Final Discussion-Reflection-Reva Arthur

     I have really learned a lot through this course. I never really understood the power of blogging through coursework, until now. So many of the posts by other students and my instructor has guided my learning and success through this course. I have gained many valuable insights in this course, such as how important it is to advocate and to have a cause. I have learned that there is a purpose and a passion to advocating. It is vital to be informed about your advocacy cause, thus the purpose of this course. I feel I'm better informed and equipped to advocate and even fund my advocacy cause of childhood obesity. Advocacy is all about making a difference. My passion as a teacher has always been to make a difference in the lives of the students and families I serve. I feel strongly, that one primary way to advocate and reach students and families is to care about all that concerns them, even their helath. I really enjoyed this course and feel empowered by the many resources I now have to continue my advocacy cause.

Blog 4- Observing an Intering with Families-Reva Arthur

     I was able to observe and communicate with parents and families of students during the end of the year celebration. this is a time when all of the families of the students are invited to the school for a fun filled day of activities, food and fun. I volunteered to do face painting. I find you can get more information when you are actively involved in the process. I knew the parents would feel as though I was a part of the school, versus a student volunteer just randomly asking them questions for a class.
     I saw a lot of support from professionals at the school as it relates to supporting the effort of the actual event. There were information booths manned by the staff members to give directions and information about the fun day. This was an excellent opportunity for parents and staff to communicate.  There was also a table set up in the cafeteria where an outside publishing company came in and donated summer remediation workbooks to all of the parents of the students who attended the school. I found this to be very thoughtful of the staff. I feel when parents know you care about their students, they are more apt to show care and concern as well. 
     I was able to observe and interact with both staff members, students and parents through my volunteer position as a face painter. Did I also forget to mention I'm an artist, who was able to create professional grade face painting? This was one of the ways I was able to attract so many people to my table, because they only wanted me to paint their faces. I even received tips. I think I had more fun than the students. Many of the parents did inquire if I were a new teacher? This opened the door for further communication.
     I gained many new insights, one is that most parents are eager to talk and share information with staff, if staff know how to engage and get the trust of the parents. I also tutor and was able to sign many of the students up for tutoring sessions over the summer as a result of my communicating with the parents. We were able to talk about many topics, such as the direct relation of obesity and classroom performance. Many of my parents were eager to give me personal information and background information about their struggles as an overweight child. 
     Another insight I gained is that was in direct relation to my advocacy interest is that as I observed the types of foods that were served at the event, I could not find a single healthy item except water and pickles. I find that when children are offered healthy choices, they are more apt to choose a healthy snack. I wish more programs would provide more healthy food options to children at the fair, circus or end of the year events such as the one I observed at my host site. I did not see many activities that promoted exercise either. I think I saw one bouncer and a DJ booth set up for students to dance freely.  I wish there was a booth set up to give children information about health and nutrition to serve them through the summer months.  Overall I enjoyed my observation of families, children and staff/professionals.
    

Blog 3 - Interview with Professionals

     I'm completing my observations at a school that serves grades k-5. The class that I'm observing is a 1st grade classroom. The school had many support staff. It has a principal and an assistant principal.  I had the opportunity to further interview with the assistant principal. She is a female and has taught in the classroom prior. She was very insightful to me as  teacher and parent. She did  communicate to me that even though she works in the city, she lives in the rural area of our town. She stated she has a daughter who is a 9th grader this year and she is overweight. She explained to me that she sees a lot of struggles in her daughter that she sees in the students at her school as it relates to obesity. She did explain to me that her child attends a school in a rural area and there was little to no consideration in her daughter's program that focused on preventing childhood obesity. Ms. Brown stated the curriculum for her daughter only involved one semester of physical education and the other was a theory based health class. She stated she was not very please with this lack of concern for health and obesity at the high school level and it only forced her to look at the programs they had in place at her school on the elementary level.
     I now have a better understanding of why people tend to advocate for a cause, it is normally something that affects or has affected them. I feel you have to be passionate about a cause to advocate for it, it has to be in your heart to make a difference.  Many people will start an advocacy cause then later stop fighting for it. I feel this is in part to the fact , that the cause was not a part of their heart. It has to be something you can not let go of in your mind. I feel this way about teaching and educating children. This is something I can't let go of. I know right now many professionals in the field of education or rethinking or second guessing their chosen fields, but I am an advocate not only for childhood obesity, but education as well. I feel all children deserve to be properly educated and cared for in and out of the school setting. 
     I had the privilege to observe the end of the year field day at this school. I felt this would be an opportunity to see all of the fun physical activities and challenges I remember seeing when I was a child during field. I found none of that was the case. Many of the professionals were walking around the campus in their themed t-shirts in a volunteer capacity, but I did not see many physical activities. This is a neighborhood school. They seemed to be focused on the number of parents and outside officials they could have at their school for the sake of the day, instead of offering more physical activities for the children. They did have a bouncer, but I noticed many of the students that were older did not jump in it. I also saw an area where a disc jockey was stationed and the children were allowed to dance to current music. I'm unsure if the children were even aware they were exercising, or the benefits of dancing as a physical activity.
     I did ask the office staff clerk, whom I saw was very instrumental in organizing the event, if the children were going to do relay races or other physical activities. She stated because the weather was inclement, they had to move a lot of the activities inside in the event it started to rain. I feel they should have been more prepared to make field day more physical, regardless if it rained or not. They should have had a rain date, to ensure physical activities would be able to take place. No administrative personnel seemed to be the slightest concerned that field day appeared to turn into a carnival in my opinion.  I saw more food items being served and sold, than children being engaged in physical activities. I find this is the same with families and children. Parents are comfortable with children watching video games or some other indoor activity than going outside and getting physical exercise. Most parents do not want to go outside with their children and supervise them, just as most schools do not want to do the same. Most of this is normally left to the physical education teacher in schools and a few teacher and parent volunteers. I feel everyone needs to advocate for more physical activity in and outside of the classroom.

Hello ,
could someone please send me a response to verify you can see my blog/intervies assignment. I published it, but want to ensure it is being seen and I added student URL's correctly. Thank you for your help.

Reva Arthur

     The two professionals I chose to interview had direct information on the my advocacy topic of Childhood Obesity. I chose a first grade teacher named Jessica and a Nutrition Aide named Cheryl. The both had so much to share through the interview from both a professional and personal prospective. I found that even though they both work in different capacities with children, many of their insights were the same.  What I also found to be interesting is that many of their thoughts were parallel to my own, during the interviews.  The insights I found regarding current advocacy efforts and needs in my area of interest within the field of early childhood is that both of he professionals felt children needed to get more exercise during and after school. I do agree, with the level of single parents today; it is often difficult for children to have access to outdoor play after school. The interviews really influenced my decision about the area of childhood obesity because most of their concerns were in direct correlation with what is taking place today that contributes to childhood obesity.  Cheryl pointed out that some of the issues are portion sizes and control, and choice selection. Working closely with the cafeteria manager, she pointed out that it is also important to prepare foods in a healthy manner for children. She stated to limit the salt, sugar and butter we add to foods and take a more natural and wholesome approach when seasoning foods.  The questions that I have for my colleagues related to my interest choice of childhood obesity applies to many people today; who are struggling with obese children. One question would be, what can we do as educators to help eliminate childhood obesity? Who should be held accountable for obese children? Should we hold our school systems and government accountable.  Cheryl made a point, that many programs have either limited or cut the physical education programs in schools. Jessica also pointed out the effects that childhood obesity plays in the classroom as it relates to diet and poor nutrition. She stated this all plays a negative effective on the children cognitively. They are either too hyper or lethargic due to poor diets.  I asked Jessica if there was one thing she could change today to help stop childhood obesity, and she state it would be to increase awareness on healthy choices and the benefits of feeding children healthy foods. She stated she would want an initiative that educated the entire family and the school systems. She added the results would improve it they all worked together collaboratively. In conclusion I found that we all shared a common concern for the issues and topics that faced childhood obesity, and that was as a community we need to take action.

hooray

I did my first blog.