This post will look at the concept of elitism and how that functions in our society. I will also discuss how this plays out in an early childhood setting. This post is for Christian educators.
What is Elitism?
Elitism is the belief or attitude that individuals who form an elite—a select group of people with an intrinsic quality, high intellect, wealth, special skills, or experience—are more likely to be constructive to society as a whole, and therefore deserve influence or authority greater than that of others. In our modern society, our elitist class would be the academics and the wealthy. However, elitism can rear its ugly head even among middle and lower class people to some degree. I will define elitism as thinking more highly of yourself and your circle of influence than you do of others. How many times do you catch yourself looking down on someone else because of their station in life or their lack of ability? Maybe you tell yourself that you feel sorry for that person, but realistically you are snobbing them. How many times have you been snobbed by someone else? We all do this to some degree. We cast an aversive glance toward someone that is not in OUR group. However, I will tell you that the level of elitism increases with the amount of education that you have. It seems that the more "intelligent" you believe yourself to be, the more likely you are to look down on other people that you consider to not be as "intelligent." The Bible says that "knowledge puffs up." This statement lives out in the real world on a daily basis. Elitists puff out their chests and strut around like peacocks. However, the Bible tells us "do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit but with humility of mind let each of you consider others to be more important than himself." We should not be snobbing anyone. It is a sin.
How does modern Elitism compare to the Pharisees and Sadducees of the Bible?
The Pharisees and Sadducees of Jesus' time very much mirror our elites today. They considered themselves to be the highest educated individuals of the time. They also considered themselves morally superior to everyone else. Today's elites consider themselves to be more highly educated than the rest of us. They also consider themselves to be morally superior to those that do not agree with them. How did Jesus view the Pharisees and Sadducees? He hardly ever had nice words for them. His descriptions included hypocrites, white-washed tombs, and the blind leading the blind. Jesus did not at all have a high opinion of them. Why is that? Jesus despises pride, selfishness, and empty conceit. The only way to earn Jesus' respect involves humility. That was a hard pill for the Pharisees and Sadducees to swallow. It is also a hard pill for our elites of today to swallow as well.
Elitism vs. Wisdom
Do the elites of today have a point that they have more right to rule because of their high education? NO NO and double NO!! Education can only be as valuable as the underlying information that supports it. If you have been highly educated with information that is false and/or misleading, then the quality of your education is false and/or misleading. I believe it to be worse than worthless because of the intrinsic value placed on it by our present society. How can you tell if you have a worthless education and may be falling into the trap of elitism? Here is the key. Are you puffed up? Wisdom brings about humility because we know that there remains so much out in the world that we do not know. Knowledge puffs up and thinks it has attained the highest form of being to date. Do you think you know better than someone else just because you studied a bunch of theorists and philosophers? Knowing what these people say is not what I am against. Thinking you know more than others because you know what these people say remains the problem. These theorists and philosophers were men. How do their words and ideas compare with the Word of God which is eternal. If you ever find yourself siding with the theorists and philosophers over the Word of God which came to us from our Creator, you might just have a worthless education and have fallen prey to the sin of elitism. We are all fallen creatures in need of help and assistance from our Creator. Unless that is your foundation, you might have a problem.
Elitism in the Early Childhood World
Elitism in the early childhood world runs rampant. We as early childhood educators are trained whether we realize it or not to think that our training trumps all. Anyone or any other philosophy that disagrees with the training we have, makes us balk and cringe. We have studied these things and we know that the best way to do something is (fill in the blank). This, people, displays the very heart of elitism. Even the words "best practice" reveal the elitism of professional people. How do they know that their remedy is "best practice" in every situation? They do not. They just think that they do, and that, my friends, is the problem.
Conclusion
My fellow Christian early childhood educators, how do you treat people that do not have the training that you have received? Do you treat them as ignorant? Have you placed your training beside the Word of God to make sure that you have not fallen for lies and deception? How do you treat parents that do not agree with your training? Do you snob people? These questions lie at the heart of the issue. When we add correct knowledge to our repertoire, we learn that there remains so much that we do not know. It makes us feel more inadequate not less. This leads to humility. False knowledge puffs up and makes people think they know it all. I urge you to apply this test and reexamine how you relate to the people around you. I way say it again. Snobbery is a sin.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Sunday, December 22, 2019
Wednesday, November 20, 2019
Cognitive Development for 2 to 2 1/2 year olds - Math
This post will look at the area of learning - Math covering the components - Numbers, Patterns, Spatial Sense, and Problem Solving. Remember that I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
We will start with the component - Numbers with the learning expectation - Begins to build understanding of more, and one-to-one correspondence. The performance indicator for this one is: Responds to "one" and "one more"; begins to count by imitation. Like most everything, a language delay will affect this performance indicator. Children without a language delay will conquer this one easily, but I am seeing so many children with language delays that the delay is becoming the norm. These standards were developed well over a decade ago and they no longer apply. I see this behavior in 3 year olds not 2 year olds. What are we doing to our children?
Next, we move on to the component - Patterns with the learning expectation - Begins to understand the relationship between objects, solving simple jigsaw puzzles and matching similar shapes. The first performance indicator for this one is: Begins to identify simple objects by their use, color, and shape. I fear I will be a broken record in this post. A child must have a certain level of language development to conquer this performance indicator. I have seen 3 year olds struggle with this performance indicator because it also assumes quite a bit of attention capability. Many of today's children do not pay enough attention to detail to notice use, color, and shape much less identify it. I have found that many of these areas have to be directly taught before children attain this level. They will not discover this without exposure.
The second performance indicator for this one is: Correctly stacks nesting cups, completes simple inset puzzles, and completes stacking ring in correct order through trial and error. I will start with the last one. Any teacher will tell you that the majority of children today will not stay with a task long enough to figure anything out by trial and error. That is laughable. I have had 4 year olds that I had to work with to make them understand inset puzzles. Stacking nesting cups became one of my items to learn before kindergarten my last several years of teaching preschool. It is hard to believe that these skills used to be considered normal for 2 to 2 1/2 year olds. Even with instruction many, many 2 year olds will struggle with these skills but this is the age where you should start the instruction. Exposure will finally bring about success.
Now we will move on to the component - Spatial Sense with the first learning expectation: Matches circle, square, and triangle shapes. The performance indicator for this one is: Uses trial and error to complete circle, triangle, square form board. Two words in that performance indicator make this one laughable - trial and error. Not many children in the 21rst century have enough patience to learn anything by trial and error. However, many 2 year olds can learn their shapes using direct instruction. Children at this age often know more words than they can say. When you work with them directly, they can learn this by the time they are 2 1/2 years old if you start when they turn 2 years old.
The second learning expectations is: Explores world, and understands position in space and how to get around. The performance indicator for this one is: Understands how to climb up, go around, in, or through various spaces to get to or to reach an out of reach object. This performance indicator, since it has little to do with language, actually usually does not present a problem for most 2 year olds. We all know how adept they are at climbing and getting to something out of their reach. Some children are very adept causing much consternation for parent and caregiver alike. However, this performance indicator can also be "helicoptered" from existence. If you never, ever let them explore in this fashion, it will cause them to miss valuable lessons in risk necessary for this age. We cannot save them from all the bumps and bruises that come with normal childhood. We can, however, bolt down all heavy furniture so they do not kill themselves.
Lastly, we will look at the component - Problem Solving with the learning expectation - Explores materials and understands simple acts of cause and effect. The performance indicator for this one is: Begins to build simple block designs through trial and error. Two things about that performance indicator make it laughable - blocks and trial and error. Children these days do not play with blocks like they once did. Most children dump blocks, throw blocks, and maybe use blocks in dramatic play but very few actually build with the blocks. In the latter years of my tenure as a preschool teacher (I am now retired), I had to directly teach them how to build with blocks. I have already covered the ludicrous aspect of children in today's world learning anything through trial and error so I will not belabor the point. In today's entertainment culture you will probably find it necessary as I did to directly teach many things we learned as children through simple play. This will be one of them.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
We will start with the component - Numbers with the learning expectation - Begins to build understanding of more, and one-to-one correspondence. The performance indicator for this one is: Responds to "one" and "one more"; begins to count by imitation. Like most everything, a language delay will affect this performance indicator. Children without a language delay will conquer this one easily, but I am seeing so many children with language delays that the delay is becoming the norm. These standards were developed well over a decade ago and they no longer apply. I see this behavior in 3 year olds not 2 year olds. What are we doing to our children?
Next, we move on to the component - Patterns with the learning expectation - Begins to understand the relationship between objects, solving simple jigsaw puzzles and matching similar shapes. The first performance indicator for this one is: Begins to identify simple objects by their use, color, and shape. I fear I will be a broken record in this post. A child must have a certain level of language development to conquer this performance indicator. I have seen 3 year olds struggle with this performance indicator because it also assumes quite a bit of attention capability. Many of today's children do not pay enough attention to detail to notice use, color, and shape much less identify it. I have found that many of these areas have to be directly taught before children attain this level. They will not discover this without exposure.
The second performance indicator for this one is: Correctly stacks nesting cups, completes simple inset puzzles, and completes stacking ring in correct order through trial and error. I will start with the last one. Any teacher will tell you that the majority of children today will not stay with a task long enough to figure anything out by trial and error. That is laughable. I have had 4 year olds that I had to work with to make them understand inset puzzles. Stacking nesting cups became one of my items to learn before kindergarten my last several years of teaching preschool. It is hard to believe that these skills used to be considered normal for 2 to 2 1/2 year olds. Even with instruction many, many 2 year olds will struggle with these skills but this is the age where you should start the instruction. Exposure will finally bring about success.
Now we will move on to the component - Spatial Sense with the first learning expectation: Matches circle, square, and triangle shapes. The performance indicator for this one is: Uses trial and error to complete circle, triangle, square form board. Two words in that performance indicator make this one laughable - trial and error. Not many children in the 21rst century have enough patience to learn anything by trial and error. However, many 2 year olds can learn their shapes using direct instruction. Children at this age often know more words than they can say. When you work with them directly, they can learn this by the time they are 2 1/2 years old if you start when they turn 2 years old.
The second learning expectations is: Explores world, and understands position in space and how to get around. The performance indicator for this one is: Understands how to climb up, go around, in, or through various spaces to get to or to reach an out of reach object. This performance indicator, since it has little to do with language, actually usually does not present a problem for most 2 year olds. We all know how adept they are at climbing and getting to something out of their reach. Some children are very adept causing much consternation for parent and caregiver alike. However, this performance indicator can also be "helicoptered" from existence. If you never, ever let them explore in this fashion, it will cause them to miss valuable lessons in risk necessary for this age. We cannot save them from all the bumps and bruises that come with normal childhood. We can, however, bolt down all heavy furniture so they do not kill themselves.
Lastly, we will look at the component - Problem Solving with the learning expectation - Explores materials and understands simple acts of cause and effect. The performance indicator for this one is: Begins to build simple block designs through trial and error. Two things about that performance indicator make it laughable - blocks and trial and error. Children these days do not play with blocks like they once did. Most children dump blocks, throw blocks, and maybe use blocks in dramatic play but very few actually build with the blocks. In the latter years of my tenure as a preschool teacher (I am now retired), I had to directly teach them how to build with blocks. I have already covered the ludicrous aspect of children in today's world learning anything through trial and error so I will not belabor the point. In today's entertainment culture you will probably find it necessary as I did to directly teach many things we learned as children through simple play. This will be one of them.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Wednesday, October 9, 2019
The Dangers of Building on the Wrong Foundation
This post will look at the importance of building your philosophies and worldview on the right foundation. This post is for Christian educators.
What Is Your Foundation?
Everyone in this world has a philosophical base upon which they screen all information they receive. Many people do this without even realizing that it happens. Do you know what your philosophical foundation is? Most people do not or think they have one foundation when in reality they have another. As Christian educators, most of us believe that we have a Biblical foundation or worldview, but do we? Many of us have let our education and training override our Christian values without knowing that it happened. Let me give you some self-reflection questions that will help you decide if you truly have a Biblical worldview. (1) Do you believe in the sin nature or do you believe that all people are born with a clean slate and learn sin behavior? (2) Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father or do you believe that there are many paths to the Father? (3) Do you believe in absolute standards of right and wrong or do you believe everything can be categorized into different shades of gray? (4) When the Bible and your training conflict, which one do you follow? If you answered yes to any of the second parts of those questions, you do not have a true Biblical worldview. You have a mix of Biblical and humanistic worldviews. If you answered yes to all of the second parts of the previous questions, you do not have a Biblical worldview at all.
Why Does it Matter?
Some of you may have had to answer yes to the second half of some of those questions and now have started to take offense at me. However, I ask you to back up and reflect. As Christians we are called to be salt and light in this world. If the world cannot tell the difference between us and the rest of the world, we fail at this job. Being a Christian involves more than just church attendance and/or trying to be "good." If we do not follow His word, we are not following Him. Do we really think that is okay? I know how much our "training" skews from God's perspective and quite a bit of the time outright contradicts what the Word of God teaches. The time has come for us to stand up and tell these "trainers" enough is enough. As Christian early childhood educators we have been entrusted with our most precious resource at the time when they are the most impressionable. God will hold us to higher standards. He does not take lightly when we cause these little ones to stumble. He will not accept our excuses over what the culture demands. He called us to come out of them and be separate. It matters greatly to our Father in Heaven how we conduct ourselves as early childhood educators. Make sure you understand where your foundation lies and make double sure that you build upon the Rock and not the sinking sand of the world around us.
How Do You Fix a Faulty Foundation?
What do you do if you realize that you have not been building on the Rock? Number one, you have to know what the Word of God says. Reading your Bible should be the daily habit of every Christian. A carpenter knows his tools before he lays a foundation. A Christian must knows his "tools" before trying to lay a foundation for life. Number two, you have to make a conscious choice to do what the Word of God says. Reading the Bible everyday is worthless if it goes in one ear and out the other. The foundation does not magically build itself. It takes effort and sacrifice. Number three, you have to filter through your beliefs and make sure they line up with the Word of God. This represents probably the most painful part of this process. It takes humility and a teachable spirit to admit you have swallowed lies. It takes courage to stand up to those lies and change. However, knowing that you live your life in the center of His will cannot be equaled.
Conclusion
The purpose of this post is not to make you feel bad and then leave you. I wrote this post to challenge you to question everything you have been taught and filter it through the Word of God. The time has come for the church of God to take a stand and push back on all the nonsense we have shoved down our throats. The time has come for us to trust God to take care of us, show us His way of doing our jobs, and let Him take care of the fallout. We need to affect the culture not the other way around. Be His hands and feet in the early childhood world. Do not be afraid to toss aside many of our "best practices" because they are lies of the evil one. Be strong and courageous in the time that God has put you.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
What Is Your Foundation?
Everyone in this world has a philosophical base upon which they screen all information they receive. Many people do this without even realizing that it happens. Do you know what your philosophical foundation is? Most people do not or think they have one foundation when in reality they have another. As Christian educators, most of us believe that we have a Biblical foundation or worldview, but do we? Many of us have let our education and training override our Christian values without knowing that it happened. Let me give you some self-reflection questions that will help you decide if you truly have a Biblical worldview. (1) Do you believe in the sin nature or do you believe that all people are born with a clean slate and learn sin behavior? (2) Do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to the Father or do you believe that there are many paths to the Father? (3) Do you believe in absolute standards of right and wrong or do you believe everything can be categorized into different shades of gray? (4) When the Bible and your training conflict, which one do you follow? If you answered yes to any of the second parts of those questions, you do not have a true Biblical worldview. You have a mix of Biblical and humanistic worldviews. If you answered yes to all of the second parts of the previous questions, you do not have a Biblical worldview at all.
Why Does it Matter?
Some of you may have had to answer yes to the second half of some of those questions and now have started to take offense at me. However, I ask you to back up and reflect. As Christians we are called to be salt and light in this world. If the world cannot tell the difference between us and the rest of the world, we fail at this job. Being a Christian involves more than just church attendance and/or trying to be "good." If we do not follow His word, we are not following Him. Do we really think that is okay? I know how much our "training" skews from God's perspective and quite a bit of the time outright contradicts what the Word of God teaches. The time has come for us to stand up and tell these "trainers" enough is enough. As Christian early childhood educators we have been entrusted with our most precious resource at the time when they are the most impressionable. God will hold us to higher standards. He does not take lightly when we cause these little ones to stumble. He will not accept our excuses over what the culture demands. He called us to come out of them and be separate. It matters greatly to our Father in Heaven how we conduct ourselves as early childhood educators. Make sure you understand where your foundation lies and make double sure that you build upon the Rock and not the sinking sand of the world around us.
How Do You Fix a Faulty Foundation?
What do you do if you realize that you have not been building on the Rock? Number one, you have to know what the Word of God says. Reading your Bible should be the daily habit of every Christian. A carpenter knows his tools before he lays a foundation. A Christian must knows his "tools" before trying to lay a foundation for life. Number two, you have to make a conscious choice to do what the Word of God says. Reading the Bible everyday is worthless if it goes in one ear and out the other. The foundation does not magically build itself. It takes effort and sacrifice. Number three, you have to filter through your beliefs and make sure they line up with the Word of God. This represents probably the most painful part of this process. It takes humility and a teachable spirit to admit you have swallowed lies. It takes courage to stand up to those lies and change. However, knowing that you live your life in the center of His will cannot be equaled.
Conclusion
The purpose of this post is not to make you feel bad and then leave you. I wrote this post to challenge you to question everything you have been taught and filter it through the Word of God. The time has come for the church of God to take a stand and push back on all the nonsense we have shoved down our throats. The time has come for us to trust God to take care of us, show us His way of doing our jobs, and let Him take care of the fallout. We need to affect the culture not the other way around. Be His hands and feet in the early childhood world. Do not be afraid to toss aside many of our "best practices" because they are lies of the evil one. Be strong and courageous in the time that God has put you.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Tuesday, May 28, 2019
Language Development for 2 to 2 and 1/2 year olds - Communication (Part 3)
This post will finish the discussion of the component - Expressive Language. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
We will start with the learning expectation - Uses words and some conventions of speech to express thoughts and ideas. The first performance indicator is: Puts together two or more words to make simple sentences. As early childhood professionals we are often counting words to see when this age group will start putting two or more words together. When I first started childcare 15 years ago, children reached this milestone rather easily. I noticed with every passing year that more and more children struggled with first simple sentences and then words in general. For a long time I blamed lack of exposure to oral reading activities as the culprit, but as the years passed it took more and more intervention to pull these children up. Now, I am almost convinced that environmental chemicals in our food supply and overall environment may be causing slow detrimental harm to our children. I wish someone would start asking serious hard questions about the "science" that we have been fed as "safe." Our children seem to be in a fog. I have had enough chemistry and biology to understand that we may be altering the developmental trajectory of an entire generation.
The second performance indicator is: May use pronouns incorrectly. Nowadays, most teachers would be thrilled beyond belief to have the children use pronouns at all before the age of three. Many, many children barely talk at all before two and a half these days. If a child this age uses pronouns, count yourself blessed whether they use them correctly or not. If you see a child beginning to seriously lag at this age, you might want to begin not just speech intervention but maybe purging processed food from their diet. As childcare providers you also might want to look at removing as many chemicals from your environment as possible. Many more natural options for cleaning are available. It makes a bigger difference than you realize.
The third performance indicator is: Demonstrates through actions the understanding of action verbs like "run," "hit," "jump," "climb." Oral recognition of words develops faster than spoken speech. Therefore, more children conquer this one as opposed to the spoken speech indicators. However, I have still seen about 25% of children that lag in oral understanding of words. These are the children that truly seem to live in a constant fog until closer to their third birthday or beyond. If you find that your children seem to need extra practice in oral language, make sure you tell oral stories that involve lots of action words letting the children act out those actions.
The next performance indicator is: Begins to use social conventions such as "please" and "thank you." Instead of going off this time about lagging language development, I want to talk about the destruction that too much choice has done to manners. Basic social manners has all but faded from public discourse, and a great causation of that involves making children believe that they do not have to do anything that they do not want to do. It takes a certain amount of coercion to teach children that they need to say "please" and "thank you." A great deal of them will not do it without gentle coercion. In today's crazy politically correct society, adults are not allowed even gentle coercion anymore. This is ridiculous. Teach the children in your care to say "please" and "thank you" when they do begin to talk. Be a part of the solution to our mess and not another crazy addition to the mob that keeps telling us we cannot expect anything of children anymore. Everyone that comes into contact with your children will thank you.
The last performance indicator is: 50% of what the child is saying is understood by unfamiliar listeners; familiar listeners understand more. Wow! I have seen many four year olds that cannot be understood by strangers. If I see a two to two and a half year old nowadays that can be understood by strangers, I take note and ask questions. That is how rare it is. My own biological children were nearly speaking in paragraphs by the age of two and a half but that was nearly 30 years ago. So much has changed. Maybe someday we will get these metrics going in a good direction.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
We will start with the learning expectation - Uses words and some conventions of speech to express thoughts and ideas. The first performance indicator is: Puts together two or more words to make simple sentences. As early childhood professionals we are often counting words to see when this age group will start putting two or more words together. When I first started childcare 15 years ago, children reached this milestone rather easily. I noticed with every passing year that more and more children struggled with first simple sentences and then words in general. For a long time I blamed lack of exposure to oral reading activities as the culprit, but as the years passed it took more and more intervention to pull these children up. Now, I am almost convinced that environmental chemicals in our food supply and overall environment may be causing slow detrimental harm to our children. I wish someone would start asking serious hard questions about the "science" that we have been fed as "safe." Our children seem to be in a fog. I have had enough chemistry and biology to understand that we may be altering the developmental trajectory of an entire generation.
The second performance indicator is: May use pronouns incorrectly. Nowadays, most teachers would be thrilled beyond belief to have the children use pronouns at all before the age of three. Many, many children barely talk at all before two and a half these days. If a child this age uses pronouns, count yourself blessed whether they use them correctly or not. If you see a child beginning to seriously lag at this age, you might want to begin not just speech intervention but maybe purging processed food from their diet. As childcare providers you also might want to look at removing as many chemicals from your environment as possible. Many more natural options for cleaning are available. It makes a bigger difference than you realize.
The third performance indicator is: Demonstrates through actions the understanding of action verbs like "run," "hit," "jump," "climb." Oral recognition of words develops faster than spoken speech. Therefore, more children conquer this one as opposed to the spoken speech indicators. However, I have still seen about 25% of children that lag in oral understanding of words. These are the children that truly seem to live in a constant fog until closer to their third birthday or beyond. If you find that your children seem to need extra practice in oral language, make sure you tell oral stories that involve lots of action words letting the children act out those actions.
The next performance indicator is: Begins to use social conventions such as "please" and "thank you." Instead of going off this time about lagging language development, I want to talk about the destruction that too much choice has done to manners. Basic social manners has all but faded from public discourse, and a great causation of that involves making children believe that they do not have to do anything that they do not want to do. It takes a certain amount of coercion to teach children that they need to say "please" and "thank you." A great deal of them will not do it without gentle coercion. In today's crazy politically correct society, adults are not allowed even gentle coercion anymore. This is ridiculous. Teach the children in your care to say "please" and "thank you" when they do begin to talk. Be a part of the solution to our mess and not another crazy addition to the mob that keeps telling us we cannot expect anything of children anymore. Everyone that comes into contact with your children will thank you.
The last performance indicator is: 50% of what the child is saying is understood by unfamiliar listeners; familiar listeners understand more. Wow! I have seen many four year olds that cannot be understood by strangers. If I see a two to two and a half year old nowadays that can be understood by strangers, I take note and ask questions. That is how rare it is. My own biological children were nearly speaking in paragraphs by the age of two and a half but that was nearly 30 years ago. So much has changed. Maybe someday we will get these metrics going in a good direction.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Friday, April 12, 2019
The Dangers of Rushing to Judgment
This post will look at the societal and emotional damage caused by rushing to judgment and how that affects the children in our care.
Dirty Laundry Culture
As we launch into this topic, I felt that this would be the perfect place to start. We live in a dirty laundry culture that rushes to judgment constantly. We fixate on all the juicy dirt on anyone and everyone while not considering the consequences of this fixation. Don Henley's song might as well be the anthem of our time. All of this juicy gossip brings us momentary pleasure until it is our dirty laundry that someone has spread to the ends of the Earth. When will we ever learn that we reap what we sow? When you take delight in another person's sorrow and difficulty and do not give them the benefit of the doubt, you will someday reap the very same difficulty. It is built into the universe and you cannot escape it. Gossip comes with an enormous price. It is not a innocent sin that receives a wink from God. Gossip destroys people's lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, most of us do not learn this lesson until we are on the receiving end of gossip.
The New Puritans
Mix our culture's tendency with other people's dirty laundry and the removal of absolute moral standards and you have today's version of Puritans. These new Puritans follow political correctness down to the letter. They are also extremely adept at twisting narratives to fit their politically correct agenda. They use our culture's tendency toward dirty laundry to destroy their adversaries through allegations. However, they excuse their own sins though virtue signaling. As long as they follow every politically correct cause, they feel themselves to be better than those that do not. However, the ever shifting foundation of social norms, like gossip, comes with a high price. On the surface, social norms seem harmless. A country should be able to determine its own moral standards, right? No. Social norms shift with the mob and you never know when the social norms will shift out from under you. It is imperative to keep up with the latest trends so that this never happens to you. If you happen to miss a new shift, you will quickly find yourself on the wrong side of the mob with your only option being extreme apologies and self-deprecation. Not only must you keep up with the ever changing narrative, but you must also not cross the wrong person. If you do, you will find out quickly how adept they are at twisting a narrative. Every act from your past that does not meet today's standard of political correctness will be paraded for all to see. Depending on how bad you have crossed the wrong person will determine your level of penance and sometimes you will be deemed irredeemable and declared whatever "ist" they find appropriate. The problem with living this way should be obvious. Political correctness shifts almost constantly. It is exhausting to try to keep up with it. Many well-meaning people suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the mob for reasons they do not understand. Then just like the Puritans of old, these new Puritans excommunicate you or worse because you failed to live up to their standards. Mix this new phenomenon with our dirty laundry culture and it makes perfect sense that our suicide rate has skyrocketed. People, you do not have to live this way. Jesus provided grace for us because we will never be able to meet any kind of standards on our own. We will fail and failure is simply not an option in this culture.
The Ugly Truth of Our Success Culture
If you have taken a "success" course recently, you might have noticed that these courses paint life as if it should go from one success to the next success. Businesses should constantly grow and expand. Our careers should always go up and never down or sideways. They teach us that if we use the right systems and make the right contacts that our professional lives will be an ever increasing proposition. Real life does not work like that. Life is an endless series of hills and valleys. When success oriented people hit a valley, they freak out. One of the ways that many success oriented people deal with downturns involves pulling other people down to make themselves look better. Another way they mask failure is through virtue signaling. The first example reflects using gossip to make yourself feel better about failure. The second one uses the puritan culture to mask your own insufficiencies. Many people do not tie our cultural push for success with political correctness but it goes hand in hand. The new Puritans must always be right and therefore must always be successful. This causes people to hide their flaws at all costs and rush to judgment against other people to distract from their own failures. The name of this awful practice is projection. People very often accuse others of what they themselves have done in order to distract people from the real mistakes and sometimes outright crimes. They need everyone to rush to judgment on the other person so that they can quietly exit out the back door.
What Ever Happened to Forgiveness?
I hope the three previous sections have opened your eyes to the true state of our current cultural climate. People live in constant fear of doing or saying the wrong thing and finding themselves on the wrong side of the mob. Those that feel they have all the power direct the mob to hide all of their own insufficiencies. I do not know about you but I am sick of the mob. I want forgiveness back. I want to go back to a time when people understand that we are all sinners saved by grace. We all make mistakes. We all do stupid things. We cannot go from success to success. I want a culture that understands the hills and the valleys even the valleys of our own creation. This present reality cannot be sustained. We have reached a breaking point to where either we will come to our senses and dethrone the political correctness tyrant or we will find that we no longer live in a free society. That second reality will mean that this horrible state of affairs will go on and on and on.
How Do We Restore Sanity?
Number one, make a covenant with your soul that you will never be a part of the mob. Teach yourself to step back and understand that there is always two sides to any story. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In other words, do not rush to judgment. Number two, refuse to play by their rules. Going along to get along does not work anymore. We have reached a point in our society where either you will step up or you will concede all of your liberties. We do not have to define anything by their terms and we do not have to apologize for it either. Stop apologizing for moral standards. The only way to stop a bully is to call their bluff and be prepared for some hurt in the process. When they see you stand your ground, they will freak out and require a safe space. Personally, I do not want to live like this anymore. I have faced the mob down before and it was ugly for a season. Then it turned into empowerment and liberation. Nothing comes without cost but our liberties are worth the fight.
Conclusion
Now let us take this into the early childhood realm. What are you modeling for the children in your care? Do they hear you gossiping about others? Do they see you bully parents into submission over differences? Remember you are surrounded by little sponges that soak up everything they see and hear. Are you very deliberate in getting to all the truth before you judge? The only way we stop this epidemic of rushing to judgment involves both teaching ourselves not to go there and teaching the little ones a different way.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Dirty Laundry Culture
As we launch into this topic, I felt that this would be the perfect place to start. We live in a dirty laundry culture that rushes to judgment constantly. We fixate on all the juicy dirt on anyone and everyone while not considering the consequences of this fixation. Don Henley's song might as well be the anthem of our time. All of this juicy gossip brings us momentary pleasure until it is our dirty laundry that someone has spread to the ends of the Earth. When will we ever learn that we reap what we sow? When you take delight in another person's sorrow and difficulty and do not give them the benefit of the doubt, you will someday reap the very same difficulty. It is built into the universe and you cannot escape it. Gossip comes with an enormous price. It is not a innocent sin that receives a wink from God. Gossip destroys people's lives and livelihoods. Unfortunately, most of us do not learn this lesson until we are on the receiving end of gossip.
The New Puritans
Mix our culture's tendency with other people's dirty laundry and the removal of absolute moral standards and you have today's version of Puritans. These new Puritans follow political correctness down to the letter. They are also extremely adept at twisting narratives to fit their politically correct agenda. They use our culture's tendency toward dirty laundry to destroy their adversaries through allegations. However, they excuse their own sins though virtue signaling. As long as they follow every politically correct cause, they feel themselves to be better than those that do not. However, the ever shifting foundation of social norms, like gossip, comes with a high price. On the surface, social norms seem harmless. A country should be able to determine its own moral standards, right? No. Social norms shift with the mob and you never know when the social norms will shift out from under you. It is imperative to keep up with the latest trends so that this never happens to you. If you happen to miss a new shift, you will quickly find yourself on the wrong side of the mob with your only option being extreme apologies and self-deprecation. Not only must you keep up with the ever changing narrative, but you must also not cross the wrong person. If you do, you will find out quickly how adept they are at twisting a narrative. Every act from your past that does not meet today's standard of political correctness will be paraded for all to see. Depending on how bad you have crossed the wrong person will determine your level of penance and sometimes you will be deemed irredeemable and declared whatever "ist" they find appropriate. The problem with living this way should be obvious. Political correctness shifts almost constantly. It is exhausting to try to keep up with it. Many well-meaning people suddenly find themselves on the wrong side of the mob for reasons they do not understand. Then just like the Puritans of old, these new Puritans excommunicate you or worse because you failed to live up to their standards. Mix this new phenomenon with our dirty laundry culture and it makes perfect sense that our suicide rate has skyrocketed. People, you do not have to live this way. Jesus provided grace for us because we will never be able to meet any kind of standards on our own. We will fail and failure is simply not an option in this culture.
The Ugly Truth of Our Success Culture
If you have taken a "success" course recently, you might have noticed that these courses paint life as if it should go from one success to the next success. Businesses should constantly grow and expand. Our careers should always go up and never down or sideways. They teach us that if we use the right systems and make the right contacts that our professional lives will be an ever increasing proposition. Real life does not work like that. Life is an endless series of hills and valleys. When success oriented people hit a valley, they freak out. One of the ways that many success oriented people deal with downturns involves pulling other people down to make themselves look better. Another way they mask failure is through virtue signaling. The first example reflects using gossip to make yourself feel better about failure. The second one uses the puritan culture to mask your own insufficiencies. Many people do not tie our cultural push for success with political correctness but it goes hand in hand. The new Puritans must always be right and therefore must always be successful. This causes people to hide their flaws at all costs and rush to judgment against other people to distract from their own failures. The name of this awful practice is projection. People very often accuse others of what they themselves have done in order to distract people from the real mistakes and sometimes outright crimes. They need everyone to rush to judgment on the other person so that they can quietly exit out the back door.
What Ever Happened to Forgiveness?
I hope the three previous sections have opened your eyes to the true state of our current cultural climate. People live in constant fear of doing or saying the wrong thing and finding themselves on the wrong side of the mob. Those that feel they have all the power direct the mob to hide all of their own insufficiencies. I do not know about you but I am sick of the mob. I want forgiveness back. I want to go back to a time when people understand that we are all sinners saved by grace. We all make mistakes. We all do stupid things. We cannot go from success to success. I want a culture that understands the hills and the valleys even the valleys of our own creation. This present reality cannot be sustained. We have reached a breaking point to where either we will come to our senses and dethrone the political correctness tyrant or we will find that we no longer live in a free society. That second reality will mean that this horrible state of affairs will go on and on and on.
How Do We Restore Sanity?
Number one, make a covenant with your soul that you will never be a part of the mob. Teach yourself to step back and understand that there is always two sides to any story. Be quick to hear, slow to speak, and slow to anger. In other words, do not rush to judgment. Number two, refuse to play by their rules. Going along to get along does not work anymore. We have reached a point in our society where either you will step up or you will concede all of your liberties. We do not have to define anything by their terms and we do not have to apologize for it either. Stop apologizing for moral standards. The only way to stop a bully is to call their bluff and be prepared for some hurt in the process. When they see you stand your ground, they will freak out and require a safe space. Personally, I do not want to live like this anymore. I have faced the mob down before and it was ugly for a season. Then it turned into empowerment and liberation. Nothing comes without cost but our liberties are worth the fight.
Conclusion
Now let us take this into the early childhood realm. What are you modeling for the children in your care? Do they hear you gossiping about others? Do they see you bully parents into submission over differences? Remember you are surrounded by little sponges that soak up everything they see and hear. Are you very deliberate in getting to all the truth before you judge? The only way we stop this epidemic of rushing to judgment involves both teaching ourselves not to go there and teaching the little ones a different way.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Friday, March 22, 2019
Language Development for 2 to 2 and 1/2 year olds - Communication (Part 2)
This post will continue the discussion of language development finishing up the component - Receptive Language and beginning the component - Expressive Language. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Development Standards (TN-ELDS).
First, let us finish the component - Receptive Language and the learning expectation - Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The last performance indicator for this one is: Begins to answer questions such as "What's this?" when looking at a book. To be honest, I have seen a lot of three year olds that do not do this. I have stated on multiple occasions that the questioning from children has all but disappeared. This distresses me greatly. What have we done to our children that we have all but killed a child's natural inquisitiveness? To make matters worse, today's parents do not understand that something is missing. However, grandparents that have been paying attention realize that something is amiss. Is it the electronics and smart phones? Is it processed food or some other environmental factor? I do not know. I do know that many, many children do not have adults that read to them on a regular basis, but the level of decline cannot be fully explained by lack of reading alone. Many children of previous centuries did not have availability to books but they still retained the inert inquisitiveness. This is a truly recent development. People, let these children play outside. Take the smart phones away and feed them whole natural food. It cannot hurt to make these changes and it may reset the downward spiral I have observed.
Now we will move on to the component - Expressive Language. The first learning expectation for this one is: Participates in conversation. The first performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Uses vocabulary of 50+ words; some children can reach up to 200 words. At the age of two years old, a great schism occurs in language development. Some two year olds soar off into the stratosphere while others barely communicate at all. This is the age where personalizing instruction becomes greatly important. Not all two year olds are created equal. This is also the age where a child will begin to display how he/she learns. I have an extensive library of posts on learning styles on this blog. You can use the search engine to find them if you like. They were posted in 2014. A child that does not display a working vocabulary of 50 words by two and a half may need to start receiving language intervention. It could be a sign of development delay or it could also be caused by environmental factors. Both situations call for intervention at different levels.
The next performance indicator is: Asks lots of "what" questions (e.g., "What's this - - - -?"). As I said in the first section, the questioning from children has all but disappeared at this age. I have even seen a large decline in three year olds that ask a lot of these questions. This lack of questioning presents a very large problem because this remains one of the biggest ways that children build vocabulary. If that same child does not have an adult that reads to him/her then the language delay grows even larger. If your two to two and a half year old is not asking questions, you may need to model this behavior for them. Ask them "what's this?" You may also have to tell them the name of the object but you may also jumpstart their own curiosity.
The next performance indicator is: Likes to sing songs. I am happy to finally say that this one is usually universally conquered. Even children with developmental delays learn to sing songs. Something about music connects with all children. However, one note of caution is in order. Be careful, what kind of music in which you expose the children. Many, many childcare providers have situations when children start spouting off pop lyrics that are wholly inappropriate for their age. When children listen to music, they will pick up much more than you bargain for sometimes. Be careful.
The last performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Knows and can say first name. Again, this is one that most children conquer. If a child does not know and can say their first name by two and a half years old, you will most definitely need to have that child tested for developmental problems. This one serves as one of the best indicators of whether or not your child might be on the autistic spectrum.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
First, let us finish the component - Receptive Language and the learning expectation - Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The last performance indicator for this one is: Begins to answer questions such as "What's this?" when looking at a book. To be honest, I have seen a lot of three year olds that do not do this. I have stated on multiple occasions that the questioning from children has all but disappeared. This distresses me greatly. What have we done to our children that we have all but killed a child's natural inquisitiveness? To make matters worse, today's parents do not understand that something is missing. However, grandparents that have been paying attention realize that something is amiss. Is it the electronics and smart phones? Is it processed food or some other environmental factor? I do not know. I do know that many, many children do not have adults that read to them on a regular basis, but the level of decline cannot be fully explained by lack of reading alone. Many children of previous centuries did not have availability to books but they still retained the inert inquisitiveness. This is a truly recent development. People, let these children play outside. Take the smart phones away and feed them whole natural food. It cannot hurt to make these changes and it may reset the downward spiral I have observed.
Now we will move on to the component - Expressive Language. The first learning expectation for this one is: Participates in conversation. The first performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Uses vocabulary of 50+ words; some children can reach up to 200 words. At the age of two years old, a great schism occurs in language development. Some two year olds soar off into the stratosphere while others barely communicate at all. This is the age where personalizing instruction becomes greatly important. Not all two year olds are created equal. This is also the age where a child will begin to display how he/she learns. I have an extensive library of posts on learning styles on this blog. You can use the search engine to find them if you like. They were posted in 2014. A child that does not display a working vocabulary of 50 words by two and a half may need to start receiving language intervention. It could be a sign of development delay or it could also be caused by environmental factors. Both situations call for intervention at different levels.
The next performance indicator is: Asks lots of "what" questions (e.g., "What's this - - - -?"). As I said in the first section, the questioning from children has all but disappeared at this age. I have even seen a large decline in three year olds that ask a lot of these questions. This lack of questioning presents a very large problem because this remains one of the biggest ways that children build vocabulary. If that same child does not have an adult that reads to him/her then the language delay grows even larger. If your two to two and a half year old is not asking questions, you may need to model this behavior for them. Ask them "what's this?" You may also have to tell them the name of the object but you may also jumpstart their own curiosity.
The next performance indicator is: Likes to sing songs. I am happy to finally say that this one is usually universally conquered. Even children with developmental delays learn to sing songs. Something about music connects with all children. However, one note of caution is in order. Be careful, what kind of music in which you expose the children. Many, many childcare providers have situations when children start spouting off pop lyrics that are wholly inappropriate for their age. When children listen to music, they will pick up much more than you bargain for sometimes. Be careful.
The last performance indicator for this learning expectation is: Knows and can say first name. Again, this is one that most children conquer. If a child does not know and can say their first name by two and a half years old, you will most definitely need to have that child tested for developmental problems. This one serves as one of the best indicators of whether or not your child might be on the autistic spectrum.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Friday, February 15, 2019
The Dangers of Knowledge without Wisdom
This post will be specific to Christian educators. It will look at how dangerous it can be to have knowledge without the Godly wisdom necessary to apply that knowledge. We will also look at knowledge that wisdom proves to be wrong and how to know the difference.
What is Knowledge?
Webster defines knowledge as something learned and kept in the mind. Other definitions include understanding gained by actual experience, range of information, and clear perception of truth. In today's world, knowledge is gained through education for the most part. Knowledge of skill can be acquired through experience but much of what we know has been taught to us. Therefore, knowledge depends greatly on the voracity of the information conveyed. One of my favorite quotes from President Ronald Reagan goes as follows: "It is not that my liberal friends are ignorant, it is just that they know so much that is not so." That completely sums up today's world. The older I become, the more I see the truth in that quote. So much of what we "know" simply does not match the reality of the matter. The Bible tells us that knowledge puffs up. Again, a truer statement could not be made. People that believe themselves to be knowledgable often look down on those that they believe to not be as knowledgable. Knowledge can only be as valuable as the source that produces it. Therein lies the danger of knowledge. Sometimes it is hard to know how reliable the source of the information proves to be.
What is Wisdom?
Webster defines wisdom as good sense. It also has the definition of a wise attitude or course of action. The world struggles with the concept of wisdom because the Bible defines it best. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What does that mean? When we understand that God is all and in all and through all and we have a healthful fear or respect for that, we understand wisdom. Wisdom involves following God's way of doing things when all the world screams that you should not be doing that. It is the deep understanding that the One that created the universe might have the inside tract on how things function and work. When God is the foundation, everything else falls into its place. Does the world have its own version of wisdom? Yes but it is closer to knowledge than actual wisdom. The first definition Webster gives for wisdom covers this concept which involves accumulated philosophic or scientific learning. However, the voracity of the information accumulated absolutely affects the quality of the wisdom just like with knowledge. Until you go to the Source of all things, you run the risk of building on the wrong foundation.
What happens when you have knowledge without wisdom?
As I stated in the section on knowledge, the Bible states that knowledge puffs up. People that think themselves to be knowledgable also tend to be extremely arrogant. Wise people tend to be humble. How does this play out in the real world? Knowledge without true wisdom breeds division and contempt for the "unknowledgable." Knowledge paired with true wisdom breeds peace, joy, love, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Recognize that list? That is the fruit of the Spirit. The reason for the difference has everything to do with the foundation. I have talked extensively about bias and worldviews. Those two concepts affect everything. They determine the foundation and that absolutely determines outcomes. When your knowledge has no basis in God's truth, you are building on sand. Whether you realize it or not, you come off as arrogant and pushy. You will look down on those that do not share your "knowledge" despite your best efforts not to do so. Even religious people can be terribly guilty of this practice. Ever heard of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Knowledge for the sake of knowledge in any area produces these results. Knowledge applied through wisdom produces good results for the person and for all the other people in their orbit. Wisdom edifies others.
What happens when wisdom discredits your knowledge?
This has actually happened to me a lot lately. I have always trusted what I have been taught except when it obviously contradicts the Word of God. Here lately, I have come to understand that almost everything I have been taught has to be filtered through its biases. I now question almost everything. I do not take anything at face value anymore. I have also done a lot more research to find the beginnings of certain movements throughout history and their objectives. It really does matter. The more that you know the more you understand that people have agendas. Those agendas drive what passes as knowledge. People used to not be so gullible. They took new knowledge with a grain of salt and shelved it to compare it to other knowledge. That is wisdom personified. Do not take every bit of information to heart until you have filtered it through the Word of God and prayer. God will show you if you are patient what is real and what is not. He is the source of all knowledge. Do not trust "smart" people just because they have all the degrees in the world. You must know if what they have been taught comes from the Maker of the universe or the god of this world. If the god of this world proves to be the source, run from it like your life depends on it.
How does this apply to early childhood?
I have written extensively on the basis of much of what passes for early childhood theory. Most if not all of the "knowledge" taught in early childhood classes has a secular humanistic foundation. This is a problem. A great deal of it outright contradicts what the Word of God teaches. As Christian educators you have a decision to make. Do you trust these humanistic experts? Or do you trust the Maker of the universe that might just maybe know how children grow and develop? What is the basis for your knowledge? How much value do you place on Godly wisdom?
Conclusion
My fellow Christian educators, the time has come to lay our fears aside and STAND for what our God tells us. We have cowered in fear and our society has paid an extremely heavy price for our cowardice. Whether they know it or not, our presence provides blessings and our absence brings chaos. If we do not stand, God does not bless us. How many times in the Bible does our Father tell us to stand firm and having done all to stand. Lay aside the knowledge that comes from the world and take up the wisdom of God without apology. Only when our knowledge has been firmly grounded in the Word of God will we see the good results we all want for all children.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
What is Knowledge?
Webster defines knowledge as something learned and kept in the mind. Other definitions include understanding gained by actual experience, range of information, and clear perception of truth. In today's world, knowledge is gained through education for the most part. Knowledge of skill can be acquired through experience but much of what we know has been taught to us. Therefore, knowledge depends greatly on the voracity of the information conveyed. One of my favorite quotes from President Ronald Reagan goes as follows: "It is not that my liberal friends are ignorant, it is just that they know so much that is not so." That completely sums up today's world. The older I become, the more I see the truth in that quote. So much of what we "know" simply does not match the reality of the matter. The Bible tells us that knowledge puffs up. Again, a truer statement could not be made. People that believe themselves to be knowledgable often look down on those that they believe to not be as knowledgable. Knowledge can only be as valuable as the source that produces it. Therein lies the danger of knowledge. Sometimes it is hard to know how reliable the source of the information proves to be.
What is Wisdom?
Webster defines wisdom as good sense. It also has the definition of a wise attitude or course of action. The world struggles with the concept of wisdom because the Bible defines it best. The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom. What does that mean? When we understand that God is all and in all and through all and we have a healthful fear or respect for that, we understand wisdom. Wisdom involves following God's way of doing things when all the world screams that you should not be doing that. It is the deep understanding that the One that created the universe might have the inside tract on how things function and work. When God is the foundation, everything else falls into its place. Does the world have its own version of wisdom? Yes but it is closer to knowledge than actual wisdom. The first definition Webster gives for wisdom covers this concept which involves accumulated philosophic or scientific learning. However, the voracity of the information accumulated absolutely affects the quality of the wisdom just like with knowledge. Until you go to the Source of all things, you run the risk of building on the wrong foundation.
What happens when you have knowledge without wisdom?
As I stated in the section on knowledge, the Bible states that knowledge puffs up. People that think themselves to be knowledgable also tend to be extremely arrogant. Wise people tend to be humble. How does this play out in the real world? Knowledge without true wisdom breeds division and contempt for the "unknowledgable." Knowledge paired with true wisdom breeds peace, joy, love, patience, goodness, kindness, gentleness, and self-control. Recognize that list? That is the fruit of the Spirit. The reason for the difference has everything to do with the foundation. I have talked extensively about bias and worldviews. Those two concepts affect everything. They determine the foundation and that absolutely determines outcomes. When your knowledge has no basis in God's truth, you are building on sand. Whether you realize it or not, you come off as arrogant and pushy. You will look down on those that do not share your "knowledge" despite your best efforts not to do so. Even religious people can be terribly guilty of this practice. Ever heard of the Pharisees and Sadducees? Knowledge for the sake of knowledge in any area produces these results. Knowledge applied through wisdom produces good results for the person and for all the other people in their orbit. Wisdom edifies others.
What happens when wisdom discredits your knowledge?
This has actually happened to me a lot lately. I have always trusted what I have been taught except when it obviously contradicts the Word of God. Here lately, I have come to understand that almost everything I have been taught has to be filtered through its biases. I now question almost everything. I do not take anything at face value anymore. I have also done a lot more research to find the beginnings of certain movements throughout history and their objectives. It really does matter. The more that you know the more you understand that people have agendas. Those agendas drive what passes as knowledge. People used to not be so gullible. They took new knowledge with a grain of salt and shelved it to compare it to other knowledge. That is wisdom personified. Do not take every bit of information to heart until you have filtered it through the Word of God and prayer. God will show you if you are patient what is real and what is not. He is the source of all knowledge. Do not trust "smart" people just because they have all the degrees in the world. You must know if what they have been taught comes from the Maker of the universe or the god of this world. If the god of this world proves to be the source, run from it like your life depends on it.
How does this apply to early childhood?
I have written extensively on the basis of much of what passes for early childhood theory. Most if not all of the "knowledge" taught in early childhood classes has a secular humanistic foundation. This is a problem. A great deal of it outright contradicts what the Word of God teaches. As Christian educators you have a decision to make. Do you trust these humanistic experts? Or do you trust the Maker of the universe that might just maybe know how children grow and develop? What is the basis for your knowledge? How much value do you place on Godly wisdom?
Conclusion
My fellow Christian educators, the time has come to lay our fears aside and STAND for what our God tells us. We have cowered in fear and our society has paid an extremely heavy price for our cowardice. Whether they know it or not, our presence provides blessings and our absence brings chaos. If we do not stand, God does not bless us. How many times in the Bible does our Father tell us to stand firm and having done all to stand. Lay aside the knowledge that comes from the world and take up the wisdom of God without apology. Only when our knowledge has been firmly grounded in the Word of God will we see the good results we all want for all children.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Friday, January 18, 2019
Cognitive and Language Development for 2 to 2 and 1/2 year olds - Early Literacy and Communication (Part 1)
This post will finish the discussion for Cognitive Development and begin discussion of Language Development. We will zero in on the components - Phonological Awareness and Receptive Language. Remember I am taking my information from the Tennessee Early Learning Developmental Standards (TN-ELDS).
First, we look at the component - Phonological Awareness. The learning expectation is: Engages in and enjoys word play with silly sounds and real and nonsense words. The performance indicator is: Plays with words himself if he hears adult modeling rhymes and silly-sounding words. To be truthful, I have not seen many children this age conquering this particular performance indicator even with adult modeling. With adult modeling I do see this 6 months to a year later. We have so many compounding effects of our culture on our children from chemical exposures to bombardment of technology that language development gets lost in translation. This is sad beyond words. However, do not lose hope. Read to children. Play silly word games with them even if they do not play along at first. Stay after it. Until an adult models this, they will never conquer this performance indicator.
Now, we will move on to the component - Receptive Language. The learning expectation for this one is: Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The first performance indicator is: Responds to two-part, related directions that are more complex (e.g. "Pick up your shoe and give it to me."). Unless there is a serious language or developmental delay, most children conquer this one by the age of 2 and 1/2 years. Receptive language tends to develop much sooner and broader than spoken language. However, language delay will rear its ugly head with this one as well. I have had children that do not show true comprehension of receptive language until they are almost three. Some children can do the one-step instructions or instructions in sequence. For example, you can tell them to pick up the shoe. Then you tell them separately to hand it to you. The children that can do the instructions in sequence tend to be children with attention problems and the two-step instruction creates an issue for them. However, even these children can build up to the two-step instruction with practice. It will take a conscious effort on the part of the adult to make sure to work through this process. Many parents and teachers do not realize they are not giving a two-step instruction if they have grown accustomed to the instruction in sequence process.
The next performance indicator is: Listens to simple stories and points to associated pictures. This one very much depends on how much a child has had an adult read to them. Listening is a skill that must be developed and that takes practice. I have seen children this age sit through some fairly long books because they had been read to since they were born. I have seen other four year olds not make it through a shorter book because they were not accustomed to having someone read to them. I once told a room full of parents that I as an educator can tell within five minutes how much they read to their children. The children show their level of expertise with listening as soon as you read to them. A parent can lie all they want about how much they read to a child, but the child's ability to listen will tell on them.
The next performance indicator is: Understands possessive nouns ("my," "mine," "yours"). Unlike a lot of other language performance indicators this one is nearly universal. Even children that drag in development understand "my, mine, and yours" fairly quickly. If a child does not understand this one by the age of 2 and 1/2, you will need to have them tested. A severe language delay or disability may be at hand.
The last performance indicator that we will look at this time is: Understands routines. For children that have a daily routine this one comes naturally. Routines have a way of becoming a part of a child's emotional makeup quickly. Children that are not used to routines will resist routines with every fiber of their being until you get them used to it in spite of themselves. Then they calm and settle in. Most parents swear that I have completely changed their child. The difference blows them away. Little children need routines. They thrive when their days progress in an orderly process. It does not have to be an elaborate routine, but when breakfast, lunch, nap, supper, bedtime all occur at the same time everyday, they tend to be happy little campers.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
First, we look at the component - Phonological Awareness. The learning expectation is: Engages in and enjoys word play with silly sounds and real and nonsense words. The performance indicator is: Plays with words himself if he hears adult modeling rhymes and silly-sounding words. To be truthful, I have not seen many children this age conquering this particular performance indicator even with adult modeling. With adult modeling I do see this 6 months to a year later. We have so many compounding effects of our culture on our children from chemical exposures to bombardment of technology that language development gets lost in translation. This is sad beyond words. However, do not lose hope. Read to children. Play silly word games with them even if they do not play along at first. Stay after it. Until an adult models this, they will never conquer this performance indicator.
Now, we will move on to the component - Receptive Language. The learning expectation for this one is: Understands questions, simple directions, beginning concepts, and the ideas and sequence of stories. The first performance indicator is: Responds to two-part, related directions that are more complex (e.g. "Pick up your shoe and give it to me."). Unless there is a serious language or developmental delay, most children conquer this one by the age of 2 and 1/2 years. Receptive language tends to develop much sooner and broader than spoken language. However, language delay will rear its ugly head with this one as well. I have had children that do not show true comprehension of receptive language until they are almost three. Some children can do the one-step instructions or instructions in sequence. For example, you can tell them to pick up the shoe. Then you tell them separately to hand it to you. The children that can do the instructions in sequence tend to be children with attention problems and the two-step instruction creates an issue for them. However, even these children can build up to the two-step instruction with practice. It will take a conscious effort on the part of the adult to make sure to work through this process. Many parents and teachers do not realize they are not giving a two-step instruction if they have grown accustomed to the instruction in sequence process.
The next performance indicator is: Listens to simple stories and points to associated pictures. This one very much depends on how much a child has had an adult read to them. Listening is a skill that must be developed and that takes practice. I have seen children this age sit through some fairly long books because they had been read to since they were born. I have seen other four year olds not make it through a shorter book because they were not accustomed to having someone read to them. I once told a room full of parents that I as an educator can tell within five minutes how much they read to their children. The children show their level of expertise with listening as soon as you read to them. A parent can lie all they want about how much they read to a child, but the child's ability to listen will tell on them.
The next performance indicator is: Understands possessive nouns ("my," "mine," "yours"). Unlike a lot of other language performance indicators this one is nearly universal. Even children that drag in development understand "my, mine, and yours" fairly quickly. If a child does not understand this one by the age of 2 and 1/2, you will need to have them tested. A severe language delay or disability may be at hand.
The last performance indicator that we will look at this time is: Understands routines. For children that have a daily routine this one comes naturally. Routines have a way of becoming a part of a child's emotional makeup quickly. Children that are not used to routines will resist routines with every fiber of their being until you get them used to it in spite of themselves. Then they calm and settle in. Most parents swear that I have completely changed their child. The difference blows them away. Little children need routines. They thrive when their days progress in an orderly process. It does not have to be an elaborate routine, but when breakfast, lunch, nap, supper, bedtime all occur at the same time everyday, they tend to be happy little campers.
I hope you have enjoyed this post. Goodbye and God bless!!
https://linktr.ee/natawade
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)