Time Well Spent

Three deeply felt learning’s I got from this program are:

1. Build positive relationship with the children and their families. 
2. Children, families, and the community look upon early childhood teachers as leaders.  Some qualities of a good leader: committed, respectful, trust-worthy, resourceful, reliable, influential, listens effectively, and communicates well with others.
3. Create you an ideal community of practice that share your interest in order to achieve better result of what it is you want to accomplish as an early childhood professional.

A long-term goal I have is to not only make a difference in the lives of children but also in the lives of parents that allow bias behavior to control their emotions.  I hope that with my teaching of anti-bias education they will start to respect others for who they are as well.

I would like to thank my colleagues for all of their helpful information provided to me during this course.  It has been a joy having all of you as classmates and I wish you all the success.  I hope that you accomplish all of the goals you have set.  My email address is: amjones_12@hotmail.com.   Good luck and best wishes!

To Dr. Davis, thank you for your knowledge and wisdom that you have shared with each of us.  I hope that I can one day be a great teacher such as you.  Thank you for being committed to our learning and providing us with what we will need to become great educators.  Keep doing what you do!

Couple of my favorite quotes:

You can teach a student a lesson for a day; but it you can teach him to learn by creating curiosity, he will continue the learning process as long as he lives.

                                                           Clay P. Bedford

Tell me and I’ll forget; show me and I may remember; involve me and I’ll understand.

                                                           Chinese proverb

Best wishes everyone!!

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

Three international organizations or communities of practice that appealed to me and why:

Save the Children is an international independent organization that appeals to me.  First of all, the name, “Save the Children” speaks of helping children and their families.  Save the Children is there to save lives with food, medical care and education and remains to help communities rebuild through long-term recovery programs.  It works to resolve the ongoing struggles children face everyday such as poverty, hunger, illiteracy and disease—and replaces them with hope for the future.

I search for job opportunities for the North America region, any location, and the Education/Literacy/Child Development Program Sector.  There were three results, but only two of interest: Coordinator, Early Steps to School Success (ESSS) and Manager, Head Start Programs.  The Coordinator provides early childhood education services to pregnant women and children birth to five years of age.  Requirements are: bilingual skills in Spanish a plus, must have transportation for home visitation, knowledge of local community and services available, experience with timely reporting and maintaining accurate records a plus, strong interpersonal skills, AA degree in Early Childhood highly preferred, experience with parenting education a plus and job is located in Colorado.  The Manager, Head Start Programs required a Bachelors Degree in Human Services or related field, minimum five years experience with Head Start in a progressively responsible supervisory role, strong leadership experience and skills, strong communication skills, confident public speaking skills, and community based experience.

UNICEF appeals to me because they work to cover aspect of situations that may affect the lives of children.  They protect the rights of children.  They work to assure equality for all, but especially for those who are discriminated against, girls and women in particular.  UNICEF also works so that children are immunized against common childhood diseases and are well nourished.  They work to protect environments for children when they are suffering during emergencies, violence, abuse or exploitation.

There were as many as 1675 results for job opportunities with this organization.  However, after narrowing my search down to education I came across a position for Statistics and Monitoring Officer, P-2, located in New York.  I don’t think this job would be for me, but it was interesting.  The primary function of this job is to improve quality, and use of data and contextual information on children and women through UNICEF with focus to the areas of HIV/AIDS, as well as other areas.  Skills required are: University degree in one of the social science preferably in statistics or an area with advanced statistics, data manipulation and analysis skills.  At least two years of work experience with specialized training or experience in survey implementation, data management and statistical research and analysis of data from various sources, and familiarity with sectors of concern to UNICEF, such as HIV/AIDS, education, health or child protection.

International Step by Step Association is a membership organization that connects professionals and organizations working in the field of early childhood development and education to exchange ideas and experiences.  Within its network, they provide support to programs to promote equal access to quality educational services, care, and advocacy tools intended to influence policy reform for families and children, especially in the early years from birth through primary school.

I could not locate any information on job opportunities; however, registration form was provided if you would like to join the organization as a member.

References

International Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from

     http://www.issa.nl/index.html

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from

     http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from

     http://www.unicef.org/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

At least three national/federal organizations that appealed to me and why I chose them:

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).  NAEYC supports children from birth to 8 years old when their foundation of development is very critical.  They work with teachers, parents, community leaders, and anyone that has a desire to support the needs and rights of all children. 

At the current time they have a job opening for an Accreditation Coordinator, in which you would be required to assist program staff, NAEYC assessors and other stakeholders in understanding and interpreting the standards, the criteria and the system as a whole.

Requirements for this position would be to have a BA in Early Childhood Education/Child Development, 3-5 years experience and a sound understanding of its practice.  Experience with high quality programming.  Excellent oral and written communication, analytical, MS Office and database skills are required.  Must be able to stay on schedule in order to meet deadlines and some travel required.  Salary $38-41K with excellent benefits.  All positions are housed in NAEYC headquarters located in Washington, DC.

National Institute For Early Education Research (NIEER).  NIEER conducts research that is very important to support high quality effective early childhood education for all young children.  The importance of this high quality education enhances children physical, cognitive, and social development, and consequent success in school and later life.

Current job opportunities available are: Project Coordinator- applicants should have a BA in social science, experience in early childhood research, curriculum development, and/or professional development is a must.  Classroom experience is required.

Summer Research Assistants- applicants should be enrolled in education, child development, psychology, economics, statistics, public policy or a related field.  Experience is desired.

Data Collectors- applicants should be graduate students, have a BA or be upperclassman undergraduate students with a focus on child development, early childhood, psychology or related field.  Experience in classroom settings and/or working with children highly preferred.

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators (NAECTE).  Interest me because their purpose is to advocate for improvement in early childhood teacher education.  They cooperate with other national and international organizations concerned with the study and education of young children.

Current job opportunity available is: Teacher- Day Care located at Medstar Good Samaritan Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland.  Requirements for this job would be for the applicant to have an Associate’s degree in Early Childhood Development (Bachelor’s degree preferred).  Two years experience in a day care or preschool environment.  Excellent organizational and verbal/written communication skills.

References

National Association of Early Childhood Teacher Educators. (NAECTE). Retrieved from

     http://www.naecte.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children. (NAEYC). Retrieved from

    

     http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

National Institute For Early Education Research. (NIEER). Retrieved from

    

     http://nieer.org/about/jobs

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

After carefully reviewing agencies in the state of Georgia that operates by using communities of practice as a method of working interactively with other organizations that shares theirs same interest I chose the following three:

The Communities of Practice Program at CDC (Center for Disease Control and Prevention).   http://www.cdc.gov/phcommunities/copp/news_archive/copp-news.html

This organization appeals to me because it protects the health of everyone regardless of their economic status, but especially those least able to help themselves.  This organization works collectively with state and local practioners, academia, non-profits, federal agencies, and private sectors to learn together and jointly solve health problems.

Georgia Department of Community Affairs:  http://www.dca.state.ga.us/communities/regionalism/programs/co-op.asp

Work with large and small communities over the state of Georgia so that they can choose the ideal best practices to fit its local needs and resources.  The environment in which we live and the options that are available in providing resources for children and their families plays a major role in the developmental process for children.

Skyland Trial Organization:  http://www.skylandtrail.org/who-we-serve/?mm_campaign=0fa145cc61767a0f543f086b4200f0da&mm_replace=TRUE

Serve adults with mental illness through individualized treatment.  This organization appeals to me because I have family members and friends in the community that I know who suffers from such conditions as bipolar, depression, dual diagnosis, and schizophrenia.  Also, we have learned that there are many children who have emotional disorders that sometimes carry over into their adult lives.

There are no job opportunities currently available that would be of interest to me.  However, because of the nature of these jobs the positions would require highly skilled professionals and mastered degreed professionals trained in specialty areas.

Reflecting on Learning

As an early childhood professional one of my most passionate hope is to make a positive difference in the lives of both the children and their families.   In my efforts to promote an environment of anti-bias education I hope to teach the children the importance of appreciating and respecting a person for who they are regardless of race, religion, class, religion, and sexual orientation.  I hope that they welcome differences and similarities and gain understanding and knowledge of being able to interact will all kinds of people. 

As stated by Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) the reason why I want to do anti-bias education is “because we live in a world that is not yet a place where all children have equal opportunity to become all they are” (p. 9).

I want to thank all of my classmates for sharing their knowledge with me and providing me with insight that will be helpful to my future students and myself.  I wish you all the best of luck and much success as we move to the end of our journey.

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and

     ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose to look at the challenges that many of the children in Eastern and Southern Africa encounter on a daily basis.  I chose this region partly because I am African American and because Africa has always been a county of curiosity to me.  Many parts of Africa do not have the best living conditions, educational system, and health systems as in some other countries.

The children in Eastern and Southern Africa face the challenges of violence, abuse, exploitation, and child labor at a very early age.  National studies in Ethiopia, South Africa and Swaziland show that between 30 and 40 percent of girls suffer from sexual abuse and violence before they are 18 years old.  Other forms of violence that are condoned by society include female genital mutilation/cutting and early marriage.  Gender inequalities are also viewed as a challenge.  Many girls remain excluded from education.  “Vulnerable children such as girls, nomadic children, orphans, children with disabilities, children from households affected by HIV/AIDS or by armed conflict and natural disasters are particularly at risk of missing out on primary education” (UNICEF).  Medical care is nearly impossible to find in many parts of Somalia.  Child labor remains a problem across the continent of Africa.  “This phenomenon is both a cause and a consequence of poverty, and it perpetuates impoverishment by severely compromising children’s education” (UNICEF).

The children in this region emotional well -being and development is in deeply affected in a negative manner because of all the violence, poverty, abuse that they face daily in their environment.  Everyday life is a risk for the children in this region of the world because many are still subjected to violence and exploitation as well as to harmful cultural practices.

Personally and professionally I am deeply sadden to know that children have to deal with issues such as mentioned at a very early age in life.  Children should not be subjected to such conditions anyway.  I think it has to be very challenging for those children to concentrate on learning.  And, I can understand how these children may suffer from emotional behavior problem in their lives.

Reference

UNICEF (2012).  Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

My reaction to the topic of the sexualization of early childhood is that children are not truly taught how to value and respect who they are and others.  They are viewing the physical attractiveness of a person and determining the value of a person from that.  As an early childhood professional it is my duty to help each child see the value in themselves and in others. When they learn this very important aspect in life then they will understand in time how to relate value and respect in relationships.  Levin & Kilbourne (2009) states “sexualization has to do with treating other people (and sometimes oneself) as “objects of sexual desire . . . as things rather than as people with legitimate sexual feelings of their own.  When people are sexualized, their value comes primarily from their sex appeal, which is equated with physical attractiveness” (p. 4).

Three examples that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment are:    (1) Music videos with young girls dancing half naked using their bodies to help sell music.  (2) Television commercials advertising sexy lingerie such as Victoria’s Secret. (3) Television shows such as Toddlers and Tiaras having little girls dress up in make-up and look like grown women. 

Children are already curious about so many things in their environment because they are learning about their environment and surroundings, but when they are exposed to sexualization at such an early age they are easily confused and guided in the wrong direction and this can be very damaging to a child as they are learning and trying to develop a sense of self-identity.  “As children struggle to understand what they see and hear, they learn lessons that can frighten and confuse them” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 4).  As an early childhood professional I would respond to these concerns and reduce the negative impact on children by advising the parents to: Monitor what your child watch on television.  Teach them to play creatively using their mind.  Be mindful of the toys, clothing, and games you purchase for your child.  Teach and show your child true love and how to value relationships.  And, lastly what I feel is most important is to teach and encourage your children to have high self-esteem and self-worth.  Children need to be taught how to believe in themselves and not depend on others to define their worth.

My awareness of the sexualization of early childhood has been influenced greatly because I did not realize that children were exposed to so much in the category of sex at such a young age.  As an early childhood professional I now know that I must be ready to expect so much and to try to help lay a positive foundation for these children.  “Early childhood is when the foundation is laid, and that is where we need to start our efforts to understand and respond” (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p. 5).

Reference

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction] So sexy so soon. The new sexualized

     childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine

     Books.Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf