Relationship Reflection

My beloved

I have many relationships, some are professional and some are personal and then there is family.  My most important relationship is with my husband.

We have been married for 7 years.  We dated for one year before we married.  I am the only woman he has married and I have had two weddings but only one marriage and that is with him.  We were introduced to each other by a friend of mine. I almost walked out on our first date because he is very thin and me well not so thin. We support each other, mutually respect each other and engage in mutually fun activities.  We rarely argue and accept each other's strengths and weaknesses.  Most importantly, we like each other.  We have 3 cats, a dog and a bird.  He has four siblings and my mother in love was the best.  We lost her this past December.  I was very close to my mother in love as we lived only a mile apart.  I am a part of the his family and like his family more than my own.  I like and love my niece and nephews.  My sisters and I sometimes chose to be kind to each other but I have had many conflicts with my biological family.   I have my friends, some that I've known since childhood, some since college and some within the past 7 years.  My personal relationships help keep me grounded and unwind.  My friend, Gretchen, helps me find balance between my need to work and have fun.   She is also a mentor and gives me tips on how to be a good teacher as well as have a life.

Our "son" B

Wolfie, our youngest

My professional relationships are also very important to me.  I am indebted to my instructional assistant.  He helps keep the classroom organized. He is usually very patient with our students and is helpful to the whole team.  I have worked with my behavior specialist for over 4 years now and have finally resolved many conflicts and now mutually respect each other.  We were able to really talk to each other about our differences in philosophy and began to understand each other this past summer during a four day institute.

I try to live by the motto "Seek first to understand then be understood".  I have good relationships with my students and their families.  I frequently have to remember my motto when working with some of my families.  I will have to find ways to build rapport with one parent if and when she begins to be allowed to take care of her daughter.  This parent has many issues and frequently doesn't keep her child safe or value education.  I also personally believe she should have her rights terminated and has had other children permanently taken from her.

I believe that mutual respect is critical in building relationships followed by learning about each other.  Clear communication is also vital but not always easy. All relationships take work and time.  Some change and some fade away and sometimes one has to realize that some relationships are too unhealthy and one needs to walk away from them.  I had to do this with my ex as he was very abusive and I also have to do this with my biological family at times when they become hurtful.  I also had a co-worker that I used to car pool with but eventually I realized I was being used as I always did the driving and she was very nasty about helping to pay for gas.  My attitude was poorly affected when we rode together.  

Some of my favorite quotes

"I can't change a student's bank account but I can change their emotional bank account."  Eric Jensen
I love the power of this statement.  


"Tell me and I forget.  Show me and I remember.  Involve me and I understand."  Chinese Proverb

I have seen the truth of this statement in action in my classroom.

If education is always to be conceived along the same antiquated lines of a mere transmission of knowledge, there is little to be hoped from it in the bettering of man's future. For what is the use of transmitting knowledge if the individual's total development lags behind?   Maria Montessori

Assessment and Standardized testing

Whenever it is time to administer the Florida Comprehensive Academic Test (FCAT), I inwardly cringe and want to have a legislator watch the effects of this high stake testing on many students and not just students with special needs.  Many students are able to have extra time, additional breaks, use highlighters, dictate their writing, take the test in a small group setting and occasionally in a one to one setting.  Some students can have the math and science test questions read to them.  These modifications didn't help a former student that has yet to learn to read beyond the the kindergarten and first grade level.  This person is now 20 and can comprehend books that are read to him.  He can't read the cable guide and gets frustrated easily. His math skills are at the fourth grade level.  He didn't graduate from high school in spite of combined efforts of his teachers, his mom and one on one support from me throughout his school years and beyond.  I also have to assess my students using the Florida Assessment for Instruction in Reading (FAIR).  This test is administered one to one in grades k-2 three times per school year and from grades 3 through 12, the students can take it online.  I do use the information from this test to help me pinpoint strengths and weaknesses for each individual student and focus on strategies and skills to help them improve in the five areas of reading.  I can sometimes see where they have made improvements and what I need to focus on next for each student.   I also have to give a comprehensive math test 3 times a year and record each students scores in a spreadsheet that is monitored by my school district.  We will soon have comprehensive tests at the end of the year for each grade level.  Many of my students have test anxiety and can be very oppositional and defiant so I sometimes have to complete the tests over 3 to 4 days.  There are many times, I know that my students can do more than what they show on these tests.  I also want to teach and testing is NOT a teaching opportunity. I understand the need for accountability but definitely feel that accountability for teachers can be accomplished without all the formal testing of students.  I do believe that as a teacher, I need to make sure that my students are learning the skills and strategies I want them to learn so I assess them as I go.  I also believe in I.Q. and  psychoeducational testing.  I think it is important to know where all students start.  I would be ok with comprehensive beginning of the year tests and end of the year tests to see the progress students have made.

Compulsory education in Israel for children begins at the age of 5 although many children attend pre-school starting at the age of 3.  Pre-school is mainly private but there are some free public centers.  There are Jewish, Arab and Christian schools.  There are three types of Jewish schools, secular, religious and independent (Machol, 2010).  Primary and middle schools are under the direction of the Ministry of Education and high schools are independent or run by municpalities, local committees, or national networks (Machol, 2010).  When a child is enrolled in school, they are given the Hebrew or Arabic version of the WISC-R to learning apptitude and I.Q (Zeidner, 1990).  Students aged 4 to 6 may also be given perceptual tests such as the Bender Visual Motor Gestalt Test or the Frostig Developmental Test of Visual Perception to assess reading probelms.  Students who are aged 9 to 18 may also be given the Milta Group Verbal Intelligence Test to assess verbal ability (Zeidner, 1990).  Students in grades one to six are also given criterion referenced tests to determine what they have learned for the year (Zeidner, 1990).  In the eighth grade , students can take  vocational tests such as the Hadassah Vocational Aptitude Battery (Zeidner, 1990).  This will help them decide on a career or trade.  In order to go on to college, students must take matriculation tests (Zeidner, 1990).

Machol, Ron (2010, May 11).  Teaching English in Israel. [Blog message]. Retreived from http://jobsearchinisrael.blogspot.com/2010/05/teaching-english-in-israeli-school.html

Zeidner, Moshe (1990,  Winter).  School-based assessement research in Israel: current state and future directions. McGill Journal of  Education, 25(1) 37-63 Retreived from
http://mje.mcgill.ca/index.php/MJE/article/view/7898

Childhood Trauma

My early years were fairly normal until the age of twelve.  My family frequently helped out people in need and many times people would move in with us until they could get back on their feet.  My family took in a young couple in their early thirties that had a 3 month old girl.  I do not know how long they lived with us but Bill and my father became close friends.  Bill molested me over a period of months.  Even after I finally told about what he was doing, he and his family were frequent visitors to my home.  My sister and my father were the only family members I spoke to about this.  I was told not to tell my mother due to her health issues.  My father blamed me and asked me what I did to provoke a 33 year old to molest me.  I began to act out and not wanting to spend much time at my home.  One day after I had run away again, my father tells me that he is thinking about putting me up for adoption.  He took me to a religious counselor where we were told I was too old to be adopted and so I was brought back home knowing that I wasn't wanted.  Anytime there was a family problem, it was my fault.  My sisters would tell me that I was an obscenity and didn't have the right to be alive.  My sisters are 7 and 9 years older than me.  While I lived in Connecticut, my friends were my support system.  Two of my friends were also victims of incest.  I would spend much of my summers visiting friends back in Connecticut but it wasn't the same.  After moving to Florida, it was difficult for me to make friends but eventually did so.  I kept my past to myself and one of my friend's family took me in on Thanksgivings.  My parents would go away for Thanksgiving.  While living in Connecticut, Thanksgiving was a family event with my aunt, my uncle and cousins.  I finally went to mental health counselor when I was 18 and only because a school counselor referred me.  I was  diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.   When I was 24, my father told me that he had only been joking about putting me up for adoption when I was a teenager.  I have been in and out of counseling throughout most of my early adulthood and still have difficulty at times dealing with stress.  My family and I don't spend a lot of time together.  I love them but we still can be quite hurtful to each other.  They don't know the person I've become and when I do go visit them, I don't really know how to act around them.

Childhood sexual abuse occurs everywhere. Israel is responding to increases in sexual and physical abuse of children and teens by setting up comprehensive care centers.  The first such center opened at Sheba Hospital in 2009 (Eglash, 2009).  This center is similar to the 600 such centers in the United States (Eglash, 2009).  At the center, which treats children from 3 to 18 years old, medical, legal and social services will be provided Eglesh, 2009).  In 2008, there was a 12% increase in investigated child abuse cases (Eglash, 2009). Poverty is another stressor that children in Israel may face.  Israel is one of 35 countries that belong to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) and 26.6% of children live in poverty.  This is the highest rate of children living in poverty of OECD members(Eglash, 2011).    Children in Israel can also suffer from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder due to war.

Eglash, Ruth (2009, May 17). Israel's first center for child abuse victims to open this Tuesday. Jerusalem Post p 8
Retreived from http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?index=22&did=1663706361&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1311353629&clientId=70192

Eglash, Ruth (2011, May 4). Child poverty here highest in OECD. Jerusalem Post, p 4.  Retrieved from http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?index=50&did=2341570671&SrchMode=1&sid=1&Fmt=3&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1311492859&clientId=70192

Immunizations in Israel

I have wanted to visit Israel and possibly live there as well so I decided to research immunizations there. Since the early 1990's, a vaccine for hepatitis A and Haemophilus influenzae b have been required for children.  Haemophilus influenzae b  (Hib) is the underlying cause of invasive infections and bacteria meningitis in children (Dagan, Fraser, Roitman, etal, 1999).  Before 1993, there was an average of 170 cases per year of invasive infectious diseases caused by Hib (Dagan, Fraser, Roitman, etal, 1999).  After the vaccine was required for 2, 4 and 12 month olds in 1994, the incidence of Hib breakouts declined by 96% in under 5 years and there were no deaths from Hib (Dagan, Fraser, Roitman, etal, 1999).  This study was the first of its kind outside of the US and western Europe yet it does have implications for the world.    Israel is the first country to require a hepatitis A vaccine and it is administered in two doses given at 18 and 24 months (Chodick, Green, Heymann, et al, 2007). Hepatitis A was endemic and is under reported in Israel (Chodick, Green, Heymann, et al, 2007).  Hepatitis is endemic in most developing countries.  Since 1999 when the hepatitis A vaccine became required, there was significant decrease in cases across ages (Chodick, Green, Heymann, et al, 2007).  

Based on what I have learned, I will definitely encourage parents to vaccinate their children while being sensitive to their fears about possible side effects from them.  I definitely believe efforts need to continue and increase to make vaccinations available to children in developing nations.  

Dagan, Ron, Fraser, Drora, Roitman, Malvina, Slater, Paul, Anis, Emilia, et al, (1999, January).  Effectiveness of a nationwide infant immunization program against Haemophilus influenzae b. Vaccine 17 (2) 134-141  Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/science/article/pii/S0264410X98001650

Chodick, Gabriel, Green, Manfred, Heymann, Anthony, Rosenmann, Lena, Shelev, Varda (2007, November). The shifting epidemiology of hepatitis A following routine childhood immunization program in Israel. Preventive medicine 45(5) 386-391.  Retrieved from http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/science/article/pii/S0091743507002356

A Childbirth Experience

I am unable to have children of my own but have watched a friend give birth.  My friend decided to have her third child at an alternative birthing center with 2 midwives and family present.  When I arrived at the center, she was sitting up in bed and her husband was rubbing her back helping her breathe.  Her 2 children was with her as well as her mother, her three sisters and some of their children.  She was experiencing some pressure and contractions but wasn't able to push.  She was allowed to walk around and while in the bathroom, she started giving birth.  She delivered her child on the bathroom floor.  I was able hold this beautiful infant while she was being cleaned up and weighed in the first half -hour of her life.  This experience is a gift I cannot repay. 

In Turkey, childbirth is becoming more modern and taking place in hospitals.  There are still  many customs and beliefs that surround childbirth.  A birth is a very happy event because it increases a family's size which is equated with strength and security (William, 2011).  A child increases the respect given to the parents by other family members whereas an infertile couple may experience increased social and psychological issues (William, 2011).  Pregnant women may be encouraged to eat and drink sweet items to increase their chances of having a boy (William, 2011).  They are also expected to look at the moon, beautiful people, smell roses, eat apples, grapes, green plums and quinces and avoid going to funerals, looking at camels, monkeys and bears, eating fish and chewing gum (William, 2011).  After giving birth, the mom is supposed to stay in bed for 40 days (Neredeyim, 2005).  The baby is cared for by family, friends and neighbors during this 40 days (Neredeyim, 2011).  People who come to visit will usually bring food and the mother is expected to taste all food that is brought to her so she has an adequate supply of breast milk (Neredeyim, 2005).  If the mother becomes ill during the the first 40 days, a doctor will come to the house (Neredeyim, 2005).  On the 40th day, mother and baby take a bath together (Neredeyim, 2005).  The mother and baby will visit her mother in law first unless they live together, then her mother (Neredeyim, 2005).

William (2011, March 28).  Traditions to do with birth of Turkey. [Blog message].  Retrieved from  http://my.englishclub.com/profiles/blogs/traditions-to-do-with-birth-of

Neredeyim (2005) Tradition of woman after childbirth.  Retrieved from Republic of Turkey Ministry on Culture and Tourism website: http://www.kultur.gov.tr/EN/belge/2-1556/tradition-for-woman-after-childbirth.html

 

1.1—Above all, we shall not harm children. We shall not participate in practices that are emotionally
damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to
children. This principle has precedence over all others in this Code (NAEYC, 2005).
This principal has been my guiding motto throughout most of my career.  I have worked with so many children that have been abused and harmed by adults.  I also believe in apologizing to children when I have wrongly not understood a situation correctly.  I want my students to know that I am able to take responsibility for my mistakes to enable them to do the same.  I try very hard to use a calm quiet tone when I am correcting a student's behavior.  

I-2.2—To develop relationships of mutual trust and create partnerships with the families we serve (NAEYC, 2005)
I have been in situations where I have had to tell parents some truths about their children that they don't want to hear.  Because I am honest with my parents, I have many of them call on me to help them even years after I haven't been their child's teacher.  I want to always earn my parents trust and go out of my way to do that.  I had a student hand me a $50.00 bill one day.  I immediately called the parent and she didn't know that her child had taken the money.  It would have been very easy for me to keep that money but I didn't.  I also had to tell parents that their child with down syndrome would not write or read beyond a 1st grade level.  Five years later, this parent called me to help take care of her child because of my honesty.  He has great social skills but has difficulty writing and reading. 

We shall honor and respect the rights, knowledge, and skills of the multidisciplinary colleagues with whom we work recognizing their unique contributions to children, families, and the field of early childhood special education (DEC, 2009).
Throughout my 19 years of teaching, I have worked with speech/language pathologists, occupational therapists, physical therapists, music therapists and many instructional assistants.  Some of these people have been wonderful and some not so wonderful.  I encourage these services to be a part of my classroom rather than pull out my students.  This way I can support throughout the day, the goals of each program and help my students progress.  It is easy to work with therapists who are wonderful.  Last year, I had to document when a speech/language therapist showed up and pulled out my students.  My data supported a decision to replace her.  I had to report to my administrators that she wasn't working with my children.  I felt that I handled this situation with professionalism.  I did not talk to anyone else about her and handled my data with discretion.  I also encouraged her to work in my classroom with my students so I could support her with their behaviors.  She did not respond to this encouragement.  I am fortunate to work with a speech/language therapist this year who is very professional and works with me. I also go out of my way to let colleagues know that I appreciate their efforts with my students. 

We shall use individually appropriate assessment strategies including multiple sources of
information such as observations, interviews with significant caregivers, formal and informal
assessments to determine children’s learning styles, strengths, and challenges (DEC, 2009).

This area is a struggle for me as I am required by law to use tests that I feel are not developmentally appropriate for some of my students.  I do feel I harm many of my students when I have to give standardized tests even when I use the accommodations that are in their individual educational plans.  I do not know how to reconcile my feelings and what I am forced to do in this area.  I hope as I continue my journey in this program, I will lean more about this area.  

I have enjoyed the videos and many of the readings provided in this class.  I have broadened my views of early childhood and am interviewing for pre-k teaching positions.  I have enjoyed reading my classmates blogs and even though we don't know each other, I feel like I do know my classmates.  I have grown professionally and personally in many ways throughout this course.  Thank you all for sharing so much of yourselves and allowing me to learn from you.  I am definitely going to renew my membership in CEC and join the DEC.  I also am going to rely on many of the websites I have been introduced to such as the NAEYC, and the Project Approach website to keep me up to date.  I  do not spend enough time reflecting on my school days but I have changed that.