Week 3

I decided to conduct my research on how child abuse affects the social and emotional development of teenagers.  The teen years are so important socially with peers.  My personal experience with this area is my cousin.  She was an only child and her dad was abusive towards her when she was younger.  From ages 10-13, she was emotionally and physically abused by her dad and watched him abuse her mom as well.  Her mom finally got her out of the situation, but the effects were long-lasting.  I watched her suffer through her teenage years as she struggled to deal with the emotional and social issues.  She would not let herself get close to anyone, did not have many friends, refused to date and just do normal teenage things like hanging out with friends and going places.  She withdrew socially and her grades suffered.  She barely finished high school.  It was sad to watch her go through all of that.  I want to learn more about how to help teenagers like my cousin.  It makes me sad that physical abuse affects their social and emotional development like it does.  If anyone can offer advice or research materials to help me, I would greatly appreciate it.

Research Simulation

For my research simulation project, I decided to research child abuse and neglect.  The topic that I want to focus on within this area is how child abuse and neglect affects children's social-emotional development.  Healthy Social-Emotional development is so important for children and abuse plays a major role in this developmental milestone for children.  I plan to read articles and journals, as well as take feedback from classmates, to get a better understanding of how their development is affected by abuse. 

The reasont that I picked child abuse is because I work closely with young children and I must be aware of the all of the signs of abuse and be prepared for it.  By law, I must report anything that I suspect as being abuse or neglect.  I want to become more familiar with these signs.  As a teacher, I want to know how the abuse will affect my student's behavior and academic success. 

I am finding it easier to fill in the research charts.  I think that will be a big help to me.  I am still a little nervous about doing a research project, but I feel a little more comfortable now than when I first started.  I hope my classmates can share advice to help me along the way and I hope that I can help them whenever they need some help. 

Consquences of Internation contacts

There are so many things that I can take away from having an international contact.  I have really enjoyed learning about the education in another country.  I would love to visit Romania one day and experience it for myself, but I know that will never happen anytime soon, so I have to reply on others to learn about it. 

The top 3 conquences of learning about the international early childhood field are:

1.  I have a broader understanding of early childhood education from other parts of the world.  I can compare how we do things to how they do things and see what works and what doesn't work.  I feel this gives me a huge advantage while teaching.

2.  I learned that people from around the world share some of the same hopes and dreams for young children as I do.  My international contact wants all children to recieve a quality education and have the same advantages.  I want that for this country as well.

3.  I learned that change takes time.  Our educational system has undergone a lot of change in the last few years and it has been slow to take place.  Some teachers are on board and some are not.  The same is true in Romania.  Their educational system has recently been through a lot of change, but a lot of their teachers are still doing things the old way.

My goal is for an organization worldwide where educators from all over the world can come together to share ideas, insights, professional development, and discuss current issues and trends.  I believe this would be a benefit to every educator in every country.  It would be a way to discuss things that work, things that don't work, and get new ideas to share and try. 

I want to wish all of my classmates good luck for the future and hope success comes to all of you!