First Former Buddy Club President

[Image Description: Picture of a classroom ]   There are many different types of standardized tests and diverse controversial opinions about standardized tests. Typically, public schools use their standardized tests for funding while private schools use them to assess each student's academic and functional skills. For example, during my time of doing my Field Experience at the Bryn Athyn Church School in Bryn Athyn, PA, my third graders took the Iowa Assessments back in April. The third graders are assessed on the following skills when taking the Iowa Assessment: Vocabulary, Reading Comprehension, Spelling, Capitalization, Punctuation, Usage and Expression, Math Concepts and Estimation, Math Problem Solving and Data Interpretation, Math Computation, Social Studies, Maps and Diagrams, Reference Materials, Word Analysis, and Listening. In addition, when I was in first through third grade, my peers and I had to take the Terra Nova exams. When I moved to Murray Avenue School, w...

[Image Description: Temple Grandin is on a book cover wearing a blue sweater, black pants, and white shoes with one small brown cow, small black cow, and a big brown cow in the background on a farm. Below the picture "THINKING IN PICTURES" is in navy blue text, "AND OTHER REPORTS FROM" is in black text, "MY LIFE WITH AUTISM" is in red text, and "TEMPLE GRANDIN WITH A FOREWORD BY OLIVER SACKS" is in navy blue text. ] Bibliography: Grandin, T. (1995). Thinking in Pictures, and other reports from my life with autism.  New York: Vintage Books.     Temple Grandin is a notable female autistic disability advocate, and the author of her autobiography called Thinking in Pictures, and other reports from life with autism . She has written many other books about her disability journey along with having "a Ph.D. in animal science from University of Illinois and has designed one-third of all of the livestock-handling facilities in the United States, and m...

[Image Description: The front and middle of a purple yoga mat on a gray floor is pictured. "thursday" is in center-aligned cursive white text overlapping the yoga mat. "08:51" is in decreased white text center-aligned under "thursday." "friendly reminder: you are strong + beautiful + worthy of happiness + healing(white heart emoji)" is in center-aligned black text in a rectangular white box under "08:51." "BRYN ATHYN COLLEGE" is in center-aligned white text in a rectangular clear box with round points. A white upside-down tear drop shaped location symbol with a clear dot in the middle of it is on the left side of "BRYN." Part of one of my feet wearing a white sock and beige pants are also pictured at the bottom of the image. ]      In my second trimester at Bryn Athyn College, I was required to take a Physical Education course of my choice as a General Education class towards my degree. I have always been very intere...

[Image Description: 17 yellow vertical stripes and 17 light yellow vertical stripes ] I was required to write a short story analysis essay about "The Yellow Wallpaper" in the Writing II General Education course that I took at Bucks County Community College towards my degree. Since mental health conditions (which one of the characters in the story has) are related to the content that I post, I have decided to upload the essay as a blog post. TRIGGER WARNING: If you are affected by domestic abuse and/or segregation, this blog post may be triggering. If you need support right now, please reach out to a therapist, other mental health professional, or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE (7233) or text "START" to 88788 (available in the USA). You can also  call the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 988, text "HOME" to the Crisis Text Line at 741741 if you live in the USA, or text "CONNECT" to the Crisis Text Line at 6868...

[Image Description: "'Those who kept silent yesterday will remain silent tomorrow.' -Elie Wiesel" in left-aligned white text with a blurred shadow. There is a blurred shadowed white circle with a skinny Star of David outlined in dark blue with a blurred shadow on the circle on the top left side above the text. There is a yellow and black star on the top right side above the text. The rest of the image has a dark gray background. ] Holocaust Remembrance Day is observed on January 27 every year. Besides the Jews, there were many other diverse communities that were held captive and tortured in the concentration camps as well. The disability community was one of them and all of the prisoners were forced to wear badges sewn onto their jackets and trousers. These badges had different colors and designs to identify each prisoner's reason for being held captive in the concentration camps. The black and yellow triangle above is what the badge looked like that concentration...

[Image Description: Gerry (left) sitting in a chair and smiling and I (right) am standing bent forward and smiling. Gerry is wearing a short-sleeved white t-shirt, dark purple glasses, and her straight blonde hair is in a half-up half-down hairdo. There is also a rectangular orange tray with two rectangular card board red and white containers of chicken tenders with a black and white checkered napkin in each on a black table in front of Gerry. To the left of the tray, there is a large-sized white cup of soda with 2 pictures of red soda bottles on it that say "Coca-Cola" in white text. The cup has a clear lid with a clear straw poked through it. I am wearing a dark maroon sweater and dark violet headband with my long, curly, brown hair down. There is a clear glass salt shaker with a silver metal lid on it in front of the tray that is in front of Gerry. Part of a rectangular orange tray with part of a rectangular card board red and white container of French fries and white card...

[Image Description: "'Every child deserves a champion - an adult who will never give up on them, who understands the power of connection, and insists that they become the best that they can be." -Rita F. Pierson" in center-aligned bold black text. There is also a light yellow stars and a pale blue background. ] CONTENT WARNING:  I would like to mention that I am not a psychologist or therapist. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care advice. If you suspect that you or your child are experiencing any mental health concerns, it is okay to get help. I highly recommend seeking help from a psychologist, therapist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so. When I was taking my Observing and Recording Behaviors of Young Children course at Bucks County Community C...

[Image Description: "PECS HAS GIVEN OVER 100,000 PEOPLE A VOICE. -WEST SUSSEX COUNTY COUNCIL" is in center-aligned white letters on a black letter board with a beige wooden border laying on a red, yellow, blue, and purple quilt. ] CONTENT WARNING:   I would like to mention that I am not a medical doctor or  psychologist. All content posted on disability advocate/teacher influencer page is for educational purposes with no intent to provide any professional services. Social media should never be used as a substitute for mental nor medical health care advice. If you suspect that you or your child are experiencing any developmental concerns, it is okay to get help. I highly recommend seeking help from a medical doctor, psychologist, and/or other professional who is qualified to do so. For my Fieldwork in Education course that I took in my last semester at Bucks County Community College, I had to read an article of the Picture Exchange Communication System (PECS) and w...

[Image Description: Group picture of 6 of my former young toddler students and I dressed in Halloween costumes. 5 of my young toddler students and I are sitting on a smooth wooden brown floor and the other young toddler is standing on the floor to the right of the picture. There are orange jack-o-lantern emojis covering each young toddler's face and the image has a white border on the top and bottom of it. ] Originally posted on March 28, 2020 on Facebook Notes on my Facebook page Writer's Note: Some small tweaks have been added to this blog post due to present updates in my classroom and center's curriculum along with pictures added this time. 1. How old were your students? During my first two years of teaching, my young toddler classroom was for 18-24 month olds. In fall 2020, however, due to short staffing at my center and there not being enough toddlers in the 12-18 month old room, both toddler classrooms combined in my classroom until further notice. While it is more w...