Quotes to Live By

I have learned a lot of the past seven weeks of taking this course and I think one of the most important things to know is that all children are not the same. With that being said one of my favorite quotes and one I feel I base my teaching strategy on is


 “If they can't learn the way we teach, we must teach the way they learn” ― O. Ivar Lovaas.

I think this quote is very important to making sure that you are meeting the diverse needs of all of the learners you are working with. I would like to thank everyone over the past few weeks for their insight and information it will prove to be very helpful in future endeavors. I will leave everyone with one last picture that shows just how important we are to children in our career. \

How School Children are Assessed

Many different things control a child’s intelligence. When we look at children we need to view them as a whole. We cannot just look at regular intelligence. There are many other factors to viewing a child. In the state of Florida we someone is dealing with a special needs child they have an individual education plan (IEP). When you are writing about the child in the IEP there are four different area that you look at that helps you get an idea of the child as a whole. Those areas are curriculum, socials and emotional, independence, and communication. I think will of these areas help you get an overall understanding of the student. These are all areas that contribute to the child. This shows it’s not just about curriculum or academic intelligence there is much more.

 China focuses on similar areas when they are assessing their children. In China they place a really high regard to standardized tests and the curriculum measurements. However, they also look at personality and physicality (Falbo & Poston, 1993). I think personality is a good measure and helps to look at what we do in Florida the social, emotional, and communication areas. Physically I don’t feel is that necessary of a measurement. I tend to like how independent they are as a better category to look at.

Measuring children’s ability is not an easy task. I think you need to look beyond the academics because what good does being smart do if you cannot control you emotions, communicate effectively with others, or social get along with others. All of these things are job skills which is what schooling is preparing you for. America needs to look to special education as the norm and try to elaborate on children more like the do.

Reference

Falbo, T., & Poston, D. L. (1993). The academic, personality, and physical outcomes of only children in China. Child development, 64(1), 18-35.

Hunger

When looking at the list below, I saw a couple of stressor I could have chosen. The one that stuck out to me is the most was hunger, because I know a lot of kids that go to bed without food. I know from a personal point of view because a family member of mine has ten children and receives government assistance and she can barely take care of her kids. The amount that she receives is not enough when you have ten children and yourself. I try to help provide food for my cousin because there is not enough of food for the month in her house due to lack of money. There is a program called Supplement Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) it provides low-income families with additional resources to purchase food each month. SNAP is one of the most effective and efficiently run federal programs, and is one of the most responsive, providing additional assistance to needy families. The amount of SNAP money that is provided monthly goes by your income and how many children and adult in a family.

            As an educator I have seen kids come to school just to have a hot meal because they are not getting it at home. The state I live in has a program that feeds every child who attends a public school and lets them receive a healthy breakfast for free. When a child has a healthy breakfast he/she will do their best in school. One of the resources I found that educated me about hunger stated that hunger has been a huge effect on how a child performs at school. In fact, 9 out of 10 teachers say having a healthy breakfast is the key to academic achievement. It also says 9.8 millions kids more than ever get free or reduced price school breakfast on an average day. 10.6 millions Eligible kids go without.

The region I choose is Haiti, because like discussed in my previous blog many of the students at my school have come from this country and have faced hunger there ("No hunger problem" 2013). In Haiti 67% of the people go up to two days or more without food on a regular basis (Daniel, 2013). The children in this area are very effected by this nearly one fifth of the children are “stunted,” meaning that they are shorter than they should be and underweight which affects the brains and other organs (Kale Je, 2013). These staggering statistics just go to show how hunger can affect a child’s brain and learning. Hunger is an issue in the United States and many other countries that is effecting education or our children.

 

 

 

 

 

Reference

Daniel, T. (2013, June 6). Haiti hunger worse than ever. Retrieved from http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/haiti-hunger-children_n_3420959.html     

Kale Je, A. (2013, October 14). Why is haiti hunger. Retrieved from http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/19410-why-is-haiti-hungry

No kid hungry problem. (2013). Retrieved from  http://www.nokidhungry.org/problem/overview?gclid=CMbY1_TG5LoCFS8S7Aodb2s    

Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a large problem that sticks out in my mind that is a problem sometimes within the United States. Since I work in an inner city school I often happen to see children that are not getting proper nutrition and are not properly cared for. This is tough to see especially at such a young age when the children are growing and need the proper nutrients. I am happy that in the county I teach in all children for at least two meals a day they are getting the proper nutrients. Our school offers free breakfast to all students and most students receive a free lunch as well. Our school is meeting the current standards to ensure that children are getting a healthy meal at school. I wish that somehow every child could also be receive at least one more meal that provides them with the proper nutrition at home as well.

As bad as things sometime may appear they are often a lot worse in other countries. Child malnutrition is one such problem. Many people don’t realize that this is a huge problem even at places as close to home as Haiti. Since the earthquake in Haiti the hunger situation has become even worse than it was before. In Haiti 67% of the population will go without food for days on end. Haiti president is funding a school program that will supply proper food to 2.2 million children. The problem being that is only about half of the children population that in Haiti that is attending school.

After reading about the situation in Haiti it made me very happy to live in a country that has enough food supply for everyone. There are also many sources like food kitchens as well as our school systems that are able to provide food to our children to prevent malnutrition. This also made me realize that no matter what time a child appears at school we should do our best to make sure they are still given the free breakfast they are entitled to since we do not know when the last time they receive a proper meal was. Children need proper food to give their body the appropriate nutrients. It is our job as educators to make sure this is taking place when the students are in your environment.

Reference

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/11/haiti-hunger-children_n_3420959.html

    The birthing experience dearest to me is my first grandson Jonathan. He was born at 28 weeks

premature and I was in the room for surgery.  He was delivered by C-section. I was worried

about my Pre-term labor can affect the child’s development in many ways. For example, my

grandson has a speech impediment because  he was  born prematurely. Others have defects,

learning and emotional disabilities because they didn’t completely develop in their mother’s

womb.

    In rural India, Babies born at home remained lying on the wet floor till the placenta was

delivered. The cord was usually tied using available twine or ceremonial thread and cut using a

new blade. In facility settings, drying and wrapping of the baby after birth was delayed and

preparedness for resuscitation was minimal (Perinatol, Ivengar, Martines,  Deora 2008). Rural

areas have more risk factors of developmental delays in children due to social, and economically

deficits.  My grandson is able to receive speech therapy in the U.S, while children in

improvised areas are not as fortunate. It’s heart breaking and unfair; however it is our reality.

    

 

 

References

Perinatol J, Ivengar SD, Martines JC, Dashora K, Deora KK, Childbirth practices in rural Rajasthan, India: implications for neonatal health and survival. 2008 Dec;28 Suppl 2:S23-30. doi: 10.1038/jp.2008.174. Retrived Nov: 3,20113