My Supports

                   I am very fortunate and blessed to have people supporting me in my life. Support comes form the usual expected places..my family and friends and sometimes from the least expected places. Thinking on this assignment, I thought about the ranges of the different types of support that are available. These supportive resources can be emotional, tangible, informational and companionship, this list is not exclusive as other types of support mechanisms exist. 

                   My parents are my support system, I know I can count on them for any and everything from day one. Therefore, from my support system I am given  emotional support, my definition of this is when I am  offered empathy, concern, affection, love, trust, acceptance, intimacy, encouragement. When I am provided with emotional support, I know that I am being valued. I am also given is tangible support, with the provision of financial assistance and material goods. Being so far away from home and not having access to many food items I wish I could have on a daily basis, I rely on my parents to send items all the way to Japan, which is far form cheap! Lastly, I rely on informational support, which I define as advice, guidance and suggestions, I am guided daily by words of encouragement, my mom may send me a text message of encouraging words at the time it is needed and we speak to each other as much as possible and she continually encourages me.

                  For the challenge, I choose disability, specifically not being able to walk. I can only imagine the world for persons who are disabled. My view is that if I were ever to be crippled, my parents would encourage me to not let being a wheelchair define my disability. I know I would have the love and support I need to get through the bad days and the days where I might feel like giving up. I don't want to think about the impact of not having this support system, honestly.

Connections to Play

Children need the freedom and time to play. Play is not a luxury. Play is a necessity.

Kay Redfield Jamison
Contemporary American professor of psychiatry

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
Russian psychologist
1896–1934

Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.

O. Fred Donaldson
Contemporary American martial arts master

If you want to be creative, stay in part a child, with the creativity and invention that characterizes children before they are deformed by adult society.

Jean Piaget
Swiss philosopher
1896–1980

When I was younger, we spent most our times out of the house while we played. My brother and I used to run around the house, we use to pretend that we were archaeologist, always digging in the ground trying to find a “new species”. We played a lot with our neighborhood friends, we rode our bicycles to see who could go faster, and we had our fun times outside. As we got a little older, I think we got the Nintendo, but our mother monitored our time usage, so we would not be glued in front of the television. My dad, my brother and I would play one of our favorite sports called Cricket, some Saturdays we went outside and had to use a bat and a ball. This is one of my most fond memories. Our parents ensured we had a balance between play and schoolwork. For the mot part, we were allowed to play when we reached home from school, but in the evening hours, we would have to focus on schoolwork.

Play today is very different, when I travel on the bus or train I usually see a child whose head is bent low and their hands are moving, means they are playing on their PSP or DS or some handheld device. This culture continues when they reach home, they put down the PSP and then go on their Wii or tablet to continue playing the same game. In the classrooms, the use of technology is evident as lessons are taught using iPad or personal computers. However, children are not limited by technology; they still like to enjoy free play without use of technology like running around and driving their parents wild.

I still love the idea of play, I love my children in kindergarten showing me what they have made using Legos or building blocks, and I love their imagination and thought process. I am still a child at heart (I believe), so I enjoy playtime. During playtime at home, parents can use this as an opportunity to talk with their children while engaging in talk.  

Relationships Reflection

                                            

No man is an island, no man stands alone.....

This was a song I sang in elementary school during devotion time, it embodies my stance on relationships. The fact is that we need relationships for our daily survival  without having someone to give support, guidance and to lend advice is critical for a person's development. My biggest supporters have been my parents and so I dedicate this portion of my blog to them.

My parents have been there for me from childbirth, I don't know two better people in the world. Having the love, guidance and support from my parents mean the world to me. As a teenager, as I'm sure most teenagers do, there was a period of disconnect between myself and my parents, I wouldn't talk to them and I would keep everything hidden. As I became older I realized that being a parent cannot be easy, raising a child in the 21st century and its challenges. As I  left my parents home to live in Japan, the love and the feeling that I know my parents want nothing but the best for me, is the strongest emotion that I felt from my parents. There has been nothing but love and support from my parents; modern technology means that even though we are thousands of miles away we can still keep in constant contact with each other, never more than a phone call, text, email or skype away is the term I love to use.

In order to maintain substantial relationships one must be willing to spend time together, communicate effectively and share goals. Family members who have healthy relationships spend quality time together, they also exhibit characteristics of good communication and they trust one another. Without these characteristics it is difficult to maintain relationships. Undoubtedly, as with any relationship there are challenges and disagreements, but never physical arguments. To resolve these issues one must be willing to work together to solve problems.

The most important ways that a relationships would impact me in early childhood education field is because I know I am trustworthy and easy to communicate with. Working with children of a different culture and not sharing the same native language has made me realize how important it is to be a person that parents and students are willing to try to communicate with. In Japan, parents may not willingly want to communicate with foreigners but if I continue to show how much respect and care I have for their child and how much the child trusts me then little by little the lines of communication are opened.

Quotes

Some of my favorite quotes:







Thanks to all my classmates for their comments and feedback, hope to meet you in another class! All the best.

Testing, Testing...1 , 2 , 3

Assessment is the gathering of information to make an informed decision; it is an integral part of most early childhood programs. At the elementary level, children in some school systems can spend up several weeks a year completing state and or district assessments, and in some schools, they spend even more time in test preparation activities to ensure that the more prioritized assessments have more outcomes that are favorable. Does it have a purpose, this question has been asked and educators have tried to answer. They have suggested that appropriate assessment systems can provide information to highlight what children is able to do and what they know. However, inappropriate assessments for young children can run the risk of generating insufficient information for the tester and undue pressure for the child. At a young age, I was not good at being assessed, sometimes I was too nervous, sometimes I had a high fever the night before, I placed myself under pressure; performance anxiety. Although ongoing assessment is important for young children; how often it is conducted and the preparation time should be structured in a way that will allows the child no extreme pressure.

The country I have chosen to focus on is Japan, working in the schools in Japan I see first-hand the types of assessments used for children. It is important to note that in Japan, illiteracy is considered a disgrace and 100% of Japanese are literate. The Japanese schools are structured on high levels of competition; excessive competition for university entrance examinations, the existence of "crammies," and deterioration of academic performance. Japanese children have large amounts of knowledge but lack ability to learn and think by themselves and apply their knowledge. The children are focused on the group and lack individual motivation.

In 2000 Japan reduced the school number of days spent at school from 6 days per week to 5 days per week to foster greater "zest for living."

When I think of intelligence, I think of the whole person and what they are able to achieve, looking on the person individually and not as a group of individuals. Are the students particularly good at drawing or art, do we structure tests more arts based then math based as a means of assessment?

Source

Tyson, M (2006). Japan's Assessment of Japanese Education. Retrieved February 15, 2013 from  http://mabryonline.info/papers/pdf.

Stress

One of the worst natural disasters to hit Japan was an 8.9 magnitude earthquake in March 11, 2011. The quake -one of the largest in recorded history, triggered a 23-foot tsunami that battered Japan's coast, killing hundreds and sweeping away cars, homes, buildings, and boats. In addition, the tsunami led to a nuclear accident that forced tens of thousands of people to evacuate the region around the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Plant. Transportation and tourism in Eastern Japan were affected for several weeks following the earthquake due to power shortages and damage to infrastructure, but all major airports, train lines and expressways were reopened within two months of the disaster.

Because of the disaster some parents choose to relocate to other prefectures in Japan, having been affected by the tsunami, many had to start over. I had the experience of meeting a young girl who started her junior year in one of the Junior High schools which I worked in. Her name was Aina Nakamura, she was 11 years old she when I met her in September of 2011 she looked frail and lethargic, I shared my concern to the English Teacher after which I learnt of her story of being a tsunami survivor. Aina had missed 6 months of school since the disaster and was placed in a special class; this is where I was able to speak with her and where she shared her story. “It was a scene from hell,” her eyes red with tears. “It was beyond anything that we could have imagined.” She recounted her story about her fears of her parents being missing, as she was not collected from school until the following day. She wondered about her friends, family and neighbors, when she returned home the following morning, she found it reduced to its foundations, and heard faint cries for help. She said her father went to investigate and came back with a woman cold, wet and shivering. She said she was thankful to be alive.


Through many grief counseling sessions, support from her parents and teachers I can remember Aina one year later from the date that I initially met her, she was vibrant and full of life, Aina smiled and greeted me cheerfully in our first class back from the summer vacation.

I found an interesting article on the relief efforts for the survivors of the earthquake. Many ordinary Japanese unaffected by the tsunami and nuclear disaster felt sympathy for the victims . The Japanese tendency towards self-restraint, or jishuku, came back in force after the disaster. People were cutting back on everything from shopping trips to hanami parties to view the spring cherry blossom. Even though the tsunami traumatized many people, both physically and psychologically, receiving warm-hearted support from friends and strangers has helped many people deal with this disaster. The earthquake and the warm-hearted support provided people with a chance to consider the meaning of one’s life as an effective technique for coping with stress.

http://www.economist.com/

Public Immunization

The aim for immunization is to avoid the spread of any communicable diseases. Coming from a country where high value is placed on the immunization of infants. As a newborn, I was immunized and vaccinated my mother still has the card after 20+ years to prove that I was immunized as well as bearing a permanent scar on my right upper shoulder.  My aunt who in 2004-07 was the Chief Education Officer was quoted in an article stating that it was mandatory for children to be immunized prior to being admitted into schools.  In Jamaica the policy is that children who have not been immunized cannot be admitted into government-funded schools, as for private schools they have the option to not have the rule. However, if a principal decided to accept a student who is not immunized they can face legal charges. In Jamaican, under law, full immunization is a fundamental right of the child so; parents can be fined or imprisoned for failing to immunize their children.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has lauded the Jamaica Expanded Program on Immunization (EPI) as one of the best in the world. In 2010, Jamaica achieved a 100% coverage for tuberculosis, 92% for polio, whooping cough, and hepatitis b and 88% for measles, mumps and rubella. The Expanded Programme on Immunization established in Jamaica in September 1977 and has contributed greatly to the reduction in infant and child mortality. Prior to its introduction, the infant mortality rate from infectious diseases including vaccine preventable diseases such as measles, polio, neonatal tetanus, tuberculosis, diphtheria, bacterial meningitis and pneumonia was very high at some 51 per 1000 live births in the 1960s and 32 per 1000 live births in the 1970s. The infant mortality rate now stands at 21 per 1000 live births.

I am amazed at my small country in many ways, having read about the lack of an immunization structure even in first world countries.