Thank you note

Dear Classmates,

Thank you for the opportunity to share my thoughts and feeling with you dear classmates. I know that your time is valuable, and I appreciate your willingness to assist me and respond to my postings.

Your feedback regarding our online blogs was particularly insightful. I agree with most of your suggestion on how make my plan better and ideas on how to become a better advocate. I hope that we will one day meet in person. Feel free to contact me on Facebook.

Thank you again for your valuable input. Your words of encouragement have done much to calm my nerves about my presentation. Please do not hesitate to contact me at any time if you need someone to discuss any professional matters with. I appreciate your help and your ideas. Good luck all my classmates in your careers and in your lives.

Sincerely,

Your Classmate  Charla

Enlisting and Providing Support

      I have been feeling lost this term as far as writing an Advocacy Plan goes. I am doing my best but I still feel like I do not have a clear idea or an example of what a good Advocacy Plan looks like. I have also been missing points for APA style. I feel a good use of my time would be to review APA style. Do any classmates have a good understanding of how to write a well written Advocacy Plan? If someone has a good resource for writing a plan I would appreciate if they will share the information.  One resource I found helpful was the textbook for the class. The textbook has a lot of good information about what it means to be a good advocate.

My quote

I forgot to post my quote.

"Learning never exhausts the mind." ~ Leonardo da Vinci

Advocacy Journey

I am inspired and excited about my advocacy plan because I want children to be safe at home. A child’s home should be a safe zone free of abuse. A feel a child that grows up in an abuse free household will be a healthier adult. Abuse effect a person on every level. Abuse affects your health mentally, emotionally, and physically.

The challenges and anxieties I feel center around the level of knowledge I have. I wonder do not know enough about abuse a neglect to advocate for prevention services. I feel my fear can be overcome with some additional study and training. I have signed up for parent advocacy empowerment class. The class is ten weeks and by the end of the class I should be a better advocate. Once I will the skills from that class plus what I have learned in this class I should be ready. I feel ok presenting my Advocacy Action Plan, but implementing it is ten times harder to do.

I feel the way to encourage others to advocate is by telling them to find something they truly believe in or something that has touched them personally. We all have a voice and everyone can help someone else. I think it is important to know your voice is valuable and powerful.

Welcome back all. It is almost over.

Thank You Posting EDU 411

To my classmates thank you for responding to postings and your ongoing support this term. Today, in light of the school shooting in Connecticut I am deeply sadden by the event. I see more than ever how important the work we are doing is. In honor of the victims I will dedicate my efforts to advocate on behalf of children. Happy Holidays Dear Classmates and I wish you well!

Family and Professional Interaction

I observed an interaction between a parent that is Spanish speaking and a teacher that does not speak any Spanish. The observation took place in a Head Start four year old classroom. The mother who is Spanish speaking came to check on her son who just started in the classroom. The teacher tried to reassure the mom that her son who doing ok and having fun with the other children. The teacher was speaking in and normal voice and smiling a lot. I observed that the mother did not seem to understand. She seemed worried but told her son goodbye and went home.

After the mother was gone I was told that she keeps him at home if she checks on him and he cries. As a parent of a young child it can be hard to let your child stay at school if they cry. I feel it is even harder if you cannot understand what the teacher is saying to you.

I asked if Head Start had any ELL classrooms. The teacher told me they did not have any ELL classrooms. I feel that this is unfortunate because there are two children in that classroom that could benefit from an ELL setting. The little boy who I will call James does not say one word in class and is somewhat isolated from the other children. Not only would children from non-English speaking homes benefit but the parents who did not know English will be able to communication affective with the teacher because the teacher will know their native language.

I can advocate for Pensacola Head Start to have some ELL classrooms. If they cannot have ELL classrooms then I can advocate for having the teachers to learn a second language. I feel if you have non-English speaking students in your classroom you need to know some based phases in the language the child and the family knows to aid in communication. I live in Florida and the state has a large Hispanic population. Knowing Spanish is a valuable skill to have in my state, because many families understand very little English. Every parent should be able to have good communication with the teacher, and the students feel more comfortable if the teacher can understand what they are saying.