As we are so very near the end of this course I would like to say thanks for the support and commiseration to all of my classmates. For most of us this was a frustrating challenge and now we are so close to the end. What will be will be, and we will still have or be able to get jobs, have families that love us and other successes in our lives. Lets not allow one bad class to get us down, after it's over we still have the rest of our lives. It's only 10 weeks out of our whole lives and comparatively that's not much. I wish all of my classmates well and success in all future endeavors.

After my grade on Applicaton 3, which is the lowest grade I have EVER gotten on any paper I am feeling a bit lost. I feel like I have a good topic to advocate for, which is for time for kindergarten children to have some free play time, because they don't. I have some good resources that I found on educaton.com, and scholastic as well as local sites for NJ and my county of Hunterdon. I am not sure if I have questions for my project other than what am I doing wrong? Another really good resource is the NAEYC, as well as my local branch.
I guess one question would be am I doing a worthwhile topic, do kindergarten children need to have play time in the curriculum? I feel strongly that they do, because childdren these days are so scheduled, and kids learn so much from peer interaction that we cannot teach them. They have to experience it.
My presentation is on Thurs, so I am a bit nervous after my bad grade. But I will do my absolute best because what I am fighting for is more important than my ego or my grade.

If a doctor, lawyer, or dentist had 40 people in his office at one time, all of whom had different needs, and some of whom didn't want to be there and were causing trouble, and the doctor, lawyer, or dentist, without assistance, had to treat them all with professional excellence for nine months, then he might have some conception of the classroom teacher's job. ~Donald D. Quinn

What inspires me about my advocacy is being in a kindergarten classroom as a teacher or an aide, and witnessing them not having any time for free play. I don’t like seeing children who are five years old have a school day that is totally scheduled with no down time. They have not time set for centers, child directed play or even teacher directed play activities. I feel that these students are missing out on an important part of their education.

My biggest anxiety is not making a fool of myself in front of professionals in the education field. I am afraid of being asked a question and freezing up, having my brain not work.

My biggest challenging emotion is nervousness about public speaking. I believe that I can overcome that by being very well informed. I can also make sure to be prepared for opposing views and attitudes. Many people do not like change, and will fight it, so what I have to do is to be prepared for anything. For example if someone at a school board meeting states that children do not learn while playing with each other, I can refute that with statistics and facts to the contrary. I can let those who oppose know that children learn social skills, math concepts as well as literacy concepts while playing, as well as problem solving and practice with critical thinking. One way of teaching children successfully is to allow them to learn from each other.

I hope that I can get others excited about the need for children to have an opportunity to play in school, and hope that maybe some will allow more time for play at home. I am hoping that I can be persuasive enough to motivate others with information. I think that others can encourage me to keep going by being as excited as I am about curriculum changes for kindergarten.

So it's the beginning of a new term and our final research. I am looking forward to it, and getting more in depth with my subject of full day kindergarten and the need for play in the education of young children. Good luck to all of you!!