Tuesday, May 1, 2012
Hello! My name is Julie. I am currently attending Brandman University to get my BA in Child Development. I work in a local Head Start with 3 to 5 year olds. I discovered Head Start in 2003 when my middle son Matt was assessed for speech and language by the county. They discovered that he was speaking at a 2 year old level but he was 4. So he was started on speech and occupational therapy and he was invited to attend Head Start due to his disabilities. I am happy to report that Matt is currently a 6th grader and is doing well in school. Ironically enough in 2006 I had my son Mike assessed for speech and he qualified for Head Start also. At that time I thought that there must be something wrong with my parenting so I decided to volunteer in his class to see what I could do for him at home. I loved being in the class room and I decided to attend MJC and learn more about child development. My son Mike actually had to have surgery on his tongue which extended the length of his tongue and he began to speak at his age level very quickly. My whole family has benefited from the Head Start Program. Head Start is the reason why I am still attending college.
I am creating this blog for my LBSU 302 class titled Information fluency and Academic integrity. From this class I hope to learn how to cite information sources without plagiarising them on accident. There is so much information on the world wide web, but being able to decide truth from fiction is sometimes a challenge for me. I think that this class will help me with future classes and my job. The topic for my blog will be about parent education. I am passionate about being a supportive and loving parent and I hope to pass this on to other parents in my community. As a Head Start parent I learned that I have rights as a parent to what happens to my child in the public school system. I know that every child does not have an IEP or Individual Educational Plan that is recognized by the teaching staff but through healthy communication you can let the teachers know what your child's educational goal is and ask them for help to achieve the outcomes that you desire.
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Hi Julie! It seems we are both going to Brandman for the same purpose:completing our education so that we can broaden our sights into the world of preschoolers. Parent education is a very important component of the Head Start/preschool program. I depend on my parent volunteers, and there are so many that are interested in the well being of their child; they all want to do what is best for them. Most parents want to learn ways to teach their child, through asking questions and implementing simple activities. They are always interested in the Parent Meetings and Trainings provided through the school district where I work. I am hoping to be able to research the topic of art in the classroom and the benefits it provides for intellectual development. Children are so creative...give them the materials and watch the magic happen!
ReplyDeleteJulie,
ReplyDeleteYour goals are admirable. I’ve become interested in the same topic concerning the educational system and the lack of representation for individual children in schools. It seems that there are a lot of children today with learning “disabilities” and we realize that it’s just a matter of paying attention to what the individual child’s needs are. We group children together in large quantities and herd them like cattle from one classroom to the next never quite associating learning with fun. It’s no wonder why bullying in schools is becoming such a problem. There’s little, if any, genuine freedom of expression in the educational system and students take their frustrations out on each other because of it. Teen suicide is another contemporary phenomenon (one can only make the correlation between school, bullying and suicide). Homeschooling is becoming an increasingly popular subject in America because parents want their right to be involved in their children’s lives. What else can people do when the public educational system is failing?
It’s an interesting subject and I’m sure you’ll do well. Thanks for sharing. And it sounds like your sons are going to do very well just because they have a caring and supportive mother.
-Matthew Sizemore
Thank you for the encouragement Matthew. I agree with your explanation about how bulling can be a child’s way of expressing their frustration. Yesterday I attended a family picnic at my boys’ school. While I was sitting with my youngest son, a boy came up to me and started talking to me and asking me questions. When he left my son said, "don’t talk to him he is mean to everyone he is a bully". I thought that the boy was very polite and had interesting things to say so I said to my son, "Mike, some kids are bullies because they are sad inside and need to talk to someone that will listen."
DeleteJulie, I would first like to say it is amazing to her that you got so much out of your Head Start experience. I am a Heead Start parent who's child had a speech IEP and I currently work for Head Start as well so let me say to read your BLOG was trully great!!! I also think you have a really great topic. The laws and regulations they have in this day and age regarding parents spanking their children, I feel that parents need to be more educated and more equipped with the education and parenting skills for children
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