What I Have Learned

One hope that I have when I think about  about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that all children are able to be themselves without barriers in their lives that will make them uncomfortable in their own skin.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to continue to attend workshop, courses as well as training to continue to be updated on new knowlege when it comes to diversity, equity, and social justice.

I would like to say thank you to Professor Weems, as well as my colleagues.   I am grateful to had this opportunity to collaborate and exchange ideas on learning strategies to help children to overcome bias, and prejudice.  Good luck to everyone on your educational journey.

.Start Seeing Diversity Blog: Creating Art

Celebrating our Differences

We must acceptance differences by showing love and respect to one another. 
Appreciation is very important; do not attack one another.

"Share our similarities, celebrate our differences."
M. Scott Peck

Week 6 "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 (e.g., "That lady talks funny," " That man only has one leg!" "Why is that man so pretty!"). Include what the child said and what the adult did or said in response.

I can remember a couple of years ago there was a lady who had Muscular Dystrophy and was the school counselor.  One of her arms was in a folded position and she walked with a slight limp. I can remember one of the kids imitating the way that she was walking and the other children started laughing.  The counselor did not say anything; but I remember one of the teachers talking to the little boy in private and afterwards the little boy came and apologized to the counselor.

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

The message that might have been communicated to this child by the adult's response is that we do not laugh at people who are different.

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

It is important that teachers help children to be accepting of people with disabilities. Teachers should read books to the class about people with disabilities who are heroines. 

, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Your response to those who believe that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families

My response to those who believe that early childhood  centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families is that I believe that it is important to provide books that depicts gay or lesbian families.  It is important to create a welcoming environment of different families regardless of their gender identities. It is important to treat everyone with respect and do not be biased against anyone.  Children from all types of families can develop their understanding and appreciation of the commonalities in loving relationships and homes. Including these books can help prevent or end harassment that often begins in preschool and kindergarten because some children are perceived as different by having two moms or two dads.

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

I would respond to a parent/family member by telling them that it is important not to judge anyone. I would tell them that I have experienced children from homosexual families who are treated with so much love and caring. The children are in a safe environment and is concerned about their well-being. I believe that it is important to treat everyone with respect and it is important to give a person a chance for who they are and not their title.

Saying Goodbye

I would like to take the opportunity to thank professor Hampshire, as well as my classmates for providing an opportunity to build a professional learning opportunity; as well as exchange ideas and resources.  I am never good at saying goodbye especially to a wonderful group of people.  I have learned so much in this course and I hope that I will continue to take more courses with Professor Hampshire and more of my colleagues.  Best wishes to everyone!!!!

Blog Assignment week 6

I believe that it is always harder to leave high performing groups. The reason I believe this is because you have worked closely together to get a job done as well as you have built a relationship with friends and learned how to work with people from different personalities. I believe also that it is hard to leave groups who not as considered as high performing; because sometimes people just don't comprehend things and they may have low self esteem but is willing to follow others.  If every group member is dedicated to accomplishing the goals and objectives, the results will be high performing.  It is always hard to leave a effective group; because the team has learned how to accept each other and work together. I always miss my colleagues whom I have collaborated with, I always wish them the best on their educational journey. I can imagine that I will adjourn from my group of colleagues working on their master's degree program by wishing them the best; as well as thanking them for their perspectives and ideas along the way of working on our master's degree. I know that I will exchange contact information so that we can continue to stay in touch. I believe that adjourning is an essential stage because it brings closure to team building. Members get the opportunity to analyze their success as well as their failures.

Blog Assignment 2

For this assignment, again consider what you have been learning about communication skills and styles. Then record an episode of a television show you do not normally watch. Watch the show with the sound turned off.

• What do you think the characters' relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating?
• What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

• What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?
• Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?

The television show that I watched was Good Times when the characters were playing cards and one of them made a facial expression as if he was going to lose and the other player was convinced that he was going to win, but it turned out that the character who made a facial expression as if he was losing; end up winning, and the others were mislead by his sad facial experience. The characters' relationships were based on facial expressions; the characters were feeling that they had a chance of winning and their opponent did not based on his facial expression.

I was convinced that he had a bad hand until I re-watched the show and realize that he was pretending. The characters were feeling very suprised once they realize that they had been mislead by the other character facial expression. I really think that my assumptions would have been correct if I had been watching a show that I knew well.

I

Blog Assignment 1 Communication

I felt as if the president Michelle Obama demonstrated competent communication during her political speech.  Michelle expressed her ideas to others clearly during her speech about president Barack Obama.  Michelle inspired, encouraged and movitated others in her speech about her husband. Michelle gave many people confidence that she understand their struggles and believe that one day life will be better for all people.

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who came from diverse backgrounds is to help children to accept, understand, and value their rich and varied world. I want to make children feel comfortable with being able to express themselves. 

One goal that I want to set for early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to understand and get rid of my own bias so that I can be an advocate for others of different cultures.

I would just like to take this opportunity to thank each and everyone of my colleagues for sharing their insights and experiences on diversity. I have learned so much from Professor Ferrari and my colleagues. Good luck as each of you continue yor educational journey.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The name of “your” family’s country of origin

The name of my family's country of origin is Chile.

At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family.

1. I will learn more about this family through community supports and ethnic organizations.

2. I will establish personal contacts with these families in person, as well as phone calls.

3. I will accommodate these families needs when it comes to scheduling meetings.

4.  I will become more educated in the families cultural beliefs.

5 . I would seek and provide resources for these families.


A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family

These preparations will benefit the family and myself because it will allow me to get to learn and respect culturally diverse families. It will allow me to learn how to provide the support and resources that are needed for these families. I believe that we can learn from each.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory that I have is when I witnessed a teacher being biased toward a student. I noticed that a student who was less fortunate than the other students in his class, it seems as if the teacher did not want to listen to him. I noticed that the teacher would always talk about the child came to school with dirty clothing. I felt like she should have talked to the little boy parents instead of placing him in a corner. I noticed she never allowed the little boy to have any privileges.

I feel like the specific bias incident dimished equity because it is important that student/teacher interaction plays an important role in class.  It is important to use the appropriate materials because it sends a powerful message to the students.  The feeling that this incident brought up to me was a feeling of sadness as well as anger. It is hard for me to accept a child being ignored because of his appearance or the way that he looks.  The child was eventually moved to another classroom and I was glad to see that justice was done for this child.  Children can only get what we give to them they are very dependent on us.  I feel like the professionals will have to change themselves first; they need to take a look at their own bias as well as I believe that it is important that staff members receive training on diversity.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The type of micragression that I experienced was religion-ism.  I remember once that I said Merry Christmas and I was corrected not to use those words. I felt that because I was a christian and some of the other people were not considered to be christians that this was a form of religion-ism. I was in a school system, I really felt that I had lost my freedom of speech as well as discriminated against.  I feel that microagressions and prejudice has really gave people a difference of opinions about others. I feel like microagressions really seperate people in many ways.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The first person that I called stated that culture is beliefs and value.
The second person stated that culture is celebrating music, art and traditions.
The third person stated that culture is the behavior, beliefs, values, and traditions

The first person that I called stated that diversity is acceptance and respect.
The second person stated that diversity is differences.
The third person stated that diversity is understanding uniqueness.

The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied is through understanding culture through social identies. I learned about different types of cultures as well as the types of diversity.

The aspects that have been omitted are people of the same cultures differences in cultures within the same culture.

I have learned from other people to cherish your beliefs, values, and traditions; I learned to respect others differences.

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has occurred and my family and I will have to evacuate, the three most important things that I would take are: my bible, my photos and videos, and my clothing.
The reason that I would take my bible is because I am a chriastian and I read my bible on a daily basis. I believe that reading the bible will help me through life difficult journeys. I read the bible when I first wake up in the morning as well as before I go to sleep at night.

The next thing that I would take with me is my photos and videos; the reason that I would take my photos and videos is because they hold a lot of history for me. I have many photos and videos of deceased family members that I would not want to lose; including photos and videos of my deceased father. I feel that as long as I have pictures that I can refer back to it will always bring a smile to my face to see how much I really resemble him.

The last thing that I would grab would be my clothing; I know that this goes without saying but I have clothes that are very important to me; I have clothings that were given to me from some of my favorite family members and I really want to cherish them.

When I think of research...

The insights that I have gained about research from taking this course; I have learned as I developed my research simulation that there is a difference in power between the researcher and the participants.  Even though research is not my strong point I have learned that research is a professional tool. I learned about the standard and guidelines as well as research charts. I learned about the importance of ethnics in research in the field of early childhood. I learned about hypothesis writing as well as qualitative research and the importance of validity. I also learned about the value of mixing methods. My ideas about research have changed, I am aware of the many steps of research and its validity. I have learned lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in the early childhood field. Careful design of research takes time; it will ensure that research provides data with what was set out to be achieved.  Some of the challenges that I faced was the mixed research methods. I met this challenge by writing a research study outline. My perception of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course by understanding the importance of using research as a professional tool.

Research that benefits Children and families

The positive example of the effects of research on children that I would like to share is through research, one of my family members was able to find out that her1 year old son is autistic.  My family member noticed that her child was not developing as a normal 1 year old child. My cousin began to do research and realize that her child had all of the symptoms of an autistic child; she took my little cousin to the doctor and it was confirmed.  Research on children is a great way to support their well-being; because of research my cousin was aware that her child had a developmental delay.

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic that I chose for simulation is cognitive development. The reason that I chose cognitive development is because it is an important part of a child's development; it is the child's ability to learn and solve problems.  A two year old may learn to explore the environment with his hands and eyes. The simulation chart has helped me to sort and organize information.

Final Blog Assignment

I have learned that international early chilhood education is similar to the United States because it respects diversity, it includes laws, as well as provide for the well-being of children by addressing the issue of poverty. My goal is to communicate with international early childhood educators to learn new ideas as well collaborate with international early childhood educators.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts Part 3

UNESCO advocates for Early Childhood Care and Education (ECCE) programmes that attend to health, nutrition, security and learning and which provide for children’s holistic development.  the importance of early childhood by including the development of early childhood care and education as the first of its six main goals.

Participating countries committed themselves to “expanding and improving comprehensive early childhood care and education, especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged children.” Governments were particularly urged to expand equitable access to quality early childhood services underscoring the importance of instituting policy in favour of the poor.

Countries often promote alternative services for poor children with limited or no access to mainstream early childhood services which can be cost-effective and pedagogically innovative, but often raise concerns about sustainability and quality.  In cases where the government has limited resources, a pro-poor policy can redistribute resources by reducing state support for the more privileged.

Central governments must ensure an equitable distribution of resources among different populations and especially those who live in the most disadvantaged regions. This approach aims to expand access without creating serious regional inequities. However, where there is universal provision for a certain age group while the overall enrolment in other age groups is low, this policy can create inequity.

Privileged children of the target age group benefit from state investment, while poor children of non-target ages receive scant government attention. A policy of universalisation with targeting can minimise inequity where governments aim for universal access among the target age group, but simultaneously prioritise the poor.

 

Three insights that I have gained from this website is to focus on the quality of early childhood education; not just preparing the child for the next grade level; but focus on the holistic development of the child.

 

I learned the importance of preparing educational goals for the children as well as myself.

 

I learned the importance of raising the awareness for quality education for all children; I plan to start attending conferences to continue my knowledge of early childhood education.

Sharing Web Resources

One of the websites that I had not explored until now is the UNICEF website.  The Childcare Transition”, a majority of the rising generation in economically advanced societies is now spending a significant part of childhood in out-of-home childcare. Almost 80 per cent of the three-to-six year-olds in rich countries are in some form of early childhood education and care. For the under threes, the proportion is 25 per cent, rising to more than 50 per cent in individual OECD countries.  Poor quality child care, continues the report, may result in weak foundations and shaky scaffolding for future learning, and what is true of cognitive and linguistic skills is also true of psychological and emotional and development.

High quality early childhood education and care has a huge potential to enhance children’s cognitive, linguistic, emotional and social development,” says Marta Santos Pais, Director of UNICEF IRC. “It can help boost educational achievement, limit the early establishment of disadvantage, promote inclusion, be an investment in good citizenship, and advance progress for women." UNICEF works tirelessly to ensure that every child – regardless of gender, ethnicity, socioeconomic background or circumstances – has access to a quality education. We focus on gender equality and work towards eliminating disparities of all kinds. Our innovative programmes and initiatives target the world’s most disadvantaged children: the excluded, the vulnerable and the invisible.

UNICEF’s work to support community and family care practices that impact the lives of young children not only use health and nutrition interventions but also add early stimulation and interaction.  Similarly, ensuring that young children are developmentally ready for school is an integral part of UNICEF’s education priority.
UNICEF works with families, communities and governments in more than 190 countries to put it right; to protect and promote the rights of all children.

References
UNICEF children rights retrieved from http://www.unicef.org.uk/UNICEFs-Work/Our-mission/Childrens-rights/

Global Children’s Initiative

As I explored the site I gained insights about toxic stress in young children.  Toxic stress in young children may come from abuse, deep poverty, and violence. The effects that toxic stress may have on young children development may be a weakened foundation for learning. It is important to  develop strong brain architecture, babies and toddlers require dependable interaction with nurturing adults and safe environments to explore.  Programs in a variety of settings—the home, early care and education, foster care, and other environments—can protect children from the effects of toxic stress by providing stable relationships with responsive caregivers.

I learned that policy implications are important and critical for success such as ongoing investment in workforce skills and professional development is essential for program improvement. Rigorous program standards, ongoing training and technical assistance, and continual quality assessment and improvement are critical to ensuring the ongoing effectiveness of large-scale programs. It is important to provide a program that ensures healthy futures for young children. 

 I learned that Providing supportive relationships and safe environments can improve outcomes for all children, but especially those who are most vulnerable. Between 75 and 130 of every 1,000 U.S. children under age 5 live in homes where at least one of three common precipitants of toxic stress could negatively affect their development.

I have learned from this article that effective early childhood programs generate benefits to the society. I have learned that effectiveness factors distinguish programs that work such as qualified and appropriately compensated personnel small group sizes and high adult-child ratios and language-rich environments.

References

Early Childhood Program Effectiveness retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Professional Contacts

I tried to contact to two Early Childhood Professionals, but unfortunately I did not have any luck. I am going to do the Blog two assignment. I have chosen the Global Fund for Children. I believe it is important that all children have a right to a high quality education; it is important that everyone get involve and help with resources and funding to help children around the world to get a good education. daidzhan@sbs.soros.kz

Good evening,

my name is Belinda, and I am currently working on an assignment. I am currently enrolled in the M.S. Early Childhood Studies-Teaching and Diversity in Early Childhood. I would love to interact and learn more about your profession. I recently received my Bachelor's degree in Child Development. I plan to become a preschool teacher as of now, I am currently a paraprofessional in an elementary school. I look forward to hearing from you soon. my blog URL is  http://belindau.blogspot.com/