relationship with my family is very close knit, loving, and supportive. The next photo starting from the left is a picture of me and my mother on the day I graduated from college. My relationship with my mother is very supportive because we're all we got. My father was killed before I was born and my mother never got a chance to tell him that she was pregnant. She's a very lovely and strong single mother. She put her dreams aside to help me fulfill my own. In the middle photo is a picture of me in my best friend when we were children. My relationship with my best friend is very close. We have been friends since I was born. Our parents are best friends as well and I am her child godmother. My best friend is always there when I need her and vice versa. In the last photo is a photo of me and my sorority sisters. My relationship with my sorority sisters is very supportive and loving. Who would ever thought that all 31 of us would be chosen to become a member of an illustrious sorority. We are always there for one another, we support each other's goals and dreams, we help support the goals and dreams of our communities and we have built long lasting relationships and friendships.  

 

When I Think of Child Development

Wow, these 8weeks sure went fast!!! We expressed our knowledge about early child development, global awareness & even some of our personal stories. Now look how we have grown. This was not an easy term for me, but I did the best I could to make it work.  I want to thank all of you for the support and for the great information that was shared.  I can't wait to read someone new blogs from you guys in our next course.

 Thanks again,

 Alisha

Testing for Intelligence?

I use to work at an elementary school, where we administrate assessment test on our kindergartners called the Dynamic Indicator of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS). DIBELS progress monitors our student’s development in early Literacy and reading skills. In DIBELS we test our kindergartner’s students on letter naming fluency, initial sounds fluency, word use fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, and nonsense word fluency. Once we receive our results from DIBELS we can start placing our students in different literacy groups. We divide our students into groups of four, which would be our high, medium (average), low, and lower (Below average) groups. The content that my kindergarten students are learning is early literacy and reading skills. For example, letter naming fluency, initial sounds fluency, word use fluency, phoneme segmentation fluency, and nonsense word fluency. The students may obtain skills through flashcards, board games, picture-books, auditory books, video, and etc. By using my content, students will be able to process or make sense of what early literacy and reading skills that was learned. For my kindergartner students, the product would be any assignment or task I give to extend what they have learned. For example, having the students recite any initial sounds that they hear or ask them to recite what sounds to the hearing the name or spelling words. By the end of kindergarten, my student was be ready readers and that will help them for the rest of their lives.

Here is a video that shows how children learn and how they are assessed in Singapore, South Africa, and in rural Colombia:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fn2I90km_-8

http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/EXTREAD/0,,contentMDK:22890488~pagePK:64168445~piPK:64168309~theSitePK:7526432,00.html