Personal Childhood Web

Unfortunately, I have been unable to upload the map of my web to this blog.  I am still working on that.

The people that were important to me during my early childhood were my Mom, my Dad, my siblings, Mrs. Mabry my kindergarten teacher and Mrs. Hentchel my first grade teacher.  Without these people in my early years, I do not believe that I would have made it this far.

My mother has always been a strong influence in my life.  She was the one individual who encouraged and supported us in our studies from the early years.  As a young child I remember that she loved me.  She always made holidays and birthdays special, even though now I know times were hard. She is the rock in our family.  Thanks to my Mom and her red pen and demand for neatness, I was a successful student. I love her and she has set the standard for me as a mother.

My father was a strong man.  He was the boss in our home.  Unfortunately he was not able to help us with our schoolwork because he only had an 8th grade education himself.  However, my father's contribution to our success was that he instilled in us, sometimes by whipping it into us, the importance of having a good education.  We lost him when I was 13, but I knew from an early age that he loved me and would do anything he could to help me. 

My siblings; Lynn, Vicky, Jeremy and Melanie.  We always had each other. My older siblings we very dependable, and they took care of us when my Mom and Dad were away.  Because of the strict expectations my father had for us we would help one another to keep from getting into trouble.  Although we may not always get along, they were and are always there for me when I need help.  Yes, as old as I am sometimes I have to pick up the phone and ask for their help with an assignmnent.  The best thing is that I can always count on them to encourage me and boost me up.  They are the best people to have on your side. I love them so much!

Mrs. Mabry, what can I say about her.  She was the greatest teacher I ever had.  As a grown up looking back, I wonder if she was as great as I perceived her to be.  As I work with my own students I notice that the little, unintentional things, mean so much to them.  Do I care about them, sure I do. But I am just being me. But Mrs. Mabry seemed to care about my education a lot.  She knew my siblings who were her students before me and I was so shy.  But she helped me to feel safe and confident in myself.  I can remember thinking that her class was so fun that I never wanted to go home. But of course, I did.  She would keep me behind during recess or music class to help me with skills I had not mastered.  I know now that that was her free time, and she cared enough about me to sacrifice some of her time to work with me.  To me she was love. She always smiled and hugged you.  I felt as if I was a part of her family.

Mrs. Hentchel was my 1st grade teacher.  She was fun! Something about that year seemed so magical.  I do not remember to much just that her lessons were energized and she taught me the alphabet using the Letter People.  They all had funny names and we would stand up and sing along while holding pictures of them.  It was not intimidating to learn because we were all up singing along.  As a person she was a strong personality that cared about us and encouraged us to keep going and not give up. A wonderful person.

Because of all of these people, my early childhood years were wonderful.  Sure I had a few instances that made me embarrassed or just made me want to quit, but one of these people would always re-energize me to do my best and keep going.  I had the feeling that I was safe, I was loved and I could do anything and be anything.  I owe a lot to them.

Today I know that having a good early childhood experience allowed me to develop all the skills and tools I need to be successful.  I am who I am today because of all the wonderful teachers that I had throughout my school and college careers.  I am a life long learner because my parents and teachers taught me that the sky is not the limit, that I should reach for the stars and beyond. I enjoy learning and I enjoy teaching young children. I want to share with children the same motivation that others shared with me.  I have been and continue to be blessed by great people.

Hello!

Hello to all.  I am still trying to get used to the "blogging", please be patient. 

I am creating this blog as a tool for my graduate classes.  I am looking forward to learning the in's and out's of blogging as well as utilizing it as a sounding board to hear from other professionals in the early childhood education field. 

I am very passionate about education and helping children discover their own abilitiy to be successful.  I have recently decided that I most definately would be able to make a larger difference if I could work in the early childhood education field.  I want to help children see that we all have the ability to succeed because it is inside of us all.  Our backgrounds, neither cultural or economical, do not determine the level of success we will achieve, but instead it is the determination that we have to reach goals that we set for ourselves.

I look forward to sharing ideals, articles, and conversations with you all.

Jennifer