Idayu

Just want to share this video which had inspired me. It’s about a bunch of children wanting to play soccer but due to the space constraint, they were not able to do so. However, they never gave up and came up with ways to make their dreams come true. Through the video, I have learnt that it is important not to listen to others’ negative comments but instead, we should prove to others that what they view as impossible is actually possible and we can survive the harshest condition with resiliency and perseverance.  In conclusion, as early childhood educators, we are there to make a difference in the early childhood field and no matter how much disapproval others give us, we must never give up and hang on to what we believe in!

Ng Bee Ying
Cohort 3

Hello everyone!

I bet most of you know already but here’s the official poster done up for the Amazing Hunt! If you haven’t done so, please let Edwina (Cohort 3) or Melisa (Cohort 4) know that you’re interested in joining us.

Goodie bags & prizes up for grabs so come & join us on Saturday!

I came across an interesting video and website about toy marketing and commercialization. Don’t know if anyone has seen them before, but nevertheless I just thought it be would be interesting to share

If you can’t view the vid, the link is here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maeXjey_FGA. The whole film is on youtube too!

This website also has a lot of other resources related to the topic.

http://truceteachers.org/index.htm

Idayu

Here’s one I noted on August 22, 2009 while I was working with K2s.

Boy: Miss Cynthia, ‘who’ how to spell?

Me: What do you mean?

Boy: ‘Who’, the ‘who do you eat’ that ‘who’

Me: who do you eat?!

Girl (who was listening to the conversation all the while): HUH? ‘who do you eat?’ Do you mean ‘what do you eat’? You want to eat a person?!

Boy: (laughs loudly, yet…) no… ‘who’ do you eat… How to spell…

Me: w-h-o…

And I burst out in laughter looking at how confused my girl was, and how oddly amused the boy looked.

I haven’t looked at the sentence he wrote, have to check it out tomorrow

“I’m going to make a difference!”, I told myself. But of course, things don’t always go the way you want them to.

I’ve been working as a full-time Early Childhood Educator for close to 9 months, and this is one of the first few reflections I wrote, of what I have experienced in this short time at this wonderful job.

This reflection was written during my fourth month, when I was struggling at work. Fellow educators would relate best to this. Soon-to-be educators, you will experience this. But it should not give you a reason to quit.

http://shronsugarman.wordpress.com/2010/09/23/4-months/

As the days went by, I experienced many ups and downs along with my friends who are teaching as well. I have never been one to cry, but I cried at work. Not once, not twice. Definitely not because of my colleagues, they are great. The emotional rollercoasters became a norm. For me, and many of my peers. But we did not give up. After experiencing burn-out, things started getting better. With the support of several people, I got past the worst, and accepted I was struggling. At the end of my 8 months at work, another reflection was written:

8 months

8 months since I started work. I’ve never charted my journey with anything I’ve undertaken in life. The first and only one I’m keeping track of, is my professional journey.

8 months on, I am just a simple teacher. Not chasing big dreams, no big aspirations. Just keeping it real.
8 months on, I have learnt that there is a bigger picture to everything. If I want to do my best at work, my health has to be ready for it. It’s not ready yet, I know. So I’ve downsized my expectations, putting more energy into keeping up with meds, eating and whatnot.
8 months on, I’m teaching a group of 4 year olds, reflecting on my takeaways each day.
8 months on, I’m not an ambitious teen, I’m a realistic young adult. If I’m a novice, then I’m a novice. I don’t jump to professional overnight.
8 months on, I am facing the same challenges, all you beginning teachers are facing.      So don’t say, “Shron works at _________… Sure no problems right….?” Because I will rubbish that statement immediately.

8 months on, I’m just doing my best to finish what I have to, making sure I am in contact with close friends, reviewing my self-expectations.
8 months on, I’m learning to celebrate my successes and really just taking it one step at a time.
8 months on, I am starting to read, watch tv, and most importantly, I am sleeping. All the things I never let myself do since 4 years ago, I’m letting myself do now.
8 months on, I forgive myself for the mistakes I made, and am renewing faith in my prayer each day.
8 months on, I’m living the life of a human being. Not the robot I was in 2007.

and 8 months on, I’m learning to strike a work-life balance. 

Because really, who said teachers have to be perfect anyway? Who said teachers need to know it all anyway?
8 months on, I am still in the field. Motivated, not running away.

That’s a success, friends.That’s a success, Shron.

To all my fellow teachers
Nothing’s ever easy. But there’s a consolation: We’re going through this together

____________________________

Sure, this is a multiple-entry submission for the competition, but I see it more as a form of sharing with my friends who are teaching, and the soon-to-be educators from Cohorts 3 and 4.

This is a field with a high teacher attrition rate. It’s something very real, and something that requires lots of time to be changed. I once read somewhere that ” You don’t have to be the one to make the change, but you can still take the first step”.  I know that many of you believe you can make a change through this profession, and I do not doubt that. But do remember that sometimes, the changes do not have to be magnanimous. They don’t have to be reported in the papers. You don’t have to be interviewed on Channel News Asia.

You can still make a change when you start work. And the change can start within yourself. You will realise what I mean when you start teaching, and I sure hope your struggles don’t give you a reason to stop.

-Shron Sugumaran
Cohort 2

In the 2 amazing years in Wheelock, reflection became the most commonly used word in our vocabulary. We would always be reflecting on our personal or professional experiences, reflecting on the required texts or even reflecting on the many journals we had to read for our action research. Reflection had become so common that many of us shiver at the thought of writing yet another reflection for an assignment. Just ask any Wheelock graduate or student to describe what Wheelock means to her, reflection will be the first thing she talks about.

It’s been 6 months and counting into the job and here I am in the midst of IEP meetings (In ECH, we call them parent-teacher meetings). And I find myself reflecting – reflecting on my experiences, reflecting on my interactions with colleagues, parents and children, reflecting on my teaching methods, reflecting on my knowledge of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and reflecting on new knowledge and suggestions given by therapists and fellow teachers. I choose to believe that it is Wheelock that built into my system a culture of reflection, a culture to reflect so that I can learn and become better at what I do. Reflection has become a norm, an innate thing to do everyday. It’s no longer an assignment that my professor wants me to do. Reflection has become a part of me, a part of who I am. I now know that in order to make a difference – a good difference – in the lives of children and families, I need to constantly reflect and improve.

If thinking about thinking is metacognition, I wonder what is reflecting about reflection?

Tan Yi En (Cohort 2)

If I had my child to raise all over again,
I’d build self-esteem first, and the house later.
I’d finger-paint more, and point the finger less.
I would do less correcting and more connecting.
I’d take my eyes off my watch, and watch with my eyes.
I’d take more hikes and fly more kites.
I’d stop playing serious, and seriously play.
I would run through more fields and gaze at more stars.
I’d do more hugging and less tugging.

- Diane Loomans

Michelle Ang

“Only the brave should teach. Only those who love the young should teach. Teaching is a vocation. It is as sacred as priesthood; as innate as desire, as inescapable as the genius which compels a great artist. If he has not the concern for humanity, the love of living creatures, the vision of the priest and the artist: he must not teach.”

-Pearl S. Buck

Grace Lee

All the stories are awesome and unique, but the one that struck me most is this: (click on the pic! – feel free to read the other stories too:D)

The seven-year-old girl who used her body as a shield to save her mother's life

And then ask yourself, will you really take a bullet for your loved ones?