Chapter 6 & 7 Kassondra Amato

The development from early childhood thru middle childhood is amazing from growth development to brain development there are many changes!  In infancy development progresses at such a quick speed it is really hard to keep up with! However, during early childhood although growth is substantial it proceeds at a slower rate than in infancy.
Something that stuck out to me the most in chapter six was symbolic play and it's description on page 134.  I believe this to be because right now I am working in two different classrooms-one of two year olds and one of 3 year olds. Sometimes I just listen to them during free play because some of the things they come up with is amazing! Our lessons right now are about imagination so we've been giving them props and letting them kind of find their way through their free play time.  The people they pretend to be are sometimes princesses and such but more often than not they are actually just people in their lives! Today one of the children was a dentist and the other one was her dog and after reading about symbolic play I have learned that they are acting out as these other people because they need an outlet for them to "assimilate reality" for what they believe to be real.  That was just a really great realization   for me as a teacher in early childhood education.
I have realized over the last about year that some parents find "Early Childhood Education" to be not as important as education when children get older.  Working in an Early Childhood Care Center has made me see this even more because of how we are treated by the parents.  Most parents do not realize what we do everyday and sometimes believe we are "just a daycare" or a "glorified babysitter" which is so insulting because we try so hard to teach children and instill a strong foundation for these little ones to evolve from. All of us in ECE pray that each child becomes something great and I really feel that if some of the parents had enough time to just research or read a book and see how beneficial ECE is for their children they would see how much we put into these children! Early childhood education and Head Start are so beneficial to these children. "Research shows that Head Start graduates make further academic progress toward national benchmarks in kindergarten". (page 140)
In chapter 7 Middle Childhood it is obvious there is significant development.  However, physical development again is slower than that of early childhood.  In middle childhood a child only grows about 2 inches and gains 5-7 pounds.  Brain development is important in all stages of childhood, but  in middle childhood by about age 8-9 the brain has reached almost its full size! That's incredible when you think about the ages of children with almost a full sized brain! What really drew my attention in Chapter 7 was that "10% of School-Aged children in the US  have been identified as having a learning disability". (page 159) That's a big chunk of kids!
I also really like Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences. I feel like this should be related to all the children who are being diagnosed or sidelined for a learning disorder- I truly believe that all children learn differently and thinking about it in general the traditional concept of intelligence- either you've got it or you don't- doesn't leave room for children who have different learning styles.  I think that if we are going to go so far as to say this many children have something "disabled" about them then maybe it's time to look into how we judge them.  There are many children I have met that have a "learning disability" but they are able to be taught in a way that helps them(and just may be a little different) and they have become more successful in school.    I could be absolutely wrong about this but it is painful to think there are that many children with learning disabilities.

Week Three Kassondra Amato Chapters 3,4,5

When I began reading Chapter 3 I found myself familiar with some of its content.  I actually felt like I was going back to a Biology class! Except this time I realized I was better able to understand what I was reading. Especially when I got to Meiosis and Mitosis!  

The reproduction of life is an incredible thing! From the moment of conception the journey from birth through infancy is not only flat out amazing but it's also a lot of "work". We all start out as one cell, then as we grow we grow into a whole body with millions and trillions of cells! Every human has its own DNA that carries instructions for growth and development.  This is discussed in the clip "Life's greatest Miracle". As I watched the clip I also felt familiar with its content as I do have two children of my own. However, each time I revisit the topic I am captivated every time! It is truly a miracle! 

When I was going over the handout for this week "Through the ages" there were a few things that stuck out to me.  One is Fetal Alcohol Syndrome- this stuck out because as I said before I am a mother and that actually "made my heart hurt" a little for those innocent children.  Another that stuck out to me was the epilepsy statistics.  According tp the handout at least 10% of Americans will have a seizure during their life and by age 80 about 3% of people will have been found to have epilepsy.  This hits home for my family- I personally have had a seizure and my cousin was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 8. 

On page 71 of Life Smart there is a table (table 3.2) Teratogens: Their Effects, and Time of Risk.  I bring this up because I found it very interesting.  There are the text book things you are encouraged to avoid throughout pregnancy i.e. caffeine, smoking, drugs.  But this goes more into detail of what the consequences could be to the unborn child. I feel this is important table to show to "at risk" mothers.  

While reading chapter 4 something that got my attention was on page 92, Neonatal Reflexes. I knew that neonates had reflexes however, I  was unaware that there were names for the reflexes the babies had- other than rooting. Thinking back to it both of my children had shown these reflexes.  They were just too cute! I had no idea they were each a reaction to a different stimuli. 

I currently run a 2 year old classroom at a local daycare and have been having some issues with a few children and their separation anxiety getting the best of them-and the whole classroom loses it. In the center I work in the teachers are all very aware of the separation of a child from their parents and how difficult it is on the children and parents.  I bring this up because in Chapter 5 on page 121 John Bowlby performed many studies on children separated from their parents and it came down to a "predictable sequence of behaviors" The first being Protest, followed by Despair, and last detachment.  I was drawn to this because I see this often when children begin daycare or if they were on vacation for a week or so. 

Overall, I felt like I have learned quite a bit from this weeks readings. Development is an incredible process that I feel is taken for granted more often than not. I believe if more people were educated on development from conception forward it would be seen for the miracle it truly is!

Week 1 Kassondra Amato Chapter 1

       I watched the "Wide awake on the Mobius Strip" clip first and I must say, I was intrigued. I had never heard of the Mobius Strip until watching the clip.  What I pulled from the video is that we all start out with no distinction between who we are and who we want everyone else to see, and as we age we start to notice that who we are shouldn't be shown to everyone. Later on the video describes the Mobius Strip, what seems to be who you are and who you want people to know or think you are co create each other. One cannot be without the other in the Mobius Strip. 
      Moving on to the reading in Life Smart, chapter one explains how we do not only develop throughout our childhood, but as life goes on we continue to develop.  We each develop differently and at our own rate due to our own personal lives.  Lifespan development is the development of people throughout their entire lives- not only physically but emotionally, psychologically, and mentally.  Specifically, on page 5 in Life Smart the book reads, "Lifespan development refers to an examination of the biological, cognitive/psychological, and social changes that occur over the course of a human life". It is imperative to understand that, as we go on through this course. I say this for me especially because in the past I have only touched on certain time frames in a lifetime and not the whole lifetime itself. 
      The world has a huge impact on how people develop in every aspect of their lives.  This is important to me as a teaching student because i will have many different, diverse children from many different backgrounds. I as their teacher will need to be able to if not understand, try to understand different things about them to give them the best education they can receive.