~Blog Assignment: Time Well Spent~ Week 8~ Dr. Teri Capstone~6990~

MS in Early Childhood Studies 
Quotes
"Every Child is gifted. They just unwrap their packages at different times" (Anonymous)

"When we Play, we are engaged in the purest expression of our humanity, the truest expression of our individuality." ( Dr. Stuart, Play Advocate and Physician) 

Me...Nancy

At least three deeply felt learning’s from this program:

I have learned that children and families are very special. Everyone is unique and everyone wants to be treated with respect.

1.    Professionals in the field like Nadiyah Taylor, Renatta Cooper, Julie Benavides, Laura Lara, Julie Edwards, Linda Fritz, Alison Gopnik, Ms. Escondedo and Derman-Sparks, and many more through our course Media Presentations and the Walden University Professors.These professionals brought so much inspiration to my goal in this field. I saw that these professionals were truly passionate about children, families and communities. 

I remember in a Laureate Media presentation, Ms Cooper said that she  was pushing a cart down to the auditorium to set up for a conference and an Administrator approached her and said something to her about coffee or something like that and she told him, “I am one of the presenter’s here”. To his surprise he said: “Oh, excuse me, I thought you were “just a teacher”. And, Renatta said, and let’s address that, suppose I were “just” a teacher, we desired respect whether a teacher or not, teachers are somebody too.”

2.    Publications, Organizations, Professional Journals  and Web Sites like: Young Children and the National Association for the Education of Young Children and Empowered by Play  & Institute of Play.

    

    

I enjoyed the site Empowered by Play that one of my colleagues offered me for my challenge on play. This site is really interesting and even has letters that families can write to policy-makers. The National Association for the Education of Young Children is another interesting site and my hope is that I visit it at least once a week. I enjoyed all the updated articles and news reports on children’s issues. Once a week they have an open forum by professionals in the field where they can ask questions on best practices. This is where I learned about Developmentally Appropriate Practices (DAP) and about their annual conferences and conferences in different regions throughout the U.S.

3.    Walden University Links for Support and their Mission and Value Statements: The Writing Center, Career Center, Tech Support and the Library, Support Services.

The writing center gave so much support and the webinar’s were great too. I wish that I could have had more time to review as many as they produced over my course of study here at Walden. And, I plan to look at Optimal Resume’s next. 

4.    I learned a tremendous amount of information from my colleagues already in the field. A lot of my colleagues did not live in the Western Region of the United States, but it was interesting to know what was happening in other parts of the world and the U.S. Also, I found that some child care programs are similar in most states and in other countries. 
 

At least one long-term goal

One long-term goal would be is to seek and obtain employment in the field of Early Child Development or teaching that would allow me to advocate for social change.

Another would be is to work on an Advanced Degree in Early Childhood or Human Development and advocate for social change by continuing to give food to the homeless at Christmas time, visit the sick and shut-in seniors at centers, donate clothing to Planet-Aid, Recycle and volunteer for "grandma reads" at my local Head Start preschool.

A farewell message to your Instructor and colleagues:

Good bye and I personally wish you well in all your inspirations and future goals! It has been a Wonderful Journey! Thank you for all your Patience and Support! 

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Merging Vision, Passion, and Practice [DVD], Balimore, MD. Author.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Interconnections, Part III [DVD], Balimore, MD. Author.