Class Review

Throughout this course, I have totally learned alot.  This class was a bit challenging but also interesting.  I never seen myself creating a blog nor wanting to do more blogging but this course taught me this.  I have learned interested facts for the business side of the internet and the proper and appropriate features needed throughout the history of the world wide web, lol. 

I not only hope I completed this course successfully but I too hope my classmates have completed the course successfully too. 

In Health Care Data Technology I will truly need all that I have learned in the field I'm interested in.  This is just the beginning of a beautiful career for each and everyone of my classmate. 

I would totally give this class and teacher 2 thumbs up!

21st Century

What does this mean?  My mom has come home several times stressed about the fact that their school is going to “common core standards” full time for the next school year.  She has been in training for this big event for over a year.  She was selected as a PLC (Professional Learning Committee) facilitator for West Lowndes Elementary School and has been dealing with this new wave of education for the future.

To my understanding,” the Common Core State Standards provide a consistent, clear understanding of what students are expected to learn, so teachers and parents know what they need to do to help them. The standards are designed to be robust and relevant to the real world, reflecting the knowledge and skills that our young people need for success in college and careers. With American students fully prepared for the future, our communities will be best positioned to compete successfully in the global economy” as written by the State Department of Education for Mississippi and 45 other states.  In other words these standards are being developed in every state so that if you decide to move from one state to another any children that you may have in school will be taught the same things and same way.  They will not have to adjust to new teaching styles and a new curriculum.

The idealism behind this method sounds good because kids seems to fall behind in a new school setting and teaching environment sometime which could permanently hinder their progress and growth.  But are the teachers prepared for the change?  Will colleges and universities prepare our future teachers for this change also?  Will the college graduating classes in Education this May be prepared to take on Common Core when they are searching for employment for the upcoming school year?  Will they be denied jobs because they are not familiar with common core or have not been introduced and/or trained in common core standards?  Are daycare centers and headstart programs incorporating common core?  My son is 4 years old and will be entering kindergarten next year, will his teacher be prepared to teach him common core standards and will he have been introduced to any of those standards before hand?

As a concerned parent, who do I seek out to give me the answers that I need to know about my child’s education?  My mom has done a good job explaining a lot of the teaching strategies to me which has helped me understand what is involved in common core.  The new MCT2 (Mississippi Curriculum Test, Second Edition) test will be eliminated when the new standards take effect by the year 2014. This school year was the pilot year for grades K-2 and next year will be the pilot year for grades 3-12 and from my understanding it was successful at my mom’s school. The teachers made the adjustment and children grasped the style and level of understanding.  The testing and grading scale for this particular set of standards have not been finalized but by the beginning of the new school year everything should be in place.

 Education is a profession that I am interested in as a permanent career.  Will I be prepared for the 21^st Century in Education?

Social networking ... should it be restricted to children under the age of 18 and blocked to unfit adults?

“A social networking service is an online service, platform, or site that focuses on building and reflecting of social relations among people, who, for example, share interests and/or activities and people with similar or somewhat similar interests. Most social network services are web-based and provide means for users to interact over the Internet, such as e-mail and instant messaging. This is because unlike most high schools, colleges, or workplaces, the Internet is filled with millions of individuals who are looking to meet other people, to gather and share first-hand information and experiences about cooking, golfing, gardening,  developing friendships or professional alliances, finding employment, business-to-business marketing.  Social networking sites allow users to share ideas, activities, events, and interests within their individual networks” according to Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Facebook, one of the most popular sites for social networking has been taken out of context by the majority of its younger users and some of its adult users as well according to the original definition of social networking.  Too many people are using this service for bullying, disrespecting, stalking and slandering other people. This type of behavior has spilled over into our schools and everyday lives.  Arguments and fights have ensued from messages on facebook.

Should facebook be restricted and blocked to all children under the age of 18 and to any adults that uses vulgar and sexually exploited language?  That is a million dollar question that need to be addressed by the founder and its associates. 

I enjoy face book because I get to share special moments in my life and that of my family and play games with my friends and family, not to belittle people and tell every intimate detail of my life.  Whatever you write on facebook is viewed by millions of other people that you are not aware of.  Criminals, businesses and law enforcement agencies may also have access to what you are putting in print.  In order to rid the site of all these unfit characters, I think that if there was a sign-up fee and a yearly charge many of these individuals would shut down their page.  What do you think?

Children are BLESSINGS!

I have 2 adorable babies, a son, 4 years old and a daughter, 5 months old.  They are, in my opinion, very intelligent and developed for their age groups.

From the time of my daughter’s birth she has been doing things that a “normal’ baby could not do until they were between 5 and 6 months old.  Only after an hour of her birth, she was able to hold her head up to be photographed in the hospital nursery. She started teething at 2 months and has learned how to get down out of her chair. 

At 4 months, it has been said that a baby can understand the basic sounds that make up language and  will develop the ability to make some vocal sounds, which is very true, but my little one started making those sounds when she was 2 ½ months old which made  hearing them  exciting and astounding. She enjoys conversations with me and her father for hours at a time and if you are not willing to participate, she becomes very upset and let you know that she is not happy.  Most babies would nurse and sleep but my child is quite the opposite.  She sleeps well and eats well but when it time to talk, it’s time to talk.

Now my son, he is quite awesome himself.  He is a very picky eater and sleeper.  He is very active and into sports and games. At an early age, he began monitoring various things surrounding him and watching what other people do. He learned how to walk up his grandmother’s staircase without falling by watching us go up and down.  Most children would have tried to crawl up and down the stairs but not him; he wanted to walk like everyone else.  He loves to watch SpongeBob, the cartoon, and can mimic every show with the dialect and movements.  He can really put on a show for you. If there is any cartoon that he enjoys watching, he can perform it live for you.  

At the age of 2, he learned and recognizes his alphabets, 5 basic colors and numbers up to 20. My mom and I work with him on a daily basis trying to prepare him for school.  He has learned how to play video games on his own, Mario, Madden, etc. He can operate the equipment (PSP2, Wii and joy sticks) on his own, operates his TV and DVD player without any assistance from us.  He watches and learns by doing. He knows the fundamentals of baseball, basketball, football and golf (not all the terminology and details of the sports) but enough information to play. It is amazing to sit and watch him as he engages in these activities.  He is also good at the computer and loves to plays games on it as well.

Watching them grow has been a joy in my life as well as others and with the things that they have accomplished in such a short time, I am simply overwhelmed.  I hope their growth development continues as they grow older in a most prosperous and positive way.