Mother, Daughter, Sister, Friend, Teacher, Student

I have several individuals that are supportive to me in my daily environment.  My roommate provides emotional support daily and financial support because we share all the bills.  My mother and sister provide long-distance moral and emotional support when needed. A co-worker provides support at work whether it be moral support, assistance in completing tasks, or providing support to teachers so that I can complete tasks. I create lists that support me to stay on task and complete projects.  Without this support, I would find difficulty in facing obstacles and trials in my life.  I depend on them more than I would like to admit.  If I lost my roommate, I would have to find a new roommate or move back home to my mom’s. Without the emotional and moral support, I would have difficulty accomplishing my tasks and goals.  My job is very stressful most days and I need the moral and emotional support to keep from being hard on myself.  Plus, I am a single mom of...

Things I remember playing with the most when I was little:             When I was little we had free-play with pots, pans, and pretty much anything we could get our hands-on.  My grandmother would always encourage the use of our imaginations.  If we said we were bored she would tell us, "then you are boring people".  We did not like that so we always found something fun to do.  I remember always being dirty from our play.  If we did not get dirty then she would say that we did not play hard enough.  My grandmother was very laid back and allowed us to do a lot with our play.  She also insisted that we play games and follow the rules established by the game maker, or create our own rules and write them out so everyone had to follow them.  I believe that play should be similar to what I grew up with., free play with adults extending the play through open-ended questions and encouragement in the use of i...

Relationships Relationships are important to me because they help me navigate the obstacles of life.  Without the support of my family and friends, I would have traveled down treacherous roads during the struggles in my life. I have several friends that have helped me navigate these obstacles.  They have been in my life for longer than ten years and will be in my life until I take my last breath, no matter the distance.  We have been through good and bad times, argued, disagreed, fought, cried, and hugged.  Kimberly Martin, Cristina Denz, and Thomasine Dandridge are friends that I call family.  Kimberly and Thomasine helped me through my daughter’s medical crises on numerous occasions, bad relationships, health scares, and triumphs.  Cristina has helped me to find myself again and supports me by being there every day as a roommate and friend. These relationships last because there is an unconditional love.  If it were not unconditional, it would...

“Children are like wet cement whatever falls on them makes an impression.”   — Haim Ginott, child psychologist This quote says so much!  Maybe if we think about children in this way we will be more responsible with what we say to them, teach them and what we do around them. https://sayingimages.com/wp-content/uploads/quotes-on-kids.jpg As children continue to learn, they continue to teach us about life.  They have an unfiltered view and perception of the world around them.  Their unbiased opinions are fabulous and will enlighten any listener. https://i.pinimg.com/originals/4d/59/a7/4d59a7aaadaf1156963eb20e18efe3c5.jpg This is so very true.  Playing with children is fantastic.  It will bring you a very different perspective of things.  It will remind you to find fun in the things you do.  It will make you laugh and just be happy.

When considering a commitment to viewing young children holistically, I believe that children should be assessed holistically.  To me, this means children would be evaluated based on meeting developmental and cognitive milestones in a project-type assessment.  For example, children would complete a project assignment that would assess their cognitive abilities, physical abilities, language, social, and emotional abilities.  It would determine how well children have grasped the concepts they have been taught within the classroom.  I believe that being assessed in this way we would be able to ensure that students are learning what we are teaching.  We test students throughout the year to ensure that they are remembering and comprehending what we are teaching, but are we testing to ensure that they can utilize the information in practical application?  I tend to believe we fall short on this part of the assessing.  In that way, we are not preparing our c...

I decided to research children and hunger in India. I learned that 4 in 10 children are malnourished. Because of this, they suffer from chronic illness and do poorly in school. (United Nations in India 2019) I was surprised to learn that hunger is so prevalent in India. I was also surprised by the number of people who do not have adequate shelter, 50%. These problems lead to adverse childhood experiences resulting in poor health and poor cognitive development. There are programs and initiatives working to remedy the hunger problem in India, including UNICEF (United Nations Children's Fund). United Nations in India (2019). Nutrition and Food Security. retrieved from https://in.one.un.org/un-priority-areas-in-india/nutrition-and-food-security/ https://www.wfp.org/countries/india https://www.poverties.org/blog/poverty-in-india

My daughter, whom I adopted two years ago, came to me with some pre-existing conditions due to the violence and hunger she experienced with her biological father and step-mother.  She was victim to his and her anger and frustrations and is lucky to be alive.  She also experienced hunger due to neglect.  Before entering foster care, she walked on eggshells, tried to please everyone, ate out of garbage cans at school, hid her injuries, held in her tears, and rarely attended school. She lived in and out of foster care, starting at the age of 2 years. Since coming to live with me, at the age of 10 years, she has regularly attended therapy to help her cope with her PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), anxiety, and depression.  She is also taking an anti-anxiety medication to help her cope.  She attends school regularly, eats like a teenager (she is 13 years now), is a drama queen, cries often, shows age and situation appropriate emotions, and has a lot of frie...