Why were we raised to think different is bad?

It's funny how young infants, toddlers, and children are able to differentiate things because how other peers and adult react to certain actions. For example, the book Rethinking Early Childhood Education tells a story about Head Start merging with the early intervention program. A teacher from this program explains about her struggles in the beginning dealing with a child named Nyla who has cerebral palsy. She was a little awkward that she realized that it affected the children. The children wasn't comfortable with Nyla until the teacher became more involved. When the teacher took the initiative to include and support Nyla, children were able to do the same.

I am happy to see schools in Hawaii supporting early intervention. I'm a skills trainer at a local middle school and try to support other children to be very respective. I always try to make my clients see that different isn't bad, different is unique and special. If we're all the same then we would be boring and have not close relationships with each other.

Another topic I would like to acknowledge is integrating different languages. In Hawaii, we have a wide diversity of ethic backgrounds. The book Rethinking Early Childhood Education also explains how integrating indigenous languages may have challenges but it's for improvement of the community.

From my experience when I used to work at a preschool, we had children with different ethnic backgrounds. Our class would support different languages by teaching numbers and different foods. We also encourage parents or family members to visit the class to teach us about their ethnic background.

Overall, I hope these positive actions help our community and country to be in a positive environment. I want every generation to have to ambition to want to be confident with themselves and respect others. Being different is not bad, being different is a gift and we should love these qualities about us.

Trying to find the appropriate environment

As an early childhood educator you mainly want to provide a safe and appropriate environment for each individual. Creating activities that fit each individual's developmental level. The parents are the main people who know their child. Teachers need to be open with any suggestions parents give them. For example, the story I Just Want to Read Frog and Toad, by Melanie Quinn explains how a mother who was an experienced elementary teacher and college professor believes her son Eamonn is not getting the appropriate education for him.

Eamonn's mother believe the Houghton Mifflin Program does not follow the curriculum for a first and second grader. She mention couple stories that don't have correct grammar and appropriate wording choices. But when Eamonn went to second grade, the teacher had granted her request and now Eamonn enjoys reading and likes to writes his own stories. This little story explains how it's so important to be an open-minded teacher. How just following some suggestions can make a big difference in someone's life.

Another story called Strawberry Fields Forever by Cirila Ramirez explains how to help children with language and cultural barriers. A teacher was not lucky enough to have a teacher to help her with her education. Therefore, when she became a teacher she was able to relate to the children who struggle to speak and learn a different language and culture. One of the most important activities she did to help these specific children was to read books and stories that relate to their own culture/environment. After that she had noticed more progress in these students.

From reading these stories made me have more ambition and ideas one how to be a better teacher. I really agree with implementing many language and literacy activities will help the child improve in all developments. When children are able to achieve their goals then they will be more confident and challenge themselves to be better. In conclusion, we have to sometimes think out side of the box and be open with new things in order to achieve higher goals.

Babies come to a world filled with technology

Many people have different opinions whether children should play on the computer, or not play on the computer at a young age. As years pass by, children at the ages 2-5 already have the skills to work on the computer. It's so amazing children this young are able to go on the internet, play games, and even chat.

I believe children at the ages 0-6 should minimize or do not play on the computer. The book "Rethinking Early Childhood Education," states in the first two years of life, networks of connections are forming for social, emotional, and cognitive abilities (Pelo 76). Thus, children need human interaction to learn language, emotions, and ways of communication.

Recent generations, I had noticed many children have difficult time making appropriate conversations. For that reason, children are busy playing on the computers, watching television, or play video games. Another factor, parents are too busy with work because of our bad economy. Most parents have to work two jobs to supports their family.

In conclusion, I believe caregivers and teachers need to encourage social interaction by creating appropriate learning activities, free play, and be open with emotions. Children need to feel they can trust adults and peer in order for them to trust themselves and be confident.

Everyone's journey begins

Everyone has the chance to make a difference in people's lives. We just need to navigate in the right direction. For instance, teaching can make a huge impact in the students' lives. But it could be a good or even bad impact. When I was reading "Our Journey Begins," by Susan Bernheimer explains how a teacher tries to find ways to reach her students to better their education. She went through many obstacles but never gave up. One way she reached her students, was asking a question about "what they think is most difficult about raising our children today?"(Bernheimer 4) In result, students made conversations because it was towards they interest.

Furthermore, another topic that is giving children tests. Do children improve their test scores from taking tests? This issue creates a lot of conflicts within the education society. I believe children create more anxiety and low self-esteem when taking tests. The story "Think Less Benchmarks," by Amy Gutowski explains how children are taking tests called adequate yearly progress (AYP). A teacher feels AYP is not appropriate for children because the test does not relate to teacher's benchmark/format. Hence, this teacher believes children could do something more productive than just filling in bubbles. Some studies discovered that children develop a negative thought about tests. Children will tend to score bad because there's so much anxiety. C

In conclusion, I believe we as teachers need to find ways to open up children and make them feel comfortable. Working with each individual and finding their interest can help children's motivation towards education. Also making a positive environment can help them achieve more obstacles. For example, I work with special needs children. I always try to keep them involved with many different social groups to help them feel comfortable, and they are no different from the others. In result, they feel comfortable in their skin and have confidence to asks anyone for assistance.

My journey had been through rocky roads, but I will keep on moving forward and find my destination to be a great teacher who makes a difference in children's lives.