Thank You!!!

          I cannot believe how quickly these past eight weeks have gone by!!!!  You all have been great and given great support.  We have grown together as a team, helping each other work towards achieving our goals.  You have offered great advice and help to me through our assignments.  You all have helped me to see things in a different light, through different eyes than my own.  I truly appreciate all of your help.  I wish you all well as we all go through the rest of our time here at Walden.  I hope that in the future if you ever need anything that you will not hestitate to reach out.  I am here and will help any way that I can.  My email address is rachellwalters19@gmail.com!

Adjourning

          Throughout this week, I have learned alot about groups.  The last stage that a group must go through is adjourning.  I think the hardest group to say goodbye to would be the high-performing group.  A high performing group has worked through alot and through that work has gotten to know each other and become closer.  That is why I think that a high-performing group would be the hardest to say goodbye to.  The group that I described in my discussion one this week was a high-performing group.  We had done so much together and it was very hard to say good-bye to them.  Some closing rituals that I have experienced was that everyone in the group tell about something that they enjoyed while working together the most.  
          I will adjourn from the group of colleagues that I have joined while at Walden, perhaps, by giving each group member encouragement and well wishes, or by discussing our journey while at Walden and what we will miss the most.  Adjourning is an essential thing for me to  becaue I feel that it acts as a closing so that a person can move on.  The group life is over and they can move on to other things.    Learning about groups and conflict have proven to be very helpful this week. 

Disagreements

          Here recently, at work, my afternoon teacher and I, had a disagreement.  It never escalated into an argument or anything thankfully.  We just simply disagreed.  I do think that using nonviolent communication could help this situation.  If we both stepped back and tried to see the situation, the way the other person did, perhaps the conversation would have went more smoothly.  Trying to find a way to compromise would be better than not solving the problem and ignoring it or just letting it go.  The three R's would also be efficient to help the conflict be resolved.  Respect, reciprocity, and responsiveness are three things to remember in an conflict.  We were not disrespecting each other in the disagreement, but it is always important to remember.  Reciprocity is important, the actual definition is a mutual exchange.  Each person involved needs to be willing to discuss and work through the problem.  Responsiveness is equally important, learning how to respond appropriately without adding to the conflict is a necessity.
          Learning how to effectively communicate even during a conflict is something that an early childhood professional needs to do.  Our job is all about communication.  We communicate all day long, with our parents of our children, our children in our class, and our colleagues.  What are some suggestions that you have to help with using the strategies I presented to help solve conflicts?  What are some other strategies that might help?

References

 

Center for Nonviolent Communication. (2013). What is NVC. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/about/what-is-nvc.html

 

Kashtan, I. (2002). Hearing the "Yes" in the "No".  From the Center for Nonviolent communication. Albuquerque: NM: NVC. Retrieved from https://www.cnvc.org/what-nvc/articles-writings/hearing-yes-no/hearing-yes-no



Evaluating My Communication Skills

          As I evaluated my communication skills and then had two other people evaluate me and my communication skills this week, I learned so much.  One particular thing that surprised me was that all three scores from all three sources, myself, my mom, and my husband, all turned out to pretty close to the same.  This surprised me because I did not think it would be that close. These were the test results.  I am a people-oriented communicator that communicates well and shows respect for others, but at times I tend to trust people more than I should and I am almost too sensitive to others' needs.
          One insight that I gained this week was that evaluating your communication skills is a necessity.  If you evaluate your communication skills periodically, and work to enhance them, the relationships that you have in your life will flourish.  Another insight that I gained from during this week was that nonverbal communication explains a lot about who you are.  Nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication.  The "look" you give someone, sometimes says more than the words that come out of your mouth.   Understanding these two insight will help me grow as a professional and a person in that I will better understand why I do things, why I act certain ways, why I approach a situation the way that I did.  I will become more intact with who I am.  

Communication Strategies

          Many times, before I even realize it, I communicate differently with a person that is different than myself simply because of the difference.  Does that make sense?  I do not mean any harm by this, for most people they do not, but nonetheless, it causes feelings of hurt for the other person.  When I encounter a person that is different, e.g. different religion, different sexual orientation, different beliefs, different culture, sometimes I freeze up and do not know how to talk to them.  I do not know how to relate to them.  Therefore, I have nothing to talk to them about, or so I think.  Other times when I encounter a person that is different than myself, I may accidentally do or say something that offends that person without even meaning to.  This offense then causes a barrier to form between me and that person.  It is my job to learn how to handle differences for myself so that I do not offend others just because we are different. 
           A strategy that I could use would be to try to withhold judgement long enough to gain a deeper understanding than first impressions allow.  Instead of lettting the first impression rule our thinking about a person, we should really get to know the person or family before forming an opinion about them.  Another strategy that I would use would be when something about a families' practice really bothers me, I will try to look at what they are doing through their eyes instead of my own.  Trying to understand why they do what they do, by putting myself in their shoes would allow me to forget about my thoughts for a minute so I can think about others.  A third strategy that I could use would be to recognize that learning unwritten cultural rules of nonverbal communication takes time and patience(Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).  These three strategies could help me to communicate more effectively with the groups of people that I talked about previously. 

References

 

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Observing Communication

          For this week's assignment, I watched an episode of the Bernie Mac Show.  While watching it the first time without sound, I saw that the show was about a family.  The relationships that I observed was a Father-Son, Father-Daughter, Husband-Wife, Mother-Son, Mother-Daughter, then Sibling-Sibling relationships.  I was able to understand that the father cared for his son because of his gestures and his expressions.  He would hug him, and pat him on the back, and simply show interest in him.  This particular episode was about the father and the son.  The son was having trouble with kids around him, they would pick on him and beat him up, because he is small.  The father tries to teach him how to stand up for himself.  Some of the nonverbal communication that I was able to observe was frightened, disappointment, anger, proudness. I was able to see these kinds of nonverbal communication because of their facial expressions, their body language, and the interaction between the people in the show.
          When I watched the show with sound, I found out that the husband and wife was not the parents to the three children in the show.  They were their uncle and aunt.  The children were the husband's sister's kids.  However, the relationships that was between the adults and the children resembled a parent/child relationship.  A situation in the show that I misinterpreted when I watched the show without sound was when the husband and wife were talking and the oldest girl was in the room setting the table and was listening to them talk.  The first time I watched it, I thought they were having an argument, and all the while trying to not let them the girl hear it.  However, when I watched it the second time, I realized that they were not argueing they were discussing what to do about the boy, and they were trying to not let the girl hear them.  Through this assignment, I learned so much about communication, nonverbal communication especially.  A person displays so much about what they are trying to convey to someone else.  Nonverbal communication is just as vital as verbal communication. 

References

 

Wilmore, L. (Creator). (2001). The Bernie Mac show [Television series]. Los Angeles, CA: Fox Broadcasting Company.

Communication

          A person that I think is a great communicator is my dad.  He is a pastor and a preacher of a church and has been in the ministry for my whole life.  Some behaviors that he exhibits that makes him such a good communicator is that he understands people and can connect with people.  When he is preaching, he does not talk above everyone else, he talks so that they can all understand.  He uses examples that people can relate to.  He shows people that he cares because he expresses it, he says it.  When he is trying to emphasize a point, he uses pauses effectively.  He is able to make his points clear and concise, he keeps his mind clear so that he can bring his points out that way too.  He is able to use facial expressions and hand gestures effectively as well so to emphasize his points.  He influences the people he is around, influencing people is one of the most important aspects of communication (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2009). 
          I would want to model all of these communication patterns after him in my own communication.  I would love to be able to communicate as well as he does.  Many times I find myself making things more confusing that things really are when trying to get a message across.  I also do not connect with people as well as my dad.  I have trouble connecting with people.  Communicating as well as my dad would be something I would love to be able to do.  

 

References

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

            Martin's.

Professional Hopes and Goals

          For children and families that have diverse backgrounds, I hope that they will get the justice and support that they deserve.  I hope that they are treated equally one day.  All families no matter their background, they deserve to be treated just as other families are treated.  One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field is that all early childhood programs would train their staff to be educated on diversity, equity, and social justice.  All early childhood professionals need to be educated on these matters because every child is different and in order to provide the care that the child needs, their teacher needs to know how to respect the diversity of each child and their family. 
          I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all of my colleagues for helping me through this past eight weeks.  I have enjoyed learning with and from all of you.  I wish you all well as you continue on your journey at Walden and then beyond.  I hope maybe to have you in some future classes!! :)

Welcoming Families

         For this week's assignment, for the family in my scenario, I chose for them to be from Aruba.  In order to culturally responsive towards this family, I would first do research on the country.  I would learn everything that I possibly could about Aruba.  I would learn what the currency, how the government is run,  and everything about the culture.  The second thing I would do would be to learn about family culture and the roles of family members in Aruba.  I try to understand how the family and the household is run.  The third thing I would do is to learn some of the major phrases that are used in Aruba in the native language.  I would make myself accustomed to these certain phrases so that the family does not feel isolated because they do not speak English.  The fourth thing that I would do is to begin learning everything about the individual family that I could before meeting them.  I would look at their family tree, and research their family so that I am able to know them a bit better.  The final thing that I would do would be to make a packet about the U.S. and where they are living.  The packet would include information on the schools, the religious systems, the activities that they will see, how families do things here, and many different things.  However, the packet will be in the families native language. 
          I hope that these preparations will allow the families' transition to go smoothly so that they do not feel like they are being overwhelmed.  I want them to know that they are welcome here, and that they are accepted.  For myself, I hope that I able to understand more about the people from Aruba, so that the next time I have a family from Aruba, I am prepared. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

          A memory that I have of experiencing prejudice and bias happened about a month ago.  Late one night around 11:30 or 12:00, my husband and I were watching television.  We were watching the old show, "The Jeffersons."  In the show, Mr. George Jefferson was answering the door.  He was letting Mrs. Louise Jeffersons' uncle in (all African Americans).  Apparently, her uncle was a butler and George thought that it was lowly of him to be a butler.  When the uncle came in, he turned to the doorman(Caucasian) of the apartment, who was helping him with his bags, and said thank you sir, and was about to give him a tip.  George tipped the man instead, and the doorman said, "Thank you sir."  The three men went back and forth saying "thank you sir."  The doorman left, George shut the door, and turned to the uncle and said, "Look! You don't have to say sir to my doorman, just because he's a honky."  When I heard this statement, I turned to my husband and said, "Did you hear that?!"  I could not believe what I had heard.  Now I know that during our class, everything we have learned about prejudices, and racism has had to do with being against all other races besides white people.  However, I feel that this statement was a prejudice/racist statement against white people.  The term, honky is a racial slur towards white people, it diminshes equity between the races because it labels white people. 
          The feelings that I felt when I heard this statement was shock and disbelief that it was ever aired on national television.  Nowadays, if any kind of racial slur towards any group of people is used a protest and big fight breaks out.  At times, the whole situation turns to chaos.  In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity, instead of George using the racial slur to refer to the doorman, he could have turned to the uncle and simply said, "Just because my doorman is white, does not mean you have to call him sir."  In my opinion, this would be better because this statement is referring to the color of a man's skin, instead of giving him a label because of his color. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

          An instance that happened today is an instant where I observed microaggression.  My husband and I are youth leaders at our church, and we live in town, not far from our church.  Many of our youth kids stop by randomly at our house to see us.  Today one of our youth, that has been gone all summer visiting his mom, stopped by to see us and catch up since he had been gone awhile.  The boy's father is white and his mother is black.  He has dark skin.  Before I go any further, I just want to point out that I think that this is an unintentional microaggression and I do not think in any way that harm was meant.  My husband jokes around with any dark skin person we know and makes different comments, such as, ("wow, you got a tan.." or "you have been eating so much chocolate, it turned you brown."  Most of our friends will come back at him and make a joke of some kind about being white.  When the boy came to see us today, my husband said, "wow, did you go to the beach, it looks like you tanned to much, it turned you brown."  As soon as I heard my husband say his comment, I felt a cringe in my stomach.  I recognized this immediately as a microaggression.  The boy smiled and laughed but did not seem to favor his comment, and did not offer a response.  My husband, I think, sensed the this discomfort and apologized and said he did not mean anything by it, he was just joking around.  The boy waved it off and started telling my husband about everything he did this summer.  I did not say anything to my husband about the incident, however I think my husband quickly learned that jokes like the ones he made today are not always liked and funny.  Again, I do want to stress my husband was only trying to joke around and was not in anyway trying to hurt the boy's feelings or discriminate against him.  He did not intentionally commit a microaggression against the boy. 
          Before this week, I had never heard of microaggressions. After I listened to Dr. Sue define and give demonstrations of microaggressions, I realized that I had witnessed microaggressions before, I just never knew the term for the actual incidents.  My perception of discrimination, prejudice, and/or sterotypes of people have been widened and more defined in a way.  As said, I knew that discrimination against people of different race or culture than another is real, it happens everyday, however, I was not aware of it in my life.  Taking the IAT test this week has really opened my eyes to how the world of being prejudice.  It's real, and it happens, sadly enough.  Microaggressions are very dangerous and they need to be dealt with, our children and our future deserves it. 

References

Microaggressions in Everyday Life. (n.d.) [Video podcast]. 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_3397500_1%26url%3D



Diversity and Culture

          For this week's assignment, I interviewed three different people and asked each of them to give me their definitions of culture and diversity.  I interviewed my dad, my teenage cousin, and a foreign exchange student I met in high school from Korea.  I chose these three people so that the answers that I received would be diverse.  My dad's (age 47) definition of culture was: "Culture is the lifestyle of a generation."  My dad's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is alot of different cultures and lives, it's also different ways of doing things and different ways of living."  My teenage cousin's (age 17) definition of culture was: "Culture is the complete make up of a person's external environment, for example, their clothes, language, food, and family."  My teenage cousin's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is a whole bunch of people from different cultures who live and work in the same area."  My Korean friend's definition of culture was: "Culture is a group of people who have shared the same belief, behavior, or pattern of living."  My Korean friend's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is a difference related to culture.  It is different groups of people from different cultures living together.  They might share their cultures and it could be a positive way of to create a cross-cultural thing that connects the world together." 
          An aspect that we have studied in this course that I see included in some of the answers that I received is diversity itself.  Each person has their own definition of culture and diversity.  Each person has formed these definitions by experiences in their lives, their cultures, their social identities.  Stemming from diversity, I see the aspect of social identities.  The definitions that they gave, for example, my dad's, come from their social identities.  My dad is has seen different generations interact, he was the youngest of seven children and when he was born, he had adult siblings.  He grew up observing interactions between generations.  I think an aspect that has been omitted from discussion in the interviews was dominant culture, simply because it was not called for, it was not up for discussion.  I simply wanted to know the basis of their thinking as it refers to culture and diversity. 
          Asking these three people these two questions has influenced my thinking on these two key elements.  It is always better to have "another pair of eyes" when looking at something, and it is the same when it comes to culture and diversity.  Being able to hear what others have to say about culture and diversity gives me the chance to think about the two topics in ways that I have not thought of before.  I am able to see through someone's eyes and maybe understand it in more depth than my initial thoughts. 

My Family Culture

          If a major catastophic event happened and ruined our country, and my family and I had to be evacuated to a different country as refugees, I know which three items I would take with me that would represent my family culture.  I would take my Bible, a family portrait, and a frying pan.  I would take the Bible because it represents everything that my family is.  God is our life, He is first and foremost, and my Bible would be my most important possession.  My dad is a pastor and my parents have been in the ministry for around 20 years.  My husband has recently surrendered to the ministry, and we currently work in our church in anyway we can.  God has been great to us and has always provided, my Bible would represent the whole essence of my life.  I would take a family portrait because after God, comes my family.  We are very close, we see or talk to each other everyday.  We share everything and we love each other very much.  The family portrait would respresent my support system in life.  I would take a frying pan because to me it represents where I am from.  I live in the South, in Arkansas.  We like good old-fashioned home cooked meals!  We have big family get-togethers and have a huge table covered with food and all the counters too!!  The frying pan represents where I am from and how I grew up. 
          If upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one of the personal items and had to give up the other two items, the item I would keep would be my Bible.  I would be upset and hate to part with the other two items and maybe even give a little protesting at first.  However, if it was necessary I would give them up, but I would feel that I was fortunate to be able to keep the one thing that is the life blood of my whole being.  My Bible is that important. 
          I am glad we were given this assignment!  I enjoyed it so much!  My family culture is interesting but to me it seems whole and I feel blessed to be a part of such a culture. 

When I Think of Research...

          Wow! I cannot believe that this past eight weeks have flown by so fast! I have learned so much from the course work, our professor, and all of my colleagues.  Research has always been one of my least favorite things to do.  I have always dreaded the process and never saw as one of my strong points.  However, some an insight that I gained about research from taking this course is that it doesn't have to be a dreaded process!  It can be actually enjoyable!  I know this seems silly, but to look at how I felt about research before this class to how I feel now, is a tremendous change!  A lesson that I learned about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood is that all three are so very important.  Without all three of them, a study could not be possible.  As a researcher, you have to accurately perform all three, planning, designing, and conducting in order to aquire proper results for your study.
          A challenge that I encountered during this course was how to review and study a research study article.  In the past, this was something made research dreadful for me.  I did not know that there was a proper way to review these articles.  Reviewing articles was a challenge that I anticipated, however when we learned how the process of reviewing them, it made a world of difference.  Reviewing research studies are no longer something that I dread.  My perceptions of an early childhood professional have changed to some extent, my perceptions have grown.  An early childhood professional is someone who works with children during their early childhood years, nurturing, educating, encouraging, caring for, and providing for them.  However, early childhood professionals can also be someone who works to understand more about particular aspects of young children, such as how play is an influence to children, or how parental involvement is important. An early childhood professional can also be a researcher. 
          I want to thank all of my colleagues and my professor for all of your support, encouragement and knowledge that you have given me over the past eight weeks.  Without you, I would not have made it to this final week.  I appreciate everything and I wish well to all of you.

Research Around the World

          For this week's assignment, I chose to research the Early Childhood Australia website.  On the website, I noticed that the subject of play is a big deal.  Some of the topics that are mentioned on the website are: play, feeding-teething-sleeping (for babies), everyday learning for babies/toddlers, children's everyday rights,and children's right to play.  On the website, under everyday learning and play, and underneath that topic is a section about play.  At the beginning of the section, the factor is pointed out that it is our job as childcare providers that we are to protect the aspect of play.  I think that is interesting, it is our jobs to ensure that play is safe and cannot be touched.  The main reason for this job is so that play is protected because it is one of the best ways to have fun and learn.  I think that this comment about protecting the play is newer to me.  The website offered many resources: Early Childhood Magazines and journals.  It is our job to ensure that all children get the job to play, that their imaginations get to grow.  I am thankful that I am an early childhood provider. 

Uplifting Stories

          For this week's blog, I decided to share about a story that I heard about while watching the news while sitting at Burger King eating lunch one day, about a month to two monts ago.  There was this 5 year old little girl that had leukemia and had suffered with it since she was a baby.  She was on her death bed and the doctors had told her parents that they had done everything they could do for their little girl.  None of the treatments that they were trying was helping her anymore.  The doctors also said that she would probably would not make it much longer.  As the parents preparing for the worst, they were informed of a research study going on that could possibly help their daughter live and it could possibly get rid of the cancer.  If the parents agreed to let their daughter be a part of the study, doctors would inject the little girl with a disabled form of the HIV/AIDS virus.  In the news interview that I watched, the parents said they did not agree to the treatment until they were given a 100% assurance that their daughter would not get HIV/AIDS.  The little girl went through the treatment, nearly died, but then emerged and is now cancer free!!!!!! She has been in complete remission for over seven months now (Grady, 2012)!! I love reading stories such as these because it provides hope to all of the people with cancer.  Hopefully there will be a cure found and established for cancer.  Research is a blessing, and most people do not realize how big of a blessing until they read stories like this.  I hope this blog post has been a blessing for you to read!!

References

 

Grady, Denise. (2012, December 9). In Girl’s Last Hope, Altered Immune Cells Beat Leukemia.  The New York Times. Retrieved fromhttp://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/10/health/a-breakthrough-against-leukemia-using-altered-t-cells.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0

My Personal Research Journey

          The topic that I have chosen that for the simulation in our class is quality in the early childhood field, specifically quality in childcare programs.  I have a personal goal to open my own childcare center and it to be of high-quality.  I learned about the importance of quality in childcare centers in my previous classes here at Walden.  I live in a small town in Arkansas, and there isn't many choices when it comes to childcare centers.  In one of my previous classes we had to do observations at childcare centers of some kind.  A requirement of the program was that it had to be NAEYC accredited.  I went to the NAEYC website and performed a search for all childcare programs within a 50 mile radius of where I live that a part of the NAEYC.  The results for my search was 0.  There are no NAEYC accredited childcare programs near me.  I found that this fact is a very sad one.  I chose quality as my topic for the simulation in this class because I believe that my community is in dire need of a high-quality program. 
          I enjoyed constructing the research chart last week! I learned so much, and it has already helped me as I begin understanding the research process.  I have never liked doing research that much because I never understood how to do it.  The only way that I knew how to do research was to go to a scholarly website and type in my topic and then I would go through the dreaded task of looking through article after article only to repeatedly find that they were not what I was looking for.  I did not like research at all.  However, the way that we were taught last week to read research articles and examine them has lifted the dreadful feeling that I get when thinking about research.  I know I still have a long ways to go, however I think that I am going to enjoy my journey.  I would appreciate any insights, idease, opinions, suggestions, comments, or concerns that any of my colleagues might have to offer.  I also want to say that I am here for all of my them throughout the next weeks of this course, and if I can be of any assistance please let me know.

!Final Blog Post!

          I enjoyed this class so much! I have learned a lot about the international early childhood field.  Unfortunately, I never received a response back from the international contacts that I had chosen in the beginning of the class.  However, I was able to take part in the alternative assignments that was offered to us if our contacts did not work out.  I was able to explore the Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre's website, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/, Harvard University's "Global Children's Initiative website,http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/, and  UNESCO’s “Early Childhood Care and Education” webpage, http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/.  Being able to see how world of early childhood is, in other parts of the world is so interesting and exciting.  Knowing that we are not alone in this journey to make the world a better place for our children is encouraging.
          One personal goal that I have set for myself is to continue learning about international awareness of the early childhood field and to be in contact with other professionals in the field that are in other parts of the world.  I want to stay abreast of all of the things happening all over the world in the field.  I am so thankful for this class and all of my colleagues that I have come in contact with through this class.  I have learned so much from you all and I wish you well in all that you do while at Walden University, and then also in all that you do professionally and in your life.   

ALTERNATIVE - PART 3

          During the course of this class, I never received responses from my international contacts that I had chosen.  For this week blog assignment, I examined the UNESCO website.  The first personal goal that I set in my Foundations course was about providing high-quality childcare.  On the UNESCO website there is a section titled "Quality."  In the section, the subject of child-centered quality is discussed.  That is one of the key aspects of the high-quality childcare that I want to provide.  I aim to have a child-centered program.  My second personal goal that I set in my Foundations course was to understand individuality and diversity.  On the same websit, in the same section, there is this statement: "The ECCE workforce is often made up of a diverse group of pre-school teachers, care workers, informal carers and other professionals."  This statement helped me to understand that not only will there individuality and diversity in the students that I teach but also in the teachers around me.  I not only need to understand how to deal with individuality and diversity in my students (which is important), but I also need to understand and learn how to deal with the same issues with the people that I work with on a daily basis.  Understanding these issues will allow childcare programs to run smoother and more efficiently.  My third personal goal that I set in my Foundations course was to better understand how children learn.  On the website there is a section titled, Access and equity.  The section discuses ways in which governments can ensure that all children receive an equal opportunity to receive an education.  I want to be able to provide for all children that come my way, regardless of their family's financial status.  Every child deserves to learn no matter where they come from.  I enjoyed learning and studying about this website, it has helped me deepen my understanding about my own goals and what I truly want from my childcare program. 

References

 

United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organizations. (1995-2012). Education.    Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/ 



Sharing Web Resources

          The website that I have been studying is ZERO TO THREE.  The website offers many outside links to explore, such as the Early HeadStart link.  The link leads to the website titled, "Early Head Start National Resource Center."  There are online lessons, CSPC Guide to New Crib Standards, and material for Federal Staff (Early Head Start National Resource Center, n.d.).  There is another outside link to the National Training Institute.  There is information offered about multiple training opportunitites for early childhood professionals.  The website also presents the sponsors that support the NTI, as well as an FAQ section and a Hotel and Travel section (National Training Institute, 2013).  A third outside link that is offered is the Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home, Visiting Technical Assistance.  This websites main points are: to strengthen evaluations of promising programs, developing and adapting data systems to facilitate tracking and reporting on Federal benchmarks, and implementing quality improvement systems ( Health Resources and Services Administration, n.d.). 
          The area that I chose to thoroughly explore on the website was the section titled, "Maltreatment."    This section includes resources for early childhood professionals and families to use to help young children and their families when they have been impacted by maltreatment, violence, loss, or disaster.  One of the subsections is child abuse and neglect.  If young children that have been victim to maltreatment are helped properly when they are still young, the children are able to return to their healthy development process and can be restored.  This section offers subcategories, such as "Reports Highlight Impact of Maltreatment on the Youngest Children."  The next subsection is "The Safe Babies Court Teams Project."  The opening statement says everything that is needed to be known, "Every 7 minutes an infant or toddler is removed from their home due to alleged abuse or neglect."  The section offers resources and information about how to help with this problem.  The last subsection is "Impact of Trauma."  Children are affected alot by the events that go on around them, more than people think.  Parents and caregivers are some of the most important people in a child's life when they are affected by trauma.  When sensitive and responsive care is given, healing can begin for the child and all included. 
          I receive an e-newsletter, titled "Resource Round-up"  It offers resources for the early childhood professionals.  The full title is "Resource Roundup: Babies never stop growing and neither should you."  Some of the articles offered in the enewsletter are "Sharing the Care: Preventing Child Abuse and Neglect."  Neither the e-newsletter or the website currently offers any information about equity and excellence in the early care and education.  However an insight that I did gain about what I learned today is that more children receive maltreatment when they are young and most of the time infants than I initially thought.  This is such a sad fact, however I think that we are headed in the right direction.  The early childhood field is making great progress and I am proud to say that I am a part of it!

References

 

Early Head Start National Resource Center. (n.d.) Retrieved from www.ehsnrc.org.

 

Maternal, Infant, and Early Childhood Home Visiting Technical Assistance.  Retrieved from http://mchb.hrsa.gov

 

National Training Institute. (2013). Retrieving from www.regonline.com

 

ZERO TO THREE. (2012). Retrieved from www.zerotothree.org

 



Week 5 - ALTERNATIVE

          For this week's assignment, I chose to explore the Harvard's University, "Global Children's Initiative" website.  In the Global Children's Initiative, three different countries were discussed, Brazil, Zambia, and Chile.  In Brazil, there is quite a bit going on in the early childhood field.  The project, Nucleo Ciencia Pela Infancia, is making astounding progress in the field.  Policymakers, civil society leaders, and scholars are all included and working in this project.  I did not so much as get a new insight from this section, rather than a reinforcement of an insight I had already gained.  Brazil is looking at early childhood development at a scientific standpoint.  Using this point of view they have been able to increase the overall interest in the early childhood field.  In Zambia, there is a lack of knowledge of the early childhood development in the Sub-Saharan Africa.  Because of this lack of knowledge, the Zambian Early Childhood Development Project (ZECDP) was launched.  The main goal of this project is: "a collaborative effort to measure the effects of an ongoing anti-malaria initiative on children’s development in Zambia."  One insight that I gained from reading this section was a thankful insight.  I am so thankful that the children in the United States does not have to worry about or struggle with malaria.  I am also thankful that Zambia is working to help the children in Zambia with this struggle.  They deserve a childhood where they can learn and be free to be whomever they want to be without having to worry about malaria (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, 2012). 
          In Chili, the project Un Buen Comienzo (UBC, "A Good Start"), and the purpose of the project is "to improve early childhood education through teacher professional development."  The project reinforces the importance of including the family in children's education.  Their major focus is education offered to four-to-six year old's particularly in the area of language development.  The insight that was reinforced for myself while reading this section is the importance of including family in the child's education.  When I open my daycare in the future, my goal is to make it family-oriented and hopefully give the children that go there the best beginning they can get (Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University, 2012).

References

 





Center on the Developing Child, Harvard University. (2012).  Global Children's Initiative. Retrieved from http://developingchild.harvard.edu/activities/global_initiative/

Sharing Web Resources

Since I have chosen the ZERO TO THREE website to be the website that I am going to study during this class, I have learned so much about the website and I have come to really enjoy reading and studying it.  There is a section on the website titled, Behavior & Development.  In this section, the subject of play is discussed.  In the section on play, it stresses that play is important in the learning capacity of children.  The website also offers “Tips and Tools on Play” and “Q and A on Play.”  Another section on the website is Care and Education, and in this section there is a subcategory titled, School Readiness Interactive Birth to 3.  This section offers an interactive learning tool for parents and caregivers to help their young children be ready for school. 

The website has many sections and subjects that discuss school readiness, even from birth.  I do not disagree with getting children ready for school; I just think that babies should be allowed to be babies.  They should not be constantly pushed to make sure they are ready for school.  This is a subject that I will definitely be researching and staying up to date on. 

The website has a tab on the website titled, Public Policy.  This section is a resource for policymakers and it includes things such as a policy toolkit, federal policy section, an action center that includes advocates for early childhood, etc.  Overall I think that the ZERO TO THREE website is an important and essential resource for all parents and early childhood professionals. 

References

ZERO TO THREE. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/

Week 3 - ALTERNATIVE ASSIGNENT

          Since I have had no luck, with getting in touch with the international contacts that I chose in week one, I completed the alternative assignment for this week.  I chose to research childhood poverty in India, using the website, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/. Compared to the United States, childhood poverty in India is severe and devastating.  About 62 million children are under the age of five and malnourished and 34 percent of the new-borns are significantly underweight.  Children still struggle with having to work instead of attending school.  India accounts for 20 percent of the world's out-of-school children.  It has the largest number of working children in the world, and nearly a third of the children working are below 16 years of age.  For female children, life is particularly hard.  Gender biases continue to worsen for girls, and limit their life chances (Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre, n.d.).
          A particular insight that I gained by doing this research on childhood poverty in India is a personal one.  Childhood poverty is hard for me to read about.  It breaks my heart to learn about what children in India have to endure.  Another insight that I realized was that not all countries focus on the well-being of children as much as the United States does.  Children are one of the most important things to people in the U.S.  A third insight that I gained was that discrimination against females is as strong as ever in other countries.  In the U.S., if a woman is discriminated against she has a lawsuit she could file, however in other countries, such as India, the women have to deal with all kinds of discrimination.  I enjoyed this assignment, it has helped open my eyes even more to the state of childhood poverty in the world outside of the United States. 

References

 

Childhood Poverty Research and Policy Centre. (n.d.). Country Overviews. Retrieved from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/

Web Resources

          For Week one's assignment, I chose the Zero to Three organization.  The link to their site is www.zerotothree.org.  The organization's main focus is to provide resources for parents, policymakers, and early childhood professional's, and to focus on the pormotion of healthy development in infants and toddlers.  I am still waiting on a newsletter from the website, however I did sign up for a journal, and I have received an email journal article.  The article discusses the effects of Technology and Media on infants and toddlers. There are various opinions about whether toddlers should be allowed to watch television.   Research shows that for children under the age of two,  background tv exposure results in negative cognitive and language outcomes.  This website is very beneficial for early childhood professionals and parents to use as a resource for young children.

 

Reference

 

Media and Technology in the Lives of Infants and Toddlers. (2013).  In ZERO TO THREE Journal, 33(4). Retrieved from http://www.zerotothree.org/ 



Establishing Professional Contacts & Expanding Resources

          This week's assignment has proved to be somewhat of a difficult one for myself.  I emailed six different emails to contact a professional outside of the U.S., and I received an email immediately after saying that the emails were nonexistent.  Finally, on the seventh try, I did not receive a "nonexistent" email, and this was also the case for the eight one.  So, I have sent emails out to two different early childhood professionals and now I am waiting on their replies. 

          The website that I decided to research was the ZERO TO THREE website.  I registered on their site, and I am currently signed up to receive two of their newsletters.  I am very excited to learn more about this organization, I first heard of it in my first class at Walden University.  One of the speakers in a video we had to watch, was a part of ZERO TO THREE.  From the little that I know right now about the organization, it is one that every early childhood professional should be a part of.  

My Supports

           I have many supports in my life.  The biggest support in my life is God.  He has seen me at my worst and at my best and loves me all the same.  He loved me so much that He died for me, before I even knew Him.  Without Him my life would not be possible, and more importantly, my eternity would not be ensured.  Another support that I have in my life is my husband.  He is the strong one in our marriage.  He pushes me to do the things that I do not think I can.  He helps me accomplish what I would not if I did not have him.  I have two wonderful, God-given parents that are my strength when I do not have any.  They are always there for me, and have always put myself before them.  They are truly a blessing in my life. I have other supports in my life, that if I did not have I would not know how to live, such as, money, a phone, electricity.  Without these things life would be difficult.
          The supports that I have just described are important because they provide many benefits for me.  God helps to get through everyday, He calms me when I am angry and cheers me up when I am upset.  He is my very best friend that knows me better than I know myself.  Without my husband, I would not be the person that I am.  Without him, my life would not be complete, I would be lonely.  My parents gave me life, they help me and my husband so much.  They are the Godly examples that we look to.  The other supports in my life, money, a phone, and electricity offer many benefits as well.  I am able to live because I have money.  I am able to talk to my family that do not live near me because of a phone.  Problems are resolved and things are taken care of because of a phone sometimes.  Electricity provides the light that I need, especially at night.  I can do homework at night because of electricity.  Without all of these supports my life would not be what it is now.  I am the person that I am, because of all these supports. 
          A very difficult challenge that would be almost unbearable to think of, is if I lost my parents.  I talk to them all the time and they are one of the hugest support systems in my life.  I would need all of the supports that I have described and more if this terrible thing happened.  I would be lost.  God would be the most important support that I would have.  He would give me the strength to endure this challenge.  My husband would be my support to lean on.  I would need so much support to help me get thru everyday things such as getting up.  Without these supports during this challenge I would not make it through it.  Something such as this challenge is something that I pray never happens. 
          The supports that I have in my life are great and I hope and pray that I never lose them.   

My Connections to Play

Two quotes that summarize what play represented for me in childhood:
"Play is the highest form of research."
Albert Einstein
 
"To play is to yield oneself to a kind of magic."
Hugo Rahner
 
Pictures of some of the toys that were a part of my playtime as a child:



 
My parents always supported play in my childhood.  My dad would have tea parties with me and my mom would play with baby dolls with me.  They would limit my other activities so that I would have time for play.  They always encouraged me to use my imagination and to play "pretend" all of the time.  Play is a little different now that when I was a child.  It has become more technical.  About five or six weeks ago, I was observing a little girl that I have in the mornings at daycare.  She is four years old.  She was playing "house" and had a little rectangular block in her hand.  I was curious to what she was going to use it for so I decided to watch and see. A little later she turned the block long ways in her hand and used her thumb to push pretend buttons on it and put it up to her ear and used it as a cell phone. It amazes me that a four year little girl knows what a cell phone is and that it is a part of her playtime.  Children are way more tech savvy than when I was a child.  Play "plays" an important role in childhood and throughout adulthood.  It encourages individuality, healthy biosocial, cognitive, and psychosocial development.  Play has been an important aspect in my life.  I can say from personal experience play had a part in molding me into who I am as an adult.   


References:
Ockuly, Marta Davidovich. (2013). Joy of Quotes.  Retrieved from     http://www.joyofquotes.com/play_quotes.html

Relationship Reflection

     Relationships are important to me because I am not a person that like being alone.  I thrive on having relationships with other people.  I am thankful that I have been blessed with such positive relationships in my life.  I have a wonderful husband, whom I have been married to for 2 1/2 years and have been in a relationship with for 7 1/2 years.  He supports me in all that I do, and is always there for me no matter what.  He is a great provider for our family and he loves me unconditionally.  He is loving and true, and I thank God for him daily.  Another person that I have a positive relationship with is my daddy.  I am 22 years old but I am still a daddy's girl.  He has always been there for me and always provided for me.  He is a man of God and a family man.  He has always made his family his first priority and I look to him and my momma as my role models.  My momma is also a person that I have a positive relationship with.  As a child, I can remember that one characteristic that I would choose to describe my mom was loving.  She cared for her family deeply and tenderly, and even now she still makes sure that I am okay.  She is still my momma but now she has also become my friend.  Another positive relationship that I have is with my niece.  She is two years old, and the light of my life.  I look forward to seeing her and the whole time I am with her I am smiling.  She is such a joy to have and I love her with all of my heart.  She is a precious gift from God and I am thankful that I have the privilege to be her aunt. Two other positive relationships that I have are not human relationships.  I have two pets a dog and a cat.  They are sweet animals with kindred spirits.  They love on me and are always around me, they keep me company all the time.  They love with all of they have and hold nothing back. 
     All of these positive relationships that I have described all have one thing in common.  They are all held together by constant communication.  Communication is the key to nurturing a relationship, without it the relationship would be like a flower without water, it would die.  The communication is daily and positive.  In the past I have had other relationships and for a while those relationships were positive and ongoing.  However, after circumstances changed and communication stopped the relationships began to die off.  Some relationships that I used to have are practically invisible.  It is from these vanishing relationships that I learned that communication is the key to happy relationships.  Learning the importance of communication is an advantage I have when it comes to being an early childhood professional.  Just as communication is key in nourishing my personal relationships, so it is in my professional ones as well.  Having clear communication with my colleagues, parents, and students is the best way to have positive relationships/partnerships with them.