Words of Inspiration and Motivation

Quote, Quote, Quote that Inspired me: 

 

“My passion comes from wanting to make a difference.  I’m not here to save the world, but I’m here just to make a difference in the community that I’m working. And to me, making a difference may sometimes mean helping one child be able to be successful in the classroom. .. One little sparkle will make a difference for me throughout the whole day.” ~ Raymond Hernandez, the Executive Director in School of Early Childhood Education at University of Southern California.  

 “It’s not all about you, you got to take your ego out of it and think about what’s best for this child. And you care about them enough to help them transition to what’s the next… what comes next and what’s best.” ~Renatta M. Cooper, Program Specialist, Office of Child Care, LA County Chief Administrative Office.

“When we strengthen families, we ultimately strengthen the community. Our goal is that parents everywhere work with supportive providers, feel confident in their parenting role, and form strong, resilient attachments with their children. To help achieve this, providers must be responsive to parents, knowledgeable about child development, and eager to see every parent succeed."~Dr. T Berry Brazelton

References 

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (2013). The passion for early childhood. Retrieved          From https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?  tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCo  urse%26id%3D_3467892_1%26url%3D

  

Brazelton Institute, B. (2012b). T. Berry Brazelton, M.D. Retrieved from http://www.brazeltontouchpoints.org/about/who-we-are/ 

Personal Childhood Web

I am so fortunate to have a group of lovely people around me and supporting me in my life. They are all important to me, especially my family!

·         Mom- She is not only my Mom, but my best friend as well. My mom is always happy, positive and enthusiastic energy. She is always the first one who stands up for me and be on my side. She is a good cook as well. I really admire and appreciate how she get up early to work everyday but still able to make delicious dinner for us every night. And this is how she influences me that family is very important. She told me that Dinner is the only time gather the whole family together and  good food is a MUST to keep everyone engage in the conversation without playing with their cellphone =) My mom also had been through a lot. I remembered when I was little girl, Dad did something wrong and they almost have to divorce. Mom left home for a few weeks but she called me everyday to make sure me and my brother were fine. I was really mad at my Dad at that time, but Mom said this was between Dad and her, Dad is our father and he loves us, so we should still respect him no matter what he did to Mom. Mom taught me a lot about respect and giving. She believes that everything has two sides, being positive not only helps feel better but also make things brighter. Life is short, being negative will just make yourself suffer, why not be positive? That’s my Mom and this is what my personality is now. 

·         Dad- He is always my best teacher. Although he may not know everything, he always tells me the consequence of both sides. My dad has a very high expectation on me since I was three years old. I was taking swimming class, ballet class, piano class, art & crafts class and at the Girl Scout troop in elementary school. He wanted me to prepare for the competitive world. However, these activities were not all my favorite. I like piano, but because of my homework and other activities made me too tired to practice. So after learning piano a few years, I started crying everytime I practice. Dad finally understood that was too much for me so he stopped most of the lessons. I remembered he said “I just want to give you the BEST when I still can. I set you up for all these lessons are for your future. But most importantly I want you to be happy. I want you to do the BEST that you can, and it’s fine to fail, just remember to stand up where you fell down. If you don’t want to do it, just don’t blame on me or regret in the future because I gave you a choice.” My Dad treated me like a little adult when I was little. I really appreciate how he made me became so independent when I was little. It really helps me to gain my confident and not afraid of failure. 

·         Brother- My brother is 4 years old younger than me and he’s a quiet guy. When we were little, we fight a lot but we are very close together. We went to the same preschool and elementary school. However, people and teachers always compare us. I was a happy and cheerful sweetheart that every teacher likes, but since he was a quiet little boy, no teacher like him. I remembered he was very thin and shy when he was in elementary school, his peers used to bully him. And I really don’t like that. I always pull him away from those peers and have him stay with me. Sometimes, he got detention because he got into a fight. And he will never tell our family what happened but we all know he will not do anything that is not appropriate so we support him. He does not to like express himself but he always cares about me, shares everything with me and helps me if I need him. He didn’t really have anything directly influence my life, but because of him, I understand that quiet children need a lot of attention too. Indeed, family support is the key too. I believe if my family and I did not support him when he got bully, he may become another person. And now the shy little boy is a muscular U.S. Navy solider, we are so proud of him!

  

·         PE teacher- I still remember how my elementary school PE teacher, Mr. Eddy, looks like and how much he made me feel so special. Mr. Eddy was my English teacher and PE teacher. During PE class, Mr. Eddy asked student who wants to join the swimming team; I raised my hand because I know I am good at it! He asked me to talk to him after school. He said if I want to be in the team, I will have to promise him that I will have at least a B in all my classes and he will tutor me if I need to. At first I thought Mr. Eddy would not pay attention to my grades, but he really did! He gave me at least an hour tutoring almost everyday after school to help my homework. I was really into my swimming practice and my grades were better than before. Finally it was the competition day, I was very nervous and shaking. He pat my shoulder said “I know you are nervous, it’s okay, just do your best. You can get a good grade and I am sure you can do this!”. I won a gold medal in that competition and that was my first medal ever! I was so happy and my family was so proud of me. Mr. Eddy was like family to me, he cares about me and my feelings. There are not too many elementary teacher could give the time and level of encouragement that he provided to me.

·         Girl Scot Leader- Mrs. Cheng was my girl scot troop leader. She is another teacher that made me feel teachers could make a big difference to children’s life. I was not doing very well in my elementary school because my parents just started their own business, so they were very busy and I only see them two times a week. My maid was the only person I see much but she doesn’t speak same language as me. So I couldn’t talk to anyone. I was in the honor class, but because of not seeing my parents as before, my grades were getting behind and my smile is hiding. I was in Mrs. Cheng’s troop for two years, so she understands how my personality was used to be. So she talked to me one day and tried to comfort me. She told me that my parents still love me and she will talk to my parents about that. My parents finally tried to call me every night if they were not able to come back before I go to sleep. I really appreciate Mrs. Cheng talked to my parents about concerning my emotions but not my grades.

Lovely child and Favorite Book

This is a 2 years old me. 

I like to laugh a lot since I was born as you could tell in this picture =)

 

       This is my favorite drawing from last year!!

I remembered I was teaching children about fire safety and what is the procedure when there’s fire. And instead of just blah blah blah talking about safety, I like to draw picture on the board to teach children in circle time, so I drew a picture of how to escape in the building. The next day after we practiced fire drill, I asked children to draw about what do they know about fire drill. A little Spanish girl drew exactly what I drew on the board yesterday. She said “there’s fire in the building, everyone come out, and my doggie too. She is scared and she cried and pee pee”. That was the cutest thing and one of the most rewarding moment I ever had! I always thought this little girl wasn’t paying attention as she likes to moving around in circle time. But at the end she is the only one who remembered perfectly what we talked about yesterday. I am so proud of her! 

       One of my favorite books is Amazing Grace by Mary Hoffman. Yup! It’s a classic book, and I think how the message behind it makes it classic. 

        This book shows how a child confronts racism with peer pressure and be pride. Let me tell you a little bit about this story-Grace is an african American girl in 2nd grade.She loves to act out. One day, there’s a chance at school to play as Peter Pan. When she said she wants to be Peter Pan, her classmate says to Grace that she cannot be Peter Pan because as Peter Pan is not a girl nor black. However, she did not give up and persist to be Peter Pan. So teacher said let’s do a competition to see who acts the best. Grace kept practicing at home. Finally, she was the best student who acts like Peter Pan. Her peers were amazed and proud of her performance.

I couldn't think of any better simple book that have a message about trust yourself and be proud of who you are!

Completed 1st week !!

High 5 to all my colleagues!! We survive through the first week of class! What an experience! I am so happy that I was able to finish my paper on time with APA style! 1 week down, 7 more weeks to go!! Best of luck to everyone!