My Connections to Play

Play is our brain's favorite way of learning.  - Diane Ackerman

Children at play are not playing about. Their games should be seen as their most serious minded activity.  - Michel de Montaigne

My essential play items as a child included playdough, a water baby, wooden blocks, and Barbies.  I loved playing with things that allowed the use of imagination.  Creativity was always encouraged in my home.  I was also a little on the bossy side, so things that allowed me to be in charge of the way we played were a plus.

When I was younger, my play was supported by my parents.  My Mom would save large boxes at work and bring them home to let me create and imagine.  My Dad would always encourage me to get outside and play with friends.

In my mind, play has changed as technology has increased.  Instead of getting outside and running around, children are watching YouTube videos and playing on iPads.  I think that play has also become more solo and less collaborative.  If you think about it, this is our society as well.  People prefer to text as opposed to dial a phone and if they are forced to make a call, many relish in being able to leave a voicemail.  We do as little face-to-face interaction as possible.  Think fast food drive thru, Redbox video kiosks, and self-scan checkouts.  My hope is that young children will get back to real.  I wish that they would have the opportunity and be encouraged to explore open-ended materials and play collaboratively with other children.

Play allowed me to learn without learning.  I was tricked into learning about measurements when I baked with my mom.  Catching frogs in a pond was a science lesson full of inquiry and hands-on fun.  I think that adults need to play just as much as children.  When I do things that are playful, I find myself feeling free and having fun.  We need to get back to that!

Relationship Reflection

Forming close bonds and relationships with others is so important.  If you think back on the amazing things you've done in your life, you inevitably think about the people you did them with or the people who helped you get there.  As humans, we strive for connection.  There are many people in my life with which I have a strong connection.

My mother is an incredible woman.  She is so caring, open, strong, and helpful.  When I was little I asked her for an easy bake oven.  She laughed and told me I didn't need to cook with a light bulb because we had a real oven.  I was given a box of brownie mix and told to try.  Making mistakes is learning in my mother’s eyes.  I have always admired her ability to stand back and watch instead of constantly direct me where to go.  When I moved out, our relationship was a bit off for a while.  One challenge for us was that I was no longer there to help out around the house.  I had a hard time freeing myself from feeling guilty for living my own life.  Talking things over with her, even with the conversation was difficult, was the only way we were able to move past it and become close again.

I am much older than my 3 younger siblings.  This has always made for such a cool dynamic.  I was 11 when my brother was born and 14 when my twin sisters came along.  We have always had a close bond, but it has been more like a parental bond than a sibling bond.  I love taking them places and spending time with them.  My biggest challenge with my sibling relationship is not being able to be there all the time.  It is so hard to be away and miss band concerts and sporting events.  They are so young that they don’t always understand why I can’t come home all the time.  It has been hard to be away, but I have been able to bring some positive changes about when I return.  I have recently picked up running as a hobby.  My brother loves to run with me, now, and my sister called me today to tell me she joined cross country!

Another positive set of relationships in my life are with a few important friends.  I have found that friends come and go, but there are some that stick around because the friendships are worth the effort to maintain.  My friends Kyle & Melissa have taught me that you don’t have to be blood relatives to be family.  They have opened their homes to me and I love spending time with them.  They have also taught me that it is okay to ask for help, which is something I struggle with.  My friend Meg is a fellow teacher and my running partner.  She and I have been training for a half marathon for the last 9 weeks.  I love that she pushes herself to try new things.  She inspires me to set new challenges for myself.  Christy is another friend who I have a close relationship with.  We often get after each other about little things, but she is so honest and I love that about her.  She keeps me in check and I do the same for her.   

The biggest challenge with friendships is growing with them.  People change, so relationships change.  When Meg had a baby, our friendship changed quite a bit.  We were at different places in our lives and the way we spent time together and the things we did had to evolve with this change.  People moving, changing jobs, getting married…all of these lead to challenges with relationships.  I think that being open and reflective is so helpful to relationships.  If you can admit that you’re wrong or be willing to talk through a problem that is key.  The ability to adapt to a situation and be open to new things helps me to make connections with the families in my classroom as well.

Quotes about Young Children

"The best teachers are those who show you where to look but don't tell you what to see."
-- Alexandra K. Trenfor

I love this quote, because I think it is so important to encourage a child's natural curiosity.  Children who are inquisitive are great thinkers and problem solvers.  I hope to encourage and inspire my students to be lifelong learners.  My job is not to tell them all the answers, but to guide them with great experiences and questions.


Children's games are hardly games. Children are never more serious than when they play.
- MONTAIGNE, Essays

 

This is another favorite quote of mine.  Play is work for children, and too many adults do not realize this.  When children are playing, they are exploring and learning to make sense of their world!

Assessment

Assessment and young children is definitely a tricky subject.  I do think that there need to be assessments of some kind in order to measure achievement and growth.  Assessments also allow a teacher to track developmental delays.  I think that assessments should give a picture of where a child is so that you can take them to the next level that makes sense for them.  Some areas that I think should be assessed or measured include physical skills, social/behavioral skills, and cognitive skills.  All assessments should reflect age appropriate skills and be very hands-on and informal.  Many assessments on the growth of young children can happen through observation or informal game play.  If the results of an assessment are not used, the assessment is useless.  Gaining information and compiling facts should not be the end game when assessing children.  I feel assessments should be used to find a current level, track growth, and help inform a teacher’s instruction.

I chose to look at the assessment of school-age children in Sweden.  From the information I gathered, Sweden has recently moved to their assessment system looking a lot like that of the United States.  In 2011, they implemented National testing in 3^rd, 6^th, and 9^th grade.  They also added different grading standards as a way to gauge student progress (Swedish Institute, 2012).  Sweden shows a commitment to educating the whole child that few other places do.  Schooling is free and they provide free school lunches on a daily basis to all children.

My school recently went to online assessments 3 times a year for all children grades 2-5.  We were given the option of adding Kindergarten and first grade to this assessment schedule as well.  I fought hard to make sure that my students did not have to participate.  An online assessment seems to be more an assessment of a child’s computer skills, reading skills, and patience than anything actually helpful.  When I work one-on-one to assess my Kindergartners I gain valuable information.  I can tell if they are nervous, they show me how quickly/confidently they can respond to my questions, and I can easily find their “next steps” based on their current level.  When children are given cookie-cutter online assessments their teacher gets a printout.  Does that data actually tell them anything?  Do they actually use it?  I struggle to believe either of those answers is yes. 

Swedish Institute. (2012, June). Education in sweden: Lessons for life. Retrieved from http://www.sweden.se/eng/Home/Education/

Consequences of Stress

The only major stressor from the list that I recall experiencing as a child is natural disaster.  When I was a child, I was often home alone after school until my parents returned from work.  One day, there was a big thunderstorm as I was walking home from school.  I got home and started to watch TV, but the power went out.  Being little and home alone, I was very scared.  I remember hearing the tornado siren in our neighborhood go off.  I ran to the basement and sat in a corner to wait out the tornado.  My hands were shaking and I was crying because I was so nervous about the storm and possible tornado.  The whole situation lasted probably an hour before my mom was able to get to me from work. 

I know that this is nothing like a hurricane Katrina-type disaster.  There were really no after effects of the storm on our house or the neighborhood.  I was, however, scared of storms for a very long time after that incident.  I compensated for my fear of storms by staying home when it was storming out.  I even slept on the floor in my parents’ bedroom when there was any kind of bad weather.  While it wasn’t a huge natural disaster, it still had an effect on me growing up.  I cannot imagine how a child might be shaped or influenced by a real natural disaster.  It must be very hard for them to cope with the traumatic event.

For my research of another country, I chose to look at Africa.  One of the major stressors facing children in Africa is hunger.  Many children in Africa are facing hunger because of poverty.  To fight the growing issue of hunger in Africa, many organizations are working to send food and money.  There are also organizations that allow people to sponsor children, learn about their lives, and contribute money to help feed them.  UNICEF is one organization working to provide relief to children in Africa.  I also read an article that talked about the types of things mothers are being forced to provide for their children because they have nothing else.  The article talked about mothers having to pick leaves and berries to feed their children.  They spend all day finding and picking them, and the leaves and berries are hard, bitter, and nearly inedible.  It is sad to hear stories about the amount of poverty and hunger facing children in other countries.

http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/headlines/2012/05/facing-hunger-crisis-in-west-africa-families-pick-leaves-berries-to-survive/

http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/Learn/world%20hunger%20facts%202002.htm

 

Breastfeeding

This week, I chose to look at breastfeeding.  Many of my friends are new moms and are currently breastfeeding their babies.  I think that breastfeeding is talked about much more now than it was in the past.  The openness with which people talk about nursing their babies has showed me how complicated it is.  I never realized that there was so much to it!  With all of these new moms, I’m hearing all about milk not coming in, trouble breastfeeding, and different products that they use.  I also see how differently every mom goes about feeding their baby in public.  I have some friends who need to nurse in a completely separate room and others who will carry on a conversation uncovered.  I was interested to learn more about views on breastfeeding in other countries.

When I began to research breastfeeding, I found facts about its many benefits.  Breast milk carries all the nutrients a baby needs in its first six months and had antibodies that help fight disease (Unicef, 2005).  Mother and baby create a special bond while breastfeeding.  This bond leads to a healthy attachment and healthy growth later in life. 

In the North America and Western Europe, breastfeeding in public is seen as very taboo.  This is because breasts are associated with sex.  “In many other countries, breasts are seen as functional, so it is not immodest for them to be uncovered” (Attachment Across Cultures, 2002).  It was interesting to read that different cultures had such different views.  I also read that in places like Africa and South Asia, they have a time of postpartum rest where the family and community members help out to allow time for mom and baby to form attachments and focus on feeding.  This is generally a 30-40 day period (Attachment Across Cultures, 2002).

 

My current line of work (Kindergarten teacher) does not require me to have extensive knowledge on this topic.  While it might not be immediately useful to my career, I would love to share the information I have learned with my friends who are new moms. 

Attachment Across Cultures.  (2002).  Breastfeeding, Culture, and Attachment.  Retrieved July 13, 2013 from http://www.attachmentacrosscultures.org/beliefs/bfeed_culture.pdf

Unicef. (2005, January). Nutrition: Breastfeeding.  Retrieved July 13, 2013 from http://www.unicef.org/nutrition/index_24824.html

Birthing Experiences

My good friend Leah recently had a beautiful baby boy. She and her husband were well prepared from the start. They attended birthing classes and read many books. While Leah wanted to try delivering without an epidural, she and Brian discussed that having an epidural would not mean her plan was a failure. They went into the whole experience in a very calm manner.

On the day of her son’s birth, Leah wasn't feeling well. Her husband asked if she wanted to go to the hospital, and she thought they should, just to be sure. In the car, Leah began having contractions. By the time they got to the hospital, the nurse informed her that she was fully dilated and effaced. She was going to have her baby very soon. The doctor was called and Leah was brought into the birthing room. She got her gown on and lay in bed. As soon as the doctor arrived, he informed her she was too far along for an epidural and would need to begin pushing. Leah pushed for only 10 minutes before baby Louis was born.

I was shocked at how quickly Leah gave birth. Many first babies take hours, but she had him 30 minutes after checking into the hospital. I was also surprised by the limited interaction the doctor had in the birth. Nurses were with Leah constantly, but the doctor came in just to “catch” the baby.

For my comparison, I chose to look at births in Sweden. I found that in Sweden, midwifes take care of every step of the birth process. The doctor there is even less involved, only coming in to check on the baby or assist if there are major complications. Save the Children rated Sweden the safest place in the world to give birth. Their c-section rate is around 17%, where the US is around 31%. The major difference I found was that in Sweden, your hospital stay and medical care is free. Hospitals are considered more "homey" and families are well taken care of. From what I read, the experience is much more of a celebration than a medical procedure.

References:

http://blogs.transparent.com/swedish/giving-birth-in-sweden/

http://www.cnn.com/2012/11/09/health/best-worst-birth-places