Foundations of Early Childhood

Over the past eighteen months I have gained knowledge about diversity that has improved my professional development. Realtionships, old and new have benefited from the information I have learned in courses of my master’s program. Respect for others and their way of life is another lesson learned. Being tolerant of differences is not enough embracing and celebrating differences is required. The program has helped me discover my unlimited potential in working with young children. I know what I do for children, counts, it is important. My long term goal is to continue working with other early childhood educators to improve current understanding of anti-bias education and the importance of culturally responsive interactions with children and families. One by one we can make a difference. Thank you Dr. Dartt for your guidance in this course. I have learned to look deeper for the answers and formulate a cohesive solution to the problems that may arise. Colleagues your questions ...

The Global Campaign for Education (GCE) mission is to ensure that States provide everyone a free, quality public education (Global Campaign for Education, 2014). International and regional bodies as well as national coalitions make up the Global Campaign for Education. Quality resources, shared learning and programs such as the Civil Society Education Fund (CSEF) national campaigners hold governments to account to ensure Education for All is implemented in countries with the greatest need. GCE works to bring together concerned parties, such as non-governmental organizations (NGOs),teachers, unions, parents, groups, and community organizations to provide firsthand knowledge and evidence to inform education sector planning and monitoring (Global Campaign for Education, 2014) . The broad-based membership of grassroots, regional and national organizations are known as National Education Coalitions.  These well-equipped National Education Coalitions ensure that education budgets are ...

 My passion lies in helping children grow and improving their lives. Sharing my knowledge with other early childhood professionals is also of interest to me. Advocating for better understanding of the importance of diversity and inclusion in early childhood programs is an area I want to help other early childhood educators  learn more about.  My desire is to continue learning about children and have a positive impact on their development and learning.   WestEd is a nonprofit research development agency that works with education and other communities to promote excellence, achieve equity and improve learning outcomes for children, youth, and adults. WestEd Center for Child and Family Studies has a position open for a PITC Partners of Quality (PQ) Infant/Toddler Specialist.   Persons employed in this position are responsible for providing training and coaching to center staff and/or groups of family child care providers requesting PQ services. Applicants mus...

Communities of practices are present in a variety of settings, providing input from individuals and organizations with a common goal, improving the outcomes of practice (Wenger, 2006).  The early childhood includes a range of organizations dedicated to the well-being of our youngest citizens. Working with young children enables me to make a difference. The support of other organizations is vital in the early childhood programs effectiveness.  The three organizations I chose are instrumental in providing for the well-being of young children. Healthy Child Care Texas  Child Health Care Consultants work with child care providers to promote health, safety, and quality in early childhood care and education settings. The Child Care Health Consultant provides trainings, assessments, and site visits to support early care and education providers. Develop partnerships among and between child care and health care providers, as well as parents, with a focus on prevention, early d...

To be an effective anti-bias educator I must honor and respect diversity (Oran, 2009). Working with families requires me to listen to their concerns about their children and what their expectations are for their child’s learning (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). I must examine my cultural biases and develop strategies to combat any negative and discriminatory behaviors regarding differences, and continue to foster positive relationships with all families and children. Thank you to all my colleagues for your insightful and thought provoking responses during this class. Together we can make a change in how a children view themselves and the world. Good Luck in the future! References: Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). Oran, G. (2009, December 2009). Culturally relevant pedagogy. Retrieved from http://www.educati...

UNICEF is the largest global organization working especially for children in providing long-term humanitarian and developmental assistance to children in war-torn and developing countries ( UNICEF, 2011). An earlier course requirement to subscribe to an international web site in and investigate child well-being has led me to continue receiving updates through the UNICEF website for the regions of Eastern and Southern Africa.             An August 2014 UNICEF press release asserts the impact of disease, malnutrition and the weather as threats to the well-being of refugees fleeing from fighting in the town of Bentui, where an United Nations base serves as a Protection of Civilians camp (UNICEF, 2011). In March, an estimated 38,000 people fled to the refugee camp joining the 7000 people already there. The number of people outweigh the camps ability to provide clean safe water. Children were weak and malnourished after days in the b...

Young children are exposed to many messages and images that infer their values is contingent upon how sexy they are for girls.  Boys are judged how macho and insensitive they are. These messages can confuse and even frighten young children ( Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. 2009).   . Exposure to images of sexual behavior lacking emotions, attachments, or consequences is detrimental to young children’s emerging sense of self. This constant exposure influences children’s perceptions and they begin to associate physical appearance with success and they learn that sex is the major factor in a relationship. Cartoons, dolls, clothing ads and media portrayals are all contributors to the sexualtization of childhood ( Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. 2009).   .  Children as young as five years old are talking about being girlfriend and boyfriend in my granddaughter’s class. She came from school one afternoon and announced that Don and Amy were a couple. Her father a...

Having a physical disability may lead to negative perceptions and societal prejudices. Abelism is defined as discrimination against disabled people  (Dictionary.com, 2014) .  This leads to a negative determination of an individual’s abilities based on his or her disabilities. Being perceived as unable to perform the duties  of my job may impact how I perceive myself, am I able to effectively function in the learning environment, assist children when needed, and can I respond to an emergency situation when needed are a few questions that arise when I think of being physically impaired.   Having family’s trust is vital in establishing relationship between them and the program. Sensing that a family had concerns about my physical competence likely could take a toll on my emotionally well-being and ability to relate to the family in an authentic manner. In dealing with the situation I might avoid the family to lessen the possibility of them questioning me or reacti...

Everyday interactions are opportunities to promote learning. How the teacher facilitates the learning opportunity will result in what the child learns. Sometimes interactions are purposeful in their intent others are spontaneous, each holds the potential to make a positive impact on how children feel about themselves and what and how they learn (Dombro, 2011). My observation took place in a three year old classroom. The classroom is set up in learning centers that allow the children to choose the materials they work with. The group was working in centers and the teacher was circulating around the room stopping occasionally to talk with the children about their work. Three children are sitting in the writing center working in journals. As the teacher approaches, one child says, "Look at my story Ms. Tina. I wrote about the book you read.” The teacher comments as she looks at the child’s journal, “Did you like the story this morning Mimi”? Ans walks over to another group in...

              “All childcare environments, including family child care homes, can provide excellent anti-bias materials”  (Laureate Education, 2011) . A culturally appropriate environment reflects the families enrolled. An essential component of anti-bias education is to respectfully acknowledge and support all of the children’s families to help children develop a positive sense of self. Providing materials that represent the families and children such as posters, dramatic play props, books, and other play accessories depicting varying abilities will be available to the children  (Edwards, 2010) . Exposing children to unbiased information regarding various life experiences of other cultures, diverse groups, builds their awareness of differences.  Including  photos of families and children engaged in various activities relevant to their daily lives,  also photos of other cultures will be included to expose the children...

·            My hope is to  develop a reciprocal relationships with all children and families, respect their home culture and language, and provide children opportunities to engage in learning experiences reflective of their home culture. ·          One goal I have for the profession is to ensure  diversity training is a priority. I encounter many early childhood professionals who are unaware of the importance of learning about the family's culture and how this improves relationships between the program and families.  ·       Thank you for your support during this journey. Wishing you the best in future endeavors.

DIVERSITY IS..... Me                 I                                           We                                                           Same                                                                                                     You                                                 Alike     ...

Some of the ways you noticed that homophobia and heterosexism permeate the world of young children including books, movies, toys, stores, culture of early childhood centers, and schools . The materials I viewed for this assignment did not feature gay or lesbian families. Books movies, cartoons, educational programs all featured families that consist of a heterosexual mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts and uncles. While some were diverse in race, age, ableism, there were not any lesbian or gay characters depicted. The one book that did have same sex parents was Everywhere Babies , by Susan Myers and Marla Frazee. There are babies of different races, sown with older people, male caregivers, female caregivers, alone and together, babies being cared for by those who love them. It is important that children are able to see their family system represented in the various forms of media they are exposed to. Children enrolled in early education programs are entitled to respect for th...

I have enjoyed our journey into the communication and collaboration field.  Your posts have added new insights into the importance of effective communication for successful collaboration.  Thank you and continued success to all

Working toward a common goal is a rewarding experience. The five stages of team development effective team building requires the group to successfully complete all stages of team development from the initial meeting of introductions to the final stage of adjourning  (Abudi, 2010) . As the group works through the development process, coming together to brainstorm, sharing ideas, and looking for acceptance trust is earned. The team leader must ensure the group is respectful of individual ideas, learn to problem solve, collectively, and settle into their roles and responsibilities in the team. As the project comes to an end the group comes together to reflect and evaluate the project’s success or shortcomings. Adjourning, the final stage in team development, leaves some happy, sad remorseful or without emotion. At the project’s completion joining one another for a celebratory farewell brings closure to a chapter of life and the possibility of future undertakings. There is a likelih...

     I work at a center mentoring teachers on implementing DAP.   I had a conflict with one teacher concerning the benefits of having a consistent daily routine in her toddler class. The teachers in the room are of different levels of experience and education. One teacher is eager to learn best practices to improve her work with young children. Any suggestions I make she is willing to implement. The other teacher having been at center longer is set in here ways and often rejects any new strategies. Conversations with both teachers and their supervisor have netted little consistent change. On this particular day I was meeting with the teacher when the senior teacher abjectly refused to consider a change in how they conducted circle time. I was having an off day and instead of listening to her comments objectively I took it personally and responded by telling her she would implement the changes period....

Who Am I As a Communicator? I enlisted the help of a family member and a close friend to assist me in the communication assessments. The assessments provided me with a different view of my communication competency. The anxiety assessment score was 50, for both myself and my friend. A score of 36 was the result I received from the family member. Interesting, since I do have some anxiety issues when the probability of speaking before large groups. This is referred to as situational anxiety and occurs during specific situations such as speaking in public  (Weimann, 2012) . Learning to combat this requires practice and familiarization with the situation and relaxation  (DeVito, 2010) . There was a variance in my score and the others in the aggressiveness scale assessment. The scores were 50, 62, and 65. My results were based on interactions within my professional environment and the other two were based on personal relationships. When in a less restrictive environment I te...

            I selected an episode of Parks and Recreation to view for this assignment.( My television viewing is usually done between household chores, cooking, laundry and such. So watching a program without sound required me to sit and focus on the video. Sounds makes television viewing easier for me. I can listen and do other things.) In the opening scene a group of people are gathered around a desk looking at a computer screen. There are two characters standing apart from the group who appear to be explaining something. The group at the computer is looking at a Panda Bear on the screen, they all appear excited. The two characters who are standing to apart approach and everyone erupts into smiles and displays of joy.  A new slogan for Pawnee. Is this the Panda’s name? I have no idea. A female character from the introduction (who may be a supervisor) meets a male character at an eating establishment. She hands him a binder labeled Questions...