Merry Christmas!!!

Tomika

My story

About a month ago, smack in the middle of the craziness of my dad being in the hospital, the president of my school The University of Phoenix emailed me asking for my story of why I am glad to be a Phoenix. Of course during that challenging time of my life I did not respond or even think twice about telling my story. But now that I am catching up with things, I thought about how my story might liberate someone else. So, I wrote it. Short, quick and to the point is the story that I told... its the truth and I would like to share it with you...

Teaching has been a passion for me since I was a young child as my great grandmother was also a teacher. But working full time towards this dream and just to survive did not allow a whole lot of time for pursuing a higher education. But determination and dedication caused me not to give up.
After trying many different educational options that just didn't seem to fit into my work schedule or my financial plan, a friend told me about the program at The University of Pheonix. She was so excited about this program and the people who were on her education team I called to get some information immediatly after our conversation.
Now, I am just completing my first yer at UOP and I feel that my degree is within reach. At other colloges, it seemed that there was a long, dark corridor between me and my degree but UOP has help to shine the light on the pathway to obtaining my degree and reaching my goals. This is why I am always proud to say that I too am a Pheonix.


Of course I now feel like I could have and should have added more but I will a bit later. But as I always say, through adversity a persons character will show and that's why my resilience, strength and determination always shines through.

The Latest Adversities

If you have followed my other blog "Thoughts Behind The Scene" (check below under "Love by way of blogs" to check it out) you would be well aware of my dad being in the hospital. Rushed to the hospital, in critical care; had to be revived and it was touch and go for a while. But, thank you Lord, he is now healing proprly and starting to open his eyes. My God Is Goood!!! Thank you Lord.


But, I am still, through all of this, I am still taking care of business. I pray that God sees my dilliagence and my focus, I pray that this is not another dead end road for me. I am determined to finish that which I have started. It feels like, it sounds like and it looks like it is taking a awful long time. But I am not focusing on that information. I am focusing on the fact that I am in my dream job, I am in school making strides towards my dream degree and I have my dream man to help top it off.

I am feeling extremely blessed and I will continue on this path. I'm going strong in the name of the Lord.

Ideas popping off...

Eveyday and everywhere...

While watching the Food Networ, I thought of a wonderful idea...

There is a chef called Alex or maybe Alexa (it was a comercial) anyhoo, and on her days off she does the cooking show where she teaches about...take a wild guess...........COOKING! It is called Alex or Alexa's (whatever her name is) Day Off.

Sooooooo I was thinking I could do something like that where I teach parents about whatever they needed to know related to children.

It could be a Parenting column or maybe another blog... I don't know but I love this idea.

Questions:
1. How to get started?
2. Would I tackle questions that I think people would have or would I some how get questions in that I can answer?
3. How would I advertise it to get readers and to get questions in?
4. If this could be a column, how would I get it up and running?
5. What would be a great title for this column or blog?

I don't know what will come of this idea. I would love to hear feedback from the readers on any of the question that I have or on the idea itself. I look forward to reading...
Smooches!

Created cuteness vs. abstract loveliness

As far as I know, this is a constant battle in the art world of Early Childhood Education. But there is a larger issue disguised within this vain topic. The issue at hand is teacher directed art or the result of a explored material.

The benefit of teacher directed or guided art is the end product. This is attractive, cute and suitable for parents to show off or hang up for a display. The down sided of this is that the child doent get to use their imagination. They are deprived of figuring out what they are capable of doing. They are also deprived of exploring the materials provided for the activity. So there is a decision to make by teachers.... either you provide a child centered art project that encourages exploration, the use of imagination and the general uplifting of children by fostering their abilities and capabilities within themselves and ultimately lifting and building up their self esteem. OR... you provide material, tell the children what to do with them, make something attracting to the parents eye but the student gets nothing from it. Those are the choices teachers are faced with daily. And hopefully reading this you know where I stand in making this choice...if it was up to me.

To spell it out, I believe as an educator I am a Family Educator. However, the parents had their time in school and the activities that I research and plan and prepare are not for them. I do what I do for the children. So if it is up to me, I would choose to give the children every expeirience that will teach them the maximum amount of knowledge before the move on from me. To focus on the process versus the product.

Here is the issue that I am faced with.....

I am in a school that seems to allow teachers to write to destiny of the curriculum. But the teachers who have been there believe in the finished product versus the process of creating it. So I am stuck between a rock and a hard place because I am trained and used to what I believe in and they are also. So my struggle is to meet in the middle. To create cutness with a process that allows children to explore, wonder and imagine. Sometimes I am foced to lean one way versus the othere depending on the activity. And I will contine to press forward toward enlightening this program to see what the possibilities are.

The Joy of Innocence

Three year olds...
Excitement, interest, curiosity, joy and innocence is written across their faces when ever they look at me or approach a situation. Longing for learning and seeking the wealth of knowledge that you have. A Teacher's job can be very fulfilling. Some teachers don't enjoy their job but I truly do everyday...even those not so fun days. Yes, I come home absolutely beat! But at the end of the day, I have given those babies, my children all that I could and that fulfills me!

October fun

October is one of my favorite times of year. There are lots of changes going on with the weather, the appearances outside and the sense of harvest and halloween in the air. Now, I do not celebrate halloween and each year I attempt to explain this to children and adults alike and they just don't understand. I am always tempted to give in and just dress up. Today we were talking about what everyone would be for halloween. Of course there are butterflies, princesses, spidermen, peter pans and I said that I would be dressed up as Ms. Tomika! My friends thought that this was funny. But very innocently began talking about what I could be dressed up as (very cute). A candy, a juice box, a queen and this conversation lasted for minutes amongst themselves. I thought it was very cute.

But this is one of my favorite times of year because a introduce the "Spooky" stories. There are very child friendly spooky stories that I enjoy reading or listening too. One of the chilfrens favorite seems to always be the book "What was I scared of" by Dr. Seuss which the infamous pale green pants star in. Another book is "The little old lady who wasn't affraid of anything" by ........
But reading these spooky stories I love watching their faces as the sespence thickens. But please understand that all of these books have wonderful friendship endings and they end up not being scary endings at all. Again, I love the innocence on their faces as they are scared then happy at the end. It is priceless.

This is just one of my joys of teaching young children!

Just Thinking...

It is official. As with every relationship there comes a time when the honeymoon is over....AND you know and realize it. People just don't seem as helpful anymore, they are a little more snippy and again, the honeymoon is over.

I am enjoying my classroom, my class and just the whole aspect of teaching. I am always very nervous about either looking like I am trying too hard or I want to seperate my self by doing something different. So I am trying to find a balance. But the way it is, they (the three teachers in the other classrooms) are established in that company. They know the rules and they know what's coming up next. As for me I am not and I don't. This is the time for me to make a name for myself in this company and the buzz is definately circulating and I pray that it is all great buzz.

It is my first year and unlike some people I am really thinking about the expirences of the children. I am enjoying working with these ladies but I am feeling like my good friend Hema did when she first arrived at SASA. You get the "do whatever you want"'s and it feels annoying and frustrating to me. But none the less, I am in a happy place as far as work and even with school I am moving right along with that. I am computer challenged because I no longer have the laptop from SASA (as my crazy laptop started trippin a long time ago) and the jacked up computer from SASA that was given to me hasn't worked right for quite some time. So I am left with trying to get my school work done at work either during planning times or after school. Its not fun but what caan you do?! But through adversity, I am doing my best to make it happen!