The Comeback Kid Strikes Again

I have  enjoyed  and appreciated my colleagues in this course. I would like to thank all of them for communicating and collaborating with me. Thanks

Who Said All Good Things Must Come to an End? Answer, “the person who said that all good things must come to an end was Geoffrey Chaucer in the year 1374. He is known as the father of English literature and a poet of the middle ages. It spread to the United States in around 1680 where it became altered with addition of some words in the United States around 1680”  (Ask, 2013) . Adjourning tells a group it is time to go our separate ways. I believe the high-performing groups were the hardest to leave, because, they were the ones who really put a lot of time and effort into the event. We closed with a buffet breakfast for everyone in the group, as we do every year after the event. I think I will adjourn from the group of colleagues I have formed while working on my master’s degree in this program, with anticipation for myself and colleagues. I imagine I will stay in touch with my colleagues and look forward to working with them on future endeavors. Adjourning is an essential stage of te

There are always two adults the classroom, including myself and another teacher. Recently, since the beginning of this school year, I have been doing most of the manual duties in the classroom. This person’s motivation to do the necessary manual tasks was not evident even after the children left from school. I waited until the right time to confront the person and tell them how I felt about it. I did not approach the person in an aggressive way and my tone was pleasant and calm. I was implementing the nonviolent communication strategy that I have learned.  After we talked about it and they knew how I felt, we started considering options and alternatives to work better as a team. We resolved the conflict and we decided the outcome would be to compromise taking turns doing the duties. It was not “random selection” outcome, it was a “Win-Win” outcome, because, when both of us share the manual task equally, then we can respond better to the children more effectively. If anyone else has

There were few differences and more similarities between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me. The one thing that surprised me the most was my listening skill, because, I have been told how good a listener I am from friends, family, and colleagues and I was surprised to see some evidence of it. Other insights I gained this week were not to jump to conclusions about people just by looking at them. It does not matter if they are in a picture, on television, or in person “you cannot judge a book by its cover.” Knowing this will help me with building relationships with children and their families professionally, and with people I meet and do not know in my personal life. My other insight was how communicating and collaboration go hand- in- hand. If you have good communication skills than you have a better chance of mutual satisfaction for both parties, which would be good sign of competent communication. Good communication skills work well professionally

Where there is life, there is “culture.” From the beginning of mankind there has been culture. A certain way groups of people do things and live. Thinking about the cultural diversity I see, I do find myself at times communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. Since I started in this program, I have a willingness to advocate for more “cultural competency” taught in the classroom. This would be one of my first strategies to communicate effectively with the children and their families, and for myself.  I feel some way or another there would be “mutual satisfaction,” from communicating competently to the children and their families... If you can reach and teach cultural diversity at an early age, I feel the chances of all children having biases, prejudice and stereotypes, would not be so great, I they learn and can identify cultural diversity. The second strategy I would use to communicate effectively would be to be “other oriented.” How could it hurt to “

I watched an episode of “Modern Family” and the guys seemed to be happy to talk. All the couples were happy. They were standing close to one another. When they were upset arms were crossed and they would not have much face to face time. When there was conflict one character would say some words, then the other person would walk or look away. Aha moments with the sound on, was when one guy realized his partner’s family really likes the “EX” and they are still in contact with him. I did not know what the second was looking for until the sound came on. They were looking for their son’s backpack. I have learned you really do not know a person’s true intentions by first impressions, whether verbal or non-verbal  communications  are involved. 

     I feel as though our present President of the United States, Barack Obama demonstrates competent communications because, since he took office his whole context of communicating to the American public, Congress, and the House has been helping this nation rebound from the financial disaster, and becoming a strong economic country again. His behaviors are patience and his willingness to find mutual satisfaction (in reference to “competent communication,”) not only with people who agree with him, but those who disagree with him too. He is careful “what he says, and how he says it.” I think this makes him very effective. I would like to model myself him because, if I am going to advocate for early childhood education I need to be effective in my communications, so I can get successful results and mutual satisfaction.

          I hope that the children and families who come from diverse backgrounds that I will be working with will experience a non-bias, non-stereotyping, and non-prejudice relationship with me as a teacher, a confidant, and an advocate. I hope I can give them an environment free of microaggressions, and prove what a non-bias teacher can accomplish with a passionate heart.           One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field is for the local, state, and federal agencies to connect and be on the same sheet of paper with what goes on inside the classrooms all over this country with diversity, equity, and social justice.           To show all my appreciation to all of my colleagues would not be brief. All have touched my heart in some form or fashion with Dr. Parrish included. The discussions have been awesome, and the blogs have great insights to help me on my journey. Thank you all, and may you have a great year.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression When I was in high school, I joined the concert marching band. We played concert music in the winter, and marched in the summer and fall. Our high school was 90% African American and our faculty was 10% white. Mr. Bell was white and he was our new band director. I witness Mr. Bell being the target of biases and prejudices from the African American students in band class. Out of all the members it was a few who would be disruptive by abruptly shouting out racial remarks, talking back until the director had to send them to the office. Oh, I mean they were just cutting up, however, Mr. Bell did not give up on the rest of the members who took pride in the band, because we knew when we went played we represented our school. Most of this was done in the band room and it was like seclusion from the rest of the school. This diminished equity because, Mr. Bell was never given a fair chance to teach more than he could have due to outburst

I honestly can say in my life so far, I have not been the target of microaggressions, that has cause a verbal or physical response.There has been little to none microaggressions aim directly at me, however , I have witness microaggressions happen to other people. I remember in the beginning of this school year, all the preschool teachers, including myself had to do intake the week before the children started school. The teacher next to my class had just finished an intake on a young girl from Africa. She hurriedly walk into our room and said,” I must be the first white face, that girl has ever seen. She would not answer me at all, or look directly in my face. Maybe her parents have taught her this at home,” she said. Just because, you have been in the early childhood profession for over 20 years, it does not give anyone the right to assume, that just because, a child will not respond to you has anything to do with the color of your skin. I thought, here we have an early childhood

   To deepen my grasp about perspectives on diversity and culture, I listen to an 11 year old mixed Italian African American girl, a 34 year old African American female, and a 55 year old African American male give their definitions. The 11 year old definition of culture was “religion, and what they believe in.” Her definition of diversity was,” I don’t know.” The 34 year old woman’s  definition of culture, “ what, makes us who we are, our ethnic history, the foods we eat, the music we make, our languages and dialects, the way we raise our young and how we worship.” Her meaning of diversity was, “the differences between the cultures all around us. It’s good to experience a diverse community.” The 55 year old definition of culture was,” the way people live their lives day to day.” His definition of diversity was, “where nothing is dominate and the same.”    I found some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course included in some of the definitions. “Deep cultur

   The three items I would chose would be photographs of my family, seeds of the foods we eat for planting a garden, and books. The photographs can tell a thousand words about my family culture, such as where I was born, who my mother and father were, and what I did as a child. The seeds could be planted to represent the types of food we eat in our culture, and I could share the food with the people that accepted us into their country. The books would be in my family’s language along with the Bible, which reflects my family’s culture, and religion. I would not feel too bad about giving up two personal items because, I would keep the pictures to keep me connected to my family culture. This assignment has reinforced what I have known for a while, and that is I love my family very much, and I am who I am today because of my family.They are very dear to me and realized that we are only on this planet for a while, and we should appreciate everything our families do and have done for us, pa

I look forward to sharing my social identity in this course and improving my insights working with young children of diverse backgrounds.

The insights about research that I have become a part of my life especially, when I read the text entitled, “Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspectives on Theory & Practice.” The author’s bring a lot of insights about research from places like Melbourne, Australia and London, England. This course has made me more vigilant when reading any research study, and especially those with children, indigenous people, refugees, the elderly, those with health problems and anyone who is classified as belonging to a ‘minority’ group. I also learned that research is from paradigms and not all paradigms are alike. If I were to change any of my ideas about the nature of doing research, I would be more qualitative than quantitative in my data gathering, however, I would also use a lot of mixed-method approaches too. I have learned when doing early childhood research planning is an essential starting point to ensure that ethics are taken into consideration and policies are e

Some of the current international research topics are “The Development of an Integrated Early Childhood Development Urban Model Training Program for Informal Minders and Community Volunteers in Ghana. This model is “an integrated early childhood development (IECD) urban model training program for informal child minders (IMs) and community volunteers (CVs) working in daycare centers in Ghana is developed based on an integrated approach towards the holistic development of the child. The objectives of the project are to identify and develop appropriate training curricula, methods and materials to be used in the training of IMs and CVs. The integrated approach was used to develop the training modules” (Agorsah, 2005) . In the early childhood Australia link, the research topic of “ Reflection as a toll for quality: Working in the National Quality Standard“ in the Research in Practice Series  is “intended to assist educators to understand the process of critical reflection and its usefulnes

  One interesting topic I enjoy reading about, is how to help people with neurologic conditions because, my wife has a form of Muscular Dystrophy. In my endeavor to look for a positive example of the effects of research on children and families to share with my colleagues, I came across an article in “Neurology Now, The American Academy of Neurology’s Magazine for Patients & Caregivers (April/May 2013 edition). The article is a longitudinal research design, and uses a deductive research methodology. The paradigm is associated with the positivist approach because, of the cause and effect relationship, between exercise and people who have neurologic conditions.    Rukovets, (2013) explained that “more and more research is finding that exercise may be particularly helpful for people who have neurologic conditions, with benefits seen in movement, balance, and even cognition” (p. 11). In fact various types of healthy exercise can be beneficial just not all in the same way. Accordin

  I chose excellence and equity of care and education for children and families, because, it gives children and families an opportunity to experience child development in a positive and healthy environment. According to the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC), "the demand for early childhood care and education programs continues to increase not only in response to the growing demand for out-of-home child care but also in recognition of the critical importance of educational experiences during the early years. Several decades of research clearly demonstrate that high-quality, developmentally appropriate early childhood programs produce short- and long-term positive effects on children's cognitive and social development" (Children) I, selected this topic because it is a worldwide issue in other countries as well, and to me this gives this particular topic great depth. The Hungarian Presidency of the Council of the European Union stated, “e

    There are many consequences of learning that I feel can help me in my professional and personal development.  UNESCO recently published the policy report Caring and Learning Together: a cross-national study of the integration of early childhood care and education in education . Written by John Bennett, Yoshie Kaga, and Peter Moss, it examines an important policy option for the future development of ECCE services, based on the experience of five countries (Brazil, Jamaica, New Zealand, Slovenia, and Sweden) and one city (Ghent in Belgium) that have integrated ECCE within the education system. It looks at the rationale, process, extent, and consequences of integration and draws important conclusions. It also includes perspectives from countries that have chosen to retain split systems.     The Asia-Pacific Regional Network for Early Childhood (ARNEC) has therefore chosen the 2012 annual theme: “Early Experiences Matter: Building Foundations for Lifelong Learning” to bring ri

My professional goals at this moment is to try and establish a supportive document I am truly cultivating a relationship with Kurt, an early childhood teacher from Bateau Bay, near Sydney, Australia who happens to be my international contact. We have shared our thoughts about excellence and quality. We also shared our hopes,dreams, and goals. Even though we have not met in person, it seems as though we are comfortable with sharing information with each other. I did get a chance to ask Kurt some of these questions: 1. What issues regarding quality and ec professionals are being discussed in your area? There is big talk about equity in pay for EC teachers here in Australia. Primary and secondary teachers receive a greater rate of pay and a much more friendly award in regards to holidays, sick pay, etc. This has caused many ECT's, like myself, to transition into a primary teaching job. The Australian government has offered to try and fix the pay divide by funding pay increases

Sharing Web Resources One of the outside links that I am following from “ International Step by Step Association,” is their major initiatives in 2013-2015. These initiatives will lead to Access and Equity, Quality, Participation, and Network. Here is an example: I found that “they build on the principle that parents are the primary educators of children and strive for active parent participation and community involvement in the education process” (Major Initiatives, 2013) . The link I decided to follow from the ISSA e-newsletter related to the country of Georgia providing free preschool to children whose families qualify for welfare. I found it to directly relate to equity, for all children in Georgia’s rural areas. Though preschool education is free or subsidized for needy families, only about 30 percent of Georgia’s poor children have access, according to a November report from UNICEF. Georgia’s rural areas are particularly lacking. UNICEF and Civitas, a civil society gr

My international contact is The International Step by Step Association (ISSA). My contact in the organization has been kind enough to invite me to be a member. I have accepted. The insights and information I have gained have helped me to see all countries have the same issues concerning early childhood education, if not far greater, just as we do in the United States. In this case however, there are countries coming people from different countries coming together under this one organization for the sole purpose that children receive adequate support through high quality early years services. I did see a document titled “Competent Educators of the 21 st Century : ISSA’S PRINCIPLES OF     QUALITY PEDAGOGY, “in the newsletter. The ISSA launched updated pedagogical principles. The Principles serve as a basis for professional discussion, building and expanding partnerships, improving practices, and bringing change into the lives of young children in the countries of the ISSA netw

One specific section from my  International Step by Step Association  (ISSA) newsletter that I found to be important to my professional development is the New European Commission Recommendation: “Investing in children: breaking the cycle of disadvantage” A new European Commission Recommendation provides helpful guidance to Member States on how to tackle child poverty and promote children’s well-being. It calls for a children’s rights approach and integrated strategies based on three pillars: access to adequate resources; access to affordable quality services; and children’s right to participate.  Importantly it links to the implementation of Europe 2020 and the EU financial mechanisms to ensure progress and monitoring. Member States are encouraged to adopt national targets for reducing child poverty and social exclusion.     New Policy Briefs from EENEE on the Economics of Education  helped me to understand how economist in other countries have some of the same issues we do

My Goal - Work To Solve Children's Problems My first conversation partner is a early childhood professional from Wales, Australia, named Kurt Walker.Kurt has shared with me the national curriculum, and educator's guide they use in his school.He has explained to me how he uses the 'Emergent Curriculum' and the 'Project Approach (Reggio Emilia). My other conversation partner is Dr. Mihaela Ionescu Program Director for the International Step by Step Association ( ISSA) in Budapest.  They  are leading a professional membership association of 31 non-governmental organizations from Central Eastern Europe and Central Asia working in the field of early childhood in their own countries. Dr. Ionescu has connected me with Carmen Lica, Director, for Step by Step Centre for Educational and Professional Development in Romania. They both have shared with me the Romania Early Childhood Inclusion Overview Report published in 2011 where there is information about Romania, bu

Should we care about people in other countries? December 7, 2012 Should we care just as much about people in other countries as we do about people in our own country? When I was an elementary school student, my science teacher asked us to write about what I would do in the future with the money I earned. I wrote that I wanted to help poor African children by donating a portion of my wealth. After the class ended, the teacher took me to her office and scolded me for that assignment. She said I must not help foreigners because there are also poor people in this country. I rebutted her with two points: we should care about people in other countries for moral and rational grounds. First, it is a moral thing to give aide to those who need it even if those are foreigners. All human beings have inalienable rights to enjoy their lives as long as their desires do not hurt others. Also, all human beings have an obligation to protect and support others’ inalienable rights since

The name of the organization I selected is The PEW Charitable Trust State and Consumer Initiatives. The link for the organization is http://www.pewstates.org/ . The main focus of this organization is to first provide funding for worthwhile issues that should not be ignored in the world. Their reputation for helping those that is not able to help them speak for it. They try very hard to work closely with local, state, and federal governments that are connected with issues and trends in society. To me no one organization can do it all, however the PEW Charitable Trust Organization comes very close and a leader for other organizations to follow. The international website I selected is named International Step by Step Association (ISSA) and the link is http://www.issa.nl/. The International Step by Step Association (ISSA) is a membership organization that connects professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education. One particular trend

I decided  to explore the  Pre[K]Now: A Campaign of the Pew Center on the States. The PEW Center  supports the early childhood community, by taking part in a Task Force mainly designed to help states  to assess and improve early childhood learning and program quality. The Task Force defined a State  Early Childhood Accountability  and Improvement System as a  system of standards-based assessments  of (a) children’s  development and learning and (b) program quality, designed to  inform state policy  decisions, investments, and improvement efforts  for early education programs for three- and four-year-  old children,  linked to a continuum of kindergarten through third grade standards,  curriculum,  assessments, and program improvement efforts.  The Pew Charitable Trusts completed its 10-year campaign to advance high-quality, voluntary pre-kindergarten for all three- and four-year-olds in 2011. Through its successes, Pre-K Now changed the national conversation about pre-k educatio