Time Well Spent

Here are a few favorite quotes about education I like:

The highest result of education is tolerance. Helen Keller

He who opens a school door, closes a prison. Victor Hugo

A teacher affects eternity; he can never tell where his influence stops. Henry Brooks Adams

Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world. Nelson Mandela

The secret in education lies in respecting the student. Ralph Waldo Emerson


Wow, I cannot believe that my journey at Walden is coming to an end! I want to thank all of you for taking this journey with me. I have learned so much more than I ever thought were possible. The three things I learned: First of all, I learned about the world diversity which I knew little about. Now, I know that diversity means embracing and accepting our differences. The second thing I learned what a running head using APA meant. I cannot believe how many points I lost trying to do this correctly. Now, I know exactly what a running head using APA format means. Finally, I gain a lot of confidence about myself while exploring and understanding my own biases and cultures.

My one long term goal is to continue to learn. We can learn something new everyday. Also, I want to keep in touch with my Walden colleagues as we move on with our lives. Someday, I would like to become an online instructor helping adults to continue their education.

Again, I want to thank all of my colleagues for helping me through my journey at Walden. Cassie, Theresa, and Evelyn, you were my rock! when I did not understand an application. I will be forever grateful! I want to wish you all the best and take care!

Dr. Myers, I want to thank you for all the support and helpful comments with the running head for APA. It meant a lot! I wish you the best, too.

My e-mail address: oceangolddiva@yahoo.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The three internationally organizations that appealed to me and why I chose them are:

1. Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)- I chose this organization because I am not familiar with this organization and I was eager to learn about this organization. The mission of this organization is to promote policies that will improve the economic and social well-being of people around the world. The OECD and the government work together on issues that directly affect the lives of ordinary people. Although there were fourteen jobs opportunities located in Paris, I did not see any job positions that were of interest to me.

2. Save the Children is the leading independent organization creating lasting change in the lives of children in need in the United States and around the world. Save the Children are there when disaster strikes with food, medical care, and education while remaining to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs. The job position that interested me with this organization is Advisor, Early Childhood Development in Mozambique. The Advisor will be responsible for representing Save the Children in national forums and share best practices regarding Save the Children's experiences in community-based preschool education projects. The requirements are a Masters Degree in International Education, Developmental Psychology, with a minimum of three years experience in early childhood development, and strong understanding  of holistic child development and the ways children learn, including early-literacy methodologies.

3. International Step by Step Association (ISSA), is a membership organization that connects professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education. The ISSA promotes equal access to quality education and care for all children, especially in the early years of their lives. The ISSA was established in the Netherlands in 1999, ISSA's network today stretches across the globe from Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia, Asia, and the Americas. While ISSA offers general membership and information sharing to all interested individuals and organizations. The ISSA's  core members are the twenty-nine nongovernmental organizations located primarily in Central/Eastern Europe and Central Asia, that implement the Step by Step Program initiated by the Open Society (OSI) in Nineteen-ninety-four. Within its network, ISSA supports a wide array of programs that collectively provide a comprehensive set of educational services and advocacy tools intended to influence policy reform for families and children, with a special focus on the years from birth through primary schools http://www.isasa.nl/index.html.

In order to seek job opportunities, you had to become a member of the organization, before, you could be connected on the website.

References:

International Step By Step Association, http://www.issa.nl/index.html.


Organization for Economic Co-Operation and Development (OCED), http://www.oced.org/

Save the Children, http://www.savethechildren.org/

Job/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The three organizations that I chose for this blog assignment are: Zero to three: National Center for Infants, The National Association for the Education of Young Children, and Voices for America's Children.

Zero toThree: National Center for Infants appealed to me because it is an organization that provides helpful infomation about infants and toddlers. Zero to Three is a national, nonprofit organization that informs, trains, and supports professionals, policymakers, and parents in their efforts to improve the lives of infants and toddlers. At this time, this national organization did not have any job opportunities available, but this organization offers vacation, sick and holdiay pay, transportation subsidy, professional develoment opportunities and offer a family friendly workplace. http://www.zerotothree.org/

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), appealed to me because it is not only the nation's largest organization working on the behalf of young children from birth to age age eight, but it is the world's largest organization with over eighty-thousand members. On this website, the job that kinda caught my interest was an Associate Editor, Periodicals and Related Resources. The lucky candidate will identify authors, write articles, conduct interviews and collaborate with the editorial team to generate story ideas and formats for an issue of the Association's magazine for preschool educators. The minimum requirement for this job is BA degree and five years of editorial experience and excellent writing skills. Although, I lack work experience for this job, but now I know what a Associate Editor job duties are. http://naeyc.org/

Voices for America's Children appealed to me because it is the nation's largest network for multi-issue child advocacy organizations. This organization is a nonprofit, nonpartisan network which lead advocacy efforts at the community, state and federal levels to improve the lives of all children, especially those vulnerable, and their families. Most of the job opportunities that were available were familiar to me. Such as, a teacher, associate teacher, and cooks. Job requirements for the teaching job were a high school diploma, but a Bachelor's degree was preferred. Also, the lucky candidate must meet state requirements for education. This organization is another resource that is helpful to all children because it speak up for children and put children on government's agenda. http://www.voices.org/

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

This week we had to explore local and state early childhood organizations, agencies, and communities of practice to help us imagine a variety of jobs that help the well-being of children, families, and the early childhood field. The three state and local organizations that appealed the most to me are: 1. Bright from the Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning (GA) http://decal.ga.gov/ 2. Georgia Association on Young Children http://www.gaycoline.org/ 3. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC): http://www.naeyc.org/ I chose these three organizations because each one of these organizations provides a lot of information and resources for early childhood education. The Bright from Start: Georgia Department of Early Care and Learning(GA) oversees a wide range of programs focused primarily on children ages birth to school age and their families. These programs includes: Georgia's Pre-K and Housing the Head Start State Collaboration Office. In my community, these two programs are important to our families. The children in our community are recieving a quailty education at an early age. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children. This is important to know because this website is available to help educators with information about children from birth to age eight. Some of the jobs available for Childhood Care and Education in Georgia with a Bachelor's Degree are: Career Counselors, Child Advocacy Lobbyist, Pre-K Program Administrator, Special Education Trainer, and DFACS Case Manager. A Master's Degree are: College/University Instructor, Early Intervention Coordinator, Organization Director Researcher, and Technical College Instructor. At the moment with my Bachelor's degree in Georgia, I can work as an Pre-K Program Administrator, Career Counselor, Child Advocacy Lobbyist, and DFACS Case Manager. After I recieive my Master's Degree, I can work as an College/University Instructor, Early Intervention Coordinator,Organization Director Researcher, and Technical College Instructor.

Reflecting on Learning

My most passionate hope for my future as an early childhood professional and for the children and families I work with is to keep an open mind and be as understanding. I hope parents will feel comfortable and trust me with their children. I am willing to go the extra miles needed to make sure all children are given the best education possible. After all, children are our future!

I want to thank all of my colleagues which I work with for the last eight weeks. All of the readings through the discussion boards and blogs taught me a lot as our journey continues. For most of us, our journey will end after the next class!

Take Care

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The area of the world I chose is Bangladesh. The reasons why: the name of this region and I was curious to learn about the children and families living in this region.

The challenges children are facing are:

Protection:Bangladesh has one of the highest rates of child-marriage in the world. Thirteen-percent of children are involved in child-labour. Child labourers are frequently denied an education and are vulnerable to violence and abuse. Bandgladesh has one of the lowest rates of birth registration in the world. This makes it difficult to protect children from tracfficking, child labour, and child marriage.

Education: Only eighty-percent of students enrolled in first grade complete primary school. There are high drop out rates and poor quality teaching and learning are serious problems for primary schools. Only forty-six percent of boys and fifty-three percent of girls attend secondary school.

Over half of these families live below the poverty line. Eighty-percent of people survive on less than two-dollars a day. As food prices rise around the globe, the same income buys less and less each week. Families are working harder to meet the basic needs for their children.

The ways these experiences might effect on children's emotional well-being and emotional includes stress, uncertanity,and fear that comes with living in poverty, lack of education, working for child labour, or child trafficking. In addition, these children will grow up with emotional scars that could affect their well-being of becoming a productive adult.

The information I gained this week has helped me to be aware of the serious problems that children and families are going through. As and educator, it is important to be supportive,caring, and understanding while interacting and teaching children whether they are living inside or in another country. All children are special and deserved to be protected and treated the same.

Reference

http://unicef.org/bangladesh/overview_4841.htm?q=printme

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

We are not alarmed that today's children are learning about sex and sexuality. We are all sexual beings from birth, and this is to be celebrated. Children have always been curious about sex and sexuality from an early age, and it is good for parents and schools to give them honest and age-appropriate information. However, the sexualization of childhood is having a profoundly distrubing impact on children's understanding of gender, sexuality, and relationships (Levin & Kilbourne(2009).

Personally, this article just reminded me how young children living in today's society are mislead and easy influenced by the toys, media, internet, and other children about their sexuality. I see the way some parents dress yooung girls and boys inappropriately. Most of the young girls that I work with in pre-k, wear tight jeans, high heels shoes, and booty shorts. The young boys are wearing boxers shorts for underwear, baggy pants and shorts, and oversized shirts like their daddies are wearing. This is a drastic change of dressing compared to when I was growing up as a child. The toys have changed too. Most young girls play with bratz dolls which are dressed liked adults who wear a lot of make-up, wear short dresses and skirts, and wear high-heels shoes,too. Another example would be through music that young children listen too. For example, one day during outside time in pre-k, I heard a group are girls singing and dancing to a song called "Slap them thighs". I was shock to hear and see a group of young girls singing and dancing to this type of song. When I asked the question, where did you hear and learn this song? One of the girls said, my mama and we sing and dance a lot to this song. This helped me to see that the parents in my community need to be educated on what type of music, clothes, and toys are appropriate for young children to be exposed too.

As an early childhood professional, this article on sexualization of early childhood has opened my eyes to just how much our parents and young children are depending on us as educators to help them learn and work to change this negative epidemic is hurting our children from having positive healthy experiences they need for healthy development.

Reference
Levin, D. E. & Kilbourne, J. (2009), So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8), New York:Ballantine Books, Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Describe in detail the consequences you might expect for children adn families with who you work while you experience specific"-ism(s)" in your own life. Include specific examples either those you have and/or experiencing or ones you would anticipate.

The first ism that I experience personally is that of racism. Personally, while working professionally with white families and children, I have noticed that the white parents prefer to talk to the white teacher when they enter the classroom. In other words, the white parent ignores me completely. Therefore, when a white child enrolls in our classroom, I make sure that the white child sits at the white teacher table. I know that this is a bias that I need to learn to work on. I do not feel comfortable or feels that the parents respect me enough to want to work with their children. Also, the white children treat me the same way because the child told me that I was not her teacher anyway. This made me feel sad. I know that the parents taught the children to treat me this way. Therefore, I do my best to respect the parents and children. As an early childhood educator, I must provide the children with the best education possible.

Another ism that I have experienced is sexism where children are raised by the same-sex families. This type of family is something that goes against my upbringing because I grew up in a heterosexual family which consists of a father, mother, three sisters and one brother. When a children from the same-sex family enters the classroom, I have to remember to keep a straight face and respect this family. All families deserves to be treated equally. Therefore, I am striving to overcome this bias because I am an early childhood professional who must respect, accept, and understand the same-sex families that I encounter through my job. Although, I have no problem working with the children coming from the same-sex family, I just have to overcome my uneasiness when these parents come in the classroom to visit.

It is important that I keep working on these biases which involves racism and sexism. This is the only way I will overcome these biases. This will help me to be able to overlook all biases that will prevent me from helping all children to become productive adults.

Observing Communication

Provide an account of your observation

The other day I was in WalMart, during some shopping, I overheard a child was trying to persuade his mother to buy a new toy. The child was telling his mother that he will clean his room and do his homework for school. I could tell the mother looked at her child, she was surprised and happy that her child was offering to do this so that he could get a new toy.

What I noticed is that the mother was listening at what her son was talking about without interrupting him. According to our video: Communication with Young Children (2012), it is important to listen to children without interrupting what they are telling us. When the mother told the child in a soft voice that she did not have enough money to buy the toy today, but she will come back tommorrow to buy the toy. The child did not seem upset instead he smiled and said "thank you." The mother and child went to the counter to check out.

I believe the mother and child communicated very effectively with each other. Both of them listen effectively, used eye contact, and they both respected and accepted each other. The communication interaction affected the child in a positive way because the child did not get the toy that day, but he thanked his mother anyway. She told the child,"she will buy the game the next day."

After observing the mother and child, I learned that it is important to provide respect and listen to children without interrupting them. Now, I know this is important because doing this will give the children time to respond with comments of their own. This week assignment taught me a lot about ways of communicating with young children.

Creating Affirming Environments

"The toys, materials, and equipment you put out for children;the posters, pictures, and art objects you hang on the wall; and the types of furniture and how you arrange them all influence what children learn. In addition to seeing themselves in their learning environment, children also need materials that honor diversity both within and beyond their own identity groups (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

If I were to open my own family child care home, it would be a loving, caring, and happy environment. The transition would be the first room where the children can take time to say goodbye to their parents. In the learning video,Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community, (Laureate, Education 2012). the transition room is a great place for children to gather themselves emotionally before they go into the center. In the transition room,on the walls it will have pictures of colorful butterflies and flowers. On the tables, picutres of the families and children will be displaced throughout the room. Also, their will be a variety of age appropriate books to read,such as, big books for young children. In addition, there will be crayons and paper, too. Finally, in the transition room parents' information wall which will include weekly menus, monthly news letter, calendar, and sign in and out sheets.

The Learning room is where the learning will start with the walls decorated with rainbow colors all around the room. A big sign with the word Welcome hanging on the wall. Music is playing soflty in the background. In the circle area where the children will sit a rug with letters of the alphabets displayed in English and another language is a great way to help children learn letters of the alphabets in another language. The room will be divided into different areas such as, science, house, sand/table,writing, reading, blocks, computer, art, and manipulatives. I would have a table where all the children can bring something special they would like to display about their families.

The sleeping room is where I would have decorated with stars and moons on the walls and from the ceiling. Hopefully, the children will feel at home and comfortable to sleep while listening to soft music playing. Also, I will use night lights, too.

Parents are you ready for me to love and care for your children? You have found the right place!

References:

Derman-Sparks, L. & J.O.(2010), Anti-Bias Education, for Young Children and Ourselves, Washington, DC: National Association for the Education for Young Children (NAEYC)

Laureate, Education (2012), Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community (2012),

Art Gallery- What I Have Learned

One hope that you have when think about working with children and families from diverse backgrounds

I hope all children and families can learn to accept, respect, and understand each other. All children and families deserve to live in a world where we all can be as one.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice

All educators, working in the anti-bias education needs to be properly trained and this will help the families and children in the diversal family.

I want to thank all my colleagues for helping me to expand my knowledge in this class. Reading all your discussions and blogs has helped me tremendously in this class. I am looking forward to continue working and learning with all of you in the next class.

Creating Art

After reading the resources in this class, it has helped me to keep an open mind and same sex families should not be discrimnated against because of their race, religion, econominc status, gender, or ethnic backgrounds. In other other words, all families are special because of love, support, respect, and trust for each other. In the end, children just need love and support from family members. It does not have to be from a male and a female.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

A time when you witnessed an adult (or yourself) reprimand or silence a child after he or she pointed out someone they saw as different

It happen when I took my five year old niece to the grocery store. She said in a loud voice "why is that woman dressed like a man?" I grabbed my niece and quickly left the grocery store. I told her that it was not nice to say things like that because it would hurt people feelings. Next time, when she someone looks different it would be best to ask me and I will tell you. Please use your inside voice.

What messages might have been communicated to this child by the adult's response

It is not nice to scream or say things that might hurt someone's feelings because they look or act different. Now that my niece is older, she tells her younger cousin, it is not nice to say bad things about people because it will hurt their feelings.

An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child's (or classroom's) understanding

The anti-bias educator would have took the time to address the issue in a calmer way without leaving the store in a hurry. The anti-bias educator would listen to the child and ask questions about why and how she knew the woman was dress like a man. It would be a good time to use a book about lesbians and Gays. Hopefully, this would be a positive and healthy way to introduce this child about different lifestyles of men and women.

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

How would you respond to those who belive that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families?

Living in today's society, working in the early childhood center; it is important that children are taught about all families units. Using books is one of the best ways to help our children understand that all people can be included in a family. These books makes it easy to see, accept, and respect differences in families living in today's soceity. In addition, this will eliminate any bias that these young children have grew up with about gays or lesbians.

How would you respond to a parent/family member who informed you they did not want anyone who is perceived as homosexual or transgender to be caring for, educating, and or interacting with their child?

I would explain to the parent or family member that the school board only hire qualified people that does not include their sexual preference. The highly qualified teachers are here to teach your children the curriculum. Also, I would explain just because your children are around teachers who are gay or lesbian are not going to influence your children to become gays or lesbians. In addition, I would give the parent or family member the option are withdrawing their children and enrolling them in another school.

In the public school where I work, one of the teachers are gay and I must say all the children have no problems with his sexual perference. In fact, all the children enjoy and learn a lot in his class. Also, This is a positive and healthy learning environment where the children and teacher respect and accept each other.