Posts
What are the prices that our early childhood immigrant educators have to sacrifice to pursuit their dream?
In New Possibilities for E.C.E. on The Cultural Divide, did they come to a land of opportunity? A place that they will find greener grass than their homeland? The story of Bertha reminds me when I left my family, my friends, my culture, my traditions, my customs and worst of all, my authentic Chinese food when I was nineteen years old. The feeling of being a stranger in a new land was difficult for any foreign born and raised American to fathom. The feeling of unable to truly expressed my wants and needs resulted in hopelessness.
Diane’s story made me feel that our country has not done enough to help our needy families. With my experience of working with Head Start, I learned that a few of my moms in my classroom had to work two jobs just to pay for the rent and the food for herself and her young children. I had visited the homeless families that I had at the beach. They are not lazy or ungrateful people. Some of them have a regular day job. It was the high cost of rent and food that they became homeless.
Olivia’s story showed the strength and the perseverance of some of our Early Childhood educators. The difficult journey and obstacles that they had to overcome to pursue their American dream.
In Cybertots: Making mud pies or clicking a mouse?
When my children were young, we made a lot of cookies. We hiked a lot of mountains; we camped at parks and beaches. We played a lot of board games: Checkers, Chess, Monopoly and Scrabble. We also played a lot of card games; Go Fish, Uno and Old Maid. We never spent a lot of money buying games. My children never had a computer when they were growing up.
As they went to elementary school, they acquired the computer skills. I visited my grandson last year in Washington D.C. He was only 1 year and 11 months old. One time we were waiting for our food at a restaurant, he became restless while he was sitting on his high chair. So my son took out his I-Phone and let him played with the puzzles and matching games. The gentleman at the next table has a child who appeared to be older than my grandson. He turned his head and looked astonished as my grandson moved his finger to fit the puzzle pieces into
the allotted space. I was a proud grandma. But after I read the Cybertots, I realized that the essence of make mud pies outweighs the clicking or moving of a mouse.
hi ivy!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing about your move here to the United States. Did you move straight to Hawaii? If so, why did you pick Hawaii? How do you like living here, compared to where you were born and raised?
Yes, there are many homeless people in our islands whom are working, but simply can't afford to pay high rent. Especially with this weak economy, many families are struggling to provide food and make ends meet with bills:( I know several friends who are elementary teachers in DOE, who work firsthand with homeless children. They have shared many stories with myself, and I give them lots of credit working so hard with these children. Sometimes they share how they have to put in extra hours, bring clothes or supplies for them, and so forth...
Technology, surrounds us everywhere! Both in the classrooms, in our offices, at home and out in public. The other day, I was having a conversation with a friend, about how she bought a DVD player to keep her son and daughter occupied on the plane, for an upcoming trip. It made me think about in today's age, how i-phones, dvd players, ipods and other gadgets, keep us occupied on long car rides or airplanes. As a grandma, how did you keep your children occupied on long plane rides before "technology" took over?
-suzanne
Hi Ivy,
ReplyDeleteYour connection to the stories in the New Possibilities text is powerful. You provide your own vignettes as a response to the reading. I wonder how these vignettes contribute to your own story on becoming a teacher? Do our experiences help to develop our identities? How do our experiences create the lens in which we view children and make decisions in the classroom? Is our role as a teacher defined by experiences or our interactions with our students or by something else?
Does the presence of technology change our role as a teacher?
Jeanne
Hi!
ReplyDeleteYour story about your grandson was a great example about this generation of children involved with different kinds of technology. I do think children at that age is amazing how they can work with the latest technology. But when I read the book, I had seconds thoughts as well. It make sense why children now days are not as active and have appropriate social skills. This makes you wonder what's going to happen in the future with technology.
I wish there was more that could be done for families who are struggling. It is unfortunate that the high cost of living makes it difficult to for a parent to provide a home for their family. I would definitely try to help families who were struggling.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you were able to teach your children to have fun without spending all their time on a computer. Teaching children to appreciate their surroundings by going camping and hiking. There is so much to gain from experiencing the world around us but if we spend all our time on “screen” activities then we will miss out on a lot that the world has for us.
Children will eventually learn to use computers. They are a part of our world but they do not need to learn how to use them now. They have more important things that they need to learn.
The children who have to explain certain features of technology to me amaze me. They know how to play video and computer games better than I do. That just goes to show how times are changing. When I was a child I did not have a computer in my house. I actually did not learn how to type until I was in the 12th grade.