“Reach and Teach”

   As I worked my way through my courses taken through Walden University I have found my goals remain consistent. I found myself wanting the same things now as I did when I started my first course. My main goal is still the driving force to help young children to avoid the negative obstacles in their lives and not become at risk youth.

   In the readings of week two in my first course taken through Walden University there was an article, “Does Having Passion for your Work even Matter?” In this article the author, Rosengren, wrote about having a fire for what you do energizes you, and you can turn around and put that energy into your work. My hope is to keep this fire burning because if the fire burns out, so do I. This article is a constant reminder how important it is to take the passion you have for something and turn around and put it back into your work. Far too often I have worked with many teachers that have burn out. It shows in the way they teach, and in the way they handle the children. When this happens to a teacher it is time for them to seek a new career. They are no good to themselves and especially not to their students. This can make a child not even want to go to school, ever. This would be a good example of a negative in their lives. I think this is where I have the advantage, I have worked with many age groups throughout my career and this led me to the decision to want to pursue a career in early childhood development. The main driving force was working with the at risk youth for many years. It’s never too late or too early to help mold a student and be a positive role model in their lives. I have my own motto and that is, “You need to reach a student before you can teach a student”. I call this “Reach and Teach”.

   Preschool children are at critical age in their young developing lives. It is very valuable for us all the learn everything we can about child development, and to gain the knowledge to provide a warm, nurturing environment and teach age appropriate curriculum. I applaud all of the students in the Walden University Child Development program for taking the first step in gaining the knowledge needed for helping all young children to develop. Never lose the passion and yearning to be a child advocate. “Keep on teaching”.

References

Rosengren, C. (2010, February 4). Does having passion for your work even matter? U.S.    News & World Report. Retrieved January 14, 2012, from    http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2010/02/04/does-   passion-for-work-even-matter

A Rainbow

Look at me, I’m black and beautiful.

Open your eyes you can see.

I also have a lot of brown pride.

It’s not hard to figure this out, it’s me.

Over and over again people say, “I’m white, that’s right.

Can’t you see all these things are true?

My eyes are shaped like an almond, and sometimes my skin is yellow.

And maybe just today, I’m a shade of blue.

I’ve been told, “Go home, we don’t want you here”!

But this is my home, can’t you see?

We can all live together.

We are all the same, under our skin, I won’t leave!

We are all born naked, with a brain.

Can’t you see, if we use our brain, it’s by choice?

We can live in ignorance or tolerance.

Just remember we all have a voice.

We will all leave this world the same way we came in.

Can’t you see it’s how we run life’s race?

In the end, it’s how we treat others.

Ask yourself, did I leave making this world a better place?

Today I’m a bright, glowing sun.

Can’t you see we are all brothers and sisters?

We are a rainbow of colors, purple, green and even red.

After all, we are human; we have no time for resisters.

Mixed Messages

   My husband has always called me “Big Mamma”. Well this created a very embarrassing moment at the grocery store when my daughter was very young. We were in the produce section minding our own business; my daughter was in the child seat part of the shopping cart when a large woman passed us by. My daughter said, “Hey”, “Look at that Big Mamma”, I got real embarrassed and I gave the lady a big smile hoping she did not hear what my daughter said. I quickly said to my daughter, in a tone of voice where the lady could hear me, just in case she heard what my daughter said, “Honey”, “I am the Big Mama and you should not call other people that because it is my nick name”.

   The mother in me and the educator in me found myself giving my daughter a lesson on what is appropriate to say and what is not. My daughter did not think there was anything wrong with saying this because she hears it everyday in our household as a term of endearment to me from my husband. I guess you could call it a “Pet name”. This was not an easy concept to teach my daughter because in our household it was a good name, but she could not call anyone else “Big Mamma”, and this confused her. This was definitely a “double-standard” moment.

   I know now that in Harro’s “Cycle of Socialization” the diagram shows the “First Socialization” as being the part of our lives where the trust and love is built, we are taught to play our roles and follow rules, we shape our self concepts, perceptions of us and others, values, expectations of future roles, and we get mixed messages and feelings and become guilty for not understanding because we are confused about these messages