What Motivates Educating Our Youth

Dr. Edward Zigler

Dr. Edward Zigler, often called "the father of Head Start," is a Yale psychologist known for his groundbreaking research in child development. In 1964, Zigler was one of a panel of experts enlisted by the White House to come up with a program to help low-income kids. Thus was born a summer pilot project called Head Start. Thirty-seven years later, Head Start's preschools have served more than twenty million low-income children and their families, providing education, nutrition, and health care services to two generations of young Americans, and managing to survive a steady retreat from almost every other arena in the war on poverty.

Q: Do you find it's much worse for children under the more conservative administrations than it is with the liberals?
Zigler: Kids do better, frankly [when the economy is strong]. Jobs make great years for kids. The best children's program I know of is the Earned Income Tax Credit. Get kids out of poverty. Poverty is devastating.

I'm really not a partisan political person. I remember when I was in Washington they kept trying to get me to say whether I was a Republican or a Democrat. I just said, my politics are children. That's all I know anything about.

Link to interview- http://progressive.org/node/1546

Marian Wright Edelman

         "If you as parents cut corners, your children will too. If you lie, they will too. If you spend all your money on yourselves and tithe no portion of it for charities, colleges, churches, synagogues, and civic causes, your children won't either. And if parents snicker at racial and gender jokes, another generation will pass on the poison adults still have not had the courage to snuff out".

     "There's ignorance in people who just don't know that we have a national child emergency. And there are a lot of people who are conveniently ignorant--they don't want to know.

Renatte Cooper (Program Specialist, Office of Childcare in LA County)

     "It's not all about you. You got to take your ego out of it and think about what's best for this child".

Raymond Hernandez (Executive Director, School of Early Childhood Education)

     "My passion comes from wanting to make a difference. I'm not here to save the world, I'm here just to make a difference in the community I'm working".   

         

         

My Personal Childhood Web

There are 5 people that I have chosen to focus on for my personal childhood web.

• My Mother 
• My Maternal Grandmother
• Roy Davis (Father Figure)
• My Cousin Marcus 
• Mrs. Deaver (Head Start Director) 

My Mother- A very dedicated, hard working professional woman. I recall watching her getting ready for work many mornings, makeup-hair- and no ensemble was completed until she added her heels as a finishing touch. To support me, my mother went to work in good and bad health. I was her motivation. I remember whenever I was afraid to try something new, she would say  "Always Remember…Nothing Beats a Failure but a Try!

                                                                                                                                                                       

My Maternal Grandmother- The foundation of the family. Without her nurturing ways, nutritious meals, warm place to stay, and availability- I probably would have grown up without a big yard to play in and had a key on a string around my neck. Instead, I was able to have a hot breakfast, lunch, and dinner in a 3 bedroom one story brick house. She was my constant solace because I knew when I came home from school, it (the house) and she would be there. That fueled the need for me to create the same feeling for my children.

                        

Roy Davis- (My Firefighting Father Figure)- There were times my mother had to work 7 days a week, over 8 hours a day. Roy (her long time boyfriend who worked for the Houston Fire Dept.) would take and pick me up from school, help me with my homework, and keep me safe in his company. He was that first person who tried to teach me how to drive so I wouldn't have to only be depended on others to take me places when I grew up.  

                   

                                                                                                

My Cousin Marcus- I’m the oldest of 3 children and there are 8 yrs between me and my first sibling. My youngest brother and I share a 14 year age difference, so the closest thing I ever had to an older sibling is my cousin/brother Marcus who is 3 years older than me. During our time together in elementary and middle school, he would protect me and give me guidance in right and wrong. Marcus was my voice of reasoning during the confusing times of peer pressure. I always valued his opinion and we are still very close today.

                                                                   

Mrs. Deaver- (My Childhood Head Start Director) - the person who orchestrated an environment for children to learn, be healthy and safe, in compliance with regulations, supporting her staff needs, while having a smile on her face and looking like someone out of a high fashion magazine. Always set your standards high- who know those words would come to mean so much to me.      

One Of My Favorite Children's Book...."A Classic"

The simple love of a child....can make things truly come to life:)

Remember to "Thank" a Teacher!!!!

Positive Change Can Come With Time

Just as children at times, we find ourselves wanting immediate gratification. Whenever I find myself impatient, I'm reminded of the progress a child who started in my toddler 2's classroom made with time, support, and patience.

 It's been over ten years ago, but I will never forget him, he was my first child with special needs. It was during my internship that I met "Ryan" (not his actual name of course) and he presented every challenge a teacher could imagine. A runner, a bitter, a hitter, and more. "Ryan" was born prematurely and had a number of surgeries before reaching the age of 2. He was barely verbal and very aggressive with others, I believe out of his frustration in trying to communicate and not being understood. With the luxury of having 3 teachers in the room, we would all rotate in giving him one on one attention throughout the day. Week after week, incident after incident, I remember my seasoned lead teacher saying throughout the day as a reassurance...."It'll come with time". We were trained to be patient, to use positive redirection and the true beauty in this Piagetian Constructivist environment was that the children were guided in telling each other how their actions, such as hitting, made the other feel. As you can imagine, there were many moments that "Ryan" heard from his friends, "I don't like it when you push me down, it makes me feel bad and I want you to stop", "Ryan" would say "OK" and then walk or run away. When I would leave for the day, I would find myself wondering what would become of "Ryan", how would his experience in life be once he graduated from Kindergarten at the Lab School? Would there be others out there who would show him the patience and care we did? I wasn't so sure.

The end of my internship had come and it was time to say goodbye to my mentors, both the staff and the children that I had learned so much from. It was there I learned the different between having the knowledge and applying it. Without that experience, I would still be lost (but that's another story). I graduated and life happens as it does until I got an invitation to visit the Lab School for a Kindergarten celebration. Yes, my toddlers were about to go to first grade. I was so excited. I wondered what their personalities had become over the years. On the day of my visit, at first glance, I remember thinking..Man they sure have gotten tall. They were all there, smiling and talking and laughing. Just having fun. And then, I saw him..."Ryan". I didn't recognize him because he blended right in talking (clear as a bell), laughing, and singing. I cried at that moment. I was so overjoyed. I later had a conversation with my much respected lead teacher who caught me up on the progress of all the children over the years I missed. When she got to "Ryan", I reminded her how she would always encourage him by say "It'll come with time" and she was right. With that smile of wisdom, she told me that wasn't for him, that was for you. She explained that she knew I would, as she did when she first started teaching, worry about him more than the others because of his challenges. My mentor could see what I had not yet developed the vision for, she could see what would come to be with time, support, and most of all patience. That experience changed my life and I am grateful for it and them everyday:)

Today I have created my first blog and submitted my first entry. I am excited about having the opportunity to share my experiences as well as read about what's going on with others in the same field as me. I am amazed and grateful on how technology has opened doors to allow people to communicate no matter what the distance is between.....AMAZING!!!!