Blog Assignment Week 2 Tia Smith-Personal and Professional

After a week of learning and reflecting, I am excited to start with a little personal information on my experiences in my classroom. First I want to start off my sharing my favorite quote about children:

"We worry about what a child will become tomorrow, yet we forget that he is someone today."

Stacia Tauscher

 

The reason why I love this quote so much is because I feel as educators sometimes we are so concerned with what the child should know and keep planning for the future, which is a good thing, but we sometimes forget to stop and have fun with the child as they are today. My class is full, at a two teacher ratio. We separate the class into two groups to do circle time because some of the children are on different levels when it comes to learning. I have the younger group so to make sure that when they move up to my co-teachers group, I have a list of things they should know before they move up. It is hard to try and remember that they are still young and not on the level of the other children. When I see them get frustrated because something is too hard, I take a step back and give them something easier to boost their self-confidence. Even at a young age they still have esteem issues. This is when I have to remember they are here today and they are going to be here and if they do not get the lesson today then we will try again tomorrow. When the pressure is eliminated, they seem to do better.

 

My favorite children's book of all time is "Oh The Places You'll Go" by Dr. Seuss. This book is a favorite for many reasons but the main reason being that it was a gift from my brother when I went to collage. A little back-story, my family is not super close. I am the oldest of four with the rest being boys (refer to my profile picture, giant boys at that;) Our family is just not one of those emotionally close families so when he gave me that book as a graduation gift not prompted by my parents just a thoughtful going away to collage gift, it really meant something. To this day, I still have it on my bookshelf. It has traveled with me for years and even though it is a little tattered and worn the meaning behind it will never fade. I always at least once a year bring it in for my "show and share" and read it to the children who are leaving to attend kindergarten. I love the message of the book. Even though most do not understand it until they have experienced life, it is just a comforting and uplifting book.

 

Through my ten years in the early childhood field I have had lots of children come and go through my many classes. I have been children's pseudo-mom being with some more than their own parents. One child however touched my heart and I will never forget. When I worked with toddlers, I had a little boy in my class who while coming out of the birth canal had a stroke. He was semi-paralyzed on his right side which led him to have physical disabilities and speech disabilities. He had trouble opening his hand to grasp things especially to feed himself. As you can imagine, him being the first child, his parents were hesitant of everything. They were standoffish and believed that they knew best and were not afraid to tell me. Every day when they would drop him off they would give me a list of things I should or should not do for/with him and everyday when they left I threw the list away. Not that I thought I knew better but I knew their child and knew that he was a strong and determined little boy. One day while we were playing he decided to pull up and try to walk. We practiced all day pulling up on things, walking with and without assistance until he took three steps all by himself! When his parents came to pick up they were in awe when we showed them what he could and wanted to do. Soon after they had therapists come to the school to help with other difficulties but I will never forget that special day. His face lit up when he realized what he had done and how much I cheered for him. He has gone on to excel and is now in second grade but every year I still get a card from them with his school picture.

 

 I believe being an educator is one of the hardest jobs out there and there are days when I want to throw my hands up and walk out and never look back, but there are those shining moments that make everything worth while. The love and appreciation of the children and their parents is something that I will always cherish.