Early Childhood Studies: August 2011

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Professional Hopes and Goals

My one hope would be to not only make the children feel safe, loved and comfortable to also make the families feel that same way. I have had the awful experience of having my child cry when we drove near her daycare and see the teachers with an uncaring attitude. Of course I pulled her right out of there. I have also had the pleasure of leaving her with a teacher who actually said “I love you” and my child felt that. I want to ease the stress on children and families and create that loving environment for them to spend their days. I know most parents are in the same situation I am, we have to work. Worrying about my child all day causes great stress and anxiety that no parent should have to handle.

One goal I have would be to work on those curriculums that do more than just explain the holidays. It would be nice to present a different culture monthly where children could in depth some of how that culture lives. It could even be a weekly project for that culture during the month that explains the food, religion and as much to the depth that the children will understand. A good starting point would be to talk about all the cultures of the children with in the classroom.

I would like to thank all of you who are already in the early childhood field making a difference. Foe me, being in the military, it is awesome to hear all of your real-world stories as I prepare to retire and start this new career. Thanks so much for sharing and I look forward to seeing you in our net class!

Thursday, August 11, 2011

Welcoming Families From Around the World

In my scenario I will choose to work in a hospital because that is what I currently do. When we are deployed, unfortunately, the host country children often become casualties that we treat in our Military Treatment Facilities (MTFs). If we have any type of natural disasters we will definitely be assisting children and families from other countries. The country my little one and her family will be coming from is China. That is somewhere I have not been and do not know much about. My first three steps will be to educate myself on where this child is coming from. In order to learn more about the environment and culture that this child has been raised in there are several websites that can be utilized. The CIA World Fact Book which can be located at: https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/ is a very good demographics site. This site will help us learn about the geography, education, poverty level and other important facts about the country. Another that we use often is called Military One Source and can be located at: http://www.militaryonesource.com/MOS.aspx. This web site offers international assistance with such issues as translators, mental health issues and so many other problems that we might encounter. They even create Sesame Street books that address children's issues. The last website would be the UNICEF site located at: http://www.unicef.org/. This web site specializes in the assistance they have offered to children around the world and will be a good website to learn from. In using all these websites I would educate the staff and any other people that will be involved in care or any other activities this child might be involved in. This way we can all understand what type of culture and life she might be coming from. Also I would like to ensure that the environment is as inviting and comfortable for her as possible so that we can reduce her fears and anxiety of being in a new and scary place. Hopefully all of this will not only broaden my own perspective but also those around me while making this child and her family safe and happy.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

One incident that I clearly remember was when I was a bit younger. I have always been very diverse and had friends of all race and colors. When I was living in North Carolina I was good friends with a group of Marines an hour away. We would spend nearly every weekend together. My best guy friend, Tony, is African American. One weekend he drove out to pick me up and bring me back to the Marine base for the day. As we were walking around in the nearby town African American women would shout obscene comments from their window about my being Caucasian and Tony being black. That scenario obviously game me no chance for rebuttal or education. That same weekend a bunch of us went dancing together and a few white guys saw me dancing with Tony and for a few minutes I thought there would be a riot. We quickly left in the name of safety. Both of these incidents made me extremely angry that people were so close minded and even cared that my friend and I were together. These two incidents did not afford an opportunity for greater equality at the time but I have always emphasized the importance of acceptance and a zero tolerance for prejudice to those around me. I am thankful that the military has come so far as to have a zero tolerance and equal opportunities offices to report any incidents to.

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Established Contact with My German Childhood Professional

My contact actually changed from Tonya Schmidt to Thomas Volz. He studied in New York and Turkey. He taught school in Turkey and in Boveria at the Abuture, which they call the place of higher learning durin ghte first years. He also taught Turkish students to speak English for 4 years. He has 3 boys of his own that are 11, 12 and 15 years old. Whe I asked him to tell me about povery in Germany that he might have experienced and how it affects children, this is what he wrote to me:
"In Germany the federal social security system is (still) so comprehensive that you hardly notice any differences between rich and poor students in class. As (still) most of our schools end at 1pm, lunch, nutrition and healthcare is predominantly considered a private matter. People are very touchy about the government interfering in these questions. So it is left to health care providers to inform and teach the public on a voluntary basis. Of Course schools support this, but not as an integral part of the basic curriculum. The stress is on academic subjects".
"However, times are changing. More and more schools exand their lessons into the afternoon and the schools provide lunch. This is generally a cheap alternative to private lunch served at home. Here the schools monitor ingediences and nutrition very closely because many parents are very aware of this topic"
"The gap between rich and poor is, however, quite obvious on a higher academic level. Children that are academically supported at home are more likely to proceed to higher education and achieve better results on the long run. This more a question of how educated the parents/families are. But as education and income are unextricably entwined the link between academic achievement and income is a sad (German) fact"

Family Culture

I have been to many countries throughout my career and can appreciate the difference in culture. If I knew I was being evacuated and could never come home there would be no question about what items I would take. My first item would be my baby books. My daughter and my unborn baby are the center of our family. The baby books tell them the story of their lives as well as about their grandparents, aunts and uncles. I believe this would be important for them to have when they get older. My second item would be my hard drive that houses all our family photos. Family has always been the most important thing in my life and I would want those memories for myself as well as my child. All of our physical belongings could be replaced but not our family memories. The last item would be my address book so that I would not lose contact with any of my family or friends. If I were told I had to give up any of my items I would be extremely upset and would fight to keep them. The insight I have gained is how important family is and how we can do without our physical belongings as long as we have our family.

International Research

International research can be beneficial to the entire country if it is shared in a cooperative manner. The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php) website is researching the topic of “Networking” and the “ripple effect”. This study believes that for knowledge to be “relevant and maximally useful” it has to be shared and spread from person to person and not contained to one small area. Knowledge should not be contained in one country or area but should be shared and spread so that as many people can share what they have already learned and enable others to benefit from that same knowledge and experience.
This organization is unique in that selecting the participants they did not select solely on status, profession or graduate level participation but rather on community involvement. This is important because the knowledge needs to be spread to those in the community and at all levels. They offer continual education programs and seminars. They partner with the School of child and Youth Care (http://www.cyc.uvic.ca/). This site has so much information on issues related to early childhood to include pediatrics health, infant development, community programs and so much more. It is the epitome of serving a diverse population and supports inclusion to the fullest.
It is great to see an organization so dedicated to sharing information to the rest of the world and dedicated to improving their own communities to benefit their people, especially the children. There is great focus on educating those in childcare to ensure the knowledge is passed on to improve the early childhood field at every level.

Research that Benefits children and Families Week 3

If I could chose a research project with unlimited money, materials, and knowledge I would choose to study how children learn through play and how to increase imaginative lesson plans. This is the same topic of study I chose for my research simulations. With an unlimited budget my team would be able to set up a modern classroom designed around objects that interest young children and can also be used to asses developmental landmarks and promote learning. There are so many learning toys on the market now that could be beneficial in the classroom if the budget and policy allowed for it. I believe that a place that children are so excited to attend and may not even realize they are learning while having fun would benefit children and families. It would create a strong foundation for learning in a positive manner that would set the pace for future learning. This could also show families how to engage their children in fun learning and create a bonding experience for the parents to be involved in the child’s academic life.

Personal Research Journey

I have decided to research the topic of teaching and learning through play. We studied this topic in previous classes and it has been my favorite. Even with my own children I see howmuch more they learn if we canmake it a fun expereince of interacting and not just boring lecture that does not captivate their imagination or interest. So many studies prove the importance of development and learning through play and honestly I think it is so much common sense. If we have children of our own or are in a classroom I believe we can clearly see how important it is to incorporate play into learning. I would like to learn more aboutthe typesof play that assist with development and how to successfully incorporate this into the classroom with it being a "free for all" play period without the benefit of learning.

Week 7 Alternate Assignment

This week I did not hear from my German Liaison. I believe it is a school break when they take annual vacation right now. So, I explored the UNESCO site which is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. The goal of the organization is to promote education all over the world. They also intervene in child health issues such as educating on preventable diseases to help decrease death in children related to this. I had no idea that 10.5 million children a year die from preventable disease! It is very important to advocate for education in this arena when there are so many diseases that have no cure yet these deaths are senseless.
The Organization works extensively in Africa, Arab Countries, Asia, Europe, North America, Latin America and the Caribbean to promote education as well. In June of this year the organization is hosting a 5 day course in Africa to improve the quality of teacher education. They assist in teaching how to reform and rebuild the education system.
The organization just produced a 12 minute video of young people discussing education and human rights. It features youth from 10 countries speaking openly on issues of diversity within the education system. The video will be used in teaching forums to assist with educating on sensitive topics of diversity, violence and exclusion.

Week 6 Sharing Resources

For the past 2 months the Children’s Defense Fund has been focused on the recent budget issues in Congress. The newsletter is publishing urgent calls for constituents to contact congress stating: “The future and soul of our country is at stake this coming week in Washington. Now is the time to act to prevent Congress and the President from balancing the budget on the backs of babies and the poor. Congress has until Friday April 8 to pass a federal budget and negotiations are ongoing but uncertain. We could face a government shut down and devastating budget cuts for our children and families are looming”.
• 218,000 children would lose Head Start; 16,000 classrooms would close and 55,000 jobs would be lost.
• 11 million children and adults could be denied health care from Community Health Centers.
• Many of the 9.4 million low-income college students would have their Pell Grants eliminated or severely reduced.
• Cuts are also expected to be announced soon in Medicaid, Food Stamps and other lifelines for poor children and families

Obviously this issue is directly related to our studies as well as to my own government job. It seems unbelievable that the jobs of the United States Military could be on the line as well as the budgets in place to assist the children of our Nation. The newsletter as well as the main points on the website this week talk about multi million dollar corporations that are not even made to pay federal taxes, yet the government wants to take away the little bit of funding for underprivileged children in our country.

International Issues of Equity

This week my German contact talked with me about the issues of equity in his country: "Children with disabilities were normally educated in specially equipped and funded institutions tailored to the needs of the challenged. This however, has changed. Now the key term is integration. The special institutions are gradually disappearing because the aim is now to integrate everybody into the "normal" schools and nursery schools. The funds are attributed to these normal schools so that they can teach and educate the handicapped and students with special needs together with all the other students. They get money for social workers, wheel chair access, extra teachers training etc. On the other hand, excellence has always been neglected. Elite has always been sth like a taboo word. In contrast to challenged students specially gifted students still don't get a systematic programme that helps them to develop. That's a pity. But at least it has been acknowledged that there are faster learners that need more and different food for thoughts. There are many books about it but no master plan. Teaching to the test is the arch enemy of educational quality control in Germany. So test makers try to focus on general abilities that can only be developed on the long run. There are many prejudices among German educators about tests in general. They still cling to the ideas of great Humanists like Humboldt, Lessing, Herder and Goethe. It's the heart that matters. And the quality of this organ cannot easily be measured" This weeks resources outlined the gaps from home to earlychildhood programs and talked about how improving the programs can decrease this gap. I believe that we have a chance to make that difference for children and allow them the opportunity to learn basic developmental skills they might be missing at home. It should not be just an opportunity it should be our responsibility.

CDF Talk about Budget Cuts

The February Newsletter for the Childrens Defense Fund talks about a $66 billion budget cut that affects programs such as head start, the Child Care Development and Block Grant as well as the Title 1 education program for disadvantaged children. There is also an update on the No Child Left Behind Act that states "more than 60% of ALL children in grades 4,8 and 12 can not read! The CDF is working toward bettering education for children in poverty and other situations that hinder education and healthy development. The newsletter also provides a state by state statistical fact sheet on the well being of children. Lastly the newsletter gives an update on a program called the Black Community Crusade for Children that helps "confront the crises that black children in America face".

Week 8 Blog International Awareness

Three Consequences of studying about international early childhood are:

1. Every country has issues and trends that affect children no matter how far advanced they are

2. No matter how many organizations and education on poverty and childhood issues there are, there still is not enough help to pull all of these children out of poverty and afford them an equal opportunity to thrive and develop

3. Economists, politicians and lawyers are still not doing enough for children despite their need to boosts their own careers by showing interest in the issues related to early childhood and children.

A goal for international awareness would be that we learn from any solutions other countries may have implemented in taking care of their children and making them a priority. “Benchmarking” is used in so many professions rather than reinventing the wheel when there may be an awesome blue print already out there. For all my colleagues I hope and pray that we become part of the solution….