Time Well Spent

As this program comes to an end, I have so many mixed emotions. I am so proud of myself as well as my colleagues. We have spent great time with each other during this virtual time.The first thing that I will take from this program is, that it is ok to love what you do and when you do it, make sure you put your whole heart in it. As an early childhood educator, I have realized that a child’s whole future is in our hands. The second thing that I will take from this program is collaboration is key in this field. You have to work with so many people in order to get the job done and that is for that sake of the families and children we serve. The last thing that I will take from this program is that as an educator, it is very essential to acknowledge issues in the field. These issues will damage families and it is up to us to be the voice they deserve.

One long term that I have is to become an owner of a school focusing on children with disabilities in early childhood education.

To end this message, I am so grateful to have had the opportunity to meet so many fantasic educators. As you have gained another degree under your belt, I hope that you are blessed with career that you are seeking. To our instructor, thank you. Thank you for everything. We have gained so much knowledge from you and we will use it as we continue to work towards changing the work.

One quote that I will leave you with is “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” ~ William Butler Yeats

I wish you will!

Week 6-Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

The first organization is Association for Childhood Education International. I picked this organization because their vision is to transform education so that every child has access to quality and equitable learning experiences that upholds their right to an education, their right to learn (ACEI, n.d). While searching the entire site, I could not find any job opportunities. This organization also focus on empowering educators, supporting them while they educate children as the world is constantly changing.

The second organization is Save the Children. This organization stood out to me because regardless of the area that you live in, they believe that every child deserves a future. They feed  children, provide children with medical supplies, and provide them with educational resources. While looking on this site, one job that stood out to me is a Center Director for Head Start, but the job is in California. The position is responsible for the general and day-to-day operations of a Head Start/Early Head Start center or cluster of outlying centers. The Center Director is responsible for providing coverage to multiple classrooms, assuring regulatory and legal compliance with federal, state, and local regulations, communicating with parents and the community, supervising and monitoring of all staff assigned to the center(s) (Save the Children, n.d.).

The last organization is Global Partnership for Education. This organization works to ensure that all children can unlock their full potential through education. As a partnership and a fund, GPE mobilizes global and national investments and brings partners together to help governments build strong education systems, based on data and evidence. The job that they have posted that I am interested in is education specialist. Education Specialist position provides direction for all educational services; guides curriculum and program planning, development and training, serving as a resource specialist for program staff. Specific tasks include program planning and development, training, data collection and analysis (GPE, n.d.).

Reference

Association for Childhood Education International. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://acei.org/

Global Partnership for Education. (n.d.). Retrieved from globalpartnership.org/jobs

Save the Children. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.savethechildren.org/

Week 4-Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

The first national organization that I research is the National Head Start Association.I picked this organization because it was an organization that was created to meet the needs of children and families (NHSA, n.d). They also believe that “Families are integral to any effort to support children’s successful learning and development” (NHSA, n.d). I currently work for head start. The job that I am working towards is an Education Specialist. Education Specialists will ensure that a plan of daily activities of enrichment and care for children are implemented in classrooms and according to Head Start Performance Standards. Tasks include assisting with development and coordination of education services to ensure compliance with State of Tennessee Child Care Licensing regulations, Head Start, Performance Standards, Tennessee Department of Education and any other licensing entities, advising the Education Manager of areas of non-compliance pertinent to the compliance of the program (Porter Leath, 2020).

The second organization is NAEYC. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research (NAEYC,2019). I picked this organization because since becoming intrested in education, I was always referenced to this organization. There are currently no jobs posted.

The last organization is Zero to Three. This organization is important because their mission is to ensure that all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life, supporting them in reaching their full potential (Zero to Three, n.d). There are currently no jobs avaliable in Memphis, TN from this organization.

Reference

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/about-us

National Head Start Association. (n.d). Retrieved from https://www.nhsa.org/

Porter Leath. (2020). Job Opportunities. Retrieved from https://www.porterleath.org/opportunities

Zero to Three. (n.d). Our Mission and Vision. Retrieved from https://www.zerotothree.org/

Week 2- Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The first agency that I will dicuss is the Memphis- Shelby County Education Association. The Memphis-Shelby County Education Association (M-SCEA) is the professional organization representing teachers, mental health employees, education support professionals (ESPs), and other educators in the Shelby County Schools (Memphis-Shelby County Education Association, 2018). I picked this organization beacause they look at their educators as life-long learners, offering trainings and professional developments to enhance success in the classroom.

The second agency is the United Education Association of Shelby County. The United Education Association organizes educators, parents and the community to take an active role in creating the schools students deserve. This organization stood out to me because they offer liability insurance to educators that are a part of this organization.

The last agency is NAEYC. The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is a professional membership organization that works to promote high-quality early learning for all young children, birth through age 8, by connecting early childhood practice, policy, and research (NAEYC,2019). I picked this organization, because since becoming interested in education, I have always used resources from this organization.

One job opportunity that interest me is Education Specialist. Education Specialists will ensure that a plan of daily activities of enrichment and care for children are implemented in classrooms and according to Head Start Performance Standards. Tasks include assisting with development and coordination of education services to ensure compliance with State of Tennessee Child Care Licensing regulations, Head Start, Performance Standards, Tennessee Department of Education and any other licensing entities, advising the Education Manager of areas of non-compliance pertinent to the compliance of the program (Porter Leath, 2020).

Reference

Memphis-Shelby County Education Association. (2018). Retrieved from https://mscea.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (2019). Retrieved from https://www.naeyc.org/about-us

Porter Leath. (2020). Job Opportunities. Retrieved from https://www.porterleath.org/opportunities

United Education Association of Shelby County. (n.d). Retrieved from https://unitedshelby.org/

Week 8- Reflecting on Learning

As I prepare myself to end this course, I must say that my greatest hope for children and families, is to provide them with many aspects in life that will allow them to meet their full potential. As my journey as an educator continue, I hope that I can secure families respect, partnership, and communication, so I can provide them with opportunities to help them grow. I hope to teach social skills to ensure that they feel as if they have a place in this world regardless of race, gender, language, class, ability, and culture. I hope to teach them words to use to speak up for themselves. I hope to meet children emotional needs, physical needs, social needs, and cognitive needs to help with their full development.

Thank you to eah and every one of you for helping me along my journey. I appriciate the support, the encouraging words, and the guidence while being in this class. For each and every one of you, I pray that you  have learned something so we can use what we know to make this world a better place. Take what you know and continue what you know as an anti-bias educator. I wish you nothing but the best and all your future endeavous. You were a great asset to this learning community and you all have helped everyone meet their full potential.

Week 7-Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The area that I decided to reseach is the Latin America and the Caribbean. I decided to discuss this region because I often see this region on the news and I find myself wondering about the safety of the children and are they getting all the materials they need to survive. Certain parts of Latin American and the Caribbean is beautiful, but it is a very poor country.

Despite significant progress in development, Latin America and the Caribbean is still the most unequal region in the world. There are a high number of middle income countries that have significant parts of the population living below the poverty line. This has unique challenges with regards to health, especially when reaching the most disadvantaged groups. The cycle of poverty, and therefore poor health is perpetuated as girls, boys and adolescents living in the poorest households, with the lowest education opportunities, as well as those from Indigenous and Afro-descendant communities are disproportionately burdened with poor health and living conditions. They also have the least access to quality health care services, including for life-saving interventions for neonatal health In Latin America and the Caribbean, 72 million children between the ages of 0 and 14 live in poverty and, of these, 28.3 million live in extreme poverty. In addition, Latin America and the Caribbean is currently the most unequal region in the world (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. N.d. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/every-child-survives-and-thrives-0).

Latin America and the Caribbean have made progress in increasing the enrollment in pre-primary, primary and secondary education the last decades. Yet, there are still gaps in the access and completion of education as 14 million children and adolescents ranging between ages 7 to 18 are out of the educational system (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. N.d. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/every-child-survives-and-thrives-0).

I believe that if a child is going through issues, it can have an impact on a child’s development, making it hard for them to thrive in school.

Reference

United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund. N.d. Retrieved from https://www.unicef.org/lac/en/every-child-survives-and-thrives-0.

 

Week 6-The Sexualization of Early Childhood

When thinking about the sexualization in early childhood education, it really bothers me. Currently, I work with 2 year olds and it disturbs me when I see them doing things that young children should not be doing. I also have a 2 year old and personally I would keep my son from children like that so they will not influence him. I wish that teachers had more training in responding to incidents like this. It always shocks me and I always find myself lost for words and then I find it hard trying to explain parents what I saw or what I heard.

One example that I have seen is the cartoon show spongebob. While watching a few shows with my son, I realized that the show was not for kids. I saw an episode where men were making sexy advances to a woman and even an episode where the men were wearing panties. I quickly stopped my son from watching the show. A second example happened in my classroom, where a little boy laid a little girl down and proceeded to climb on her to kiss her. He was immeditely stopped. I was lost for words because I had never thought  I would witness something like that. The third example is the toys that are being made. The surprise LOL dolls have male dolls and the male dolls comes with a plastic penis, which I think is extremly inappropriate for little girls.

One way we can stop some of the sexualization is to monitor the things we say and do in front of children. Children watch adults and often model what they see adults do. They watch tv and tend to look up to the children that they are watching. We also should monitor the toys that our children are playing with. Without having any knowledge about this topic, this is a challenge for me. To become a more effective anti-biqs educator, I will look more into this topic.

Week 5-Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

I can remember being a little girl and experiencing sexism at a very young age. I was sheltered from many things due to me being a girl. I remember not being able to go play outside with my brothers because me and my sister had to clean up. The boys were allowed to basically do whatever they wanted to do, while I was told to sit down like a young lady and play with my dolls. I can remember being told that pretty girls should never get dirty and that my brothers could play in the mud and rain because they were boys. Even when I went to public shool, they had the same idea. The boys in the classroom was only allowed to take the trash out because the girls had to clean up and set the table, creating gender roles. As I grew up as an adult, I still considered gender roles, because I thought that it was the right thing, but in reality it is bias to create gender roles.

As an adult, I was put in a position where my gender was an issue after having my son. My family thiught that it was a good idea for me to stay at home for a year to raise my son. I was totally against staying at home a year because “I am a woman and that is what I am suppose to do”. After being put in this uncomfortable situation and enrolling in this program, I knew then that it was not right.

Before this program, I found myself in the classroom producing gender roles. I only allowed the girls to set the table, water the classroom plant and feed the classroom fish, while I allowed the boys to play rough, take the trash out, and get dirty. I allowed my personal views to impact how I was treating my students in the classroom. I am still working on elimating the gender role aspect. It is extremely important that I continue to work on this ism because as an effective educator, I have to put my personal views to the side in order for me to create an anti-bias learning environment that will promote fairness to everyone.

Week 3- Observing communication

While waiting in the store, ready to check out, it was a very long line in Walmart. I was standing in line behind a mother and a little boy, who appreaded to be about 4 years old. Later on in the conversation, I did learn that the woman was the little boy’s mother. While waiting in line, the little boy sat in the front of the basket and they had groceries. I noticed that the mother was not on the phone, nor did the child have a phone in his hand.

The mother was very attentive towards the child. She often touched him and kissed him while they talked. They talked about the food that was in the basket. One by one, the little boy would pull something from the back of the basket and together, him and his mom discussed each item. She praised him when he named the groceries correctly. She gave him a high five when she would ask a difficult question.

I noticed that while talking to him, she paid close attention to him and she never rushed him to answer a question. She kept direct eye contact with her son and she actually listened to her son. While discussing the food, the mother always referenced back to the past when they have ate the food before. This type of language allowed the mother to make connections to the child’s life (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010), engaging him more and allowing him to think of the time when they did eat a certain meal. While watching them throughout the time we were in line, the mother encouraged participation, fostered her child’s language, and promoted her son’s thinking (Rainer Dangel & Durden, 2010).

Reference

Rainer Dangel, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81.

 

Week 2- Creating Affirming Environments

When thinking about starting up a Family Home Child Care Center, I think about diversity. And I think about making all my families and children feel welcome. When entering the classroom, I will have a welcome sign. And the word welcome will be in multiple languages, that will support all the families in the program. Pior to the children starting school, I will ask all the families to create a family collage with pictures of the family. I will have that posted near the area the child sleeps. In each child’s cubbie, they will see a picture of themselves.

The posters posted around the classroom will be pictures of men and women working various jobs. There will be pictures of children with different disabilities. I will have pictures of people from different races. I will also have pictures of various family structures. Art projects done by the children will be posted, eye level around the classroom.

In the block area, I will have figure people of various races. There will also be figurines of children with different disabilities In the dramatic play area, there will be babies of different races, having clothes on from their native country. The food in the area will be American food, Mexican food, Chinese food, and just food from around the world. The books in the classroom will be in different languages, showing pictures of different families, people of different races, people of different classes, and people of different genders doing many things. More classroom materials will include, diverse puzzles, puppets of different races, and music from around the world.

The last few things that I will make sure my class have is an area called “privacy space”. This is a space for children who may need a moment to themselves. This space will be available to them throughout the day. A child may come to school not in a good mood, this area will be available to help them calm down, being able to freely express themselves.

To add to my anti-bias classroom, there will be no force participation and every child will be able to speak and express their thoughts and feelings respectfully.