My Supports

Technology

Technology is a major support in my classroom.  I use technology daily.  I use it to plan my lessons and to print my lessons.  I have an Interwrite board in my classroom that I use to display my lessons and have the students interact.  My students also use technology in our classrooms, such as chrome books and desktop computers.  I feel as though I could survive without technology, but it would be a difficult adjustment. 



Classroom Materials
In my classroom, it's good that I have multiple materials at my disposal. I make sure that I have pencils, pens, crayons, markers, and different kinds of paper available for the students to use.  I also have books available for all different subject matter that we learn in the classroom.  I can have an entire area that is specifically dedicated to math materials and manipulatives for students to use as well as reading area available to my students.  If I did not have these types of materials available at my disposal I would not be able to create the classroom environment that I currently have available to my students.  I think that every now and then I take this for granted because it is available to me.




Teammates
My teammates are one of the biggest supports that I have available to me. I go to my teammates quite often to talk to them about exactly what we are doing in the curriculum. We help each other and use each other to reflect on the lessons that we are using with our students.  They are probably my biggest supports in the field because they have an understanding of what we are doing with our students. We can easily bounce ideas off of each other, and make suitable last-minute adjustments.

My connections to play

Oh Mr. Rogers, you wonderful, wonderful man.  This quote truly sums up how I felt about play growing up, how my parents wanted me to view play, and how I want my students and future children to view play.  Play is a chance for children to do their own type of work.  They are learning!

What an amazing way of putting it. Play is a time for students and children to learn.  It's a chance to be put into situations where they can learn where they do not have to experience real repercussions. As I played when I was younger, I learned much about what it means to be an adult and a child.

Play was always very important to me as a child!  I was the child who taught my dolls and my little brother, whenever I could drag him into my bedroom.  My brother and I could be found outside playing all day, running and flipping off of our swingset that was in our backyard.  We were always moving.  There were a few toys that were important to me throughout my entire childhood.

 The Kit American Girl Doll.  She went with me everywhere.  I read all of the books and I had all the different outfits.  My best friend had a Felicity doll and we played with them all of the time.  We would dress them up and make up different situations for them to be a part of.  We would write stories, and read the books that were about them.  

 

My Jennifer water baby.  She was my favorite toy ever.  I took her everywhere with me, and she was my comfort toy.  She was the one who laid next to me in bed at night and who "protected" me when I was sick.  My parents originally got me my Jennifer doll when my brother was a baby.  It was like I had my very own baby to take care of.

Last, but not least, my Password Journal.  I'm not sure if this is technically a toy, but I was obsessed with it.  My parents always wanted me to practice my writing (because my handwriting was horrendous when I was a child.)  My teacher suggested that I start writing in a diary on a day-to-day basis.  Well, of course, I had a nosey little brother, so this was the diary that I HAD TO HAVE.  It was voice-activated with a special password, and it would alarm when anyone else ever tried to get into it.  It was COOL.  I loved this journal, and it honestly made me want to write every day.  I used it all of the time.  It is still packed away somewhere at my parent's house protecting my secrets.

My family always encouraged my brother and me to play.  Play is very important in the role of early childhood.  It is a learning process for many children, and I believe that it is important to encourage play at all stages of life.

There are quite a few relationships that I would like to talk about personally, and the effect that they have on my life.  I am blessed to have each of these individuals in my life.  They include members of my family and my best friend. 

The first relationship that I would like to touch on is the relationship that I have with my new husband, Ethan.  He has had such a positive impact on my life in recent years. He supports me in everything that I do and constantly makes me feel safe.  He's the reason I went back to school to pursue my Master's degree, and he is the reason that I get up every day and go to work. We are building a life together. Without his constant love and support, I would be lost. 

The next relationship I want to talk about is the relationship that I have with my daddy.  I will be honest, it was not always a picture-perfect relationship.  We had our difficulties and we had our struggles. When I was born he was not exactly sure how to be a dad, but he did honestly grow in his position as a father.  In high school and college, I had the most difficult time believing in myself.  I was not confident in the work that I did.  When I was about 7 years old my daddy started taking me on daddy-daughter dates.  This was a chance for him to show me the worth that I did have, and the worth that I still have.  He would just talk to me.  He would talk about my success and about my failures.  In high school and college, this continued.  These "dates" are one of the reasons that I have more faith in myself as an adult today.  I am so glad that I have someone like this in my life to turn to when times get tough.

Next is my Mama.  I'm sorry for all of the wedding photos, but they are what I most recently have available.  My Mama and I have a different type of relationship.  When I was growing up my mom and I would constantly fight.  Now, she is one of my biggest confidants.  I turn to her for everything.  I talk to her about my marriage and my work the most.  She is my encouragement when I am struggling with my students.  My mom was always my secret cheerleader when I was growing up, and for that I am thankful. 

Next comes my little brother, Ian.  He has been my constant friend.  We are three years apart so we have literally grown together.  Our education and other aspects of our lives are constantly affecting how close we are to one another.  We taught each other many lessons over the year.  I have been blessed to grow up with someone so close in age to myself.  We are able to learn lessons from one another and are able to call each other out when we are not showing the growth that we should. 

Last, but not least, is my best friend Kelsey.  We became friends when we were eleven years old.  We literally grew up together in so many ways.  This is one of the most important relationships for me in my life. She helps me to see my potential and is always ready to help me whenever I need it.

When I think about these relationships I realize how truly blessed I am.  If I did not have these types of relationships I don't know if I would be where I would be today. When I look at my students I realize how important it is for everyone to have the same kind of support that strong relationships give us.  

In the past few weeks, nothing has hit me quite like this quote. As a teacher, it is my job to observe my students in order to teach them in a way that they understand!  It is important to make those connections with these children, but also to understand them on a level that goes past just being their teacher.  This is a critical time in their lives.  They are growing physically and mentally.  Shouldn't we understand that?

Testing for intelligence?

Testing has always been a sore subject for me.  Personally, I do not like the idea of testing, due to the fact that I suffer from test anxiety.  I am a hands-on-person.  I like being able to show the skill that I learned without having to choose a particular answer.  When it comes to testing I DO NOT LIKE multiple-choice/standardized testing.  When I was younger I would begin looking at these answers, and if the answer that I came up with did not match any of those, I would automatically begin to panic.  Why is my answer not there?  What did I do wrong?  What do I do?

"Today, standardized tests continue to level the social playing field. Standardized testing provides a consistent measure for academic success, offer high-achieving students a way to prove themselves that is unbound by their social circumstances, and create an objective appraisal by which all schools can be compared." (Dickinson, 2019).  I definitely understand the objective here, we are trying to show what our students have learned using measurable data, but what we do not see is how they may not be testing as well as they do when we informally assess them in the classroom.  "Despite these potential benefits, many experts argue that education systems over rely on standardized testing for assessment. Such reliance can lead teachers to "teach to the test" and provide unfair advantages to communities that can afford better test prep." (Dickinson, 2019).  How is this fair to our students?  Then this makes me think, "Am I teaching to help my kids, or in order to impress administration?  Am I actually showing what my students learned?" 

Other countries don't use standardized testing in the way that we do.  "Finland's education system relies sparingly on standardizes tests, while the United States leans heavily on them."(Dickinson, 2019).  So what does Finland do instead of the standard standardized test?  "Finland's education system has one major standardized test, the national matriculation examination. This test is taken by students at the end of their general upper secondary education and consists of four exams. Students must take a mother tongue language exam. They then select from the following subjects for their next three exams: mathematics, a foreign language, the second national language, and a general studies subject such as humanities or science."  (Dickinson, 2019).  I love the fact that students have a choice in what they want to test on.  I have noticed that some of my students test better in mathematics than reading because that is their stronger subject.  I would like to see something like this implemented in our school systems. 

References:

https://bigthink.com/politics-current-affairs/standardized-testing?rebelltitem=1#rebelltitem1

Stressors on Children-Natural Disasters

When I was in fifth grade, Hurricane Isabel swept through my little town of Chesapeake Beach, Maryland.  My family and I were just getting ready to move into our new home, when plans changed because of this storm.  The entire town flooded.  We are right on the water.  Our own house is about 2 miles from the actual beach, but there was water flowing all the way up to the very beginning of our neighborhood.

Friends in the North Beach and Chesapeake Beach lost everything.  Their homes were under water, or some had even slid down muddy slopes.  Other homes were battered and damaged.  Restaurants and the entire board walk was under water. 

Now I know this was nowhere near the damage that was caused by Hurricane Katrina.  Friends of mine from church went and volunteered to help clean up when that occurred.  However, Isabel was right at home.  I was very lucky and did not lose anything from this storm, but I did have friends who did.

My friend Grace was living with her mom at the time that the storm hit.  They lived closer to the water, in a small beach house.  Her home was destroyed by this storm.  On the anniversary a few years ago she posted photos of her home.  The windows had been destroyed and there was water that flowed through her entire house, almost touching the chandelier in their dining room.  Grace and her mom had made it from their home safely, but they were not able to take anything with them.  They lost photos, furniture, and memories.

We were 10 years old when this happened.  I know that this natural disaster caused stress on Grace as well as her mother.  They lost their home, but Grace's mom worked to make sure she still made it to school.  They had to rebuild their lives from the bottom.  Our community really came together in order to provide for our neighbors.  There were fundraisers and clothing drives.  

When things like this happen I can see that it has an effect on the child and their development.

1.  My friend was tired.  Exhausted.  She was trying to rebuild her life with her mother while still being a ten year old.

2.  She had lost memories.

3.  Her mother was stressed and this was also put on Grace.

4.  They had to find a new home in order to begin again. 

Natural disasters tend to make a very large impact on children.  They can be uprooted from their homes.  They can lose loved ones and guardians.  I could not even begin to fathom what had gone through her head throughout this entire time.  

A view of our town under water. 

 

Immunization

Well, this is a scary topic to tackle.  There is a lot currently going on about immunization here in the U.S.  I chose this topic because I know how lucky we are to have access to this kind of care, but also that we have a choice to have this access.  When my dad was in first grade he caught Scarlet Fever.  He was so sick, and he still shows some side effects of having this disease at such a young age.  Years and years ago Scarlet Fever was  a death sentence.  My dad was 6. He may have died.  Luckily my grandmother had access to the proper medical care for him, even though he had not been vaccinated against the disease.

When I was little the chicken pox vaccine was just becoming more common to administer.  I however, got chicken pox.  It was something that ran  through my daycare center.  I also gave the chicken pox to my dad (whoops), because he had not been vaccinated, but had not had chicken pox when he was young.  Now my own students are required to be vaccinated before they can come to school.  It is a requirement.  I believe that it is important for my students to be vaccinated because they are around other children. 

Since last week I looked into what it was like to give birth in Haiti, I chose to continue looking at Haiti to learn about vaccinations there.  Vaccinations are not readily available for everyone in Haiti.  One thing about the vaccinations that really caught my eye was that in 2018 there had been a plan to vaccinate around 2.3 million children for the disease of Diphtheria. 

The reason this interested me was because every year I read the story of Balto with my children.  The story of Balto is a true story that took place in the 1920's in Alaska.  Diphtheria began running through the town of Nome.  Balto ran with his sled team in order to get the vaccination to save children in the town.  Now the reason I bring this up is because it happened in the 1920s.  My dad got Scarlet Fever in the 1960s, and I got the chicken pox in the early 1990s.  Medical sciences have made large strides in the field of vaccinations.  So this is my question:
Why is it more difficult to get vaccinations in Haiti and other countries around the world?

There are also calls to vaccinate against diseases such as Polio and Measles.  Disease that have almost been eradicated here in the U.S.  However, Measles have begun showing up in some areas around the United States later.  Without this vaccine many children suffer and become severely ill, and sometimes even die. The people of Haiti are begging to vaccinate their kids and keep them healthy. I am curious to continue to learn about how can vaccines become easier to access in places like Haiti.  It is hard to get the proper care when it comes to giving birth in Haiti, but that goes to show what a difference it can make to be born in a different place. 

Vaccinations continue to fascinate me as well.  Why?  Because I like the idea of healing people.  I like the idea of being able to avoid getting sick.  I know that vaccinations and booster shots are just part of my life.  Why are vaccinations becoming a taboo topic to talk about?  I am excited to do more research into this topic and how it affects young children.  I'm curious what did ya'll choose to research and why?




Children and parents in Haiti awaiting vaccinations




Balto, just because I find the story and movie interesting.

Resources:
https://reliefweb.int/report/haiti/haiti-launches-campaign-vaccinate-over-2-million-children-against-diphtheria-paho
https://www.redcross.org/about-us/news-and-events/news/Donations-fund-measles-polio-vaccinations-for-kids-in-Haiti.html