EVALUATING IMPACTS ON PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE

The society is plagued with a lot of isms. These isms are systematic, meaning it is found throughout the society and its institutions such as education, health, housing, law, employment and media (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). These  isms such as stereotypes, biases, prejudices, racism, sexism, classism, ableism and others are sometimes overtly or covertly stated to hurt others feelings. As an early childhood professional getting these isms can influence one’s emotional and physical well being towards teaching and interaction with the children. Often times you get racist comments about a teacher not deemed fit to teach particular children from an ethnic group. If these isms come from children’s family it really would make it hard to have a good communication and relationship with such family members. For instance, I might secretly dislike particular children, or I might not get them involve in class activities or further still, I could just be passive and nonchalant towards such children and their families.

However, being educated is to be able to understand where the other person is coming and to be able to teach by example. One way is to develop a thick skin towards isms while taking actions to confront and stamp out any biases or prejudices people might have towards you. I have faced a lot of these isms in life that I do not allow them define who I am. As an anti –bias educator I would always open up dialogue with families and colleagues and strive for social justice for all a sundry in the society. Deepening our understanding of who we are and how we came to be that person is at the heart of becoming a strong anti-bias teacher (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010)..

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Observing Communication

I went to a nearby park this week, and there were some stay home mothers watching their kids play. The kids were playing running, jumping, climbing and rough playing,  when suddenly one of the kids ran to the mother to say the other kid was being mean to him. The mother asked “Why is Peter being mean to you?” The kid says “I don’t know but I wanted to use that swing and he won’t let me.” The mother then said “Why don’t you go to the other slide and play when Peter is done with the swing you can go use it.” And the boy said “No” and insisted he wanted just that swing.  Then the  mother told him  he needed to be also considerate and  asked him   “If you were using the swing and another kid came and wanted to use it when you were not done would you  give it up?”  Interestingly, he shook his head and kept crying. However, he was pacified and the mom took him to the other swing meant for children his age and helped push him to and fro.

 From watching the moms and the kids it was evident to see the use of questionings and scaffolding with children to make them reason and think critically as well as enable them to develop morally and socially as they learn to empathize with others. The moms listened when the kids came with  petty complains  and problems which was indicative that their complains was  important;  and as  indicated by Eric Hoffman and Lisa Kolbeck   in their communication with the children (Laureate Education, Inc.2011),  listening to children  makes them  feel valued and  loved.  The play environment was safe and secured as the children trusted the protection from their parents and hence the confidence to go with numerous complains to their  moms because of the trust and bond they share. 

There was a lot of redirecting, correcting, and listening to children thus acknowledging that children have a voice of their own, and should be listened to as a means of taking them seriously. The moms’ use of simple words, short sentences and the relevance of body language were noticeable.  In particular, the gentle touch and kiss one of the moms gave her little son to pacify him confirmed another method of affirming communication with children (Rainer & Durden, 2010; Kovach & Da Ros-Voseles, 2011). In all during my observation, I was impressed that the children’s self worth was considered through the interactions and communication between the moms and their children.  It takes a lot of patience to listen, redirect, correct, and question; but  with purpose in mind  of helping them develop socially ,emotionally, and cognitively it is worth the effort.

 

 

References

         Rainer Dangei, J., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The nature of teacher talk during small group activities. YC: Young Children, 65(1), 74-81. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database

          Kovach, B., & Da Ros-Voseles, D. (2011). Communicating with babies. YC: Young Children, 66(2), 48-50. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011).EDUC 6358: Strategies for Working with Diverse Children [Webcast]. In “"Communicating with Young Children"” Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011).EDUC 6358: Strategies  for Working with Diverse Children [Webcast]. In “ Persona Dolls” Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Creating Affirming Environments

It is my dream to one day have a child care center, to enhance the literacy development of children. First and foremost the setting would be an ideal place conducive for learning, where very child would feel secured, loved, and nurtured. I envisage a setting that will guarantee, be supportive of each child’s capabilities and strengths, and also provide quality experiences to the children. Research indicates that an environment rich in anti –bias materials invites exploration and discovery and supports the children’s play and conversations (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  Materials that are reflective of a variety of cultures would be a priority to implement. The use of persona dolls seems to be a strategy that is common as pointed out by Adriana in her Family Home Care, where she has different dolls and kids like Malik are able to share and tell their stories in a welcoming environment (LaureateEducation, Inc., 2011).

To enable children develop emotionally, socially, linguistically, intellectually, and physically  healthy; persona dolls, figurines, and block people would be used to introduce stories related to the children’s lives as well as broaden their awareness of various aspect of diversity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). In addition, books that provide positive overture to children about human similarities and differences would be handy to help them develop and respect each other. Through open discussions and activities children would freely express their feelings and learn to collaborate and socialize with each other. Children come with a variety of competent, creative, and overt interest (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011) and maximizing these strengths would empower them to be able to do more challenging task through a strength based learning approach. As a co -constructor and facilitator of children’s learning it would be fruitless if I do not partner with the first teachers of these children; thus working with families and having an open-door policy for parents to come in and visit, participate, and share cultural experiences with class would be part of the agenda of my program. Including families in their children’s lives make them feel more included and valued (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Laureate Education, Inc., 2011).

Finally, creating such a setting of great relationship, interaction with children and family, and focusing on anti-bias material in the classroom would produce a secured and peaceful environment where every child would thrive to their potentials.

  References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

        Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011).EDUC 6358: Strategies for Working with Diverse Children [Webcast]. In “Building  on Children’s Strenghth” Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

      

     Laureate Education, Inc. (Executive Producer). (2011).EDUC 6358: Strategies for Working with Diverse Children [Webcast]. In “Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community” Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

What I Have Learned

One hope I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that educators would understand that each family is unique in regards to their beliefs, values, religion, and cultural differences. Furthermore, my hope would be that every teacher would cherish every family as they are, and support all children’s families and to foster in each child fair and respectful treatment of others whose families are different from the child’s own (Denman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Pelo,2008).

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be for children to be ready to stand up for themselves, take what is their right to have: respect, decent jobs, and education. Racism and other biases are part of our society and part of what children have to learn to deal with to become savvy about critical and realistic issues of life (Boutte, 2000; Denman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010; Harro, 2008). To empower them, children would be taught to learn and practice a variety of ways to act when another child acts in a biased manner toward her/him, when one child acts in a biased manner toward another child, and when an adult acts in a biased manner (Denman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Anti-bias educators would further deconstruct children’s misconception and would focus on activities for critical thinking to enable children to make distinctions between inaccurate and untruthful images and messages and accurate and truthful ones through open interactions.

             

A Brief Note of Thanks to My Colleagues

It is hard sometimes to say goodbye but life is about meeting and going. It has been a wonderful eight weeks together and to say the least, your contributions in the discussion forum were very insightful. I learned a lot reading different perspectives which really reflected the theme for this course. Thanks to those who quickly rendered help to me on technological issues. I hope each one of you is going out  into the field as determined as I am to audaciously tackle; social injustice, biases, prejudices, heterosexism, racism, ageism, stereotypes, religionism, able-ism, sexism, and classism in the face and stand up for justice and equity for all always. I hope your students would be excited and proud to have one special awesome anti- bias educator and that would be you to change their lives and make them become great future citizens of the world.

References

        Boutte, G. (2008). Beyond the illusion of diversity: How early childhood teachers can promote  

 social justice. Social Studies, 99(4), 165-173.  Retrieved from the Walden Library using the  Academic Search Complete database.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Harro, B. (2008). The cycle of Liberation. Retrieve from https://class waldenu.edu/bbcswebday /institution.

          Pelo, A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.