"Advocacy Messages"

It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men
      (Frederick Douglas)


Wisdom begins with wonder
      ( Socrates)


What the best and wisest parent wants for his own child, that must the community want for all children.
        (John Dewey)


 All of these campaign message resonate to me because it shows compassion and understanding to children needs from birth to adulthood. These writers have shown that they can see the need of families and children based on what society should wants and need in order that a child can grow and become a productive citizen. Children need a good foundation to be able to build a concrete stable and productive quality of life.

"My Own Capacity"

The issue that impacts me regarding young children and their families and fuels my passion is: Making sure early learners receive any speech and language services that they may be in need of. This is a very important time for their language development.

The resources that are currently available are: Early Intervention that is currently done through our local Health Department, working with local colleges in their speech and language departments, and the local school system that must provide services to three year olds are a few the agencies and resources that can be utilized.

I hope to grow by becoming more involved with my legislature and other government official to get them to understand the importance of early childhood education. I hope to be able to work collaboratively with other advocates, families and business to get the needed funding to better empower our education system to hire highly qualified and certified instructors to educate our early learners.

"My Role as an Advocate"

My motivation for wanting to become a young child advocate is because when I began school there were no advocates except your parents. The parent is a great advocate to have, but the problem was most parents were not as knowledgeable regarding the child’s needs. Children do not understand what they need and sometimes it is difficult for families to be able to know what their child needs are, or to follow through aggressively to meet their needs. An advocate can take the time to research and assist families and other stakeholders on meeting the young child’s needs.  

Micro level will look only at the individual level, whereas the macro level looks at the national level. Each child has to be look at from his or her individual need. Micro level needs are so important because each child needs different levels of attention. One child may have a speech difficulty, whereas the next child may need help with a physical disability. Each child’s need may be uniquely different. “One size does not fit all” for children. The macro level can assist with children general needs and set the wheel for getting assistance from a national level to serve and provide various services for all young children.

Early childhood community leaders must have the ability to honor the rights of diversity, through positive and welcoming ways. They must understand how to build respect, trust, and equitable relationships. They must work collaboratively with families and communities.

State leader must understand how program are to be ran and managed. State leaders must be knowledgeable on the use of data to inform accountability. Leaders must be transparent to provide accessibility and understandable information in the various programs.

My advice to someone interested in becoming a leader in a child advocate role for young children and families would be to let them, you will need determination and sometimes you will receive a great deal of “ No’s”. This cannot be a “give up situation”. You must have patience and compassion for families. You must be able to listen and communicate with various agencies and government officials on behalf of your families. The most important aspect is to make sure you know what the families and children needs are.

Personal Advocacy Reflection by: Dotsy Roberts
I can remember working in the helping field and working with a family that was in need of a wheel chair for their child. The mom did not understand that there were funds available to assist with getting this done for her child. After speaking with the mom about how the child got around due to her disability and she stated she physically carried her at the age of 6 yrs. of age. I explained that was to much and I later contacted Medicaid and was able to get the wheel chair she needed. The mom was truly thankful and this was less of a burden for the family. This was a single mom who needed to be assisted with her disabled child.

Informed advocacy

Hello everyone,
Welcome to my blog site. This class will focus on advocating for families and children.

"Children are like wet cement, whatever falls on them makes a lasting impression."


 This is such a true statement. I would like to thank all of my classmates for bringing and sharing such inspiring and useful information. This has been such a beautiful journey with each of you.

Week 6

Testing

Assessment is an important part of learning and teaching and helps provide useful information to children, teachers and you. Assessment is generally carried out for two main purposes, to measure pupils’ attainment and report evidence of learning in different learning areas and to support pupils’ learning and classroom teaching.

 

At Primary 1 and 2, children are just beginning school; a key focus would be on building his/her confidence and desire to learn. Thus, assessment will focus on providing rich information on the learning progress of the child. Quantitative feedback in the form of grades and marks, and qualitative feedback in the form of teacher comments will help children learn about his/her strengths, weaknesses and steps he/she could take to improve in his/her learning. As parents, this feedback can also help you support the child’s learning and growth.

 

As schools adopt more Holistic Assessment practices, the child’s development will be supported by a range of appropriate assessment modes for different purposes. At Primary One, single-point assessments such as semestral examinations will be de-emphasized to ensure a smoother transition from pre-school to primary school. Bite-size forms of assessment such as topical tests, short writing, reading and performance tasks will be used to provide the child with more opportunities to experience success and build his/her confidence and desire to learn. Teachers will also use a range of assessment strategies such as questioning, giving of feedback, and peer- and self-assessment to support the child’s learning.

 

Standardized testing in children between the ages of 10 to 19 is described in four European countries: England, West Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden. In the decentralized English system several published standardized test are available. These tests are used for special needs assessments. They are used in the educational setting for grade objective testing. In West Germany education is the responsibility of the states, rather than the national government. These standardized tests are not used on a population-wide basis.  These tests are restricted to counseling centers and other specialist schools. There is rarely achievement or intelligent test used in the schools. The Netherlands created a national curriculum development center in 1975 and has created national examinations, although they are not widely used. Achievement tests are used by teachers only, and intelligence test use is similar to that in West Germany. In Sweden, national standardized tests based on objective techniques are used above the primary levels.