What I have learned-Week 8

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

 

I hope that I am educated enough to make children and their families who come from diverse backgrounds comfortable.  I feel that any family from a diverse background is already going to be uncomfortable in new situations they are not familiar with but I feel my education could ease their minds.  I want to know more about diversity an have the ability to show I am educated and always willing to learn more.

 

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

 

One goal I would like to set for diversity, equity, and social justice for the early childhood field is to have more education on these topics.  It is not said enough, kids are coming out of early childhood with very little idea what diversity even means.  Schools need to have resources, curriculum, and a vast amount of materials on these subjects.  With education, the future for the children and others will be much easier.

 

 

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

 

Thank you everyone for letting me learn from you and with you.  I feel we are lucky to be working with educators and have real life situations we are working through together.  This has been such a valuable course and has brought new meaning to the word diversity for me.  I hope you all continue to thrive in your education.

 

 

 

Week 7-Create Art

Developing children need to be taught about race, biases, and equality in life.

 

Important roles for a developing child need to be identified.

 

Vary abilities make children who they are and separate one from another.

 

Everyone has a bias; it is our job to work through them.

 

Racism is evident in everyday life.

 

Stories. Storytelling is how children learn and express themselves.  Let them tell stories, hear stories, and recreate stories in their everyday life.

 

It takes a village.  This saying sticks hard with me throughout this course; children need their families to help them develop.

 

Teachers make the difference, we have the tools to help children learn about diversity and what makes them unique and what makes them who they are in this big world.

 

You make the decisions that best fit you; children learn from you and learn to accept through you.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"-Week 6

I can remember a time that I was with my nephew at the mall and we were shopping around.  He turned to me and asked me why that person was so short but looked older.  I felt so uncomfortable.  As most children, his voice was not quiet and I am pretty sure that the women heard him say that.  I just answered by saying oh don’t worry about it hunny and quickly changed the subject to something else. 

 

This message could have been portrayed to my nephew that either I did not know or it was something he doesn’t need to know about.  He probably assumed it was something that shouldn’t be discussed and probably viewed that person as being very different and maybe a bit weird.  He likely still wondered as we continued shopping, why that person looked that way and why his aunt didn’t want to talk about it.

 

An anti-biased educator could have responded to him by saying that person was born differently than people he is use to seeing.  They could have taught a mini lesson on dwarfism and what it means to be a dwarf.  They could have explained this person is just like us but smaller in size.  They could have talked about it being considered a disability but for most with this, make huge accomplishments and live their life just like we do but with some adjustments.

Week 3 - "Start Seeing Diversity Video" Blog

I had mixed feelings on the response to those who believed that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals.  I feel that this is something that should be taught so that there aren’t many biases towards people like this.  I also feel that it should be at a parent’s discretion whether or not they want their young children to learn about this at such a young age.  There are families who have two moms or two dads and these children talk about it and other children at this young age have no idea what that means.  I think having these resources are a good idea but making sure they are appropriate for that age group would be the key to making it successful and educational.

 

I have heard a child call another child “gay”, not because he knew what they term meant but because he heard it before.  He probably heard it in the context of someone calling another this word.  Unfortunately, this word is used too often in the world today and used in a way to just cut someone down not because they are actually gay but because it has been used this way for awhile.  If other children would have heard this, they would question it and maybe start to use it in the same matter which is not appropriate at all.

 

Final Blog-Communication week 8

Thank you everyone for another successful course.  I have learned a great deal from all of you and thank you for the feedback you have given me.  It has provided me with strategies to use in communication settings that will make me more confident and more effective in my efforts.

Communication-Week 6

As I think about group I have been involved in and the ones that I have departed from I have a few that come to mind.  One group is the group I completed by undergrad schooling with.  We went through all the same classes together and shared the same experiences.  I have some friendships with some of those I went to school with but not very many at all.  This would be considered a high achieving group and it was by far the hardest to leave.  Not only because of my friends and colleagues I had met but also because it opened a huge chapter in my life.  In order to celebrate this accomplishment, the graduation ceremony took place.  This would be the same for high school as well. 

 

Another group that I can think of was the group of friends I made while living in my first apartment.  I had a close group that I hung out with and we did everything together.  Once I met my husband, we quickly divided.  Before moving out of the complex, we held small get together and shared stories of the past.  This was a much lower scale adjourning than what I mentioned above.

 

Adjourning is an essential part of team work because that is the stage in which it all comes together and you have the chance to unwind and celebrate and reflect on what you have done together.  It marks the end of something wonderful but starts a new part of your life.  Teamwork is about communication and collaborating together and without this stage people of the team would wonder what came of their hard work.

Communication-Week 5

When thinking about a conflict that I have recently had with a family member, two strategies that might help me resolve or better the communication would be:

-To use more respect in listening to the others person view.  When talking about the 3 r’s, I sometimes jump to conclusions before listening to what is really meant.  More respect would make the situation less heated.

-I could also get ahead of the situation and offer to resolve the issue before it is prolonged.  When thinking about the problem, I can try and get ahead of it by thinking what would make both of us happy.

 

For me conflict resolution has always been an issue because I am stubborn and always feel I am right.  This is sometimes hard to admit but it is very true for me.  I have learned, as I have grown older this is not the case.  This course so far has also taught me some ways to make my communications better and therefore not have so many conflicts in life.  How do some of you cope with conflict in regards to communication?