A BIRTHING EXPERIENCE

Hello Everyone,

I am back for another course with you guys and glad to be back. Hope the break was great for you all.

Hope you enjoy reading my blog for this week:

Due to being a mom who has been pregnant, five times. I consider myself as a pro :) . I have had all of my babies in a hospital setting. I have gave birth “naturally” –without any medication. I have also had the pain medicine put into my spine and had medicine put through my IV. The two things I have never experienced was saying, “Oh, My water broke!”, because it never did for any of my pregnancies. The doctor had to bust the bag each time. I have never had a cesarean either. I chose to tell you about my first time giving birth. It was a new experience so I was scared and excited at the same time. They gave me Demerol through my IV so I was out of it for the most part but I did feel the pain. My mom and my, at the time boyfriend, but now is my husband in the birthing room with me. I remember waking up, they brought in my new baby girl, and I did not want to hold her. I laid her in the bed and just looked at her. Everyone else held her and cooed over her. It took me a minute to get used to her. I probably was experiencing a slight Post-Postpartum Depression syndrome but did not know it. It only lasted that first day though. I fell in love with her and began to be a mom. It was a great experience.

As I reviewed about the women in Ghana, I see that most choose to have their babies at home. They do have the chose to go to a hospital but choose not to have to deal with the debt that they would incur. Berger shows, “In the poorest nations, almost all babies are born at home: Doctors are called only for emergencies, often arriving too late. Most women avoid hospitals unless they think they are dying” (Berger, 2012, 103). If they do not call the Doctor, a Doula or Midwife is present to assist with the birth of the baby. I have noticed that we –as women have the same options to have our babies at our home or at a hospital. In Ghana, it states sometimes “by going to the hospital, it can be harmful to the new family” (Berger, 2012, 103), which is the same for U.S. families because we all will have a huge bill after leaving with our new bundle of joy.

Reference

Berger, K.S. (2012). The developing person through childhood (6^th Ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

A Note of Thanks and Support

To all my fellow classmates, this course has been very influential and, honestly, I have enjoyed it. I want to thank you all for the support. I hope I was supportive and I wish I could have done more. Please keep in contact with me by my Walden email nakita.tellis@waldenu.edu or my regular email nkita7@live.com. I know that we will all meet again, so please stay in touch. If you can please put your information on this week’s blog. I hope that we can continue to support one another throughout the program.  Have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and many more!!!

This is our last week but I know not our last contact :)

IDEALS FROM NAEYC AND DEC CODE OF ETHICS

NAEYC Code of Ethical Conduct offers “guidelines for responsible behavior and sets forth a common basis for resolving the principal ethical dilemmas encountered in early childhood care and education” (NAEYC, 2005, 1). I saw two that stuck out to me:

1. “To work through education, research and advocacy toward an environmentally safe world in which all children receive health care, food and shelter; are nurtured; and live free from violence in their home and communities” (NAEYC, 2005, 7).

----This one is great because anyone would become distracted if they feel unsafe, hungry and homeless or feels no one cares for them.

2. “To work through education, research and advocacy toward a society in which all young children have access to a high-quality early care and education program” (NAEYC, 2005, 7).

----Of course, We –as educators must provide the best we can to give each child a fighting chance to survive after school. I would love to have all schools, especially the poor ones, have new books, comfortable desks, chairs, and computers that are up-to-date. Many schools do not have the access or the supporters, as well-funded schools.

The Division of Early Childhood is “based on sound ethical reasoning related to professional practice with young children with disabilities and their families and with interdisciplinary colleagues” (DEC, 2009, 1). There are two that I really liked:

1. “To demonstrate our respect and concern for children, families, colleagues and others with whom we work, honoring their beliefs, values, customs, languages and cultures” (DEC, 2009, 3).

----We all must respect all aspects of a child and their families lives. We do have snobbish and unconcerned individuals, which is such a sad issue.

2. “To recognize our responsibility to improve the developmental outcomes of children and to provide services and support in a fair and equitable manner to all families and their children” (DEC, 2009, 3).

----When we decided to get into the field, I would hope that we –as educators would want to provide fair education to all.

References

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Some other information that I want to remember:

Dr. Janet Kien suggestions:

Professional Development Ideas:

1. Coaching
2. Examining your craft
3. Taking professional development classes to improve skills
4. Reading in your field
5. Talking with peers
6. Trying new things
7. Keep questioning your craft: tweaking, trying new different ways
8. Constant learning
9. Become a learning community in the school

Visit other classes. Watch videos of teaching.

10. Participating in learning communities

There is always something new to learn.

11. Going to workshops and conferences

Go for different purposes

Exemplary Teachers:

1. Students score well over a long period.
2. Teachers use varied structures and strategies.
3. Teachers differentiate instruction in small groups.
4. Teachers hold high expectations.
5. Teachers provide constructive feedback.
6. Teachers are honest and kind.
7. Teachers have excellent organization and management.

Students know what to do and when. Materials are well organized.

8. Teachers provide literacy-rich environments.
9. Teachers hold advanced degrees.
10. Teachers engage in continual professional development.

JUST A SOURCE:

· NAEYC. (2004). NAEYC advocacy toolkit. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/policy/toolkit.pdf  Chapter 1: Introduction (pp. 3-4) and Chapter 3: Engaging the Members in Public Policy (pp. 14-16)

Greetings to my Fellow Student

We are over half way finished for this semester. Just sending a little encouragement that everything will be okay and we will make it.



HERE ARE SOME QUOTES THAT I LIKE AND WANTED TO SHARE:

"We do not stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing".
                                                                                        -George Bernard Shaw


"Play keeps us vital and alive. It gives us an enthusiasm for life that is irreplaceable. Without it, life just does not taste good" (Avery, www.planningwithkids.com).