Statement of Purpose
I intend to apply for a Ph.D Program in
Child Development at Erik Erikson institute, Loyola University Chicago for the
fall of 2014.
Motivation and
Purpose
Studying the
Child Development at the Masterâs degree opens several doors for me to discover
the other aspects of educating children. I learned that it is not about caring
only; it is also about sharing, educating, parenting, and upbringing a child
who is a fundamental part of any great and successful society. As a child
developmental, we are equally important with Researchers, Engineers, and
Doctors. The reason is that we build societies by educating the prospective
generations.
Being a Saudi
woman, I aim for a radical change in understanding and implementing the concept
of child development in Saudi Arabia. This change will be achieved by
continuing studying this felid to be more versed of child development, and
applying that during the study. In fact, am a child who is never went to
kindergarten, never taught to share things, never be socially engaged with
others out of my comfort zone even my siblings. A result of all that, I grow up
love doing things by myself, not understanding the concept of participation.
And other problems that by the time still suffer form. However, most of girls
at my age, who went to kindergarten, had no better performances neither
academically, nor socially. This means that the kindergarten did not impact
them.
Academic
background
Undergraduate
study:I majored in Home Economics from the Art and Seines School of King
Khilad University, located Abha City in Saudi Arabia. The major included
several subjects, such as: Art Education, Statistics, Growth Psychology,
Teaching Methodology, Islamic Moral, Kindergarten and Nurseries, Nutrition in
Different Age Stages, Child Care, and others.
My performance
of both academic courses and extracurricular activities was obviously high as
it is shown on my official transcript. I obtained a great chance during my last
two years of college to teach Art Seines at Intermediate School, and Culinary
Arts at High School. I also acted as the assistant to the Principle of both
Intermediate and High Schools, in completing some of administrative works. In
2009, I completed the program with Honor Degree with a 4.3 grade point
average out of 5.
Graduate Study:
After I successfully completed my undergrad, I got a fall
scholarship from the Saudi Culture Mission to continue my education. Since my
undergrad major included difference fields, I got chance to study several
courses of Business concentration on Hospitality at Johnson & Wales
University, located at Providence, RI. However, I truly did not find myself in
this field because of my undergraduate was more in education than in business,
I love dealing with people not numbers. For these reasons, I decided to
transfer to Southern New Hampshire University, located at Manchester, New
Hampshire, where I pursued my Masterâs degree in Child Development
Administration from School of Education. I surly obtained a quite education
during the Masterâs degree journey, where I got several opportunities to
observe children from different culture backgrounds. Moreover, I have attended
many classes beside on technological tools, that is, to see how to integrate
technology to any lesson. On April 2013, I was pleasure to attend Young Child
Expo and Conferences in New York City. The conference encouraged me to continue
my education along with my ambition to learn more about children, who are the
the flower of life and adornments, and the joy of souls. We see the hope in
their smiles, the ambition in their eyes, and the future in their movements.
They promote us to advancement, teach us not to despair, enrich our lives with
their presence. All these reasons and more are compelling reasons to consider
as a source of thinking
At the end of
the master program, in particular, the Practicum course, I have determined to
write a research paper titled âThe Child Development In The Light Of Islamâ.
Many reasons have influenced me to write this topic. Some of these reasons are
to educate people about the Child Development Concept from Islamic perspective.
Also, to present and combine different aspects of Child Development, which
include play, undernutrition, learning, art, and poverty. On September 2013, I
completed the Masterâs Degree of Child Development, and I obtained a 3.97 grade
point average out of 4.
Prospective
Goals
Bystudying
Child Development, I aim to achieve the following goals:
–
To identify the role of kindergartens in developing the values of
pre-school children.
–
To develop an educational curriculum for bilingual kindergarten to
be able to do its duty to the fullest educational.
–
To develop a teaching method that combines both concepts: play and
learn, in order to enhance the cognitive development of bilingual children.
Objectives:
All objectives
are beside on my prospective goals, as follows:
Plan for professional
study and my future career
On May 2013, I
was interviewed by several prestigious universities on Saudi Arabia for a Lecturer
position, such as: Hail University, King Abdulaziz University, and King Khaild
University, which is the one I graduated from. By accepting the job, I will be obtained
a full scholarship to continue my education in the United States.
Research
Interests
During my
studying, I have always been interested on the cognitive development of
bilingual children that is because of observing my two nephews and my friendsâ children.
I have been in satiation where I found a huge gap between teaching a bilingual
child, who learns the second language before the mother language, both
languages. During my research, I found out that mastering the first language
will make learning the second language much easier, because the individual is
gaining the experience to learn the language in general. Also, it has been
shown that children who learn a second language before the first language
proficiency suffer from weakness in the first language and the second language
alike. For this reason, I would like to do further research in this regard. How
can child developmental and educators develop methods to overcome this
obstacle. All that is a result of believing that a
bilingual person is more mature than others.
This maturity is a result of viewing other civilizations and cultures. This
leads to a general level, where the bilingual person affects the society
positively by encouraging people to learn otherlanguages. A result of
that is having a cultured community.
Since I am a
Saudi and international candidate, I have always interested on differentiation of cultures, how that does not hide
parental love, and how dose culture shape our way of thinking. I have wrote my
cultural autobiography using theBronfenbrennerâs theory, which is
defined the environment around the child to layers, and how each layer affects
the childâs development.
Work
experience
As
it is obvious in all my provided documents, I just graduated last month on
September 1st, and before that, in particular, myundergraduate,
I got a full scholarship right after my graduation. For this reason, I have not
got a chance to actually work; however, I have been always surrounded by
children who I really, sometime, found myself implementing what I have studied.
Moreover, being a child from a Saudi family, my upbringing in Arabian culture
is totally different from other nations. In this culture, every member of the
family is responsible of his/her family members without any order of the
parents; it is something clear and normal in any family, which can be called
âbeing a part of the familyâ concept. As I have mentioned previously, being a
child of Saudi family, I am always surrounded by siblings, cousins, and family
friendsâ children. This environment has shaped my personality and enhanced my
ability to be accountable and
dependable person. To be honest, I consider that as one of greatest work
experience.
Reason of applying
I have read
your program information description, and feel the Child Development Ph.D
Program should be suitable and compatible to me. The purpose of my applying for
a place at your university is precisely to acquire the depth of knowledge and
sophistication of methodology to attain a superior level of expertise by way of
strict training.