Professional Hopes and Goals

Professional Hopes and Goals

One Hope that I have that have when I think about working with children and thir families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I am able to make a family feel welcome, gain their trust  and to help the family reach the desired goals that they have in place for the education of their young children. I hope to inspire children to embrace their own differences as well as the differences of others.

One goal that I have set related to the issues of diversity, equity and social justice in the field of early childhood is to reach out to fellow colleagues to examine themselves, the class materials so that we can all work together to present an anti-bias learning to our young ones.

I would like to thank all of my fellow colleagues in this course for sharing your views honestly and also for increasing my own understanding of how we might be successful advocates of equity, diversity and social justice in the field of early childhood. The following is a quote  from Raffi, a well known children's folk singer, author, and speaker taken from this week’s Laureate Media presentation. I think this statement is something that we can all adopt as our own covenant for honoring children.

 

"We find these joys to be self-evident that all children are created whole, endowed with innate intelligence, with dignity and wonder and worthy of respect, the embodiment of life, liberty and happiness. Every girl and boy is entitled to love, to dream and belong to a loving village and to pursue a life of purpose."

-Raffi

Families From Around the World

My family is from the country of Eritrea! 

 I learned that a family of five includes a 12 year old a ten year old and a young daughter of the age of three. The parents will enroll her at my center. They were referred to my center by relatives that live in the community.

 

Five ways I will prepare to receive my new family and demonstrate cultural responsiveness is to;

1. Label everything in the class in the child’s native tongue- and try to get the children in the class to be come familiar with the labeling as well. I would display lots of pictures as well.

2.  Learn some simple phrases of the language to communicate with the family

3.  Encourage the children to learn simple greeting phrases in the language like, hello, goodbye, want to play?

4.  Read stories or tell folk tales that originate from the family’s culture

5.  Encourage the family to share as much about themselves to the class regarding their culture by having them to let us borrow music, sharing literature, or inviting them to share family traditions.

The preparations I would have in place are to greet the family in the child’s native tongue and to label every day material in the native language to ease transition to English speaking. I would study the customs and cultures of this country and try to initiate some parental support from the existing parent roster for them. As an educator for the young children I am also acting as an advocate for the family to help their move to a new country be as smooth of a transition as possible.  I hope these preparations will be of assistance for the benefit of the new family so that they will feel welcomed, the child will feel safe, and begin to become a part of our Learning Center Family!

 

 

        

 

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

On the Catwalk  

The memory I have of experiencing bias is during my early college years. All of the students were to be placed within an internship for the college program I had enrolled in at the time which was fashion design. I noticed that my white colleagues got better job placements than I did. These placements were to give each student work experience and could lead into employment after graduation.

This job bias diminished equity by way of limiting my chance for gainful employment within the industry. The feelings that came into my mind were feelings of inadequacy; I began to question my skills and learning. I did not doubt myself as I had the courage and fortitude to move along and persevere.

The job placements were assigned by the department internship coordinator. I had been previously told that the industry was not favorable to blacks at that time. The change would have had to take place with the department heads toward the students that did not fit the “look” of the industry. I understand now from other sources that the department of this university is all about diversity and is vigorously seeking out individuals to show diversity within the department. I think with this shift in thinking by the design department of this university, there is now a greater opportunity for equity and fair play among the students that are currently in attendance.

Microaggression; To be Aware of it is to be Rid of it!

Add Insult to Injury

My eldest daughter is entering a fantastic time in her life! She has recently become engaged and is in the midst of planning for the big event …. Her wedding day!

She said "Yes!"

 My daughter Autumn and her longtime best friends since kindergarten,  Jackie and Anik (A-neek), were attending a bridal show.  Take note that my daughter is a beautiful, plus size girl and her friends are pretty, petite girls.

Jackie, Autumn, Anik

 The girls had stopped to look at the wares of a bridal vender. Anik was standing to the side as Autumn was leafing through the information that was on the table. The gentleman manning the booth looked in Anik’s direction and said “so, you must be the bride!” Autumn, looking the man in the eye and matter-of-factly said “no, I am the bride sir” she laid the materials she had picked up back down on the table and she and Anik walked away. To say the least, Autumn was insulted especially since she was the one actually looking at the materials on that table.

This man did not intend to cause harm but the microaggression in this instance was based on a physical appearance. The microinvalidation committed in this scenario, implied that brides are slim; big girls do not get proposed to because they do not fit the image of the blushing bride. My daughter is not at all sensitive about her weight she is dealing with her  situation to get it  down before the wedding date. It was just what was implied by this man. He did indeed lose a potental client that day!

We must be cognizant of the stereotypes of people and cultures we may have in our minds. We cannot make assumptions by the way a person looks that they are or will behave in a certain way. The assignment of observations for microaggression has forever put me on alert to watch my comments when speaking to others also to even let others know of the hurts and mindless insults we can inflict towards people due to our own biases we are unaware of.

 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 I Owe it to Mom on Diversity and Culture

 

 I want to dedicate this blog post to my Mom. Culture from her perspective was a living thing. She saw that culture and diversity meant embracing the family and heritage that God had surrounded you with; from the sounds and rhythms,  the dress, food, love , worship; to her culture encompassed all and so much more. Diversity for her meant love of all persons from every background.  She had many friends from varying ages and ethnicities. She also befriended and embraced individuals that had physical and mental disabilities. She lived well, and loved well and would have been 73 years old today. She was the first one to love me and told this little brown girl that she was “her doll baby”.

I Happy Birthday Lillie!

Of course in many ways, my mother’s perspective on diversity and culture affected and influenced me.  I find that I am not afraid or repelled by cultures that are different from mine.  I am curious and find myself searching out the culture in a way to become familiar with it. I am not afraid to ask questions of one’s culture, and I think that if persons would show curiosity rather than rage, fear or mistrust what a better world we would have!

Looking at Family Culture

My Family Culture

In the event a catastrophic event would cause me and my family to be transported to another land, the items I would take in order to preserve family memories traditions and culture would be 1. Books 2. Photos, and 3. Sacred items such as small wall hanging or a wind chime.

The meaning of the books would be the focus that we as a family put on treasuring education. The purpose for the photos show and tell a story of the family heritage spanning several generations. The sacred items would represent the personal items that belonged to loved ones that were influential in our lives and have since passed on. When we see those items or ‘hear’ those items it invokes memories of the loved one. Right now I have wind chimes that belong to my departed mother hanging at my patio! This helps me feel that she is near me.

Now in the event we had to give up all items except for one, the item I would decide to keep would be the family photos. The story of how we are as a family, the memories and how we worship would all be told in the photo album.

I learned from this exercise of the things I hold dear and precious and hope to pass these things onto my children and grandchildren. Family is important! Preserving of ones heritage is very important!

Perspectives in Diversity and Equity

Hey All!

I bring greetings to all in the EDUC 6164-6 course in Diversity! I am excited to learn new things and how to open up the understanding of children and other colleagues to diversity and all that we will learn that comes with it.

Let’s lend support, learn and grow from each others’ input.

　

　



Sheila Lee

When I Think of Resarch

When I Think of Research…

The insights I have gained about research from taking this course is one I will say of giving the field of research great respect! To do research means there must be certainty and a requirement of gathering specific data to prove or disprove a hypothesis. A researcher must be very well organized and operate within a strict code of ethics.

The nature of doing research or the ideas about research is one that I will approach carefully  as the information that I would gather will help in the field of early childhood education.

I have learned lessons of planning; choosing participants and who or what will be the focus group, the designing; if it is qualitative or quantitative in design, or if it will be the quasi-experimental design whereby I am using various methods to collect data as well as using more than one design.

Some of the challenges that I have encountered while taking the early childhood research course is keeping up with the various terms and methodologies for collecting data, performing research, organizing and such. I think that to take it all in, I would have to continue to study the terms and rely on the chart that was created. That should help indeed with keeping sharp about research.

My perception of the early childhood professional has always been one of high esteem. But what I see now after taking the course is that the many areas for improving the quality of care for the young child and their family come from many areas. Research has contributed great and necessary information to better improve the quality of care for children; empowering teachers to do their jobs in the most effective ways.

I want to thank all of my colleagues in the 6361 course for sharing your thoughts and contributing to my growth in this course…Especially Dr. Davis whose insight was superlative.  I have learned so much from you.

I wish you all much success!

Around the World

Research Around the World

 

 

I chose to explore the research that was going on in the Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the current research topics include;

·        Improving the quality of parenting through prenting enrichment training

·        Observation of the caring practices of two motherless babies’ homes in Nigeria

·        Integrating indigenous knowledge in Early childhood development.

·        Involving fathers in the Early childhood care and development

·        Policies and programs in support of childcare for the working families: a case study in Uganda

·        Assessment of the influence of different early childhood models on preschoolers in Kenya

While looking at these various topics I found it interesting that even though our country is thousands of miles apart,. Some of the same concerns for research are sought after for answers and feedback. For example, In terms of community and being culturally effective in the training of young children, I took a look at a study that was in force for incorporating the art of storytelling; Utilizing Indigenous Knowledge in Early Childhood development.

“Myths, legends, tales, tricksters, fables and other stories are mainly told at night. The key purposes are entertainment, cultural education and character molding. Themes revolve around praising goodness and condemning evil. The study established that socioeconomic changes over time have undermined the environment for storytelling. Nevertheless, the emerging view, from this study and other sources, is that storytelling is crucial for early childhood development and measures should be taken to incorporate it into early childhood development (ECD) programs.”(Gamurora, 2004)

This topic is much like an issue that we in the States strive with incorporating and even strengthening a feature of the culture of a people into the learning and development of young children. Miles apart but yet so close to the mission of teaching and caring for young learners!

Research That Benefits Families and Children

For the Children and Families

 

I chose option 1!

Just by surfing the internet about children’s programs for early childhood education. I came across the website for Head Start. I was excited to find that the program has evolved to what is in operation today and they have updated the programs to make them more family friendly and to include home based early childhood education. From research that has been done on the environment of children that helps them become school ready, the information is translated so that there are home visits to willing families from EC associates of the head start program to actually visit the home and give a sort of a modeling of what the families could be doing to create a learning environment for the children to grow and develop.

A great program!

I was also pleased to see how formats were in place to provide a continuous improvement practice for head start. This is such a plus for the families and children of this valuable program. Check it out and click the link below!

http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/ehs/perf_measures/reports/prgm_perf_measures/prgm_perf_measure_4pg.pdf

All that would be left to do would be to develop affordable programing such as this to meet the family demographic whose incomes do not allow them to qualify for participation. They make just over the established income threshold but still find it difficult to find quality childcare such as described here.

Fellow EC colleagues, we have outreach and advocate work to do!

Research

Personal Research Journey

Hello All,

I am plunging head first into our current course, Research Competencies – 6163-1.  I am excited about learning the difference in quality sites and articles with which to glean information from. I am still trying to figure out how to go about determining the style of research for a simulation I should attempt here. My choice for research interest is the issue of closing the achievement gap from those children in poverty to those that have access to quality care and exposure. I seek to improve the learning situations of those children who seem to fall through the grasp of the educational reach that is currently in place. I would be willing to try different approaches and be advocates for the families that are served.

Developing the research chart should be a great help in determining the simulation and style of research to perform.

The following are links that I have already explored on the subject with professionals that have shared information on the site.

http://www.apa.org/monitor/2011/09/achievement.aspx

Your comments and suggestions are invited and welcome indeed!

Research Competencies... Let's Do It!

This new course that we are about to embark upon should teach us new areas of research and how to find those nuggets of factual information that is needed to substantiate other activity with regard to early childhood studies and education. Remember, we are automatically advocates because we chose to serve in this field. We are effective in our quest only because of the information we can present as fact. I am excited ... Let's do it!

Three Consequences

Final Blog Assignment

Three consequences of learning about early childhood field internationally would consist of an expansion in my thinking regarding the needs of children. There was a saying around my dinner table while I was a child that I would say would rightly apply to the realm of educating children; that saying was “Clean your plate, there are starving children in Africa.” That saying was meant to encourage one to be grateful and not wasteful. Are we encouraging our children to be grateful? Are we as professionals being wasteful for not harnessing the vast amount of information and knowledge available so that we can be agents of change where it is needed for the children and families we serve?

Another thought is with the international connections,   I have been able to  see how eager for education and supports other countries have become. They realize the importance of educating the children; as it is education that lifts a society up and out of poverty.

With newsletters coming from the various organizations like UNICEF and many others as recommended by colleagues in this course, I can keep up with issues dealing with international trends for early childhood education. Being involved with international awareness of education trends abroad will aid folks here in the states to appreciate what is available here. It may also lead to partnering with an African school as an outreach and to make it better, to be a voice to advocate for those that are without; “Clean your plate dears there are starving children in Africa!”

International Contacts - Part Three

International Contacts with UNICEF/Africa

I listened to a podcast through the organization UNICEF which was my international contact. This particular segment featured and highlighted a program that is spearheaded and supported by NBA star of the Los Angeles Lakers, Pau Gasol.  In 2010, Gasol launched Pau’s Project, an initiative that supports Schools in Africa. The project targets areas hardest hit by poverty and   dire need. Mr. Gasol mentions on the podcast that many children face difficulties even attending school due to poor health, nutrition inequities, gender discrimination, and distance. Sometimes even their very lives are threatened due to war and civil unrest in some areas.

Mr. Gasol mentions on the podcast the importance of early childhood education saying, “We know from the age of 0 to 5 is the most critical time for a child to develop. If you don’t provide children with the opportunity, it can negatively affect them for the rest of their lives.”

NBA star and Ambassador for UNICEF plays with children in Ethiopia. UNICEF supports education and protection programs for children.

                                                                                                                                                                

Gasol raises awareness on the disadvantaged through his recent project ‘Give a Day’,  phone app that tells stories promoting children’s rights narrated by Gasol. Mr. Gasol believes that change will happen through raising levels of awareness especially in communities that have little exposure to the need of children on the other side of the hemisphere. “Everyone should make childhood a priority. As ambassadors, as people who do have the opportunity to give back, we should make it a constant priority to make sure that the message and the reality of millions of children are known,” Mr. Gasol concludes.

This podcast presented a tool where regular folks can become involved with heightening awareness of the needs of children in developing countries.

Segment #57: Pau Gasol on making early childhood a priority
AUDIO listen

Sharing Web Resources

Not Just Talk but Taking Action 

One of the organizations I signed up for to receive newsletters from was The Children’s Defense Fund. CDF is doing some great things in terms of rallying those who operate in the child advocacy fields to aid in the fight against child poverty, educational literacy gaps, and early childhood development barriers.  They are also training collegiate age youth workers for the summertime Freedom Schools, which engage low income  youth in an environment of literacy to stem the summer loss of learning.

With the upcoming conference planned for this summer in Cincinnati, Ohio, there are mini-plenary sessions and workshops to address the issues mentioned above. One highlight for the issue of child poverty will be a workshop structured to give information and strategies for reduction of poverty. Another session will address an unspoken issue of child homelessness.  There are 1.6 million homeless children, or 1 in 45 every year. This session will provide advocates with information on the current trends in homelessness and strategies to deal with such situations.

There are sessions dealing with the issue of offering full day kindergarten and how it benefits children in making them ready for school. It is necessary to invest in early education and our policy makers can hear our voices if we speak up and speak out for our children!  I have registered to attend this conference to explore the various strategies that are presented by experts in their fields pertaining to the welfare of children. Would anyone like to join me? A link has been provided below for further information for the CDF Summer Conference.

http://www.childrensdefense.org/national-conference/speakers.html

The information in this newsletter is direcly related to the topics we have addressed this week in class. We have discusses policy makers finally realizing that the investment in early childhood education is well worth the cost and will save hundrends of thousands in taxpayers dollars in the longrun. We have discussed issues with barriers to early childhood education, the newsleter presents information within it to advocate and help change the ccourse of poverty in todays families.

International Contacts

Early Childhood Development in Emergencies

I had come across some information from my international contact regarding child development strategies in emergencies. This is an issue that we hear in the United States are not faced with if at all... caring for children during wartime conflict or in times of famine.

Children seated on a bench at a UNICEF assisted daycare in Nairobi, Kenya

We already know that for children to be in repressive environments where they are prohibited from expressing creativity through play or getting physical activity for greater development is a detriment. UNICEF makes itself available to aid in these disaster type situations by the restoration of primary health care services, mother-and-child nutrition services, as well as access to clean water. Providing a hygienic environment are key parts of an integrated early childhood development response in emergencies. 

UNICEF trains and support it's caregivers and offers child-friendly spaces to give children places to play. This is done by collaboration with the committees in the areas set up to offer stability in the areas where by the nurturing of children is the focus in the midst of chaos.

This work is important and can be supported through contributions.