Final Blog Assignment - Week 8

My Three Consequences

1.  I have learned on a weekly basis, even though I was not successful in making contact with a professional to correspond, that there is a wealth of information to be found online.  I have expanded my resource base with numerous sites I found and that have been shared by other classmates.

2.  I joined The Society for Research in Child Development http://www.srcd.org/ ..  I was given access to numerous resources and links to connect with other professionals within the field.  There are several social policy reports that I was able to utilize within assignments for this class and hopefully it will be of great help during the next class.

3.  During week 3 my search led me to a link for the World Forum Foundation http://worldforumfoundation.org/ .  I was being extremely hopeful and attempted to contact Irma Allen, Chairperson for the Environment Authority of Swaziland and member of the Nature Action Collaborative for Children.  I was not successful, but the search led me to a story she was telling about a retirement ceremony of a teacher (World Forum Foundation Radio, n.d.).  A man who was a former student was there and approached the teacher and described the wonderful experiences and memories he had as a child in her care.  He described feeling safe with her.  He shared that those experiences have impacted his whole life and assisted with his accomplishments.  This gives one hope and proof that what we do does matter so much, even when we do not realize at the time.  The children we help and teach do not forget us.

My One Goal

Throughout this learning experience what has occurred to me over and over is the fact that although we may be thousands of miles apart and from very different and unique cultures, we are basically facing and trying to overcome many of the same issues-poverty, inequities, homelessness, and not having the importance and emphasis placed upon childhood and the area of child development that it needs and deserves, to name just a few.  Yes, there are some countries that have much bigger issues than we do here in the states and I do not mean to make them seem to be less critical than they are.  My goal for us would be to view the field of child development, children, families, and our desire for growth and progress in the field as a uniting factor that can bring us together and enable us to embrace our differences.

I would also like to say thank-you for the wealth of experience and knowledge each of you has shared within this class.  I look forward to working with each of you in upcoming classrooms and perhaps at some time within the professional field.  I find it very heart-warming to be able to go into these areas of shared interest and feel the love and dedication that each of you have for children, families and the profession.

                                                               Reference

World Forum Foundation Radio. (n.d.). [Audio podcast]. [With Irma Allen]. Retrieved from http://worldforumfoundation.org/get-involved-2/world-forum-radio/ .