EXPLORING ROLES IN THE ECE COMMUNITY: LOCAL AND STATE LEVELS

The first program I chose was Early Childhood Alliance. The reason for this is because Early Childhood Alliance has been furnishing programs and services to meet the needs of families and children, in northern Indiana. It is recognized as a leader in the early care and education field.  They use High Scope curriculum, which supports the Foundations for Young Children to the Indiana Academic Standards. They use nationally recognized Daily activities that help children – from infancy through kindergarten – develop physically, socially, and emotionally. The best part is what they call Pathways to quality which has 4 levels.

They have many job openings for teachers full and part time. Depending on which one you choose the requirements are from age 18 or older and at least an associate degree. They have a job opening for pre-k that I apply for and an interested in.

The second one I chose was the Head Start Program. This has always interested me ever since my son went there. They provide a quality education and help the families with many services, like health, nutritional, and other developmental social services to low-income and special needs preschool children and their families. There early learning program teachers prepare them for school through play that is planned or spontaneous instruction. They grow in every area from learning social skills and motor development. They work with the parents in many ways to help them succeed in their home life and relationships with their children.

They are not hiring at this time and you need at least a BA in ECE.

The third one I chose is called the Teaching Tree. I chose this one because it takes infants to school age children. The children are in different classrooms by age. It has a multi-aged preschool classroom.  What they do in this classroom the child will enjoy activities including Music & Movement, circle time, and they have a structured pre-school curriculum. The children also get to talk about things 
that are important to them and the free choice is designed to give the child a sense of control and to learn to make their own decisions.

http://theteachingtree.com/index.html

https://www.ecalliance.org/about-us/

www.brightpoint.org

Reflecting on Learning

As a childhood educator my hope is to help all the children so they can flourish and succeed, regardless of their gender, ethnicity, or how they look. That we can honor the differences as much as we honor the similarities. I also hope that I can leave a positive and forever effect on the children’s life. I am going to me an advocate for the families in my classroom I want to make sure that the families can get the quality services that they need. I hope to build a classroom that the children feel safe and treated with respect.

To my classmates and Dr. Bird-Pickens

Thank you the last 8 weeks have been challenging and yet learning experience. I have enjoyed learning from each of you through the discussions and blogs. What we have learned from one another is ways to help educate our students and colleagues on what anti-bias education is and how to treat all people equally and with respect. As we move on into what life brings us I wish you all the best of luck in the future. I hope to see some of you in my last class here at Walden

Impact on Early Emotional Development

I chose Eastern and Southern Africa especially Ethiopia because I wondered what it would be likes to live in a country with little to no rain and how they survived. They are facing the worst drought ever and the malnutrition rate is high so this leaves the children vulnerable to diseases. Measles was terrible until the children started to get vaccinated. Many children had died from a disease that can be prevented but being an under develop country they never had the resources.  Along with the diseases and malnutrition there is lack of drinking water. Pneumonia, diarrhea and malaria are three more things that are a big problem for newborns.

The way that this would effect a child’s development is that if they do not have proper nutrition and to get some type of disease this could cause a delay in learning and how they feel emotionally. They would not have the strength or energy to do anything. With all of these things children would not develop properly and most would die by the age of 5. With the help of UNICEF the country can get the support, supplies, and medicines and is helping the resilience of food insecurity. It teaches the families and communities to recognize what can cause malnutrition and helps them to find the resources needed.

As an educator I learned that we must learn what these children are going through and how to deal with them in a healthy way. Finding ways to make the children have a good experience in a safe and comfortable classroom is important. We must also build a trusting relationship with the parents and to help them learn how to help their child.

UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/wcaro/english/media_10211.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

While reading this article, I was somewhat surprise but felt dismay and troubled for the generations to come. When it comes to my grandchildren (son is an adult) I would not want them to believe that they would have to dress enticing, or to walk with a sexy walk just to be popular. When it comes to television especially the ads and magazines with their articles and picture have considered what is sexy. This makes it very hard to make the children understand that is not the norm. Children have a hard enough time to fit in. Children being expose to this at since an early age can cause them to have an unhealthy relationship has they get older. In the article by Levin and Kilborne (2009) it states that when children are taught to focus on physical appearance and sex appeal, it has a negative impact on their development. 

In one of the childcares center where I worked I observe a young girl and boy playing house and the young girl took the boy by the hand and said come on honey I have something I want to show you. I went over and told them they were too young and it was not right for them to talk and act that way. Last year in my class I had a young girl that would dress in tight clothes and would do things to get the boys to like her and to be her boyfriend.  It came to the point that when she came to school dress like that we would put her in proper clothes. At the end of the day at school we let the kids dance to music and there were a couple of young girls that would gyrate to the music even songs in which they shouldn’t I ask where they learn to dance like that and they said watching music videos.

 We has educators need to make sure that we watch what the children are doing and then sit and talk to them and help them to understand that is not the proper way to behave. As educators we need to guide and help the children to having the self-confidence to make the right decisions on how to act. We need to continue to guide them on not to be in a hurry to be grow up and enjoy their childhood.

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

Since taking this class and from previous classes I have grown much when it has come to diversity. I never knew just how much that I did not know about diversity and learning about how many ism’s there are. I have always accepted and respected people for whom they are. To be able to do that is first you must know your self-identity, “The better you know yourself, the better you can understand your responses to children and families you work with,” this is what Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) suggest. When it comes to being an educator, it is important for individuals to understand their self-identity to flourish and to lead others in the right direction. 

An ism that I feel that I see not only in the classroom but everywhere is racism; children have been learning that from the very beginning of their life. They hear their parents talking about and seeing it in the news every day. Teaching children to know that being mean or saying mean things about or to someone is not good thing. As educators we must teach the children that we are all equal, and the color of a person skin or where they come from doesn’t mean that they are much different than them. Our focus should be on teaching them to being kind and understanding to everyone. When I hear a child saying that they can’t play with certain people because they are of a different race, I find that to be a good time to talk about how that can make someone feel bad.

In my classroom I expect every student to respect me and their classmates. Children learn from adults and others so I must treat them and others with respect.  Being the teacher I set the tone for the way I want things to be in my classroom.

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).

Observing Communication

My observation took place in a classroom with children that have different disabilities. The grades were kindergarten to second grade.  I was watching a teacher’s assistant working with a child age six with ADHD and the mind of a three or four year old. They were working on learning how to spell their name and to draw a picture of their family. Well with child was not paying attention and not doing what he was supposed to do.

The assistant was talking to him and asking questions about his family who he lived with, any brothers or sisters and if he had any pets, he was answering her questions. In the video Lisa Kolbeck also mentions that children have to have to feel listened to and seen (Laureate Education, 2011). So by her asking him about his family he felt like she cared and he enjoyed sharing the information with her. I believed that by her getting to his level and asking him questions it helped him to connect with what they were doing, he drew his family even though it wasn’t very well she told him how wonderful it was and he became very excited about it.

I work with children with disabilities every day and my grandson is ADHD and is on the autism spectrum and she handle it just has I do with my class and grandson. By showing them that we care about how they feel and we are interested in the things they do will make a happy child. As Stephenson points out, through observation, “I learned that each child has a different style, and is likely to talk in different ways and in different contexts. I needed to find ways they could communicate that were enjoyable for them” (Stephenson, 2009).

 Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Communicating with young children. Baltimore, MD:

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=37131016&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 

Creating Affirming Environments

My Family Child Care home will be displayed in a way to show parents that they are welcome and their children will receive the best educational experience in my care. I would do that by hanging pictures of all the families and some things from their culture. The environment will be a positive and welcoming environment. There will be a lot of multicultural pictures and I will conduct project in which families send information about their cultural.

   “Relationships and interactions with children and families, the visual and material environment, and the daily curriculum all come together to create the anti-bias learning community" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.51).

My daycare will have a reading area with books on diversity, people who have jobs in the community, and how there are different types of families. I will have a dramatic play area which would have will have costumes, puppets and dolls from all forms of culture and diversity. With these things the children can not only use their imagination, but also play out many characters regardless of their gender. For instance, we will have dolls with different skin colors, gender and dolls that represent different disabilities such as being on a wheelchair or having a hearing aid. I would have a music area and that would have music and instruments from different cultures.

"The toys material 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”(Derman (Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). I would have posters and art work from different cultures hanging on the wall. I would ask parents to bring in some type of food from their cultures to have the children try. I would want my daycare to be a welcoming and safe environment for all the children who come.

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).