Words of Inspiration & Motivation

This is a quote from Marcy Whitebook that has resonated with me this week.  I believe it is so important to break the silence on important topics such as early childhood education.  If our voices are not loud enough to be heard, we cannot expect change to happen on its own.

“There is ‘No Single Ingredient’ that will enable us to achieve effective teaching.  It’s not education or mentoring, it’s both.  And it’s compensation too.  So what am I doing to combat the attack on higher education for teachers of young children?  What’s feeding me and what am I doing that I hope will catalyze change in the field?  I am trying to break the silence about the attack on education…challenging it in my writing and speaking and encouraging others to do so as well.”
–Marcy Whitebook

This next quote is from the second contributor I chose Ann Turnbull.  This quote resonates with me so much because to this day people do not understand what it is like to raise an intellectually disabled child.  She speaks about her and her husband knowing that his son was their hardest earned degree.  He passed away at the age of 41, JT had an intellectual disorder, mixed with slight autism and bipolar disease.  Making sure he had the best quality of life was their number one priority.

 

"Rud and I have six degrees between us, but we frequently say that ‘‘JT is our best professor.’’ Over the years, he has continued to teach us lessons—sometimes more than we wanted to learn. We often comment that what makes him such a challenging professor is that ‘‘he so often gives us the final exam before we’ve had the course.’’ This means that when we fail the final exam, he takes us back through ‘‘remedial learning’’ until we master the lessons required to calibrate his supports and services in order to ensure his individual quality of life and our family’s quality of life."

--Ann Turnbull 

Other quotes:

 

"I had just a built-in passion that it was important to make a real contribution in the world, to fix all the injustices that exsisted in the world, and I wanted to do that through teaching." 

- Louise Derman-Sparks

“To me making a difference will be helping one child be able to be successful in the classroom; one little sparkle will make the difference for me throughout the whole day”.

-Raymond Hernandez Ms Ed.

 

“What a unique opportunity we have in working with children, we as professionals in the early childhood field have the opportunity to shape a child’s life for the better. “

-Sandy Escobido

 

The above quote relate to the passion and motivation that I feel for early childhood education.  It is so important to think about the children first and to always remember if we  affect one child's life, we are accomplishing our goals one-by-one.

Personal Childhood Web

I feel as if each individual Personal Childhood Web is going to be different in some type of way.  I know mine is going to include those closest to me, and who have remained closest to me through-out my life.  I feel even though it is a childhood web, this lasts through-out our entire lives.  We constantly teach and learn from others as we grow older.  Learning never ends.

1. John – Father

Clearly when you hear father you automatically think of nurturing and caring, but it is so much more than that.  He is my hero and always was through-out my life.  He is a hard-working, determined and motivated man.  Family is his number one priority and most importantly my mother, brother and me.  I’ll always be considered “daddy’s little girl.”  The love and care I receive from him is like no other I will ever feel.  We have a special connection that will last a life time.  He would work nights when I was first born up until I was about four years old, so I would spend the mornings with him.  It would be me, him, and sometimes my brother depending if there was school or not.  He has taught me so much about life already and continues to teach me to this day.  I have learned how to have patience and how to make sacrifices for not only myself but those I care about.  I like to think I inherited his passion and drive.

2. Lisa – Mother

There is nothing that can compare to a mother’s love.  This statement is so true and I cannot wait to experience it for myself.  I feel as if I had an outstanding role model for a mother.  She is awe-inspiring every day and the type of independent woman I yearn to be.  Although her and my father make the best team she has taught me I do not need anyone but myself to make it far in this world.  Growing up we argued and challenged each other daily.  We still do today but I know it is in the best ways possible.  We are so much alike and that is why I believe we butt heads like we do.  Through-out all the arguing and challenging I have never felt more cared for by anyone else.  When my first-grade teacher did not teach me how to read, my mother made sure I learned and quickly if you ask me.  She didn’t want me falling behind in any type of education.  She continues to push me today to be the best version of myself possible.

3. Anthony – Brother

This guy has taught me so much in life and were only five years apart from each other.  There is just something about having a sibling that makes my life that much more special.  It’s a different type of learning with him.  It definitely doesn’t involve that same parental nurturing but something much more.  It will always be me and him through our lives.  When we were little he was excited to have a sister and since I was born he took me “under his wing.”  To this day he teaches me motivation, patience, passion and something as silly as common sense.  I learn through his experiences and I hope to be as knowledgeable as him one day.  I look up to him and admire his inspiration daily.

4. Rosario – Grandpa

When I was twenty I unfortunately lost my grandfather.  He is the most inspirational and admirable man that I know and was lucky enough to have in my life.  I learned through his experiences and the positives and negatives that he had to go through.  I would go to his house after school with my brother and have snack with him and on the weekends to have lunch.  I am grateful for the time we were able to spend together and the life experiences he taught me. 

5. Ms. Yolanda – Second Grade Teacher

This person is just as important to me as a family member.  She was the most caring elementary school teacher I had the privilege of having.  She made sure each child in her class fully understood each concept of everything that she taught.  She made sure learning was fun and creative and made me want to go to school.  After a rough first grade, I started to not like school.  Ms. Yolanda made sure she changed my mind.  She cared for all of her students and would even make phone calls home to inform parents how great we were doing.  I think this is important because parents are used to only hearing from the teachers when their child has done something negative.  What stood out to me the most was when Ms. Yolanda called my house when I had my ENT surgery over spring break.  Although I couldn’t speak to her because I just had my tonsils removed, she stayed on the phone for about a half hour just talking to me and making sure I understood that she was there if I needed her.

Get To Know Me! :)

1.  This is a current picture of myself.  I wish I had a younger picture of myself I look totally different.  I had platinum blonde spiral curly hair. 

2.  Teaching at my daycare for the past five years I have become attached to all the children.  However, there is one child that has always had the passion of my heart since he started in my classroom.  This child has become known as my school son.  He looks for me everyday, especially when he is having a rough day in his new classroom.  He just started UPK last week and it has been rough on both of us not visiting each other.  He is one of the main reasons I chose to finish my degree and continue my education in Child Development.  By just seeing the impact that I have made on him in the past 2 years, I know I am doing what I am meant to do.

3.  If You Give a Mouse a Cookie by Laura Joffe Numeroff is my all time favorite book.  When I participated in student teaching at my first college, I would make sure one of my observed lesson plans would be involving this book.  Now using it to teach, I understand the "circular tale" as cause and effect.  Back then I could say that I really probably just enjoyed reading about cookies.

Never Give Up On Your Dreams.

Hi! My name is Nicole Viscuso and I am from Brooklyn, New York.  I was born and raised in the big apple and I love everything about it.  I do enjoy the quiet and calming nature of smaller cities but I honestly believe I wouldn't be who I am today.  The city helps to shape you and has all of these opportunities for us.  Growing up in a big city I believe I have thicker skin and a more bold personality.  I am unapologetically me.

I believe growing up in New York has convinced me to work with children.  I am the youngest of my family so I never had to babysit or was really around children.  Once I started my first college (Saint Joseph's College), I knew I wanted to work with children.  By working with children I feel like I am not "working."  When you love what you do it becomes more of a passion and you look forward to doing it every day. 

I look forward to reading and working with all of you on these blogs this course.  Good luck and thank you for reading!