Sunday, June 26, 2011
My first term of school
Well, being a college student is all I thought it would be. Lots of thought provoking conversations with some great teachers, late nights doing papers and so much reading. I am being pushed outside of my comfort zone and finding challenges for myself. Finding balance has been a challenge as well, but I have finally said "no" to meetings and work commitments that I normally would have said "yes" to. I continue to seek out the proper balance as our family enters in to yet another transition of Zach's final year of high school. I am more than halfway through my first term and could not be happier!
Monday, May 16, 2011
Letting go and saying "NO"
As I embark on this "journey" of a global project for the World Forum and start back to college full-time I continue to search for the perfect balance. Trying to let go of things you used to say "yes" to is a huge challenge and difficult to do. You feel honored when people ask you to be part of a special committee and people can gain incredible experience from this type of participation. I have backed way off from saying yes for a variety of reasons. I feel the time is needed to focus on the mountains of homework that has started even before classes started! The need to continue to exercise while trying to focus on all of this is the biggest challenge.
As I embark on this college experience I feel fortunate to have found some balance...I also am feeling bitter sweet about missing out on some great meetings of the minds in the community. However, my realization is that I must keep the balance in order to be healthy and happy!
As I embark on this college experience I feel fortunate to have found some balance...I also am feeling bitter sweet about missing out on some great meetings of the minds in the community. However, my realization is that I must keep the balance in order to be healthy and happy!
Friday, May 13, 2011
1st week of "real" homework
So my official start of school for me is next weekend. I am enrolled at Springfield College and will be a student full time as I work on my Bachelor's degree-FINALLY! I am realizing that on this crazy journey called life that there is learning curves that I am just attempting to get to the top of. One of them is learning to post assignments up before the actual class. I have read 2 books and have 11 chapters to read in another and have written 3 papers, 2 introductions (and posted them) and still have 1 longer paper to write and a project to do by next week.
The one online class I am taking is primarily reading and writing papers. It is a bit of a challenge as it is Urban Ecology and is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I am using my time wisely and am trying to balance a lot but am learning to say no.
Off to do more homework....
The one online class I am taking is primarily reading and writing papers. It is a bit of a challenge as it is Urban Ecology and is pushing me out of my comfort zone. I am using my time wisely and am trying to balance a lot but am learning to say no.
Off to do more homework....
Sunday, May 8, 2011
and then there was the end!
1,000 Sheraton employees
5,680 cups of coffee and tea
320 attendees at international dance
825 attendees at the World Forum
All-of this=an amazing experience!
We went to our closing luncheon. Food was on a huge lazy susan-it was a variety of foods. We enjoyed a great lunch and sat with author Diane Trister-Dodge at our table. We talked with her a bit about our global leaders project and she seemed genuinely interested in the work we are doing with NAFCC.
Sara and I headed out for our "Mai Tai" Catamaran cruise in the evening with 25 other world forum delegates. Claire Worden who is another author of some amazing books on nature-she was also on the cruise. There was never a shortage of friendly people to meet at the World Forum, that is for sure! Sara and I chatted with a very funny women named Sophie from Bombay. She is a real kick in the pants. We drank many mai tais and enjoyed the incredible scenery. We also met a group that were out celebrating a friends last weekend before he leaves to Afghanistan. They were in the Navy and were certainly having a great time. Sara and I departed from the boat and said good-bye to our new found friends in search of Kim and her friend Stacy who had flown in from California, after a search around our hotel. We decided to head to the international market and then stopped in at Margaritaville for.....yes...margaritas. As we are sitting there we spot Stacy and Kim on the other side of the bar and big surprise Jeff and his Navy buds were also there. We danced and sang. Made our way back to the hotel and bid farewell to Jeff. Somehow Kim and Sara got separated from Stacy and I. Good think Jeff got us back-we walked in the rain and Kim and Sara ran back.
We all reunited by the pool the next morning in hopes of soaking up a bit more sun....yeah-we just got rain and no sun! Loved learning more about Kim and Stacy and talk about our families with them. After hours of rain we headed back to the international market and ended up separated...sadly sara and I had to leave to catch our shuttle to the airport. So happy to have had the time with them though and am already trying to think of all the awesome things we can do when they come to visit!
Sara and I headed to the airport and started our long trip back to the mainland!
It has been a great trip and I look forward to sharing more about this journey as it continues in so many positive ways. I am starting school in 2 weeks and could not be more excited to start that journey with Laura!
5,680 cups of coffee and tea
320 attendees at international dance
825 attendees at the World Forum
All-of this=an amazing experience!
We went to our closing luncheon. Food was on a huge lazy susan-it was a variety of foods. We enjoyed a great lunch and sat with author Diane Trister-Dodge at our table. We talked with her a bit about our global leaders project and she seemed genuinely interested in the work we are doing with NAFCC.
Sara and I headed out for our "Mai Tai" Catamaran cruise in the evening with 25 other world forum delegates. Claire Worden who is another author of some amazing books on nature-she was also on the cruise. There was never a shortage of friendly people to meet at the World Forum, that is for sure! Sara and I chatted with a very funny women named Sophie from Bombay. She is a real kick in the pants. We drank many mai tais and enjoyed the incredible scenery. We also met a group that were out celebrating a friends last weekend before he leaves to Afghanistan. They were in the Navy and were certainly having a great time. Sara and I departed from the boat and said good-bye to our new found friends in search of Kim and her friend Stacy who had flown in from California, after a search around our hotel. We decided to head to the international market and then stopped in at Margaritaville for.....yes...margaritas. As we are sitting there we spot Stacy and Kim on the other side of the bar and big surprise Jeff and his Navy buds were also there. We danced and sang. Made our way back to the hotel and bid farewell to Jeff. Somehow Kim and Sara got separated from Stacy and I. Good think Jeff got us back-we walked in the rain and Kim and Sara ran back.
We all reunited by the pool the next morning in hopes of soaking up a bit more sun....yeah-we just got rain and no sun! Loved learning more about Kim and Stacy and talk about our families with them. After hours of rain we headed back to the international market and ended up separated...sadly sara and I had to leave to catch our shuttle to the airport. So happy to have had the time with them though and am already trying to think of all the awesome things we can do when they come to visit!
Sara and I headed to the airport and started our long trip back to the mainland!
It has been a great trip and I look forward to sharing more about this journey as it continues in so many positive ways. I am starting school in 2 weeks and could not be more excited to start that journey with Laura!
Last days of world forum.
Thursday night was our last meeting with our global leaders, we met in our North American region and then as a whole group to hear about everyone's project. It seems that everyone's project may change a little. We did some group pics in our regional groups and the entire global leader group. Sara and I went to lunch at The cheesecake Factory which was a nice getaway from the hotel and the restaurants at the hotel. Too full for cheesecake, but a great lunch! We turned in very soon after our night meeting. Friday would be our last day of the world forum.
Friday started with some networking....I have gotten to know a woman named Chris from Nebraska who works with Nature Explore. I am so interested in learning more about what her organization does. She is awesome and I look forward to seeing her again in Miami at our regional meeting.
The final workshop I went to was on Parent Partnerships, it was interesting to hear about partnerships in Fiji and Australia. The speakers all agree that positive partnerships with parents is best for children....however, the value placed on those relationships in where they come from are different. In some of the Jamaican classrooms parents are not allowed as they are seen as a nuisance. In Australia it is highly encouraged. As a matter of fact, in Australia it is written in to their early childhood framework. In Fiji the framework is called "Manola Manticiva" meaning "children our are pearl." The other thing happening sadly in Jamaica is that children are growing up afraid to go to early childhood programs as the discipline allowed there is still hitting. It changed in K-12 classrooms but not in early childhood programs. Teacher's roles as seen by parents is to be the disciplinarian and to teach children how to conduct themselves in public. The teacher's obviously feel very bitter about this as they feel while this is their role in some aspects it is a share responsibility. Another growing issue in some areas is the growing issue of their native languages and cultures are dying. One of the speakers started school in a village over from hers, she spoke only Fijian and when she started school it was an English speaking only school. If they did not speak English they would get hit. So she hated school and just did not speak. This whole discussion was thought provoking.
Following this workshop we headed to the closing ceremony, we saw a series of dances by African dancers and a parade of international representatives. By far one of the best speakers was Lillian Katz about her new book Intellectual Emergencies. I could have listened to her all day! I took pics of a lot of her slides because i could not write fast enough and wanted to absorb as much as possible. Here are some pearls from her speech:
"There is evidence that people teach the way they remember their childhood."
"You can't begin your teaching as a veteran when becoming a new teacher."
"Teach the learner how to tell you where he is."
"Life is a series of errors in which you choose."
Lillian told us a story from when she worked in Head Start in 1965. A parent brought her son and said "Don't let my son play with a doll?" This is known as a type of intellectual emergency. She then said of course this child was naturally attracted to dress-up and babies. She observed a lab school in the Caribbean where there was a 4 year old who would not speak, the teacher like clockwork would go around everyday and offer the children crackers. She said to the little girl "You can only have 1 if you use your words." She then asked us-what would the theorists think? Lillian said to the little girl. "I know you don't want to talk to me today, but I will be over there if you change your mind." She used many examples from her son as intellectual emergencies. She said that insight is important as is the content of the relationships. Her son Steve asks her "Hey, Mom-How do you decide who to Marry?" She responded, "you have to decide whether you can continue growing in the relationship first." She said in that example to think about the content of that relationship.
Lillian was a vibrant speaker with great stories. This was a great one: "mom, does it make you feel good to have people listen?" She replied, "What if I'm wrong?" We come together to share our ideas, to argue, clarify, modify and examine is what she tells us. Her closing points for as we return to work: "Adults know more than what if feels like to be a child."
-Meaningful relationships need content. We have to relate to each other about something.
-In teaching as in life we make decisions to carry errors, we need to look ahead and choose the least worst error."
-we only have our best judgment.
-Coaching involves conflicts, we need to decide what we should make an issue of and take a stand with clarity.
-Speak to children as people with minds-genuine, direct, respectful.
-goal of education is to engage mind of learner
-optimal environment for children must be optimal for teacher and satisfying.
-Never take someones opinion or view more than your own.
-We must care to care for all.
Inspiring to say the least!
Friday started with some networking....I have gotten to know a woman named Chris from Nebraska who works with Nature Explore. I am so interested in learning more about what her organization does. She is awesome and I look forward to seeing her again in Miami at our regional meeting.
The final workshop I went to was on Parent Partnerships, it was interesting to hear about partnerships in Fiji and Australia. The speakers all agree that positive partnerships with parents is best for children....however, the value placed on those relationships in where they come from are different. In some of the Jamaican classrooms parents are not allowed as they are seen as a nuisance. In Australia it is highly encouraged. As a matter of fact, in Australia it is written in to their early childhood framework. In Fiji the framework is called "Manola Manticiva" meaning "children our are pearl." The other thing happening sadly in Jamaica is that children are growing up afraid to go to early childhood programs as the discipline allowed there is still hitting. It changed in K-12 classrooms but not in early childhood programs. Teacher's roles as seen by parents is to be the disciplinarian and to teach children how to conduct themselves in public. The teacher's obviously feel very bitter about this as they feel while this is their role in some aspects it is a share responsibility. Another growing issue in some areas is the growing issue of their native languages and cultures are dying. One of the speakers started school in a village over from hers, she spoke only Fijian and when she started school it was an English speaking only school. If they did not speak English they would get hit. So she hated school and just did not speak. This whole discussion was thought provoking.
Following this workshop we headed to the closing ceremony, we saw a series of dances by African dancers and a parade of international representatives. By far one of the best speakers was Lillian Katz about her new book Intellectual Emergencies. I could have listened to her all day! I took pics of a lot of her slides because i could not write fast enough and wanted to absorb as much as possible. Here are some pearls from her speech:
"There is evidence that people teach the way they remember their childhood."
"You can't begin your teaching as a veteran when becoming a new teacher."
"Teach the learner how to tell you where he is."
"Life is a series of errors in which you choose."
Lillian told us a story from when she worked in Head Start in 1965. A parent brought her son and said "Don't let my son play with a doll?" This is known as a type of intellectual emergency. She then said of course this child was naturally attracted to dress-up and babies. She observed a lab school in the Caribbean where there was a 4 year old who would not speak, the teacher like clockwork would go around everyday and offer the children crackers. She said to the little girl "You can only have 1 if you use your words." She then asked us-what would the theorists think? Lillian said to the little girl. "I know you don't want to talk to me today, but I will be over there if you change your mind." She used many examples from her son as intellectual emergencies. She said that insight is important as is the content of the relationships. Her son Steve asks her "Hey, Mom-How do you decide who to Marry?" She responded, "you have to decide whether you can continue growing in the relationship first." She said in that example to think about the content of that relationship.
Lillian was a vibrant speaker with great stories. This was a great one: "mom, does it make you feel good to have people listen?" She replied, "What if I'm wrong?" We come together to share our ideas, to argue, clarify, modify and examine is what she tells us. Her closing points for as we return to work: "Adults know more than what if feels like to be a child."
-Meaningful relationships need content. We have to relate to each other about something.
-In teaching as in life we make decisions to carry errors, we need to look ahead and choose the least worst error."
-we only have our best judgment.
-Coaching involves conflicts, we need to decide what we should make an issue of and take a stand with clarity.
-Speak to children as people with minds-genuine, direct, respectful.
-goal of education is to engage mind of learner
-optimal environment for children must be optimal for teacher and satisfying.
-Never take someones opinion or view more than your own.
-We must care to care for all.
Inspiring to say the least!
Friday, May 6, 2011
It's a beautiful life!
I titled the post as "It's a beautiful life" because we heard that song 4 times today-but I will talk about that later. The plenary sessions today were just as moving as yesterday. Michael Kelly from Zambia spoke on Children, Aids and our Priorities. Again I found the statistics and facts associated with these countries to be mind blowing! He told us that their are three diseases that people are fighting-HIV, Aids and Stigma. Two of them they can treat well with drugs, the third you can not." "Early Childhood Education is a medicine for stigma.
Amara Amarasinge from Sri Lanka also addressed the delegates of the world forum. She spoke at length of the struggles in Sri Lanka and how they are dealing with the traumas of the tsunami of 2004, landslides, flooding and a 30 year civil war. 300,000 people are displaced from homes, with 60,000 of those being children. 10,000 between the ages of 0-3 years old and 15,000 between 3-5 years old. Amara talked about the need for working with these parents as they are in extreme stress which results in abuse of children.
Ellen Hall presented each of us with her new book called Seen and Heard, a book about children's rights in early childhood education.
Over the past few days I have been to trainings on outdoor classrooms....it is brought to a whole new level in Scotland. Their children nap outside in geodomes even in the winter. They dress them up warmly even in cold temps. Children is some areas sleep in hammocks for naptime. It was inspiring and thought provoking. I have many ideas-how many I can implement will be the question as there is still the ongoing struggle to remind myself that this is my backyard shared with my family! The other workshop I attended today was on leadership styles and using those styles to recruit the talents you need. It reminded me that it is important to seek out talents different than your own in order to get a job done....big picture thinkers are needed as are the detail oriented list-makers.
Last night Sara and I attended the International dance. We had a good chuckle as we walked in. We were greeted at the door with some Black Eyed Peas blaring and they gave us beads and put glow bracelets on us. By the sounds of the music, it was going to be a good dance. We walked in and quickly saw that no one was dancing, there were chairs lining the walls. Balloons decorated the dance floor...people stood around talking for quite some time. We decided that a drink was in order first off. Well.....we repeatedly kept saying this feels like a middle school dance. I knew I came to represent....I danced like a fool for the 2 hours. A woman from Australia who had sat with us the night before at dinner said to Sara: "she's a real circus, isn't she?" "Is she a circus with children too?" Sara started laughing and could not even respond. I am going to go ahead and take that as a compliment! We perfected some dance moves-the sprinkler, shopping cart, some disco moves...it was very fun! The song It's a beautiful life seems to be the theme song of this conference. The Nature group did a beautiful video to it-some of the pics from that slideshow are in my pictures. But needless to say, they played the song 3 times during the dance. They also played some waltzes, arabian music and some other stuff that I have never heard...no worries-I danced anyway!
Tonight we met as global leaders one last time for this trip. Sara and I learned that we will need to meet with our North America group again in 1 year and at the next world forum will present our completed project. We heard what other global leaders will be tackling for issues-all sound truly wonderful and inspirational! I am looking forward to starting to gather our research and get started! Tomorrow is our last day of meetings and we have a closing reception/luncheon....it has been a fabulous week but am ready to get back to some normalcy.
Amara Amarasinge from Sri Lanka also addressed the delegates of the world forum. She spoke at length of the struggles in Sri Lanka and how they are dealing with the traumas of the tsunami of 2004, landslides, flooding and a 30 year civil war. 300,000 people are displaced from homes, with 60,000 of those being children. 10,000 between the ages of 0-3 years old and 15,000 between 3-5 years old. Amara talked about the need for working with these parents as they are in extreme stress which results in abuse of children.
Ellen Hall presented each of us with her new book called Seen and Heard, a book about children's rights in early childhood education.
Over the past few days I have been to trainings on outdoor classrooms....it is brought to a whole new level in Scotland. Their children nap outside in geodomes even in the winter. They dress them up warmly even in cold temps. Children is some areas sleep in hammocks for naptime. It was inspiring and thought provoking. I have many ideas-how many I can implement will be the question as there is still the ongoing struggle to remind myself that this is my backyard shared with my family! The other workshop I attended today was on leadership styles and using those styles to recruit the talents you need. It reminded me that it is important to seek out talents different than your own in order to get a job done....big picture thinkers are needed as are the detail oriented list-makers.
Last night Sara and I attended the International dance. We had a good chuckle as we walked in. We were greeted at the door with some Black Eyed Peas blaring and they gave us beads and put glow bracelets on us. By the sounds of the music, it was going to be a good dance. We walked in and quickly saw that no one was dancing, there were chairs lining the walls. Balloons decorated the dance floor...people stood around talking for quite some time. We decided that a drink was in order first off. Well.....we repeatedly kept saying this feels like a middle school dance. I knew I came to represent....I danced like a fool for the 2 hours. A woman from Australia who had sat with us the night before at dinner said to Sara: "she's a real circus, isn't she?" "Is she a circus with children too?" Sara started laughing and could not even respond. I am going to go ahead and take that as a compliment! We perfected some dance moves-the sprinkler, shopping cart, some disco moves...it was very fun! The song It's a beautiful life seems to be the theme song of this conference. The Nature group did a beautiful video to it-some of the pics from that slideshow are in my pictures. But needless to say, they played the song 3 times during the dance. They also played some waltzes, arabian music and some other stuff that I have never heard...no worries-I danced anyway!
Tonight we met as global leaders one last time for this trip. Sara and I learned that we will need to meet with our North America group again in 1 year and at the next world forum will present our completed project. We heard what other global leaders will be tackling for issues-all sound truly wonderful and inspirational! I am looking forward to starting to gather our research and get started! Tomorrow is our last day of meetings and we have a closing reception/luncheon....it has been a fabulous week but am ready to get back to some normalcy.
Incredible people, incredible stories
This morning stared out with the plenary session with all of the world forum delegates. There were so many highlights in this 2 hours span of time. We saw some Taiko drummers that were absolutely incredible...it was amazing to watch how carefully and gracefully they executed every single move. I did not realize though how the speaker that morning was going to move me to tears. It was very unexpected since I don't tend to get emotional during a person's speech.
Sakena Yacoobi is from Afghanistan and speaks on poverty and children from Afghanistan. She encounters traumatized children in refugee camps that have not water and often have rodents and spiders where the children are sleeping. The basic needs of the children are not even being met. She works on empowering women through education on how to care for their children, she says it is not uncommon for mother's of 15 children to only have 4 that are still alive. She said through simple health education about why they should not drink dirty water and how to wash. Sakena works hard on teaching women leadership skills, health and empowerement. Naturally there is a trickle down effect that benefits the children. When women get stronger so does the family. There is no electricity in many of these areas. Sakena also spoke of the 160,000 people that also are addicted to opium. She said the rate of depression is very high. "we must work toward a long term goal to break the cycle and we do that through early education."
Another really fun thing going on here-Lakeshore Materials brought a project for all the delegates...blank white books with a ton of supplies for us to decorate and make a memory book to take home. Mark the founder and president of Lakeshore was in Hawaii with his wife to carry out this project. Some people are using their books as a place for the people they meet to leave a message. I love mine and am keeping it to make a scrap book to share.
Another thing that is being shared is that we were urged to bring a children's book for a book exchange program. I can not wait to find out what books I end up with. I shared two of my all time favorites-Miss Tizzy and The Three Questions. I hope that whomever ends up with them will see why I chose those two books!
Sara and I attended the Welcome reception , while exhausted we found it quite fun sitting with some aussies! They kept the table alive for sure!
Sakena Yacoobi is from Afghanistan and speaks on poverty and children from Afghanistan. She encounters traumatized children in refugee camps that have not water and often have rodents and spiders where the children are sleeping. The basic needs of the children are not even being met. She works on empowering women through education on how to care for their children, she says it is not uncommon for mother's of 15 children to only have 4 that are still alive. She said through simple health education about why they should not drink dirty water and how to wash. Sakena works hard on teaching women leadership skills, health and empowerement. Naturally there is a trickle down effect that benefits the children. When women get stronger so does the family. There is no electricity in many of these areas. Sakena also spoke of the 160,000 people that also are addicted to opium. She said the rate of depression is very high. "we must work toward a long term goal to break the cycle and we do that through early education."
Another really fun thing going on here-Lakeshore Materials brought a project for all the delegates...blank white books with a ton of supplies for us to decorate and make a memory book to take home. Mark the founder and president of Lakeshore was in Hawaii with his wife to carry out this project. Some people are using their books as a place for the people they meet to leave a message. I love mine and am keeping it to make a scrap book to share.
Another thing that is being shared is that we were urged to bring a children's book for a book exchange program. I can not wait to find out what books I end up with. I shared two of my all time favorites-Miss Tizzy and The Three Questions. I hope that whomever ends up with them will see why I chose those two books!
Sara and I attended the Welcome reception , while exhausted we found it quite fun sitting with some aussies! They kept the table alive for sure!
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