Reflecting on Learning

My most passionate hope for my future as an early childhood professional is that I am able to touch the lives of the children I work with and provide them with an anti-bias education. I hope that I am able to make a difference in their lives and provide them with all the skills and knowledge they need to become successful citizens of the world. I hope that I am able to help the children I encounter reach their highest potential and develop a positive identify of themselves. My passion is to give children back their childhood and allow them to develop confidence  within themselves. For the families, I want to be an alley. Someone they can come to with their questions and needs.

To my colleagues, I would like to thank you for all your support and knowledge. I would not have been able to get through this without your help and I am so thankful to have had you through this journey.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The region I decided to focus on was Eastern and Southern Africa. I would be lying if I said I had some profound reason as to why I chose to select this region, but I don't. The decision really came simple to me. It was the one region I have always wished to visit.  What better time to gather information on the children of an area that I one day hope to help. I wish I could say that I am surprised at the many issue the children in this are face. This children suffer from malnutrition, AIDS, unsanitary water, inadequate protection, and lack of immunization.

Children are suffering from chronic malnutrition. About 25 million or 40 percent of children under five years of age are suffering from it. These children have limited access to foods and sometimes go days without eating. The children also have limited access to medicine and education. In some areas of this region, there are a higher percentage of boys in school than girls. For secondary education, rates are significantly lower. The regional averages for enrolment are 32 and 29 percent for boys and girls, respectively, and an even smaller proportion actually attends school (UNICEF, n.d). In this area there has also
been efforts to prevent and respond to violations of children's rights. Public campaigns have been used to help shed the spotlight on violence against children. These issues can have lasting affects on children's emotional well being and development. They may have issues forming lasting relationships with other because of the rapid death rate due to diseases that plague the region.
When I read about children in these harsh situation, it increases my passion to work with children less fortune than I. I would love to one day visit the poverty areas of Africa and be able to contribute to their lives in some way. Until that dream is made a reality, I hope the work I do within my community can have a lasting effect on today's youth. I hope I am able to touch the lives of those in need by giving back.

UNICEF-Children of Eastern and Southern Africa. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

In today's society children have too much exposer to sex and violence.

Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). Children are not longer being kept away from adult images and adult languages. It has become such an issue that children are having sex and having children at younger ages then we may have during our youth. Children are encountering these issues before that are fully able to understand and deal with them. Children exposed to images of sexual behavior devoid of emotions, attachment, or consequences. They learn that sex defines relationships and friend ships. They also learn that sex is often a direct correlation to violence. Young girls get the idea that their physical appearance and the right products with being sexy and successful. Such lessons will shape their gender identity, sexual attitudes, and values, and their capacity for relationships, for love and connections, that they take into adulthood (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). Children are being robbed with the ability to just be kids and enjoy age-appropriate task.

 

Learning about this topic has made me more aware of how it effects children and their development. It has opened my eyes to how big of an issue this is for children and focus on my role in correcting the wrong that's being done.

 

Its amazing how many videos you can find that promote sex and encourage inappropriate behavior in little children.

 

 

 Reference
Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. 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 the children and families with whom you work while you experience specific "–ism(s)" in your own life. Include specific examples either those you have and/or are experiencing or ones you would anticipate.

Okay this week's blog has given me the opportunity to address some bias issues that I am having with one my parents. Recently a parent had asked another teacher to tutor their child. His reasoning was because he wanted his child to be able to read and apparently he believed that this other teacher would  be able to help his child more than I would. The other teacher is older and it seems at times that he does not feel that I am fully capable to teach his child. He now goes out of his was to have discussions with this teacher about his child's progress and problems. At first I tried to not let it bother me but I can't help but feel unappreciated and over looked because of my age. I feel that I have always tried to keep open communication with my parents but he will not address his concerns with me. The child's mother has not problem communicating with me, its just him. I have always tried to communicate with my parents and see what expectations they have for me when it pertains to their child. This situation, I am not sure how to address this situation.

Observing Communication

This week I observed a preschool classroom at a local day care center. The children in this class are a mixture of children who just turned three, have been three for a few months, and recently turned four. So as you can imagine their was a variety of abilities and personalities that filled this room. There was one lead teacher and about 17 students. Occasionally, during my time there, another teacher came into assist the teacher. As I sat and observed it was hard to notice the routine of the class. It seemed in the morning the children were allowed to pretty much run wild in the classroom. During center time, the teacher was busing putting pictures on the wall, while children ran from center to center, fought with one another, and screamed blood murder. At times while the children were playing, the teacher would stop and yell at them to stop whatever it is they were doing. After center time they did a small group activity. By this time the second teacher had returned to the room. He took a group while the lead took another. The male teacher had his kids on the carpet as he begin to go through the letters of the alphabet by pointing to the letters on the wall. The lead teacher had two groups at the tables doing an activity using shapes. For this activity she had the children glue different shapes onto a piece of construction paper. During the activity I remember thinking to myself, what is the teachers purpose. She provided the students with no additional information as to why they were gluing the shapes onto the paper. She hardly engaged with them while the completed the activity.  The day pretty much when on in the same manner. I hardly remember the teacher having a conversation with any of the students throughout the day.

The teacher did not effectively communicate with the students and it missed out on several teachable moments throughout the day due to her not paying attention or communicating with the children. Its hard to say she knows anything about her students because she hardly interacted with them. During my time their I did spend some time with a 3 year old named Olivia. As the children played during center time, I sat down and talked with Olivia who was drawing at the table. Olivia is very well spoken and loves flowers. She drew several flower and each was a different color. Olivia also like to play on the swings and write her name. It was amazing what I was able to learn about Olivia through watching her play and communicating with her.

It seemed as if the teacher never really communicates with the children in a way that they are able to direct or initiate the conversation. Sometimes the body language and words of the teacher can seem harsh and unfair. One student had an accident and the teacher responded by scolding instead of speaking calmly to the child. I could tell the child was embarrassed and upset because he went and set in the corner with his head down. I don't think this teacher is aware of how her lack of interaction and harsh tone effects how the children feel about themselves and even school. I feel that this teacher needs to spend more time working one on one with the students. She needs to hold conversations with them and adjust how she responds to them and the things they do.

Creating Affirming Environments

Imagine that you want to open your own Family Child Care Home. Reflect on what your setting would look like, what elements you think you might want to include and for what reasons, and the various ways that you will strive to ensure that every child and family feels welcome and respected.

In creating my own Family Child Care home, I would want to be sure that my center makes my families feel comfortable and welcomed. The setting would be inviting and reflect the different cultures and backgrounds of the families and children in our community. I want to ensure that I create a learning environment that is secure and supportive for all families. In order to do so I will make sure that I provide my parents with a school/family handbook that will explain the inclusive approach of my program. In our text, they mentioned the idea of creating an equitable enrollment form. Using these forms would remove and "replace the usual labels Mother and Father with more open-ended and inclusive ones (Derman-Sparks &Edwards, 2010)"
The text also suggest finding out how the various families in your program refer to their immediate and extended members. Taking the time to get to know your families individual helps make them feel appreciated and welcomed. I would provide my families with resources and referral materials and also make sure that the classrooms are accessible.

In thinking of how it would look, my entrance would have a photos of the different children and their families. I would also have children's art work displayed all throughout the center. The classes could be filled with multicultural materials that will help provide an anti-bias learning experience. I would use family photos to create materials for students to use in housekeeping and block area. I would provided photos of children and families of different cultures that can be found throughout the world.

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2010) Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC. NAEYC

What I Have Learned

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

I hope that through my working with children and families from diverse backgrounds, I can help change how society views people from different cultures and backgrounds. I hope to build lasting relationships with my family by continuing to learn more about them and their culture. Through my interactions with these families and children I can increase my knowledge while bridging the gaps between different cultures. 

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

I would like for the early childhood field to continue its efforts in making every classroom embrace the cultural diversity of today's society. I would like for educators in this field to continue educating ourselves on these issues that effect the development of children. My goal personally would be working in areas were children struggle with equity and social justice. The areas were children need the most guidance and support.

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your support and comments throughout this process. I have learned so much from each one of you and I wish you the best.