Saturday, April 14, 2012

Time Well Spent

The first lesson that I have taken to heart during this program is to be aware of our own internal bias. Even without knowing it, we are raised and learn some types of bias that we may not even realize. We have to make ourselves aware of this so that it will not affect our decision making or the way we see the problems of others. A second lesson that I believe is very important is to learn about the children and families in our programs. It is important to know and understand the cultures, family structures, religion and beliefs of the children and families we are caring for. This will help us to understand what is important to them and how we can better assist them. A third great lesson I have learned is to not limit partnerships when looking at a community of practice. When in a field of helping others, there are no lengths to far to go in order to help people. If we have to lobby to the president of the United States, then that is how far we should reach.

My long term goal is to make the early childhood profession my second career and to help as many children and families as I can during that time. I want to be able to make a difference and be an advocate for children that need a voice to help them. I want to be the person that the children can trust and depend on and someone that they will remember helped them when they were young.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for the support, advice and experience that has been shared throughout this program. It was a great learning experience being able to draw from the knowledge of those that are already in the early childhood field. I hope that each of you have great success in your career and life and achieve all of the goals you have set.
I would also like to thank the professor for his guidance and critique during this program. We have received valuable information and gained skills for our current and future careers. With his guidance we become more affective as early childhood professionals as well as acquired confidence that comes along with the education to assist children and families as needed.

Below are two quotes that I believe fit the early childhood field:

"No one has yet fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generosity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure." – Emma Goldman

"There can be no keener revelation of a society's soul than the way in which it treats its children." – Nelson Mandela
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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"