Tag: school

Categories
Children and Family Advocates Children With Special Needs Children's Bill Of Rights Early Childhood Education Embracing the Gift of Parenthood English Blogs Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads- What does it take and whom must you be to serve children as their teacher? You must be joy filled. Ingredient #5

Children are the greatest gift to humanity.

You must be joy filled.

I know that with all that is transpiring in the world and in our individual countries, we are at a point that we realize that being involved and supportive of our teachers and the educational system that they are navigating and learning in is critical.  We have to come to the understanding that the people that are teaching, guiding and nurturing our children in a brick and mortar institution, are not only human in their design, but are also trying to navigate their own personal life and the life challenges they encounter on a daily basis, but teachers and administrators are also trying the navigate the expectations of an archaic system that is not child centered.  Life wears on all of us and teachers are no different.  It is interesting to recognize and acknowledge that just like a child’s relationship with parents, children know when a teacher is not happy and is struggling to balance their emotions so that it does not make a child feel unsafe or uncared for. 

There is a unique relationship between a child and their teacher. It is important for the initial connection be established with love, respect, compassion, devotion and commitment.  Children are realistic, more so than what we give them credit for.  They know that we are not going to be happy 24/7 and they are in their own way intuitive and attentive way going to be responsive to where we are emotionally and physically.  They love it when teachers can share their joy and excitement about what is transpiring in the learning environment and curriculum.  The joy is contagious and makes them feel that we as teachers are in tune with their wants and needs and are invested in the second most important place and part of their day. I always tell my student teachers that it is important to take care of their mental, physical, emotional, and spiritual health. It is important for teachers to take “Care for Self-Days”, when they know that they are not able to be balanced and healthy with the children that are in their care.  Parents have to practice ethe same modality in their parenting.  None of us can be on 24/7 so we have to construct times and ways to give ourselves a “Time In”!  A time when we remove ourselves from our routine and “go within” and re-capture our peace and composure.  I use the “Time In” not the “Time Out” method with children, because I feel that when they are out of balance, they are asking for a time to be connected not disconnected with someone that “Sees Them”!  

It is so important and healthy for us to seek the people, things, and experiences that support and sustains the “Joy” that lies within our soul’s expression.  Our “Joy” is created by us and is housed in our “Soul”!  We are responsible for protecting our “Joy” from anyone, anything, or circumstance in life that tries to “Rain on our parade or cast shadows on our sunlight”!  We all have times when we will feel pain and be stressed, but the key to being “Joy Filled”, is to only allow those emotions to pass through us and to not allow those feelings to take up residence in our “Soul’s expression.  WE all deserve “Joy” and to be able to be chosen to serve children, or to be their parent, we must let our “Joy” bring light and love into their lives.

Categories
Early Childhood Education English Blogs Heart 4 kids Advocacy Organization Parenting Tips

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads- Ingredient #4

Children are the greatest gift to humanity.

What does it take and whom must you be to serve children as their teacher?

You must be intellectually prepared and committed to being a “lifelong learner”, because you understand that “there is always more truth and knowledge” to learn. You must understand that as you continue to learn and enhance your life, that it benefits not only you, but the lives of the children you are serving.

As an educator it is our responsibility to continue to learn and enhance our lives so that we grow in all areas of our life.  Who we are and what we know and have to share with children is a critical part of teaching and mentoring children.  If we have not engaged in activities that provide resources and content for our curriculum for children, then we are limiting and depriving children access to the wealth of knowledge the world has for them.  So many teachers and administrators experience “burn out”, because they resign themselves to believing that they don’t need to go back to school, travel, join interest groups, read for pleasure and challenge themselves to do things that are “out of the box” for them. 

We as educators and parents are role models for children.  If they see us enjoying reading and exploring the world as adventurers, they too want to explore and discover the treasures of the world.  By their very nature, children are curious and fearless.  They want to know the “why” of things!  They want to know how things work!  They need hands on experiences and time to venture into an environmental classroom or their outdoor classroom that provides a wealth of content that is age and cognitively appropriate for their age and or maturity.  We create the content and environments that support children’s growth in all 4 domains of their being.

 I know on a personal note that I committed myself to being a “lifelong learner”.  I pledged to always do things and venture into things that would expand my breath of knowledge about life and the world so that I would continue to be a resource in my writing and advocacy.  It is a major part of our human design to feed our brains and enhance the expressions of our souls.  Children deserve the best of who we are and who we can become so that we can guide them and nurture them in their “Life’s Divine Journey”.

As parents we have the responsibility of developing a relationship with the teachers of our children and supporting them and encouraging them to continue to learn and provide relevant and exciting curriculum for our children.  We can bring in resources for them to explore.  We can help to provide field trips, and I always had parents that formed a little in-house parent support group so that we always had resources beyond what the school offered the children.  Teachers need to know that we as parents are in collaboration with them in guiding, nurturing, and teaching our children.  It has to be a collaboration between home-school- and community.  Who better than the parents to solicit support for our schools than the parents that work and or reside in the school’s community.  Community investment in our schools, results in sustainability of quality of education. 

P.S.

I just want to add that this relationship with parents and their child’s school does not end when the child graduates from elementary school.  We as parents have to stay involved in our kid’s educational institutions from elementary school through high school.  Even when they go off to college, if there are opportunities for you to support your child’s college experience- games, parent events, or artistic events that they are in and you get invited to support them, show up!

Categories
Uncategorized

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads-Ingredient #2. What does it take and whom must you be to serve children as their teacher?

Children are the greatest gift to humanity.

Ingredient #2:

You must have been “called” into the service of children to care, guide, nurture, protect, and provide opportunities for them that will allow them to discover themselves and their world.  This sets the stage for them to develop in the 4 Domains of their being: Cognitively, Physically, Social-Emotionally and Spiritually.

The Chat:

We really have to come to an understanding and commitment that when we are engaging with children whether we are parents advocating or our children, teachers, coaches, or extended family, children have in their design developmental stages that evolve at different times for each child.  We must also understand that it is our responsibility as parents, and as teachers that have pledged to be parents and teachers, that it is our responsibility to support our children in discovering not just the many wonders of the world, but that we support them in discovering who they are and to love themselves, respect themselves, and value the “divine gifts that make them who they are and what they have the possibility of contributing to humanity.  Their education and the modalities that we utilize in our classrooms and at home need to be in alignment so that there is continuity in the practices and approaches we use with each child. 

We know that it is not just unrealistic, but inappropriate to think that the same modalities work with each child, which is why we acknowledge that it is our responsibility to observe, record, and analysis the character, interest, and the modalities by which that child learns, dissects, and absorbs knowledge.  We need to experiment with different kinds of teaching tools that work with all the children to ascertain if there is a commonality, and at the same time implement tools that works with each child as an individual.  Teaching is not a one approach to learning fits every child!

Our children’s teachers make a lifetime impression on our children.  They remember the nature of every teacher that they engage with.  They remember if that teacher saw them for who they were.  They remember if a teacher was invested in what they learned and how they learned.  We have as teachers, the responsibility to make sure we are working with and nurturing the “whole child”.  Teaching children is so much more than addressing their academic development.  We have to be aware, sensitive to and responsive to all 4 domains that constitute who they are as human beings.  We are responsible, as are their parents are, responsible for the development and enrichment of their cognition, physicality, social-emotional, and spiritual well-being.  Don’t let the spiritual well-being frighten you or feel that is not your responsibility! The spiritual well-being is the soul essence of who that child is!  If you do not tap into this aspect of a child, there is no way for you to be in relationship with that child.  This is the divinity of who that child is.  It is the most sacred and important aspect of who that child is and how they respond to life and the world around them.

You feel like this is a lot?  You feel like this is not what you signed up for when you decided to become a teacher?  You feel that you don’t want to delve this deeply into this profession and don’t think you really want to invest that much of who you are into children?  You feel that what you are being compensated for financially does not warrant you making this kind of commitment to a “JOB”?  If you feel any of these emotions, then you honestly do not belong in the teaching profession, and parents need to assess whether they want to allow you to teach their child. As a professor who taught teachers how to teach children, I never had a problem assessing if a student should or should not become a teacher.  I taught the classes that took the student teacher through the entire program, which gave me a lot of opportunities to develop relationships with my students. I was always open and honest with them I had no problem taking them aside in a one-on-one conference and counseling them out of the field of Child Development, and at the same time supporting them in discovering what their gifts were that would direct them to their “divine destiny calling”.

Parents have a huge responsibility and challenge to carefully and methodically invest time and energy into assessing who their child’s teacher is.  Parents must critique if their child’s teacher is invested in teaching and even more specifically “Sees”, who their child is.  Observe the interactions with the children in your child’s class.  Is the teacher open, warming, and inviting to the children when she greets them in the morning?  Does the teacher prepare the classroom so that it is child centered, set up for discovery and engagement?  Does the teacher make the children feel that the classroom belongs to them and that it is a sacred and safe place for them? Does the teacher provide “hands on experiences”, that allows the children to internalize what they are learning?  Is the teacher prepared each day for the unexpected and flexible enough to create substitute activities that although different form the routine schedule of the day, the children feel safe and are able to adapt? Does your child come home happy and ready to return to school the next day? If your observations provide a yes to these questions, your child has a teacher and an environment where they will not survive, but will thrive.

Categories
Uncategorized

Tiny Tips for Moms and Dads #97 What does it take and whom must you be to serve as their teachers?

Children are the greatest gift to humanity.

Today’s Ingredient:

You must have a love for children and a deep spiritual connection to whom they are as gifts to humanity?

So many times, I fear from my working with teaching students to become teachers, they have not done the work to find our if they have been “Called” to the profession, or if they just showed up because it was a “real job” and they needed the stability.  This then became the first thing on my agenda and the first part of my curriculum for teacher training.  I created spaces and assignments throughout their first semester that called them to first look at themselves and answer a series of questions that were purposefully embedded in the assignments.  I always started with the question-Who am I? this question involved writing their life story and sharing who they are with the class.  Then they could evaluate what areas in their “divine identity” were issues form these life experiences that created their life story up to that point, that they needed to address.

We talk about the baggage we carry as adults that for many of us were left over from our childhood.  There is a notion that became popular that “children are resilient and can overcome any trauma because it happens and resolves itself.  That is crazy!  Children do not forget the things people say and do to them!  What they don’t understand on a cognitive level, they retain on a physiological and emotional level.  Negative experiences impact the “expression of their soul being”.  At the same time, when people say and do things for children that are kind, loving, and make them feel safe, it builds their sense of wellbeing and confidence.  Teachers are the second most prominent influence in a young child’s life, with their parent holding first place in a child’s life.   

What we as teachers say and do to or for children has a lifetime compact on a child. “We cannot just show up to do this “work”, because teaching is not a “Job”, it has to be your “Work”.

Next, I ask them to define and identity -Who am I in the Lives of Young Children”?  This is a make it or break it question when asked of student teachers.  Their response is where I take careful evaluation as to if they are or are not “Called” to the honor of serving children!!!  I have the responsibility as their trainer and mentor to have a serious conversation with each student to make sure they are aligned with this- the greatest “Work” that impacts who our humanity will show up to be.  Every child deserves the best education our countries across the globe can provide.  Our children deserve the best teachers the profession can provide them with.  It is their birth right!!!

Categories
Uncategorized

I’m Just Sayin- Notes from Beth #76 No, No, No, No. No! The Founding Fathers in Our Country Were Very Intentional About -Separation of Church and State! Somebody Done Lost Their Mind!

We can’t make any sense of what is going on in this country!
Everything is out of our control and out of “Great Spirit’s” divine right order.
It’s a Mess!

I cannot believe that the State of Louisiana has mandated that every classroom in the public school system from Kindergarten through the University level must post a poster size copy of the Ten Commandments.  I can’t believe in this day and age in our so-called democratic society that we are slowly but surely walking backwards all the progress we have made to evolve as a country and a society. Conservative elements that want to control every aspect of our lives are rescinding all of the laws and policies that went into place to make our citizenry and our country free and self-sustaining.  Our rights and privileges are being violated and ignored. 

Those that think they are in power are under the illusion that we will remain uneducated and ignorant so that they have free run on doing whatever they want so as to control our lives and the quality of our lives.  There is no need to post the Ten Commandments in our public schools!  We are not a Christian country, we are a country of diverse religions, ideologies, ethnicities, cultures, and have as a guarantee of our Constitution to have freedom of religious beliefs.  We cannot exclude children in a classroom environment and demand that they abide by one sector of our citizen’s beliefs.  We are a democratic system of government that has been formulated to protect our rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.  We do however have a responsibility to teach our children ethics, civic responsibility, compassion, respect for self and others, active listening to others, compromise, the importance of justice, and the value and gift of living in a Democratic society.

We have a responsibility to teach children the importance and value of living a life of gratitude.  There are basic attributes that we as their elders have a duty to teach them and nurture in them so that they become contributing adults that demonstrate a concern for the welfare of others in an effort to attain a sustainable humanity in which everyone has an opportunity to thrive not just survive.  We should be teaching civics and civility.  But to take the Ten Commandments as they are written and impose them on young children and think that by middle school through college, students are going to adhere to another religion’s doctrine, that is not going to happen in this country- This is wrong on so many levels.  I hope people wake up and come to their senses. 

These posters belong in religious institutions that are in alignment with this belief system.  I see what is happening in this country and we are in unchartered waters and at risk at drowning in stupidity and mind control to keep us dumbed down, illiterate, numb, apathic, void of discernment and critical thinking skills. Wake up America! Wake up!  Too much pain, sacrifice, and genius went into the creation of our Constitution to allow an element of self-interest and greed to demolish it with the support of the dysfunctional Supreme Court.