Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Organizations of Interest

The following is the national, state and local websites for the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  I am a member of this organization and I feel that it has helped to keep me informed of new information concerning early childhood.  NAEYC has also provided me with needed resources and gives opportunities to build networks among colleagues.  It also offers learning and research opportunities.

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) at http://www.naeyc.org/

NCaeyc at http://www.ncaeyc.org/

CFaeyc at http://www.ncaeyc.org/affiliates/CFaeyc/capefear.html

 

The North Carolina Early Childhood Association carries a strong voice for high quality programming for young children.  It advocates in the development of regulations and statewide policies that affect young children, families, teachers, and childcare programs.  This organization offers opportunities to advocate, new resources, training opportunities, and information on the NC Child Care Commission and the important decisions that they make that impacts the children that we serve.

NC Early Childhood Association at http://www.ncearlychildhoodassoc.com/

 

Technical Assistance Partnership for Child and Family Mental Health Early Childhood Community of Practice Provides an opportunity for discussion, collaboration, and the exchange of ideas and resources

Community of Practice at http://www.tapartnership.org/COP/earlyChildhood/default.php

 

Job Opportunities

A job opportunity that interests me is opening up and running an early childhood program that is all inclusive, equitable, and high quality.

·         A Master’s degree or higher in early childhood and experience

·         Knowledge of early childhood development, diversity, and be culturally enriched

·         Knowledge of rules and regulations of early childhood program

·         Strong communication and collaborative skills

Week 8---Reflecting and Moving Forward

            The one hope that I have is that all people will respect that “we are all the same; we are all different” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012, p. 67).  With looking beyond this country I can see that there is a lot of children that need support in order to live, thrive, survive and become the best that they can be.  My hope is that all early childhood professionals will remember what Julia Olsen Edwards said that we take two steps forward and one step backwards (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  This is a big challenge for me as I tend to give up if I do not see progress.  If I keep in mind that the one step headway that I gained is just a small start; however, if we are all making that one step headway then we have made progress towards a better future a better tomorrow.  All children deserve a better tomorrow.  So the ultimate hope for the future of our children is that we do not give up on the tiny progress that we have made.  Dr. Olsen Edwards said that it is a long hard journey (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) and during this journey we will have to be brave and help each other.

            With this being said I would like to thank each and every one of my colleagues.  You have helped be begin this long hard journey.  I am here for you as you travel on this challenging journey.  I hope that we can celebrate each step forward and help each other when challenging issues arise.  Thank you again for your support throughout this educational experience and the beginning of the anti-bias journey.  Looking forward to hearing about your accomplishments and I am here if I can help you through the issues that arise in your journey.

 

Thank you,

Luci

 

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2012). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). EDUC 6358-1 Strategies for Working with the Diverse Child [Webcast]. Your commitment to anti-bias work. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2819834_1%26url%3D

Week 7: Impacts on Early Emotional Development

            There are many things that affect emotional development.  The way that we are raised, how people relate to us, what is happening in the world around us, etc.  The list could go on and on.  During my visit to the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) website (http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html) I chose to explore Latin America and Caribbean region.  I am not really sure why I chose to explore this region over the others, I just did.

            Some of the challenges that this region faces are similar to some that are faced in the United States.  Poverty is a big challenge.  The UNICEF website states that 60% of children under the age of 12 live in poverty.  That is a lot of children that have to wonder about where their next meal might come from or when it might arrive.  According to UNICEF website children face social exclusions.  Children may be socially excluded because of the HIV/AIDS; the Caribbean is the second highest prevalence of AIDS in the world, and disabilities.  This “dramatically affects the indigenous and Afro-descendent communities” (http://www.unicef.org/lac/english_9818.htm).  UNICEF website states that this is one of the most culturally diverse regions in the world.  There are 40-50 million indigenous and 150 million Afro-descendants living here and close to half of these are children under the age of 18.  These children have poor nutrition and non-existent access to basic services.

            This all leads to another threat that children face in this region, chronic malnutrition.  This website compares chronic malnutrition with severe malnutrition in the following way: severe malnutrition is equivalent to a death sentence and chronic malnutrition is equivalent to life imprisonment.  They go on to state that 1 out of every 5 children has chronic malnutrition.  This to me is very scary that so many children have a life sentence put on them at such an early age. 

            Violence and natural disasters are other challenges that this region faces.  UNICEF states that 85,000 children die annually as a result of violence in the home.  They go on to say that violence affects over 6 million children and adolescents.  The natural disasters are hurricanes and flooding occurs yearly.

            All of the challenges that I listed above could affect children’s emotional wellbeing.  These challenges affect how children view themselves as well as how others view them.  These challenges may have children thinking that they are not worthy of things.  Poverty and malnutrition leave children focusing on when and/or what they are going to eat.  Being excluded and violence often leaves you wondering if you are worthy.  All of these affect are emotional wellbeing.

            Personally I have lived in poverty and understand what it is like to go to bed hungry.  I was excluded by my peers because I was poor and just did not fit in with them.  This is totally different from what the children in this region is faced with.  So many children are suffering in this region.  I can only phantom what they are going through.  Professionally this exploration helps me to understand about the different cultures and beliefs that need to be considered when planning our curriculum and daily classroom activities.  A common example would be a sensory table full of rice or noodle necklaces.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

While reading the book excerpt, So Sex, So Soon I was picturing what my eldest daughter asked me when she was just a kindergartener, or better yet what she informed me of.  Her question was “Is this finger (holding up her middle finger) dirty?”  My response was to carefully look at her finger and I said “It doesn’t look dirty to me. However, there are people that associate dirty thoughts when holding up that finger.”  A couple of days later she comes up to me and says “Mom, do you know what this means?” While she moves her lose fisted hand up and down.  She did inform me of what the little boy told her it meant.  This book excerpt also reminded me of a time that my young daughter was sing along with a song on the radio.  Something like “I want to sex you up” I do not remember if that was the title or just some lyrics in the song.  Anyway, I asked my daughter what it meant and she told me that it only meant kissing.  I told her that I only asked because she should not sing or say things that she does not know what they mean.

 The images that society puts on young girls are really tough to follow.  To be sexy and popular you have to fit a certain image (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  I have never fit that image and probably never well.  The fourth-grade girl that wrote that letter on page 3 of the book excerpt could have been me.  As a young child I always felt unloved and a failure.  I felt this way because I was not thin or pretty (at least no one ever said I was pretty).  The image that we are giving children about sex and being a sexual being is hurting them (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  It is no wonder that children cannot figure out who they are and have relationship issues.  How do we move past the images that society has been giving for many, many years?  I still feel that my looks hinder my abilities to be loved and I am very insecure in my relationships.  Knowing this about myself helps me to look past societies images when working with others; however, I can only see what I think others see when looking in the mirror.

Reference

Levin, D. & 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

Isms: Evaluating its Impacts on our Professional Practices

            Growing up in a lower economic class with a big family left me a victim to many isms.  People face isms all around us.  In my experience a lot of people have difficulty with change.  Without change we cannot break the cycle of isms, bias, or prejudice.  Isms can be taught to us in a covert or overt manner (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012).  Often we do not even realize that we are being stereotyped when it happens naturally in your culture.  For example I was always called a tomboy and often dressed and acted the part.  I was always teased about it.  The one thing that really got me as a young teenager was when my cousins and uncle called me Cindy the cow because they used to have a cow named Cindy and my nickname was Cindy.  I refused to answer to Cindy anymore and often thought of myself as fat.  Talk about self-esteem issues.

            I think that if we as professionals were the victim of isms it would affect how we function in our life and in our classroom.  Being the victim of an ism would harm our self-esteem and self-worth.  This would make us unsure of our teaching and communications with families.  Without being able to build trusting and reliable relationships with the children in our care and their families we would not be able to partner up with them and provide a safe learning environment.  We might pass on the bias, stereotype, or prejudge on to the children without even realizing that it was happening.  This would be detrimental in our work to become anti-bias educators.  As professionals we need to work to overcome isms, biases, stereotypes, and prejudges so that we can help children to become anti-bias.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2012). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

WK 3: Observing Communication

            My observation of adult/young child communication took place in a preschool setting.  I observed the communication between a mother and young child during the arrival to school.  They were talking about an event that happened the night before and what the child was going to tell his teacher.  The mother demonstrated listening to the child by repeating and responding in a purposeful manner.  They demonstrated the purpose of the communication to be informational and extending thoughts of the child.  The mother was very respectful in her communication with her son.  The mother and son were walking so there was not much eye contact or observing body language or gestures.

            After reading Kovach and Da Ross-Voseles (2011) article Communicating with Babies, Stephenson (2009) article Conversations with a 2-year-old, and listening to Laureate Education, Inc.’s (2011) media segment Communicating with Young Children I came up with three guiding principles to communicate with young children.  Theses principle can be tied to this observation.  The first principle that I thought was important was active listening and observing body language and gestures.  This mother actively listened to her son; however, observing body language and gestures did not occur because they were walking down the hall.  The second principle that I came up with was to be mindful in your communication.  This mother was talking to her son not to someone else about her son.  She was being respectful in how she communicated and was deliberate in her style.  The third principle is to understand the purpose of your communication.  It was clear that the purpose was to extend her son’s critical thinking and to give information and feedback in a respectful manner.

            This communication would be beneficial to this child’s self-worth.  The mother was very encouraging as the child spoke and feedback was done so that the conversation could continue.  The child was motivated by his mother to continue with this conversation.  The only thing that I would change would be the amount of observing of gestures and body language though this did not affect this communication process.  I feel that I communicate effectively though I need to work on my observational skills so that I actively listen with my whole body and acquire the communication that children do through body language and gestures.

References

Kovach, B., & Da Ross-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC; Young Children, 66(2), 48-50.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011a). EDUC 6357-6 Diversity, Development, and Learning [Webcast]. Communicating with Young Children. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2819834_1%26url%3D

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95.

Creating Affirming Environment

Setting up a Family Child Care Home

To set up my child care home I need to think about what I need that will reflect every family in my care (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012).  I like the way that Ms. Castillo had a greeting room for parents to come in and spend time helping children transition into her home, therefore I will have a greeting room that has the daily schedule, plans for the day, sign in sheet for the parents and one for the children.  My greeting room will have a pillow area for those children that need a quiet comfortable area before they are ready to start their day.  I will also have favorite books as well as teacher made books that depict what the children have been doing throughout their day.  I will have books that are written in the languages of my families.  I will have a classroom photo album depicting all the families.  It has been my experience that children love exploring everyone’s family. 

            I will have a room that is set up for infants and toddlers exploration.  This room will have materials that are at the levels of each infant and toddler.  It will have soft and cardboard books, I will adapt the teacher made books and cardboard books so that children can manipulate each page.  The books that I choose will encourage critical thinking (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2012).  There will be soft furniture for relaxing and an area that is more sensory orientated that would include climbing, jumping, a crash pad, and a swing.  There will be multicultural manipulatives, props for dramatic play, and block play.  There will be mirror on the lower wall so that children can explore their selves, and pictures of their families.

            The preschool room will be similar to the infant/toddler room; however, it will have higher functioning manipulatives and tools for exploration.  The preschool room will have a sensory area, dramatic play area, block play area, and a discovery area.  There will be a book area in every room.  The walls will have a variety of pictures that depict the families that are in my care. 

            Ms. Castillo has a nap room in her center that I feel is needed (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).  Children need a nice calm area that they can wind down and rest.  This room will be a nice calm area that will have soft furniture, blankets, books, and soft toys to cuddle with.  Soft calm music will be playing in the background. 

            My center will have a writing room.  This room will have child size tables and chairs.  It will also have desks for those children that want to write a private note.  This room will have a chalkboard, whiteboard and easels in it.  There will be a variety of writing tools, paper in multiple colors, and paint.  The walls will have multicultural pictures and poems as well as the alphabet on it.  I will have magnetic letters and numbers.  This room will also have a variety of favorite books to read and explore.  The room will also have a mailbox for each family, student, and staff member so that children can deliver letters.  Envelopes will also be available.

            Families will be encouraged to explore the center with their child/children.  They are encouraged to read the stories that the children will be exploring and the teacher made books about what the children have been doing throughout the day.  I will send home a personalized daily journal, a monthly newsletter that will tell about what happened last month and what is planned for the month.  There will be monthly homework assignments that families can choose to participate with their child.  These homework assignments will help me learn more about each family.

            My hopes are that my Family Child Care Home will be open and comfortable for all children and their family.  Through exploration the children will learn about and respect similarities and differences.  There will be pictures that demonstrate different feelings around the center to help children understand and respect their feelings and the feelings of others.

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2012). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011). EDUC 6357-6 Diversity, Development, and Learning [Webcast]. Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community. Baltimore, MD: Author. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2819834_1%26url%3D