What Makes People Tick?

Israel National News reports that for the second time since the start of Operation Protective Edge; United Nations workers have found rockets stored in one of their schools in Gaza. United Nations relief agency UNRWA has discovered, for a second time during the current war in Gaza, Hamas terror rockets stashed in one of its vacant schools.  A statement by UNRWA Tuesday said that “Today, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.” Source: Again, Rockets found in UNRWA schools , Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

"Yesterday, in the course of the regular inspection of its premises, UNRWA discovered approximately 20 rockets hidden in a vacant school in the Gaza Strip.   UNRWA strongly condemns the group or groups responsible for placing the weapons in one of its installations. This is a flagrant violation of the inviolability of its premises under international law.   This incident, which is the first of its kind in Gaza, endangered civilians including staff and put at risk UNRWA’s vital mission to assist and protect Palestine refugees in Gaza."  Source: UNRWA strongly condemns placement of rockets  in school , UNRWA Published 17 July 2014.

When I studied Teaching at University, we learnt about lots of relevant and interesting subjects. Not only did we learn 'basics' like (how to teach) science, mathematics, languages and technology, we also learnt a lot of theories. At first, the theories puzzled us slightly yet after the first year or so, we started seeing the connections between all the different subjects we were studying. "Seeing the connections" was something that happened gradually, yet our entire class of 20-30 women got there around the same time. It was a shared process of discovery in which we learnt from each other and with each other and were able to grow and change our insights together.

Today's blog post is going back to the Early Days! Childcare, Education and some Developmental Theories thrown in! Brace yourselves! My cousin who's a working mother of two, sent me a link to a post by blogger Stephanie Metz. Her comment: "Finally someone says what I've been thinking!" This of course got me thinking, and got me curious to read the post. Blogger Stephanie Metz writes about her life as a working mother on her blog The Metz Family . The post I'm talking about is from October 2013 entitled " Why My Kids Are NOT the Center of My World " and as she cautions, it may be a controversial post to read.

Urie Bronfenbrenner (1917 - 2005) was a Russian American psychologist and professor known for developing the Ecological Systems Theory. He was generally regarded as one of the world's leading scholars in the field of developmental psychology. I learned about theorists such as Bronfenbrenner while studying towards my B.Ed. Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory views the person as developing within a multi-layered system of relationships. Using the example of a child, the systems are: The Microsystem - One's family, classroom The Mesosystem - Two micro-systems in interaction (i.e. family and classroom) The Exosystem - External environments which indirectly influence development The Macrosystem - The larger socio-cultural context. Added later: The Chronosystem - The evolution of the external systems over time. Each system contains roles, norms and rules that can powerfully shape development. (Source: Wikipedia ) The Microsystem: The setting in which the indi...