Making the most of the Adjourning Stage

As some groups disband and disassemble in this stage, others will take on another projects (O' Hair, D., & Wiemann, M., 2012, p.258). in the adjourning stage of my current groups at work, I am keeping an eye out for members who's trust I have felt. While others are reflecting on their accomplishments and saying there farewells, I am  using this time to also commence the forming stage of my next team project. I introduce ideas of new projects and use our successes in our current team to strengthen the bond and belief that we as a team can accomplish great things. I plan to do the same with my colleagues in my masters program as well. I have kept the links of my past and present classmates so that I may be able to understand their passions on a frequent basses. As we enter new job positions with our new held degrees and/or to just grow as a professional, I would hope to one day travel the country and meet with them to discuss issues in our field years down the line.

Resources

O' Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Strategies for Effective Communication

I have found that the principals of the center for nonviolent communication have aided me in my wanting to become an effective communicator. People who practice NVC have found greater authenticity in their communication, increased understanding, deepening connection and conflict resolution. (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.).

I communicate with many people on a daily basis at work and half of those  people I work with , I have meet for the first time. For example, different cultures and perspectives add to the conflicts that I must think of when I talk t them. I have used the NVC  main principle of the natural state of compassion when no violence is present in the heart. Even if I am faced with a dispute, practicing this ideology has cleared my mind. Cleared my mind of anger and hatred. Both factors that can blind any positive communication skills that I could engage in.

My colleague at work. We have had many conflicts as far as misunderstandings since I have worked in my current job. Now, we are very close as we have become a very great team. I feel that not only I, but she also just put her guard down. I had to put all our past differences in the past and engage in effective communication with an open mind and heart. I also try to show my enthusiasm to others at work with a smile, something that I did not do as often. My non verbal communication skill of showing a smile has made me more approachable as well.

 

References

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from www.cnvc.org

Effective Communicator?

I evaluate myself as a good communicator because I have a good memory, listen well, and always speak my opinions. One type of my personality is to multitask so I tend to multitask on listening different conversations at once because I want to be aware of my surroundings. This usually helps me to communicate with my colleagues to bring information and/or ideas that I gathered from our clients. 

Others will perhaps hopefully view me the same way I evaluate myself. My friend and my boss views me as a person that has a good memory and a very sarcastic person. They always say that to stop reading their mind because I already guessed what they were going to say before they get a chance to say it. For me, that’s because I listen and remember past conversations and/or events that helps me predict the next conversation.  Sarcastic can be a funny way to have a conversations with people to bring a good laugh, but I tend to respond sarcastically when I am getting a vibe of hypocrites. Even if it’s a question someone is asking me, if I get a sense of sarcasm, I will respond that way, but without disrespecting them.

Remembering that I do not only communicate with colleagues, young children, and their families but, I also work with foster youth that are in high school and in college. I have to work with school based social workers, department of social services, high school tutors, psychologists, law enforcement, foster families, legal birth parents,  and the culture of the staff at the five high schools and many college/universities I work with. The assessment tests for the week made more of an impact because I had never been evaluated by others. It was good to see what communication skills I should reconsider and focus on my unintentional gestures that I do that can hinder effective communication.

People From Different Groups and Cultures

One of my assignments at work is to work with high school foster youth. I have to meet with them and finds ways to communicate with them so that they can openly discuss their passions, questions, or dreams about attending college. One strategy that I have found effective when dealing with students that are from another generation is that I listen to what their interest are and I try to find something that we would have in common to gain their trust. For example, if a student is interested in a particular television show, I will try to watch a few episodes to get an idea of the characters. Then I would have found a commonality when talking to that student during the following meeting session. If they are not talking, a second strategy that I use is my sight. I look for any logos, sayings, or designs on their clothing to find something to say in relation to it. Just last week I meet with a girl who has a tattoo of a music symbol. I am a musician myself so I decided to introduce myself like I usually do when I meet a new student, but this time I added that I am a musician. As I talked about my musical experiences, I saw her nonverbal gestures. Her eyes widened and she began to smile more. That broke the ice between us. My third strategy is to focus on not just verbal gestures but also on the non verbal. Whether a person is no talking due to their religion, gender, age or whatever, I learn a lot about a person based on how they physically act around me.

I-Carly with and without sound

This is what I see when I muted the television show, i-Carly.

I see a young couple walking down a hall which looks like a school hallway. The young male is in crouches and has a cast his left foot. Their relationship looks to be that of high school friends. A girl with blond hair approaches them and with a big smile on her face, she directs her attention to him. The other girls facial expression changes from a smile to a frown. It seems as though she is not liking what the other girl is telling the male. The male looks flattered as he raisins his eye brows and pouts his chest. The girl that was with the male takes a step away from them and shrugs her shoulders. She then grabs the male in crouches and kisses him until the blond girl leaves. I guess I was wrong. Their relationship has changed from high school friends to high school sweethearts. The male smiles and the scene changes to another location.

Side note-I am glad I have cable that allows me to rewind live television. I don't know how I would have been able to complete this assignment. Now with sound.

I sure was wrong. I feel that I made assumptions that were incorrect just based on the non verbal gestures of the characters. My assumptions would have not been wrong if I had been watching a chow I know well because certain characters are made to be predictable. That's what makes a character popular. They are expected by the viewers to do and say similar things. After I heard the dialog of the scene, I realized that the couple were not high school sweethearts. The girl just wanted to get rid of the blond girl who was trying to ask the male to a party. She did kiss him but she was talking in a sarcastic tone  and made her jealous with the kiss. The plot of the scene was totally different.

This assignment reminds me of what children that come from other countries feel on their first days of school in another country. Know that I think about it, there are children in the same country that can feel that way.  

Assignment 2 - Week 1

A person that I deem as a competent communicator is my good friend, boss, and educator, Julie Benavides. Five years ago, I never thought that I would be a child development major and be an educator. I had the pleasure of listening to Julie lecture in one of her classes at East Los Angeles College. The behaviors that I saw were honesty, energetic, and passionate. In my teachings, I have tried to model the energetic part and I say try because it is hard. It doesn't matter if Julie has a presentation  at 8am or 10pm, she seems to always be energetic. Through my experiences in and out of the classroom, I have gained tremendous passion for what I do. To be able to communicate to others about what I am passionate about has helped me transmit my message across to many individuals. Another trait that I feel makes Julie an effective communicator is her wiliness to talk to many different types of audiences. She has addressed little children, parents, high school children, college students, teachers, teacher assistants, program directors, and family child care providers. She has been effective in communicating to these different age groups. I have been there when she does so and a behaviors that I always see is honesty. She uses real life examples and relates  her audiences. I was surprised to have seem her talking about diversity in a few of our Masters courses at Walden University. Surprised as she did not even tell me that she had recorded videos. Her trait of being humble is also a trait that I wish to carry as I communicate to others.

Professional Hopes and Goals

When working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I will do the best I can to not make them feel out of place or culturally misunderstood. My hope is that by modeling acceptance of diversity, they also gain respect for different cultures and embrace diversity in a positive way. Just as adults, children vary widely in their modes of interacting and preferred learning styles. want to  respect and value diversity by doing the opposite. One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is that I would want to hold workshops discuss these topics with families and at the college where I work. I want to also instill these values in students that are attending a higher education institution so that they also can go into their own centers. Instead of ignoring diversity, I By reading my colleagues blog posts and in class discussions for this course, I am glad to know that in communities aside from mine, educators will be instilling respect for diversity in children. I want to thank my colleagues for their constructive discussion and blog posts. I have copied and pasted them on my desktop every week to continue to self reflect on issues of equity and social justice. I am glad that the shared vision of a society of cultural acceptance is shared by many around the nation.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

In the event that I were to have a family join my center/ classroom from a country which I do not have any prior knowledge would make me want to learn no more than five things from their culture before they entered my classroom. I would do so as a sign of respect for their culture. The name of the family's country of origin that I know nothing about is Afghanistan.

I would hope that the family would be on an internet social network like facebook. This would give me the opportunity to view their pictures and get a visual idea of how they portray themselves.

I would like to go online and look for information on this country. I would want to learn things about the climate, geographic surroundings, and the societal structure (city or countryside or jungle,...) of that area.

I would go to the library or online to find information on the history of the country. This would include the type of government it has and the language or languages spoken.

I would then get written words in the language they spoke if from what I looked on line would be the main language used there. Translated words in English and their language like hello, restroom, friend and other words that would facilitate.

I would not want to investigate any further as I would be assuming they spoke, dressed, and acted a certain way. I would not want to insult them if I took a tourist approach to address them. I would want to learn as much as I could about the children and family once I meet them in person. I hope that my attempts in learning about this family will benefit both them and myself as I hope it would ease their welcome and make them feel respected.  

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

An incident I can think about that has made me a target for prejudice within my own ethnic group is my name. Before I continue to explain, I need to share a bit of my parents history. Both parents migrated to the United States and were the target of many racial profiling and where treated vary unjustly in the 70s and early 80s. They received  this at work and in their vary same neighborhood where they lived. When I was born, they wanted to name me Francisco, a name that is commonly used in many Mexican families. Francisco is the name of my grandfather and it is the middle name of my father. They wanted to continue the tradition but were thinking that it may cause me problems, mainly with acts of prejudice. My parents thought that if they named me frank, short for Francisco, that when people would  see my name like in a waiting list for school or a job position, I would have a better chance to be selected as they thought that if a racist person was in charge, they would not pick my name that is associated with a Mexican.  

Now to the prejudice part that I have received from other Mexicans and Mexican Americans. All I can say is, "dammed if I do and dammed if I don't". My parents good intent on trying to make me fit in with Americas was a good deed on their behalf but overlooked the reaction from other Mexicans and Latino populations. An example I can share is that some people think that I changed my name because I was ashamed of being called a name that is so commonly used in Mexico. They tell me to keep it real and to never deny my roots. Some people even tell me that I am a liar and should not misread my name on my birth certificate. Some of my close friends have called me a wannabe whitewashed Mexican. They do not believe that the name spelled on my birth certificate is Frank. All I know is that things like a person's name can be tied into a person's social identity and as a professional, I must be mindful in not to insult anyone by changing their name even if I cannot say it. The story that Dr. Euguene Garcia told in one of this week's videos made me remember this. I sometimes feel like his sister , Cipranita felt with the unintential microaggression that she experienced on her first day of school when the teacher, not being able to pronounce her name, changed it to Emily forever. It creates thoughts of insecure feeling of which name is better. This is not a good thing for children to experience as it can make them question their roots.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). "In His Own Voice: Dr. Eugene Garcia" [DVD] Baltimore, Learning MD. Author.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

      An example of a mircoagression that I have experienced this week is one that I experience almost every time I go out for a cruise in my classic car. I get comments from people like, "Wow, is that car yours?" or "You must sell illegal drugs to be able to afford a car like that." I take these comments as complements towards my car. The microaggression that I can pull from these comments is of the racial kind. Most of the people that tell me these comments are from white upper class white men. I drive my car up the California West coast line known as the Pacific Coast Highway and a lot of upper middle class white people reside here. A stereotype for a Mexican who drives a fancy car is that he must sell illegal drugs to be able to afford it. I sometimes feel a sarcastic tone when they tell me so It then does not feel like a complement. It makes me feel like I am not worthy of such a car. I have worked three jobs to help pay for it. As far as classicism goes, I consider myself to be in the working class and when someone who looks to be in a high class and makes comments like that, I would think that if would make them feel powerful over me.   These racial microaggrssions reflect a view of superiority. I do not pay attention to these details because I do not have time to wonder what and if people are using subliminal messages with their comments. I try to take comments for what they are, word per word.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment I decided to talk to my 72 year old neighbor. Greg, an African American 40 year old custodian male. I choose someone who I felt is really difernet from me in regards to gender, religion, race, and class. It was my fairly new 23 year old friend Amy, who is studying abroad from India.

My neighbors definition of culture is defined with one word which is tradition. He defines diversity as a mixture of people of different nationalities  all in one geographical area. Greg defines culture as what ties people together. Greg defines diversity as people having different cultures.  He talked about how to better keep unity amongst friends and family was by focusing on the similarities and building on the differences. My friend Amy, she described culture as the ethnic foods she prepares, the music from her country and her identity associated with that of Hinduism.  She defines diversity as someone who is does not practice what she believes in or does.

Aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course include all the answers my friends gave as their personal definition. Some responses can be defined as surface culture like the ethnic food, religion and music defined by Amy. The other responses that include how we interact  are deeper yet also valid responses. I feel nothing has been omitted as everyone is entitled to their own definition of culture. I feel that am, being so far from her friends and family, needs to duplicate ethic rituals to help her not feel home sick. How they each expressed their definitions makes them who they are.

Representing My Family Culture

Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

If I had to decide on what three items to bring along with me that represents my family culture they would be a family photo album, my Spanish guitar, and vegetarian cookbook. My family takes pride in collecting family photographs and showing them to visitors who come to our home. Usually for any type of family gathering, either my father or I play the guitar and we all sing songs in Spanish. My mother , sister, and myself are vegetarians. Since my aunts and father eat meat, we always have to cook two meals, one meat and one non meat. We have done this more than 25 years. I would hope that the new country does not look down on vegetarians or vegans.

How would I feel if upon arrival to our new country and had to discard two of the three items? I would not feel too bad as I would have had felt bad already for having to have left behind some many other things that represents my family culture. In essence, I feel that everything in our home is a representation of our culture. This would lead me to an insight I gained about myself and my family culture. Every object that we interact with throughout the day on a frequent occasion, is a representation of our family culture.

When I Think of Research...

I have learned different types of research designs. I have also gained insight on ethics that revolve around research that involves children. One must take into consideration the guardians as well as any other people who might be relating to the child participant(s) during the study. The insight on including qualified personal to carry out the research whom are either trained in child development or even better, who work with the children already to be able to collect real information from children when they  are acting normal around people they are accustom to.

From comments from the teacher I have learned that I must choose a specific age and not a range. I started to do my simulation research on children 0-5yrs then from 3 - 5yrs. I have narrowed my participants to 3 yr olds. This gives a more precise outcome as I can relate it to just one age and not have to account for extraneous variables like developmental milestones of an older or younger population.

 A challenge I came across was finding a research topic that had not been already researched. I wanted to be really creative and choose a new topic. I was able to overcome this by choosing an always new topic (technology) and work off of current researchers limitations. I used their extraneous variables as part of my independent variable.

My perception of an early childhood has made me be more sure that we should feel and be viewed as professionals in our field. The fact that I have learned about research and that I have read many article an research done by people from our field, well it raises the bar since we can have an open dialog with scientists, doctors and neuroscientist. Being able to understand their terminology makes use that more versatile and we are needed to in adding our expertise on child development wear these professionals would lack experience.

Research Around the World

The organization I chose to look into this week is Early Childhood Australia. The link to their site is http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. A current international research topic that is being studied in Australia is social issues that include children's social and emotional development and wellbeing. The study that I read on is called Growing Up in Australia and it is a longitudinal study of 10, 000 Australian children and their families. The study began in 2003 and is still being tracked. It is funded by the Australian government, Community Services and the Australian Bureau of Statistics. I find this an international issues as no matter where people are, social acceptance has a lot to do with the healthy development of a child's self esteem. If the child is socially and emotional stable, they suffer in other areas of development. A surprising fact about this early childhood website is that it is compared to  the National Association for the Education of Young Children by Walden University. This is what caught my attention in the first place as why I chose it over the other links. This organization has their code of ethics that professionals in Australia can follow. I am not sure how different our main social beliefs and practices are from that of the main culture of Australia but as any group of people living in different parts of the world, I am glad that they did not decide to completely pick up ethics from another Nation and force them upon their workforce. It is go that they created their own. A noteworthy fact about the site is that they have pictures of diverse families and children. They show an acceptance of different nationalities and cultures.

Research that Benefits Children and Families

I choose to talk about Option 2. If I could imagine myself conducting research on any topic in the early childhood field without any restrictions, I would choose to address the issue of children being misdiagnosed with a hyperactive disorder. I have not done any research on this topic and my wish is not to offend anyone. I state this because in my experience in working with some three to five year olds, I am saddened when I find out that they have been diagnosed with something that with my day to day interactions with those children, I'd say that they were misdiagnosed. Children are suppose to run around and not sit still all day. Children at this age are finding out about their bodies and find out hw for the first time to run without falling, hopping, hopping on one foot, skipping, to name a few things. It's like if one discovered that adults could fly, but it was forbidden to do so. I bet people would still want to fly even though it was not to be done. For those who would fly  would they then be diagnosed with a hyper active flying disorder. Okay, maybe I chose a silly example but I hope it does justice to my reason of why Id research this topic. I would use children and give them a placebo. I lie to the parents of these children and the children and state that this would relax the child. It is un ethical to keep the truth from the participants but I feel  that some parents justify that their child actions are due to the fact that he/she is ill and not due to their bad parenting skills. These diagnosed children overhear and create mayhem because they now feel they can get away with things since its okay since mommy says that I have a hyper activity disorder. Some parents just need guidance on how to be better role models for their children.  A positive contribution to this would be that children and parents would no longer be lied to and forced to buy medications by medical reps and would know that they just need to work it out as a family with the help of early childhood professionals. As in all, not to feed crap medications to children at such an early age.

My Personal Research Journey

As I reflect on a general topic in early childhood that interest me, I am going to focus on the importance of integrating electronic devices within the classroom. I know that this is already being done but I feel not as much.  My experience in working in several preschools is that the only means of introducing children to technology is by having two or three computers in the classroom. I see young children outside of school using tablets, smart phones, and ipads. I have also worked with families that still do not have the resources to obtain those devices and children should be able to work with touch screens. When they are old enough to go into the workforce, technology will be a must in mostly every field.  An example is when children play with blocks, teachers state that the child is developing skills that one day will prepare him or her to become an architect or builder. That child should also be introduce to a touch screen device where they can create three dimensional vies of what they build. If that child does indeed become that architect or builder, they would be already experienced in working with devices that the field would require to get the job done. In selecting a topic that has not yet been researched is hard for me to do and I hope I can further narrow down this topic. Does anyone know of any research articles that discuss this already? I would appreciate any feedback as well.

Final Blog Assignment

One consequence I learned about the international early childhood field regarding my professional development is the necessity to broaden my networking circle. My attempts to form relations with a professional that is outside of the United States have not been successful. I have made many connections within my community and surrounding neighborhoods but noticed the importance of forging collaborations with people in other countries. I will continue my quest to make friends with someone from the Netherlands as I have now knowledge of their educational system. A second consequence within my professional development is the need to communicate to others in the field the importance of open communication, if not with individuals, with international organizations. Within this course, I was presented with many organizations. A third consequence is that with the blog assignments for this class, I was able to expand my parent and teacher resource binder to include a section dedicated to international issues and trends.

One goal I found for the field related to international awareness of issues and trends and the spirit of collegial relations is the need for a broader base of support amongst professionals. I read from my online colleagues that the same main issues related to inequity and accessibility are the same throughout the nation. Some professionals (including me) in the field do not seek support from the larger community. I was at fault to view this outside help as a sign of weakness and wanted to feel self sufficient. Thanks to Walden , I already see myself as a part of this larger social networking community. I have broadened my perspective that includes the ECE field beyond my community and have started to use the feedback from those areas.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

After exploring the website by UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/), I have come across three insights pertaining to issues related to international early childhood education that are related to my professional goal.

1. I live in California and my professional goal is to work for the Los Angeles County of Education (LACOE). The organization UNESCO has a similar agency but this one does not only cover a single county but many parts of the world. It is called the International Bureau of Education (IBE). A few of their jobs are to track the starting age of compulsory education in many areas and legislation concerning early childhood education. This is a great source to have to be able to find out about ECE issues in many parts of the world.

2. Another insight is the websites photo gallery. As I read many research articles on poor countries which families are not able to afford an education for their children, it is nothing compared to imagers reelecting it. One picture is worth one thousand words. For example, in the Congo of Africa, a town called Kitschoro has an issue where very few families are able to send their children to school due to economical and security issues. I currently work with families that are struggling to pay for preschool because their income is not enough. They, for the most part, just have relatives babysit them. Sadly, most of these children's minds do not get stimulated might live an educational gap early on in life.

http://photobank.unesco.org/library/image/509/B626EazO5ll4gq42uY88yvr0.jpg

3. My last insight from this website is the information I gathered from the collaboration this organization pulled off. One of the issues related to inequity and accessibility is the type of early child care programs that are offered to families . Their conference on Early Childhood Education was composed of many  different types of organizations. It had legislators, government representatives, UN agencies, intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental agencies, private foundations and civil society institutions. I have been to several conferences that discuss the issues within ECE but I find it sad that I do not see many diverse agencies present. This organization is a great example of unity and the power of change it can bring.   

Sharing Web Resources

This week I continue to navigate through the National Association for the Education of Young Children website(NAEYC) located at www.naeyc.org.I visit many links that lead me to the organizations affiliates and sponsors. These organizations are supporters of the ideas being offered by NAEYC. I ventured out to a link that allows people to download informative handouts from presenters of conferences and workshops at http://www.naeyc.org/conference/presenters. I think this is a great reference as I cannot afford to travel to the national conferences that this organization holds. This helps to address the issues of responsiveness as I can bring the handouts to my fellow staff and present new ideas to families. The information is attainable to a wider audience and diverse groups. A new insight about issues and trends in the early childhood field I gained this week from exploring the website is that the organization offers position statements that address the inequities of early child education but I could not find and offered solutions to them. I feel these issues of inequalities must be addressed in forums where the general public are and not in a website where mostly people in the field reside. We can all agree but it would not do much good if other people know what we are agreeing one. Child advocacy is very important for our ideas to be put into actions with more ease.

Getting to Know Your International Contacts - Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” Website

     After not yet receiving a response from an international professional, I visited the Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website (http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/ . After exploring the site thoroughly, I would like to share three new insights I gained about early childhood systems around the globe. As part of the centers global children's initiative, they are working on a project  in Brazil to synthesize and translate scientific knowledge on the science of child development. They are doing this in the Brazilian cultural context as they work with Brazilian scholars, policymakers, civil society leaders to help create a more equitable society. A new insight is that as a professional in the field of childhood education, weather we assist families in our communities or some place around the world, we must be mindful and respectful of their culture and language.  Another insight is that this organization is putting effort in respecting the Brazilian culture and adding to their society, not changing it. Children are not empty vessels and we must add to their knowledge base, not change it. My third insight I gathered from this site is the underlying focus of the program. They state that they are making these efforts to ultimately reach a large Brazilian audience in order to catalyze more effective policies and programs. Even though I work in a city within the United State, the families I work with are up of a variety of ethnic groups. I don't have to leave the country as I feel sometimes as I am a international professional as I deal on a day to day with all these cultures. By having visited this site, It served me as a reminder to continue to make an extra effort to acknowledge every families culture that I work with as it creates better relationships.

Sharing Web Resources

The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) has specific information that is particularly relevant to my current professional development. Since I began my educational journey within the field of early childhood education, I have been always developing professionally by integrating technology within the classroom. Sometimes as a teacher, we get so into our work within the classroom  that we can forget to ask for help outside from it. I have caught myself just asking an assosciate teacter for advice or an idea on lesson plan. I forget that I can go online and visit many other professionals to get more ideas. NAEYC has  a section where one can connect to facebook, twitter, youtube videos, and Flickr. These social medias can help myself and others in the field stay current with educational ideas and ECE policies and expand as professionals.

The website  adds to my understanding of how economists, neuroscientists, or politicians support the early childhood field in the many readings on current research is discussed in these fields through newsletters, position statements, and research articles. I get to see the interconnections of for example science and how their research affects the funding of early childhood education. Current research in brain development has allowed more access to programs being funded to enhance the quality of education for children under five. A new thought that comes to me is the idea that a few years ago that one of the effects of poverty was that families could not afford a computer or have access to a computer. With technology being so advanced now, getting a computer is not so bad within the communities that I work with. Sadly , now the effects of poverty is that they cannot afford internet access.

Getting to Know a International Contact - Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center

I have not yet received a response from an early childcare education professional from outside of a different country so I have deicide to do the alternative assignment . I have visited the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Center's Website to read about childhood poverty in different parts of the world. Their case studies in countries other than the United States gives valuable information on how families and children are living in areas like China, India, Kyrgyzstan, and Mongolia. For example, a study done in India shows that children  must work to help out themselves and their families to fight against poverty and to treat illness. The family cannot afford to send most children to get an education. They sacrifice schooling to live better. This to me makes poverty into a constant cycle from generation to generation. The site has links to many childhood poverty issues / research entities as well anti-poverty campaigns. It also shares various links to organizations that speak about  children's right and issues worldwide.

This Poverty Research and Policy Center has publications that are not only written in the English language. They include other languages. I find this helpful and respectful as it is useful to many others who can use this site. From various other international websites that I have encountered in the past, this is the first time I come across this detail. It is a great reminder that poverty  is an issue that affects children all over the world as it is a human struggle, not a certain racial struggle.

Sharing Web Resources

The organization I selected is The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). The link  to this organization is http://www.naeyc.org. NAEYC'S mission is to raise the quality of early childhood programs and to continue building the association through a a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations.

One current trend from this website this year that caught my attention is that the association and  the Fred Rogers Center for Early Learning and Children’s Media at Saint Vincent College released a comprehensive statement, “Technology and Interactive Media as Tools in Early Childhood Programs Serving Children from Birth through Age 8,” providing important new guidance to early childhood programs on the effective use of media and technology. As educators, we need any new ideas on how we can teach children. Technology is all around us and this topic being presented on this website is beneficial to the 80,000 members it as.

Considering the topic for this week, that is, changing demographics and diversity, NAEYC prides itself in being culturally diverse and are mindful of the term inclusion. Its members are different people that are united by advocacy for children. They are composed of a variety of professionals and not just teachers. As a member of this  community, one has the opportunity to meet with people around the world who share the same passions and discuss current issues and research through a much broader audience. Ones circle of networking amongst professionals grows. Members are invited to child-advocacy events and be a part of projects to help children locally or in other parts of the world. This gives the opportunity to get experiences with working with people from different cultures and backgrounds and be better able to assist the culturally diverse families in ones classrooms.   

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I am really excited to start making contact with ECE professionals from around the world. As I read the first part of the assignment, I went back to my childhood when I was in elementary school. In fourth and fifth grade, my teacher had us write to pen-pals to other children in china. For the first part of this assignment I decided to ask two early childhood professionals I have the pleasure to work with in this country if they know any colleagues in different parts of the world. I asked Lousie Dermin-Sparks and her husband Bill Sparks. They are both activists for children's rights and are known in many parts of the united states for publishing books and journals. Louise has had the opportunity to travel to many parts of the world to discuss her research and thoughts on anti-biases in education in places like Greece, South Africa, Australia, and the Netherlands. Both Bill and Lousie were kind enough to call up some of the professionals in these countries. Since they are busy individuals in these countires, she told me that she would in about a week or so, have possibly two people that I may contact.

For the second part of this assignment, I will choose The National Association for the Education of Young Children. Walden students this year are now able to receive a 10 percent discount on tuition if they show verification of enrollment to this organization. In previous instances, I have visited their website, but only the sections that are free. Now, that I will become a member, I will be able to explore more information. I hope professionals in this course also, if they have not already, take advantage of the discount.  

“My Supports”

I believe that support is a very important aspect in one’s life. Support can be different from person to person. I go through my daily task with the help of my family and friends. I find great support by being surrounded by people I love and respect. Work is very stressful for me and having my family home after work, it is a great support as they listen to my concerns. They are there to listen to me and help me to distress myself. Sometimes the financial problem that occurs in my home is hard to talk about it with my family. For instance, I believe my parents get more stressed if I talk about financial problems on a daily basis. This stress can cause illnesses to my parents as they are not in a young age anymore. I use my friends, in this matter, as support to discuss my problems that I do not feel comfortable discussing with my family. These supports I find it very beneficial because it makes me a better person every day. If I would not have my family and friends on a daily basis, I believe I would go very depressed. Just imagining having no support from the people I love makes me feel sad. My family and friends help me feel better emotionally that without them will impact my life in a crucial way.

My girlfriend, originally from Los Angeles, California, went to St. Louis, Missouri to get her master’s degree. She was alone in a new city with no family nearby. After she got her master’s degree, a job was offered to her at her school; which she accepted. Although she had support from her family and me, she found it difficult staying after six months and decided to return home. If I were her, that would have been the biggest challenge of my life; being away from my family. I need my family to have my life balanced. They give me support by not making feel alone in this world, hearing my issues and giving me their best advice to handle them, and the love that I receive from them which makes me very happy. My life and family are not perfect, but we work together through our best and worst of times. My family is very beneficial because they provide support in many different ways. My girlfriend was strong for being away from the people she loves. I could not imagine myself far away from my family and girlfriend and not having them in my life, it will be the end of the world for me. The biggest impact that I would have is being alone and for me, feeling alone is like having no life to live for.

"My Connections to Play"

“Children learn as they play. Most importantly, in play children learn how to learn.” ~ O. Fred Donaldson (martial arts master)

Necessity may be the mother of invention, but play is certainly the father - Roger Von Oech, Contemporary American creativity guru

These are two quotes that summarize what play represented for me in my childhood. I grew up in a low income home where my parents did not have money to buy me many toys. I remember using my imagination very much during play. I was never into video games. I think because they were barely becoming popular and my parents would have not been able to afford it. Any object that I got my hands on would, in my mind, turn into some type of toy. I would turn household items into props. For example, I loved setting pots and pans out and would envision a huge city where my few figures could battle in. I would also use the green plastic baskets that strawberries would come in and use them as building blocks or cages for some toys I had.

(Plastic basket that strawberries came in when we would by them from the store. I dont see them anymore in stores)













(Pots and pans is where I would love to create my imaginary battle scenes)

I remember my mother being the most influential person in my play. She would throughout the day, spend time with me and go along with my ideas and sometimes help me be creative in the objects I had. She and I would create games with the props we had. I would say i owe my creativity to her. I enjoyed my childhood play days that I saved all of my toys and some household props in the basement as a reminder of those days.

Today's play is somewhat similar from the play in which I engaged in as a child. Children today ask for video games and I see many at school pretend they are a character for those games. At centers where I have been at, I see children expressing their imagination by themselves and with others. I often play with them and make up stories. I feel my play as a child comes out. Even as an adult, I really enjoy playing games with the children. Play is something that I will never be able to stop doing. I can't wait to play with my own children and suggest creative ways to play so that they too, can use their in=imagination Today's technology has 3 year olds walking around with ipads all day and I feel it is not letting children be creative as children use to be though. I feel they are being raised without the social benefits of child-driven play.

Relationship Reflection

Having positive relationships is a vital part of me. I am a very social person with my family, peers and coworkers. I need these relationships to maintain myself more at ease. My life has become easier at home and at work. The relationships at home keep us united just as the ones I carry at work. We share an understanding of our roles as dependent and interdependent beings. We are able to help each other out without hesitation and we help each other without expecting a favor in return.

There are a few things that I do that thankfully come natural to me to maintain my relationships. I do not expect anyone to be responsible for me or my happiness. I make and keep clear agreements and do not expect to agree with each other on every issue. I use a lot of communication to establish a common ground to understand the different points of views. One of the things that has helped me in creating and keeping healthy relationships is that I tell the truth. I remain truthful to myself and to others. I think that for any relationship to function, one must have trust.  I see trust as a special characteristic that makes a relationship into a partnership. Another characteristic that I see that must be present is respect for each other. I use all of these factors in the relationships I share with my family and friends. I do not have time to switch roles and become nicer to one person and not the next. I share my emotions and thoughts evenly. For example, my relationship with my parents are the same with my boss.

A challenge that I have encountered  in  developing and maintaining relationships in the past is to finding time to strengthen some relationships at work. One factor I see works for some is to spend quality time together  aside from work. It is very difficult with busy schedules  to meet up at a restaurant, catch a movie, or simply share hobbies. This time invested to know a person would help me in trying to understand someone's judgment  calls on a daily basis.

My experiences with relationships/ partnerships have had a great impact throughout and currently in trying to become a more effective early childhood professional. This professionalism is linked in overcoming a challenge. Being able to learn how to forgive someone for  not admitting to their mistakes has helped me in my life. In not doing so,  it has created animosity at the work place and I have found it better to just let it go and move on.  This makes the work place a warm and inviting environment and adults as well as children do not feel and tension in the room when they enter.