Wrapping up another class!

What an 8 weeks it's been! I've met new people, continued relationships, left a job, and started a new one. I've really appreciated a deeper, more intricate look into childhood development during this course. I think that sometimes, as professional educators, it's easy to forget how things start. I find myself getting caught up in "this one child I worked with" and "in my experience" and forget about just going back to the basics of development. I've really appreciated learning all of that again.

Here are some thoughts on early childhood development, working with children, and then just some stuff for fun :)

"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."

- Maria Montessori

"Good teaching is one-fourth preparation and three-fourths pure theatre."

- Gail Godwin

"It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men."

- Frederick Douglass

"Now, today, some children are enrolled in excellent programs. Some children are enrolled in mediocre programs. And some are wasting away their most formative years in bad programs....That's why I'm issuing a challenge to our states: Develop a cutting-edge plan to raise the quality of your early learning programs; show us how you'll work to ensure that children are better prepared for success by the time they enter kindergarten. If you do, we will support you with an Early Learning Challenge Grant that I call on Congress to enact."

- President Barack Obama

When children pretend, they're using their imaginations tomove beyond the bounds of reality. A stick can be a magicwand. A sock can be a puppet. A small child can be a superhero.

- Fred Rogers

Thank you, THANK YOU to my classmates for being supportive, constructive, and SO helpful as we wade through this program. I appreciate all of your insight and criticism each week, and look forward to every challenge as we learn so much about each other, our unique experiences, and diverse personalities. 

A special thanks to two wonderful women who keep me going every single week. They challenge me with every post, every paper, and every blog, not only as an educator but also as a person in general. Stephanie and Lauren, you are amazing women. I am so lucky to have been placed in courses with you!