Establsihing Professional Contacts Alternative

Although I have contacted many people asking them to be a professional contact only one person responded and he said that he did not know anyone outside the US that could communicate with me. All of the other professionals that I contacted have not replied. Due to the time limit extension I was forced to use the alternative to the assignment. I am going to have to use the World Forum Foundation page and radio podcasts. I will have to use those provided directly on the site because I was unable to download the iTunes program onto my computer.

Searching for Professional Contacts

I began searching for contacts by googling organizations that were involved in early childhood programs. I found e-mail address to some potential contacts, so I sent them e-mails explaining the reason for the contact and asked if anyone would be willing to talk with me frquently concerning this course. I have not had any responses and I am hoping that someone will respond soon. If not I will have to use the alternative.

My Supports

Having a support system in place is one of the best move a person can make. I have to admit that my support system has gained in strength. My support system consists mostly of my family , but I have two friends that support me unconditionally.

My Husband is the first in line of supporters. He is supports me in ways that mean so much to me.
1. He helps with the children, he cooks, and he cleans.
2. He gives me moral support.
3. He gives me that time alone so that I can do my assignments.
4. He encourages me when I feel overwhelmed.
These things that my husband does allows me to be able to be a mom, work full time,a and be a wife. Without him helping me about around the house and with the kids I would not be able to manage it.

My parents are also supportive. They have always been big on education and, and have always pushed me to get an education beyond high school. When I decided to get my Master in ECS they were so excited for me. Recently I had a conversation with my mom telling her that I had so much on my plate that I was going to have to let something go. I told her that I was thinking about ending my pursuit of a Master. Both she and my dad told me that there were other things that I could eliminate, but my quest to get my Masters Degree should not be one of them. So they talked with me and helped lift my spirits and I have decided to continue.

Another supporter that I have is my sister Faye. she is there for me whenever I need her. No matter what it is that I need she will always help out. Just on this week she helped me. Mys on was sick and needed to go to the Dr., so I called her up and asked if she would take him to the Dr. so that I did not have to miss work and she did. Sometimes I am low on money and she will come to my rescue.She is always there for me and I know that she does all of these things for me because she loves me.

I also have two friends that do all  they can in ways of support. They lend a listening ear when I need someone to talk to. They give me good advice that is priceless. They are always encouraging me to do my best at everything that I set forth to do. They will come when I call them and they are always ready to led a helping hand when and if I should ever need one.

I have to say that the support that I have is irreplaceable and it isn't something that everyone are fortunate to have. I consider myself blessed to have such loving and caring supporters. I can truly say that I would be lost without my husband, family and friends. I have seen other's go through so many things and they do not have one person that they can turn to in a time of difficulty and get help. I have seen family turn their back on other family members and I have seen friends that break all connections an ties to the very person that they once called a friend. I am blessed that I have the support that I have because all of the relationships that I have with those that support me have been tried through the fire and have come out a pure gold.

My Connections to Play

In play a child always behaves beyond his average age, above his daily behavior. In play it is as though he were a head taller than himself.

Lev Vygotsky

Just play. Have fun. Enjoy the game.

Michael Jordan

It is a happy talent to know how to play.

Ralph Waldo Emerson

I can remember when I was a child how we used to play. We would come home from school have a snack, do our homework, and go outside to play. We would stay outside until it was dark. We spent hours at a time playing in the streets. All of the neighborhood children would gather together to play kickball or baseball. We would ride our bikes around the block, or skate up an down the street. We would sometimes play hide-n-seek and all of those made up games. We would find some place in the backyard to build us a secret club house, and only certain people could enter. Man those were the good times. Today play has changed the children do not know most of the games that we played when we were kids. They have evolved from a time when play was made up, to a time of technological play. The children now sit in front of the tv playing video games, and those handheld games. The do not play the little clapping hand games that we as girls grew up on. They now have to have the latest gadgets to enjoy play.

These are some of the toys that I loved to play with as a child.

There was nothing compared to playing with a tea set with your friends, or baking a cake in an easy bake. When I was a little older I played with the Rubik's cube, I could never solve it though. I would come close, but I could never get all of the sides the same color.

My most favorite toy as a little girl was a baby doll. I loved to dress her up, and comb her hair.

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION

Relationships are the foundations of life. Everyone has a relationship with some person and that relationship can be positive or negative. I think that relationships are the building block for a person's life and how you foster those relationships will determine what type of life you will live. The far most, most important relationship that I have is my relationship with God. I put God before all the relationships that I have, yes all. I know that God is my all and all and without him I can do nothing. My God tells me that he is a jealous God and that he will have nothing come before him. The Second most important relationship is that of my husband  and children.

My husband and I are first of all friends, I believe in order to have the relationship that I desire with my husband we have to be friends as well as husband and wife. We have an open communication which is important to me. We are able to talk and communicate, even when we disagree we are able to talk and work it out. The relationship that I now have with my husband is all that I have ever wanted out of a relationship. We have grown closer in the past 4 years than ever before out of a 17 year relationship.

The relationship that I have with my family is also important to me. I am a baby of 5 kids and I love my family. I am very close to my family and we were raised to put family first and that is what I have done.

My most ppositive relationships is with my close circle. My Husband, Travis Carridine, My Mom and Dad , Mary and Melvin Holloman, Mys Sister, Bernice Martin, and Faye Mack, and my two best friends, Shikira Johnson and Vanessa Bateman. I love each and everyone of them dearly and I depend on those relationships to get me through life. One thing I do know is that in order for these relationships to last there has to be a give take relationship because if there is always a take relationship then, that will wear the relationship out, vice versa for a relationship where one half is always the one giving.

The relationships that I have in my life gives me the passion and the drive for myself as a professional. I always strive to have positive relationships with my students and their families. It is important for me as teacher to love and treat my students just as I would my own children.

Speaking On Children

Self-esteem is the real magic wand that can form a child’s future. A child’s self-esteem affects every area of her existence, from friends she chooses, to how well she does academically in school, to what kind of job she gets, to even the person she chooses to marry.

STEPHANIE MARTSON, The Magic of Encouragement

The family is both the fundamental unit of society as well as the root of culture. It ... is a perpetual source of encouragement, advocacy, assurance, and emotional refueling that empowers a child to venture with confidence into the greater world and to become all that he can be.

MARIANNE E. NEIFERT, Dr. Mom's Parenting Guide

A Word of Thanks

I would like to thank all of my colleagues who gave me meaningful conversation and comments. Thanks for sharing your life's story with me a stranger to you in the beginning, but hopfully someone who you have grown to know and respect toward the end. Thanks to Dr. Myers for all of the help and support that she has given me throughout this course. I have enjoyed this classs and I have enjoyed working with all of you. May God bless you and keep you. Sincerely, Melanie

TESTING 1,2,3 TESTING 1, 2, 3...

During the spring the time will come for the schools to begin their yearly teating of the children. Here in Ashburn, the elementary school test all grades, although the test results doesn't count for all grades. From kindergarten through second grade  and fourth grade the tests are just a measure to see what the children know, but for third graders and fifth graders they have to pass the CRCT test(Criterion-Referenced Competency Tests ) before they can pass to the next grade. You wouldn't believe the stress and pressure that they put on thoses children (even the one's whos test score doesn't count) to pass that test. My philosophy is to test or study or even evaluate the whole child. Some children will pass a class with flying colors, but when it comes to taking a test they freak out and blow the test because of stess and anxiety I do not think that so much pressure should be placed on these youncg children these days about passing a test. I remember taking only one test that determined a pass or fail and that was my high school graduation test that had to be passed in order to graduate. Passed it with flying colors, there was not pressure on me at all to pass that test because we all knew that if we wanted to graduate then we had to pass that test, so that is what I did. My son was held back in third grade because he did not pass the reading part of the CRCT for the 2009-2010 school year. For the 2010-2011 school year he had to retake the CRCT and pass in order to go to the fourth grade and this time he exceeded in math  and was a few points away from exceeding in the rest of the subjects. The pressure of passing test has become overwhelmiong for some of the children who are required to take and pass those test. No test is good enough to serve as the sole or primary basis for important educational decisions. Readiness tests, used to determine if a child is ready for school, are very inaccurate and encourage the use of overly academic, developmentally inappropriate
primary schooling (that is, schooling not appropriate to the child’s emotional, social or intellectual development and to the variation in children’s development).

Japan implemented a new comprehensive guide to elementary education in April 2011, representing an attempt to maintain some of the benefits of the educational reforms of the 1990s and early 2000s while increasing the academic rigor of Japanese compulsory education. Shortly after the implementation of the new curriculum, Japanese students declined in their achievement on international comparative tests, especially the TIMMS and PISA studies. In response, a number of gradual changes were implemented designed to help improve the academic performance of Japanese students while maintaining some of the benefits of the earlier reforms. Key changes included a gradual increase in the required topics to be taught in the standard academic subjects, a gradual increase in the number of hours devoted to these subjects, and the implementation of national standardized testing at the end of the 6th and 9th grades. The tests were implemented with a desire to assess the skills of the students as a whole and target areas where there were needs for improvement in the system. The tests were met with significant concern that they would be used as a means of creating greater comparison and competition between schools as well as increase pressure on students. The tests, which included extensive student and teacher surveys, provide a rich source of data regarding not just the strengths and weaknesses of Japanese students, but also rich data regarding other factors that can effect learning as diverse as the amount of time spent reading independently each day, student breakfast habits, and student use of cell phones to send e-mails each day.