Farewell

Over the past couple of years, I have learned a lot about the early childhood profession and myself.  I have learned that while the profession has come a long way, there are still some avenues to explore.  Avenues such as access and teacher qualification are examples of areas to explore in effort of strengthen the field.  I have learned that we are all on a personal journey.  Each of us are in different places in our journey and where we go on our journey is up to us.  The last thing that has stuck with me throughout this program is leadership and cooperation.  In order for our field to continue on a positive path, it is imperative that we have great leaders as well as the ability to come together as professionals to speak up and advocate for children and families. 

One long term goal I have is to continue to gain more knowledge about the early childhood field and use that knowledge to develop programs that are beneficial for ALL families. 

I would like to give a big shout to my instructor and colleagues throughout this course!  Your contribution to my learning was priceless!  Good luck with all that you do!!

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Two international organizations I am interested in is UNICEF, United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, and Academy for Educational Development.  I am interested in UNICEF because of their strategic plan that includes several different focus areas.  I believe this allows the organization to effectively work on several different issues that affect children around the world.  I am interested in UNESCO because of the organizations programs that are offered in an effort for peace and non-violence.  I am interested in the Academy for Educational Development because of its focus on education.

One international position I am interested in is Senior Education Advisor/Director of Education.  The qualifications are as follows:

• Masters in one of the following or related fields: Education, Education Planning, Education Policy, Education Management or other relevant field. Experience with literacy or TESOL programs or a degree in literacy/TESOL preferred;
• Minimum of five (5) years field management experience in Africa, and eight (8) years of experience in development programs. Five years experience in developing countries, conflict-affected;
• Experience and facility with rapidly changing project designs;
• Preparation of work plans, budgets and other key project documents. Experience with Do No Harm programming a plus;
• Knowledge and practical experience developing standards for assessment systems, including for student learning outcomes, teacher performance, and school performance;
• Knowledge of USAID project management, evaluation procedures and standards, and requirements;
• Knowledge of education policy issues that affect student learning;
• Knowledge of all technical and management aspects required to develop reliable and meaningful assessment tools that can inform teacher practice as well as policy direction;
• Must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English;
• Sensitivity to cultural diversity and understanding of the political, contextual, and ethical issues in South Sudan;
• Articulate and professional and able to communicate in a clear, positive fashion with clients and staff.

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has been dedicated, for many years, to ensuring the youngest members of our society or given what they need to be successful.  NAEYC was chosen as one of my national organizations because of its dedication not only to children, but also to the professionals in the field.  Another national organization I’m interested in because of its focus on the professional development of early childhood educators is the CDA council.  The third organization I’m interested in is the National Head Start Association because of its focus on working with children and their families living in poverty.

Currently Bright Horizons has an Executive Director position open in Milpitas, California.  Qualifications includes:  

·       BA, Masters preferred

·       5 years as a Director of a licensed childcare

·       Meet CA licensing requirements for a Director  

·       Well versed in NAEYC accreditation center

Harlem Children’s Zone Education Director Singleton Gems

·       Masters

·       Supervisory experience

·       3-5 years teaching experience

·       New York teaching certificate

·       Knowledge of early childhood education funding sources and performance standards

Exploring roles in the Early Childhood Community

One local organization that appeals to me is the Douglas and Sarpy County Learning Communities.  I am interested in this organization because of its goals of working with children living in poverty and implementing programs to give children an opportunity at a level playing field.  The organization understands the importance of early childhood education and is dedicated to the families they serve, as well as, the professional development of those who work with them.  A local community of practice is the Early Childhood Consortium of the Omaha Area or ECCOA.  ECCOA helps to strengthen the early childhood workforce by providing trainings.  Meetings for early childhood professionals to come together and talk about issue, rather national or local, are also provided.  Educare is another local organization that appeals to me.  Educare provides services through Early Head Start and Head Start.  Educare has provided outcomes for our community that proves the value of quality early childhood education. 

There are not many positions currently available in the early childhood field where I reside.  However there is a position with Step Up to Quality, an Early Childhood Quality Rating and Improvement System.  The position requires a Bachelor’s degree in early childhood and 3 years of experience. 

Reflecting on Learning

My hope for my future as an early childhood professional is that I continue to build on the knowledge I have and used that knowledge to help others.  I hope to be an example to others and work with other professionals to build a successful future for those who are coming after.  I hope my contribution to the early childhood field makes a difference in someone’s life. 

My hope for the children and families that I may touch is that they are given an opportunity to thrive and flourish.  I hope children and families are able to respect others, teach others, and learn from others. 

A special thanks to my colleagues for great conversations!  Your willingness to open up and discuss your point of view provided me with more tools to use when working with children and families.  Thank you.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The area of the world I choose to look into was South Asia.  My reasons stem from wanting expanded my learning about children from other parts of the world where I may have not have known much.  As I get older, I realize how small the world really is and how things that happen across the globe truly impacts everyone in the world. 

A challenge faced by children of South Asia is child marriage.  There are countries in South Asia where children are betrothed or married before they are 10 years old.  While there is a law against child marriage, it is often hard to implement because of custom and religious practices.  Another challenge is the lack of birth registration.  It was reported in 2007 over 47% of South Asia children were not registered.  The most interesting child issue to me is the juvenile justice system.  In South Asia the juvenile justice system is similar to adults including the death penalty.  These challenges can drastically effect a child’s emotional development and wellbeing.  Children are subject to situations that would be difficult even for adults.

Personally, I realize how much children need are voices and support all over the world.  It saddens me to think about what those of the next generation has gone through.  Professionally, I believe it is important to establish a means to stop the cycle of child mistreatment.  This gives me the motivation to keep learning as much as I can about the world around me. 

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

The sexualization of early childhood has added to the difficulty of helping children develop in a healthy manner.  After reading the article, I could completely understanding where they authors and parents where coming from in how sexualization is a big part of our world now.  While reflecting on why this may be happening, I challenged myself to think about how adults in the 50’s or 60’s handled things.  I know things are more extreme now then it was then, but at that time couldn’t the adults of that time say the same thing?  Although I struggle with that, I still firmly believe how girls and boys are portrayed has an unhealthy influence on our children.

I have observed the sexualiztion of early childhood through toys, media, and music.  Songs such as “Anaconda” and “All about that Bass” are songs are consistently playing on the radio and are some of the favorite songs of young children.  Dolls such as Bratz also suggest young girls to wear heavy makeup and dress a particular way to be popular.  These messages can impact a child’s self-esteem and self-worth.  Messages about who is popular gives children a false reality of what it means to have true friendships and relationships.

As early childhood professionals it is critical for us to be aware of what is surrounding our children.  We must know what songs are playing on the radio and what the new toy or fad is so that we may be there to talk with children about what it really means.  I think it is really easy for us to choose not have particular songs played around our children or not let them play with certain toys, but the reality is they will mostly likely have friends who do.  And we have to prepare them to know what’s right and what’s wrong.

Impact on Professional Practice

I have experienced racism in both my professional and personally life.  When racism occurs in my personal life, it definitely can bleed over into my professional life.  In a recent discussion I talked about how difficult it can be for me to form relationships with families who may demonstrate a bias or make insensitive comments.  One reason I feel this is difficult is I automatically bring in the feelings I have when I have been discriminated against.

These experiences have had a great impact on the children in my centers.  When I feel hurt or discriminated against, I tend to withdraw and become very quiet.  It makes be doubt myself and the work I do for others.  I’m sure children can pick up on my insecurities and I am afraid it might also cause me to be slow to react should I see something in a classroom that is inappropriate.  This is an aware of concern for me and something I know I need to work on.

Observation

While at the Amazing Pizza Machine I had the pleasure of watching a mother and her daughter discuss which ride she was “big enough” to ride.  The daughter looked to be around 5 years old and a couple of the rides she wish to ride had a height requirements that appeared to be something she would not meet.  During the mother's conversation with her daughter, the daughter could not understand how she was a “big girl” but was unable to ride the rides she wanted to ride.  I noticed during this conversation the mother tried different ways of communicating and showing her daughter why she would not be able to ride.  The mother tried her best my speaking softly and slowly, explaining that she was not tall enough to go on the ride, but there was other games she could play. 

 

This week’s resources discussed taking the opportunity to step back and really listen to what children are communicating. I believe what I observed at the Amazing Pizza Machine was a child trying to express her independence to her mother.  However, her mother’s responds to her may have sent her the message that she is not as independent as she thinks.   

After reflecting on what I observed, one goal I have is to ensure that I really take the time to listen to children.  I want to ensure that I take their cues and provide them with the answers that they are looking for, not the answers that I think they need. 

Creating Affirming Environments

Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards (2010) stated “an anti-bias environment is also culturally consistent for the children and families it currently serves” (pg. 43).  My family childcare center would encompass this thought and will be strategic in how to create a center with anti-bias education being a central part of the program.  When setting up the program I would think about two important questions:  How do I build and strengthen my partnerships with families?  How do I support children’s individuality and home life?  Below are some ideas I would do in the program to answer those two questions.

Build and Strengthen Family Partnerships

·       Welcome area.  A place where families can gather during arrival and departure.  This place would be designed so children and families may interact with each other, as well as, a place where children can engage in an activity with their families before starting or ending their day at the center.

·       Welcome packet.  The packet would include information about me and the center, but will also have family questionnaire that would include ask questions to help me understand more about the family (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

·       Daily notebook.  Adrian Castillo discussed having an area in her center where parents can communicate with her (Laureate Education, Inc. 2011).  This opens up the lines of communication and also shows parents you are interested in what goes on at home.

·       “My Family” area.  This area would consist of information from each family and could include pictures, artifacts, or even favorite family recipes.

Supporting Children

·       Pictures and posters.  There would be a mixture of actual pictures of children from the program along with other posters of children and families (Laureate Education Inc., 2011)

·       Dolls in various shades and abilities (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

·       Anti-bias education would be incorporated into the curriculum on a daily basis (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010).

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author

What I Have Leaned

One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that we learn from each other in an open and honest manner.  One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to provide more opportunities for real training, not just the surface stuff! 

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for sharing your knowledge and experiences.  This class forced us to look at ourselves through a microscope and share some of those discoveries with each other.  Thanks for being open and willing to contribute to helping me on my journey! 

Creating Art

During this course I have spent a lot of time reflecting on who I am and how I became the person I am today.  I have challenged myself to work through my biases.  When I think about my childhood and what I learned, rather formally or informally, directly or indirectly, it is help me make decisions in order to shape my children's lives.  One of my favorite songs is I Wish by Rascal Flatts.  I have created a flipagram to this song with pictures of my children.  Ultimately my wish for them is to accept others as they are and to always believe in themselves.  Enjoy!

http://flipagram.com/f/E8t4ZOIp6U

"Don't Point"

While grocery shopping, I overheard a young child point and asked the lady she was with, I assume her mother, why they guy that was approaching them was so dark.  The mother told the child is was not nice to point and the child then she said that she was afraid of him.  The mother ignored what the child said and continued to shop.  I believe by not talking with the child, the mom reinforced her fear.  She also didn’t provide the child an opportunity to discuss differences in a positive manner.

An anti-bias educator would have discussed with the child the differences in color of all people.  The teacher may have spoken to the gentleman while in passing to show the child there was nothing to fear.  The teacher may have spoken to the child about her fears and helped her work through those feelings. 

Gender Biases

In our center we have had several situations where parents expressed concerns when their son would play in the dramatic play area.  In particular they took issue with their son dressing up in dresses. We would talk with the parents about how engaging in dramatic play, no matter how they do it, is an opportunity to expand on their learning and development.  By reenacting, they are making sense of the world around them.  These situations reminded me about the mother in the video who struggled with buying her son a baby doll; and I agree that playing with the doll was a way for him to practice being a great father, should he choose to become a father. 

This past winter I heard a lot about Goldie Blox, toys designed to encourage girls to build.  I think this is wonderful idea, but reinforces how we establish gender through something as simple as color.  I agree that these type of toys should be made in the different colors of red, blue, light blue, and pink; but we should offer all these colors in one product.

 

Farewell and Good Luck

A special thanks to all of my colleagues!  I have learned so much and each one of you have contributed to the knowledge I have gained throughout this course.   It's funny how fast 8 weeks can go by, but we've learned so much!  Good luck to everyone in their next phase and please feel free to reach out to me at anytime if you ever need someone to bounce ideas off of or to help work out an issue.

Adjourning

 

The hardest group to leave was a group that I worked with on implementing a particular curriculum.  It felt as though everyone is on the same page and everyone wanted to see the project through.  I would say the Early Childhood supervisor group are high-performing.  They work well together to ensure staff have what they need and best practices are implemented at all times.  The group with the group with the clearest established norms would have to be my high school track team.  You always knew what the expectations were and what you can expect from teammates, as well as, coaches.  This group was the hardest for me to leave because of the consistency.  Typically at the end of the group, personal information is exchanged and sometimes encouragement is given for the next step in your journey.  I imagine the same will happen with the colleagues I have come to know in this master’s degree program.  Adjourning is essential because it gives you an opportunity to create avenues to keep I touch with one another.

Conflict Resolution

This past week a conflict aroused when my supervisor wanted to add additional training to an already packed day of training.  She wanted to make sure that if we were going to close for in-service that we make good use of the time.  I wanted to make sure that we didn’t rush through trainings for the sake of getting several topics done in the course of one day; I was thinking quality over quantity.  One strategy that I have learned this week that might help resolve this conflict productively is to come to a compromise.  Maybe sitting down and going over what topics we would like for teachers to learn from us and topics we feel teachers can get from outside training could help resolve the conflict in a positive manner.  The second strategy is to create a win-win situation by adding a second training offered after hours.   

Communicating Differently

Communication is so complex!  Everyday I find myself in situations where I am communicating differently with different groups of people.  At home I have more of a low-language, but even within in my own family I communicate differently.  I communicate with my grandmother differently than I communicate with my sister.  With my grandmother I communicate with language I would consider as respectful.  I answer with yes ma’am or no ma’am and my voice would be softer.  With my sister I talk loud and use lots of slang (sometimes words that we’ve created ourselves during childhood).  When I am at work I communicate with my supervisor differently than I communicate with my co-workers.  My communication with my co-workers is not as laid back as my communication with my family; however, it’s doesn’t always have a professional tone.  Communication with my co-workers typically falls in the middle of low-language and high language.  Communication with my supervisor is more professional and I would use high language.

Based on what I have learned this week, I believe working on understanding my own nonverbal communication, understanding others nonverbal communication, and respecting the ideas of others  will help me be more effective. 

 

Communcating without Sound

                                                                                                                                                                

The show that I choose to watch is a show that my children watches on the Disney Channel called “Austin & Ally”.  It appeared that the characters had good relationships based on their nonverbal, characters were smiling and two characters hugged.  The interesting thing is, I had no idea what they were talking about, but found myself smiling because they were smiling.  I could tell when someone made an off the wall comment from the expression of the other character’s face.  I assume the characters were good friends trying to help another friend out.  I do believe my assumptions would have been more correct had I have known the show well.  A perfect example of this is my addiction to soap operas.  I could go for a couple of days without watching and still can quickly figure out what’s going on. 

Effective Communicator

The person I believed demonstrates competent communication as a professional is President Obama, in particular his 2008 acceptance speech.  Obama’s speech delivery and nonverbal comes across to me as a strong leader.  I would love to model his confidence, knowledge, and ability to effectively speak under any circumstance. 

Reflection and Thanks

I have learned that it takes a lot to learn about topics in terms of research.  Research must be ethical and contribute to the field in a way that could help others.  This course has helped calm some of my fears about research and I have realized that conducting research is not as simple as one may believe.  I’ve learned that while planning research you must ensure confidentiality and privacy.  Some challenges I encountered was framing my research topic question to fit each research design.  Comments from Dr. Darrah helped me to reflect and guided me in the right direction.  As a result of this course, I have a deeper appreciation for early childhood professionals.  Understanding the field from the standpoint of a researcher, furthers my belief that our profession is much more complex than others may believe.

A special thanks to all of my colleagues!  Your insight not only helped me to gain more information about research but also helped ease some of the fear that I had at the beginning of the course.  Thanks!

Research Around the World

One current research topic happening in Australia is the use of technology with content areas such as literacy.  Some researchers in Australia are looking at how to challenge the traditional way children learn and how the use of technology can change how the classroom looks in terms of fostering children’s learning. 

A second research topic in Australia is equity and quality.  What is surprising to me is issues in early childhood appears to be the same all over the world.  Sometimes it can feel as if these problems only exists in the US, but clearly that’s far from the truth.

Noteworthy information found on the website, http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/, was the review of Australia’s national curriculum. 

Benefits of Research

Research on attachment has had a great effect on children and families.  The countless research on attachment has help create programs that support children and families.  Programs such as early childhood education program, parenting programs, or therapy based their services around research found on the importance of attachment.  I work for a non-profit organization where we offer all of those programs and because of research, we are able to have an organization with many different program have one common focus area, attachment.  This gives us the ability to reach out and help many in the community.

The one experiment that have always had a profound effect on me. Is the Still Face Paradigm.  This experiment, although hard to watch, tells us a lot about infant communication and caregiver’s responsiveness’s.  I encourage you to watch if you haven’t done so already.  You can see the experiment on youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apzXGEbZht0

Personal Research Journey

Recently my community has experienced some traumatic events.  Right before Christmas a young mother was shot and killed, leaving behind a three year old.  This week a 5 year old was killed during a drive-by shooting as she put her breakfast dishes in the sink.  Her 4 year old brother was in the kitchen with her and watched his sister pass away in their home. 

I have chosen to conduct by simulation research on the effects of trauma during infancy.  I choose this topic because of the violence that plagues the community I live in.  I’m concerned about the development of children, in particular infants, who witness or experience traumatic events.  I want to research how we can support children who have experience such tragic events such as those our community has experienced in the last month.  My hopes is that learning how to support these children will help break the cycle of violence. 

Through this simulation process, I have gathered several research articles that discuss children and violence, mostly children and/or infants who have experienced domestic violence.  Completing the research chart has help me to understand the design of research and why one way may be choosing over the other one.  I am interested and open to other research that may help with my simulation research.  At this point, I have only used information from the Walden Library and I’m curios if others are using just the Walden Library, use other web resources, or a combination.