The nature of the ocean, one of the most needed resources for all living things. Why do we need to be concern for the ocean? Plastic!! Plastic is invading our oceans, leaving toxic chemicals that are killing the sea life. Plastic does not disintegrate for 1000’s of years, and sadly, we keep consuming products that are in plastic containers, and unfortunately, not everyone recycles it. Because some people all over the world fail to dispose the plastic responsibly, it inevitably ends up in our oceans. According to https://theoceanpreneur.com/ “Sea plants, like Posidonia, produce 70% of the oxygen we breath”. The ocean not only gives us oxygen, but also protein, jobs and entertainment. It is so important to recycle and better yet, try to minimize the amount of plastic we use in our house holds. Recycling is one of the important things I teach my family and the day care children. One of my clients wrote a book about the plastic in the ocean called, “The Cascadian Crusaders in The Great Plastic Round-up”.

I read this book to the children often, and we discuss the importance of keeping our oceans clean and free of plastic. It is always a great tool to use, especially when we talk about recycling. This is also one of the many books that I let parents borrow from time to time.

Whenever I go to Mexico, it saddens me to see the amount of plastic and garbage that people leave on the beaches. It is very disappointing and heart breaking! I am doing my part in advocating to keep the plastic away from the ocean by recycling it and using less of it. In reality, plastic is only one of the many things that pollute the oceans. But if we all do our part, we may not solve the problem, but we can make a difference.

Below are some links with some videos and information about pollution and the effects that it has on the ocean and its animals. Watching the videos and reading the information on this links, really made me think of all of the things that I can be doing different to protect the Ocean and the environment in general. Advocating for a better environment doesn’t end on just recycling plastic. I have a lot more work to do and more things to teach the children about.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0a8HGJid-Jo

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/pollution.html

https://www.naturalbeachliving.com/water-pollution-activity/#:~:text=Water%20Pollution%20Activity%20and%20Ocean%20Pollution%20for%20K

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=videos+on+ocean+pollution&&view=detail&mid=6B39F59EFE5CC90757F56B39F59EFE5CC90757F5&&FORM=

 My vision for working with children is to help them be the best they can be and achieve their goals.

There is nothing more gratifying than to see a child work towards something that they really want and watch them get it. Persistence and motivation are the gifts that children have to reach their goals. I like to encourage children to try, and not give up because they are totally capable. Guidance, support and encouragement are always in my practice.

In three years, I see my greatest strengths with children to be more observant of each individual child’s strengths, weaknesses and needs to better assist them.

I feel that with all that I have learned in my ECCE program in the las 18 months, I am going to be able to identify things in children’s development a lot easier than I have in the past. I am grateful for the knowledge that I have gained to better assist the children in my care. I also see myself running a couple of infant toddler and group centers in the Comox Valley. In three years, I should be finalizing my ECCE Diploma program.

I envision the early learning environment as a broad way to invite children to explore and learn.

The early leaning environment, has many ways we as educators can present it to the children to enhance their learning. We can offer activities such as being out in nature, science, exploring their own community, cooking and baking…etc. A positive, healthy and supportive learning environment is key to a child’s overall success.

I see children as our future world leaders.

Every leader that we know and read about, were once children. They all had to learn to crawl, walk and talk like the rest of us. Children have the potential to become world leaders and we as parents and educators, have the tools to help these children start building their foundation of who they want to become.

“Educators can reflect on practices that enrich and deepen children’s relationships with place, land, and community. Children, with their boundless imaginations and sense of adventure, will be the leaders and innovators who will both inherit and re-create our societies in the future”

Early Learning Framework, [p. 21].

I view children’s families to be the number one support for the child, and an important source to the day care providers as they can give us first hand information on their child.

Families are a very important part of the child’s life, as well as a good guide to the educator. Leaning about the child through his/her parents, gives us educators an understanding of how best to help and support the child. Maintaining open communication with families is essential for everyone.

“We can maximize a child’s learning opportunities when we work closely with families, sharing our insights and collaborating together”. Lynn Wilson, 6^th Edition, [p. 63].

I suspect that cultural diversity will continue to grow and be more accepted as the years go by.

I feel that whether we live in a multicultural country or not, cultural diversity should be not only accepted, but respected as well. As educators, we are going to have families that come from other parts of the world, and we are here to welcome and support them as individuals.

“Teachers must remember that difference does not mean deficit and that we have a responsibility to bring compassion and understanding to our relationships in the spirit of openness and acceptance”.

Lynn Wilson, 6^th Edition, [p. 67].

I envision my colleagues as business partners and supporters.

I envision my colleagues as business partners because even though we are not working in the same center, we are in the business of childcare. Which makes us business partners in an indirect way.

I see us educators as being support to each other. I have reached out to many educators for help and have always had a positive response from everyone. I have also had educators call on me for advice and support. It is great to know that we can count on each other for physical, moral and emotional support.

I chose this image for my philosophy statement because it reminds me of how much children want to do, know, explore and experience. I was one of those kids, but unfortunately, I did not have the support to do many of the things I wanted to do and explore. I felt frustrated, deprived and held back. I have made it my goal to make a difference in every child that comes to my day care. Children are our future leaders, and as an educator, it is my responsibility to assist them in every possible and best way that I can.

Wow! what an interesting class we had tonight. I have to learn to think outside the box a bit more, but I do agree that if I were to advocate, it would have to be for something that I strongly believe in. Some of us are already advocates and we don’t even know it. I respect everyone’s points of view. I learned some valuable information from everyone’s comments tonight. Great class!

Tree of Life

The Roots

I grew up in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. I was raised Catholic and attended church every Sunday and on special holidays. I also went to Sunday school with my siblings. The lady that taught us Sunday school was lovely and kind. I really enjoyed her bible stories and games; I have very good memories of her. I come from a very large family. I have 17 brothers and sisters and I am number 16 down the ladder. My dad was a very kind man, but my mom was disciplinarian. Our family was poor, we did not have a lot in terms of toys and such. I was one of those kids that played with marbles, and games that we played, with two sticks. I did not have a lot, but I was happy with the little bit that I had. Till this day, I am not attached to material things. Growing up, one of the things I like to do was visiting with my older siblings on weekends. In Mexico there are always parties. Parties for weddings, first communions, baptisms, coming of age celebrations called, “quinceaneras”, birthday parties, etc. There is always an excuse to have a party. I remember being at parties almost every weekend. In Mexico, children are always welcome to the parties. Unfortunately, parents would drive drunk, I can’t believe I am still alive! Thank God nothing ever happened, we always arrived home safely after the parties. I have some fun memories, as well as some traumatic ones. It would be a long story if I started to write it all, so I will just leave it at that.

The Ground

I have been meditating for about two years now, I find that it has helped me be more grounded. I like to meditate each morning before I start my day. Through meditation, I have learned to forgive many people, as well as myself. I have also learned to be more accepting of others and myself. But I have to admit that I still have to practice to fully accept myself. I am working on it, and I am almost there! Back in January 2020, I decided to go for a massage once a month. I have followed through with that decision, but could not go during the heavy period of the pandemic. I actually had a massage today! Self care has become one of my priorities. I am taking time to socialize more as well. I had breakfast with two of my friends this morning. It is very important for me to stay connected with friends and family. I have been committed to my daily exercises; this is my third day of the start of my body building routine. My daughter and I, have decided to start this challenge. Having someone to do it with me, is motivating me to stay focused and not back out of it.

The Trunk

I like to help everyone whenever possible. Growing up, I always helped around the house. When I was very young, I remember going to our neighbour’s house and would help her do dishes and clean her kitchen and living room. She was old and needed help, she would always tell me stories from her young years while I did the chores. I remember finding her stories very fascinating! I consider myself being very caring. Since I was a young girl, I would help my older siblings look after my nieces and nephews. I loved and cared for them, I enjoyed babysitting. I felt very responsible when I was left alone with them. The way I feel about caring for children now, has not changed. My biggest joy is giving, I love to give in any way I can. I consider myself to be respectful, and it is something that I teach my kids and the day care children to be like. Honesty is something that I taught my children since they were very young. My father always told us kids that it was better to get in trouble by telling the truth, than by getting caught lying. Trust comes with honesty, so I like people to trust me, and I feel great when I can trust others as well. As per my skills, I like to cook. I never cooked growing up, but learned to cook at an ESL cooking class in Vancouver back in 1988. I loved cooking ever since! Owning a couple of older homes over the years, I have learned to be  a bit of a builder. Watching my builder friend doing so many different projects in my homes, I learned how to do and build things. I have grown to like construction and renovations. I can use tools pretty well. When it comes to keeping a clean house, I do my best. I have found a way to maintain it as clean as possible, but it requires some delegating.  Running my own business for 30 years, has given me some accounting and business skills. I am not perfect, but I think I am a pretty good mom. It sometimes takes skill to deal with your children. Not to mention the day care children as well. I am known among my friends and family, as the action taker. I am one of those people that takes action and deals with the consequences later.

The Branches

My mom’s health was not the best, and she died last year at age 72. I like to exercise and now try to eat the right foods. I want to be strong and healthy so I can live longer and enjoy my family as long as I can. I look forward to finishing my certificate ECCE program and starting my ECCE diploma program. MY goal is to open more group and infant toddler centers in the valley. I am planning to write some books; I have already started a couple of stories. When the pandemic is over, I will be traveling to new countries twice a year. I want to speak a couple of other languages. Vietnamese and Portuguese are in my top priority. I would like to eventually be a bursary donor. I am thinking about opening my own YouTube channel for kids. I want to do volunteering for some countries or organizations. I want to continue to be a land lady in the future.

The Leaves

I have added all of the people that have been of great significance in my life. Each leaf has a name of a friend, family members, teachers, instructors and bosses that have form an important part in my life. These people have helped me be who I am today.

Flowers

The red flowers contain the legacies that I want to leave behind. Have the strength to never give up, the courage to keep going, find the positive in the worse of situations, be determine to reach your goals, love what you do, have hope that you’ll rise above all situations, if something or someone inspires you, do not be scared to follow their lead, but never forget to spread the goodness that is within you.

I found this assignment very enjoyable. It made me think of people that I had forgotten about, but that have left a positive mark in my life. Now I have the tree as a reminder to remember those that have made a difference in my life.

I am happy to have reviewed the Code of Ethics. I have to admit that 30 years ago, when I first started day care, my ethics were not what they are now. I have come along way and have learned the hard way to slowly improve the way I deal with things in terms of ethical responsibilities and ethical dilemmas. I did struggle in the past due to my lack of knowledge and experience.  I am not perfect by any means, but I have a very good relationship with the children in my care and their families. I feel that I am following the code of ethics pretty well now. I do not think that I would achieve a healthy relationship with families and their children if I lacked ethics. I have had many incidents with clients over the years where I had to deal with ethical dilemmas. Reading the Code of Ethics brought back memories of certain incidents that did not turn out well. If I had to encounter a dilemma now, I am confident that I would be able to deal with it easier than I would’ve done years ago.

Waldorf Education

Mr. Rudolf Steiner founded Waldorf education in 1919. “Rudolf Steiner was an Austrian philosopher, playwright and artist who lived between 1861 and 1925. He founded a spiritual movement called Anthroposophy, which works on the basis that children’s creative, spiritual and moral dimensions need as much attention as their intellectual ones”.  https://www.independent.co.uk/

Steiner developed the Waldorf education for cigarette factory worker’s children in Stuttgart, Germany just after the world war I. Steiner focused on teaching by the 7 lively arts. Drama, drawing, movement, music, modeling, painting and speech. “Steiner felt that offering the 7 lively arts to the students as part of the curriculum would be memorable experiences for them”. Instead, “Steiner encouraged teachers to foster what is artistic in the child because the artistic element strengthens the will. This is the core of the Waldorf hands-on approach to learning” https://waldorfinspiredlearning.com/

Waldorf added Story telling to the curriculum as part of seven lively arts, but it is not one that Steiner suggested.

Waldorf is a no-profit independent school.

The Waldorf signature/philosophy; “Educating the Head, Heart and Hands – the integration of thinking, feeling and willing (activity)”. https://waldorfinspiredlearning.com/

There are over a thousand Waldorf schools world wide, 150 in North America and 30 in Canada.

The Waldorf Education curriculum includes the seven multiple intelligences”.

Linguistic intelligence (“word smart”)

Logical-mathematical intelligence (“number/reasoning smart”)

Spatial intelligence (“picture smart”)

Bodily-Kinesthetic intelligence (“body smart”)

Musical intelligence (“music smart”)

Interpersonal intelligence (“people smart”)

Intrapersonal intelligence (“self smart”)

Naturalist intelligence (“nature smart”) https://www.bing.com/

Waldorf education is based on the theory that childhood is made up of three different stages of about seven years each.

The first stage starts from birth to age seven. During the first stage, students engage in sensory activities. The second stage consist of the children who are between 7 and 14 years of age.  In this stage, students are guided to use their creative senses.  Third Stage (Adolescence) In this stage, is a “milestone in Waldorf education. Students mentor under specialists to develop their strengths in different subject areas. This is also when they get deeper into various scientific subjects”. https://waldorfinspiredlearning.com/

At Waldorf education, a teacher stays with the same class of students for 7 years. He/she teaches the students all the main academic subjects. “This method of teaching is similar at the home-schooling way of teaching”. https://waldorfinspiredlearning.com/

Waldorf has what they call “Taproot” and it is a teacher training program for parents that want to homeschool their children. Jean Miller is the homeschool mentor for the Waldorf Education. Waldorf offers pages and pages of information on curriculum and support for parents on their website.

Students at Waldorf Education do not use text books in the early years. But they do use very few during the higher grades. Students make their own books, by taking notes and using art as part of their understanding of the subjects been taught.

I tried to look for information on the preschool, but the website was very general. It was actually very overwhelming with the amount of information it had.

I had the opportunity to do my observation practicum at the Waldorf Education’s Preschool.

Their licence was posted as group center, capacity of 12 children, ages 30 months to 5 years. There were two educators.

They used all-natural materials, nothing plastic. Everything was made of wood, high quality paper, crochet dolls, sea shells and cloth towels.

The educators guided the children through singing. Every transition had a specific song, or at least that is what I thought based on my observation.

Note: Waldorf Education closed in June 2020 in the Comox Valley.

Waldorf educators got together and are now opening a new school, the “Daily Wonder Home Learning Hub”. www.dailywonder.ca

In our group meeting we discussed the program models that each of us researched. I found all of them to be interesting as they all have very unique programs. I liked learning about the Roots of Empathy from Madison. It is neat how they involve the babies for the older children to learn to share and care for, and with others. Sarah shared the Young Families program. It is great to know that there is support for young parents to continue their high school education. Heather shared information about the Montessori program. I learned that it is a child led program and they like to use natural materials, like wood. I researched the Waldorf education which they also like to use natural materials. I found it to be a bit similar to the Montessori program. I feel that these programs do not really fit with my ideas of child care. But one of the things that I liked from the Montessori and the Waldorf, is that they use natural materials. This is something that I would like to integrate in my day care. I enjoyed listening to everyone’s information, I felt that I could not articulate mine as well as I wanted to. Sorry ladies!

I finally finished my journal assignments last night. I feel somewhat accomplished. I had to think back to the beginning of 2019 when this course started, and how I felt like I was being pulled in different directions. I work all day, then have to make sure my son and my student have meals prepared. I have to make time to do homework, but then someone else needs help. The phone rings, people texting, people stopping by needing help.  I love being of help and I feel great to be able to be there for people. Giving is my biggest joy!! But I have to come to the realization that I am not super woman. I need to learn to find balance so that I am not overwhelmed to try and get things done on time. Making time to do what I need to do in terms of homework, is very important! So, I have decided to turn off my cell phone and only check it once in the morning and once at night. And I have put together a list of chores for my son and my student to do to minimize my work load. I am learning to say no again and take charge of my own schedule. I guess the other word for this is find my “equilibrium”. Saying this means that, I can still help, but I need to help myself first, so I can be of better help to someone else. I am looking after number one, ME! No more excuses.