Everyone Loves Raymond

After reviewing the television episode Everyone Love Raymond- in Italy, without the sound, it appeared that the relationship between Raymond and his wife Deborah was very disconnected and it appeared that there was a lot of tension between the two of them until the end of the episode. Deborah appear to often point, yell and walk away from Raymond in a middle of their conversations. The couple and extend family appear to be planning a trip to Italy and Raymond did not seem to please or cooperative in the planning process of this family vacation. Raymond appeared to be very frustrated, physical sicken and sad around his wife, Deborah until the end of the episode when thy both appeared to be very affection with each other, (as if they had “made-up” and rekindled their love for one another). Raymond and Deborah appeared to be very caring towards their children often smiled and acted remotely relax around them. During the episode, Raymond’s brother appeared to be very reserved, disengaged from the family and appeared to be more concern with the women he was with through the show. Raymond’s mother appeared to be very affection, and smiling at all members throughout the show except her husband. It appeared that Raymond’s mother and father had a “roller coaster” relationship with each other by going back and forth between arguing and then seen holding hands and smiling at each other latter in the show.

After reviewing the episode Everyone Loves Raymond with the sound on, it was evident that the relationship between Deborah and Raymond’s mother wasn’t always as affection and kind based on Deborah’s response when she learned that Raymond’s mother was also inviting her to family vacation to Italy that she was paying for. It would have been very helpful to truly understand the dynamics between Raymond and Deborah relationship with Raymond’s mother. It was also evident that he relationship between Raymond was very tense and disconnected, but only has a direct result of underlying tension that exist between Raymond’s family and his wife Deborah. It was obvious that tension between Deborah and Raymond’s family exist, but since I had not been keeping up with the show, the exact cause was unknown.  I believe that Raymond’s brother was disengaged from the family because no one in the family took and sincere interest in him as individuals or care about the feelings he appeared to have towards the woman he was with through the show. It was evident that the existing stressors between Raymond and Deborah derived from Raymond’s side of the family. Both Raymond and Deborah were actually having a hard time through the show being fully engage and with Raymond mother as she appeared to be very controlling.

Iyanla Vancant vs. Relational Context

The celebrity and spiritual life coach, Mrs. Iyanla Vancant is the host of Iyanla Fix My Life. In each episode/ session with the families she voluntarily coaches, she exhibits a sense of competency in the communication area of relational context. According to O’Hair and Wiemann, (2012), a communicator that communicates from a relational context, access the appropriateness of their feelings in a particular circumstance to the individual they are directing their lines of communication. Iyanla consistently encourages people to first evaluate the relationships they have with themselves before mending and/or healing the relationship they have with others.  I particularly like how she helps individual truly define their relationship with the other involved person  based on their history and future expectations.  I would like to adopt many of the hands on activities she encourages the individuals and families she works with to participate in. The activities she elects to implement as tools for self reflection, digging at the underlining issue “what is going on beneath the surface”. 

Below is a link to a you tube clip for a better insight to Iyanla Vancant style of being competent in the communication area of relational context.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDCV0Qiq-N4 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

The most pertinent issues that have emerged in my area related to the early childhood professional involve how to enhance parent partnerships and how to access more funding for early childhood educational services. In my local area, it is evident that in order to work in the field a person is required to obtain certain level of education/certifications. Likewise in order to remain in the field a professional must complete continued trainings and/or obtain an associates, bachelors or master degree; especially if one is interested in obtaining higher professional employment opportunities in field.

About 6 months ago I was a licensed Family Child Care Provider. I provided quality in-home child care services to a maximum of 8 children inside my licensed home. During my first month attending Walden University I aspired to own a Child Care Center of my own. I am presently a Child Care Center Director for a private Christian based center. I believed that the position I hold now has afforded me the opportunity to grow professionally in the field in general. My center has the capacity to serve 55 children and their families. I have also gained experience in supervising staff and working with a Board of Directors. The memberships that I hold in my local early childhood community, has allowed me to network with other professionals in the field. Although I do not actually own the child care center I work at, I strongly believe that I am heading in the right direction in terms of gathering the proper skills and tools. A major professional goal that I have is to obtain my master Degree with honors. To see the proud look on my mother’s face would bring me great joy. I believe that once I obtain my master’s degree in early childhood education with a specialization in leadership, administration and management, I will be better equipped to expand my professional growth in the field, which includes owning my own child care center.

One of my professional hopes not only for myself, but for other professionals in the field is to one day be appreciated at the level warranted by policymakers and other important stakeholders. Moreover, I dream of a day that would reveal children no matter their abilities, socieconomical status, ethnicity or religious belief all having the same access to high quality education and educational opportunities.

Sharing Web Resources

One of the outside links that I elected to explore this week was The Division for Early Childhood Education. The sites mission attracted my interest as it involves promoting policies and advancing evidence-based practices that support families and enhance the optimal development of young children who have or are at risk for developmental delays and disabilities. I discovered that the DEC publishes the Young Exceptional Children (YEC) which is a peer-reviewed publication produced by DEC.  Consequently the journal is a practical resource designed for teachers, administrators, therapists, family members and others who work with young children with special needs.

The Healthy Beginnings website has searchable parent activities certain promote a senses of equity and excellence in early childhood education by offering parents the opportunity to do hand on educational exercises with the child at the following locations: at home, at the playground, in the kitchen or dining room and on the go. It is evident that early childhood education doesn’t only occur in the classroom, but in the home and in a child’s environment/community.

References:
 
The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Healthy Beginnings
www.marylandhealthybeginnings.org/‎ 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

After reviewing the podcast with Barbra Jones, I now have a deeper understanding of how monastery schools system operates and how she founded the monastery school Pine Grove School in Falmouth, Maine. Ms. Barbara mentioned that her student teaching experience a public school teacher did not speak to her and how she then made efforts to gain employment in the monastery private sector of education. Similarly, Ms. Barbra shared her traveling experience abroad in order to obtain the necessary level of education and certifications to be a monastery educator with credentials. Ms. Barbara believed that obtaining her degree in monastery education would provide evidence to those she desired to work with that she was serious about working in that particular division of education. I find Ms. Barbara’s desire to open her own school very insightful. As a Child Care Center Director for a private based child care center, I can relate to Ms. Barbara professional development experience. I find this Ms. Barbara’s experience is a trend among many educational professional with regards to reaching a level of ownership in the field. I find that my desire to own my own Child Care Center is very similar to Ms. Barbara’s story, which is one of the reasons why I am pursuing my master’s degree in Early Childhood Education, (World Forum Foundation, 2013).

After reviewing the Harvard, Center of Developing Child website, I found the following items most intriguing. The Center’s commitment to global work, which represents both an acknowledgement of moral responsibility to meet the needs of all children and a critical investment in the roots of economic productivity, positive health outcomes, and strong civil society in all nations, from the poorest to the most affluent. Furthermore, the three strategies that the center focuses on such as: (1) reframing the discourse around child health and development in the global policy arena by educating high-level decision-makers about the underlying science of learning, behavior, and health, beginning in the earliest years of life; (2) developing supporting innovative, multi-disciplinary research and demonstration projects to expand global understanding of how healthy development happens, how it can be derailed, and how to get it back on track; and (3) building leadership capacity in child development research and policy—focused on both individuals and institutions—in low- and middle-income countries to increase the number and influence of diverse voices and perspectives that are contributing to the growing global movement on behalf of young children,(The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013). Lastly, I believe that the Director Jack Shonkoff’s article, Pediatrics reveals that new knowledge in the biological and social sciences, which offers a unifying framework that can inform innovative strategies to improve both child survival and early development as well as adult outcomes in health, learning, and behavior, (The President and Fellows of Harvard College, 2013).

After reviewing the Pre-K Now website and the video Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones. I feel so inspire and have a greater appreciation for how scientists, economists and politicians work together in order to enhance the quality of Pre-K service nationwide. I am completely concur with the message unveiled in the video with regards to ensuring that parents and their children have the opportunity to access quality Pre-k programs. I am very certain that quality Pre-K program will only help better prepare students for higher setting of education and support their overall development. The video also mentioned how an increase of interest and funding has generated from policymakers, which is certainly an success story for the field. I do believe that Pre-K is important and research supports how important it is for children between the ages of birth and 5 to be giving the opportunity to learn in adequate and structured atmosphere, (Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones, 2012).

References:

Pre[K]Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States. ( 2012). Pre-K Now: Marking a Decade of Pre-K Milestones. http://www.pewcenteronthestates.org/initiatives_detail.aspx?initiativeID=31672 (Newsletter: http://www.preknow.org/signupform.cfm ).

The President and Fellows of Harvard College. (2013). Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/)

World Form Foundation. (2013). Barbara Jones. Podcast retrieved from, http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/world-forum-radio/