What I Have Learned

One hope that I have for working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that no matter who enters my classroom environment, that they feel welcomed and valued by both myself and the rest of my classroom community.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field in general related to diversity, equity, and social justice is that all children receive the opportunity to develop a positive sense of self and a healthy identity.

I would like to thank my colleagues for joining me on this journey. It has been eye opening and beneficial to my future classrooms of students. I hope that you all have experienced some growth as well, and I hope to continue our relationships into future courses and into the future. Good luck everyone!

Collage Representative of my Learning

Children need freedom to explore and try out things new to them. Whether it be dress up, sports, or family activities. children need to be able to express their curiosities about gender, religion, race, ethnicities, and so many other topics so that they can learn and grow and discover how they fit into our ever changing society.

 

Being Ssshhed

            This week we were supposed to talk about a time we witnessed an adult silence a child, or silenced them ourselves, for pointing out someone's differences. The best situation I can remember was when I was a child myself. We were at the zoo or somewhere you had to walk a lot and I was tired. I saw a woman in a wheelchair and commented that she was lucky because she could sit everywhere she went. My mother shushed me and said don't talk like that.

            Receiving this message opposed the image I had been building regarding diversely abled people. See my older sister has disabilities, and she looks a little different. We learned sign language so we could communicate with her more effectively, but she was capable to do just about everything else. Then suddenly my mother is telling me not to talk about people that look visibly different than myself. My mother's response confused me and really bothered me for some time afterwards, I remember thinking about it multiple times growing up.

            According to our course media, it is important to intervene when incidents happen as well as being proactive (Laureate, Race). My mother should have talked to me about what I said and how it could be perceived by others. She could have helped me to understand that the woman is not relaxing in her chair, she is working with her arms. If we were in a classroom, a teacher may respond to a child saying this by introducing a game or discussion in which images are used of diversely abled people doing positive, and active, things (Laureate, Race). Another option in the classroom, as well as at home, would be to use puppets for children to express themselves through a third party (Laureate, Physical). Children's literature could also be used to broaden children's understandings, but be wary of stereotypes within the books as well as among the books you chose (Laureate, Physical). 

Children's Exposure to LGBT

                This week I explored how children are being introduced to homophobia and heterosexism, mostly through children's books. From my short research I have found that these issues are approached typically in one of two ways; either embraced entirely or ignored completely. What I mean by this is that teachers are either talking to their students about these issues and challenging their beliefs or they are redirecting their comments or replacing what they said with more acceptable words. Two books that I have seen used frequently are "It's a George Thing" by David Bedford as well as "And Tango Makes Three" by Peter Parnell. Bedford's book approaches gender roles by showing that boys can enjoy music and dance just like girls can. Parnell's book approaches alternative family structures and how a family can have two Dads.

            Some centers feel that including books that depict gay or lesbian individuals and families are inappropriate and avoid their inclusion. My view on this topic is very similar to one of the teachers in our video this week, "Her role was to help all children develop a positive identity, regardless of personal belief" (Laureate, 2010). Even those children who do not have LGBT family members should be educated equally so that all children are prepared to be respectful when they eventually come into contact with a gay or lesbian adult or schoolmate (Laureate, 2010).

            The last question this week is about what I would do if a parent informed me that they did not want a gay or lesbian educator to be interacting with their child. I would have to explain to this parent that all are welcome in my center and that sexual orientation or preference does not influence a teacher's effectiveness.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2009). Start seeing diversity: Gender. Baltimore, MD: Author. 

Adjourning

Are high-performing groups hardest to leave?

            I think that high performing groups are among the hardest to leave because you have experienced great success as a member of that group. You would probably be fearful to move on and have to face less success or even failure.

Groups with the clearest established norms?

            Norms for a group are things like habits, rituals, expectations, accommodations, language, dress, style of communication. These things can create a type of security blanket or give the feeling of comfort and home. To leave these things behind is hard because new groups may, and likely do, have different norms.

Which of the groups that you participated in was hardest to leave? Why?

            The hardest group to leave was my 6th grade soccer team. Our team was still co-ed but I believe this was our last or second to last year for this. My dad was our coach and he drove my best friend and I. I think our team was extra close for a few reasons. We always had practice whereas most other teams played and practice only with good weather. Sprinkle or rain with no lighting meant we practiced on the field as normal. If the weather turned worse we would move inside for a modified practice. We went for pizza as a team quite a few times throughout the season and we always carpooled to games. We had a two middle schools in my school district growing up and my whole team was in one school, actually in only two classes. I think this added to our closeness and lengthened our friendships built during the season throughout the rest of the school year.

What sorts of closing rituals have you experienced or wish you had experienced?

            The closing ritual for my 6th grade soccer team was very special to me. We had pizza and cake at my house the Saturday after the last game. We played at my house for hours; trampoline, I think my promiscuous cat had just had kittens, and I remember playing hide & seek outside in the dark (long after the party should have ended). I think this gave us all closure and fond memories.

How do you imagine that you will adjourn from the group of colleagues you have formed while working on your master's degree in this program?

            I hope that when we adjourn from this group of colleagues that I am able to provide them encouragement towards their future endeavors. Through the discussions and this blog I have learned a great deal from my colleagues about their perspectives on issues so that I can understand those topics more holistically and also what they may gleam from resources that I have not. This group has been very supportive of my learning and encouraging me to continue trying my best.

Why is adjourning an essential stage of teamwork?

            Adjourning is essential because it gives individuals the chance to evaluate the events that have occurred, capture lessons learned, and evaluate how you have grown or changed (Abudi, 2010).

Resources:

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Conflict Resolution, hopefully

                 I live with my step-mom and my aunt, who both smoke. They smoke outside and in the car sometimes. My problem is that they smoke right outside the sliding door, which is the only path for my one-year old daughter to get to the backyard, and they are almost constantly out there. They take up the only patio furniture and they leave the butts and all their other accessories on the low table so my daughter can never be in that area. If they are watching her they may hold the cigarette in one hand and help her with the other, and that is just way too close for comfort to being burned and exposed to secondhand smoke. They also will smoke outside the car if the baby or I go with them somewhere, but they will leave the car door or windows open so we can socialize while we all get cancer.

            As you can tell, this topic still frustrates me. I do everything I can to keep my daughter safe and as healthy as she can be and I feel like it is thrown in my face by exposing us both to these horrible chemicals. They are both educated adults so it just doesn't make sense to me. But to help with this conflict there are two approaches I could take; Non Violent Communication and the Third Side.

            Using NVC I could honestly express myself without attacking my family. The fourth skill in NVC states, "requesting what we would like in a way that clearly and specifically states what we want" (www.cnvc.org). I could hope that by communicating my needs clearly, without tension, and specifically that my family would listen and do their best to meet those needs.

            Another approach, that I think is much more likely to be successful, puts most of the responsibility on my understanding their perspective. If I use 3S to understanding their side of the argument I could come to the realization that they are not out there smoking all the time and that we could go play somewhere else for the few minutes they take to smoke a cigarette. I could also be understanding that they want to continue talking to us when they stop to smoke in the car. We could get out of the car and stand out of the smoke range to talk with them.

            If anyone else has any further input and advice on this situation I would appreciate it. I enjoy my family's company but the safety of my baby girl comes first.

Communication Assessments

            This week I asked my stepmom and my husband to fill out the three communications assessments about myself. The most surprising aspect I found was that my husband evaluated my verbal aggressiveness as 'significant'. I was under the impression that we had successful communications and that we talked things out very well. I was surprised to find that I made him feel attacked or put down when we discussed certain topics. He clarified that he does not always feel this way but if there is a point that I really want to make that I will make it despite his feelings. I was very saddened by this and I am determined to not let anger or meanness find its way into our communications anymore.

           I also learned that I still have a high level of social anxiety that I had thought was more under control. I fear that this might negatively affect social life as well as my professional work in regards to my relationships with coworkers. Also any time that I may need to speak in meetings or conferences this may become an issue.

            One other aspect about my communication skills that I learned this week is that I have a people-oriented listening style. I think that this could either help or hurt, depending on the context, because of the level of empathy involved in this style. I think that it could help in that it can help me listen closely and truly to children, coworkers, and families. However, it may negatively affect me because empathy may affect proper judgment of a situation. 

Communicating with Diverse Groups

I unfortunately do find myself interacting differently when I am with different groups of people. Some of these interaction differences are choices that I consciously make to suite the situation, but there are some that I am aware of that I do not mean to continue doing. One of the differences I have noticed is that when I am communicating with African Americans, of either gender, I become very shy. I have a hard time expressing my thoughts and interjecting into the conversation. I also find myself guarding my language and how I describe things when I communicate with Middle Eastern Americans. I tend to give a lot of examples but when I am with diverse people I am afraid to say something to offend whomever. There seem to be a lot of rules and cultural expectations that I am unaware of, and I am unclear if/when I break a rule. My husband was recently employed by a man who has just immigrated from Pakistan. I often felt that I was saying or doing something to offend him but I could not understand what.

Writing this post this week I am reminded of a story my husband told me about himself when he was a teenager. A car stopped by him on the street and asked him for some directions; they spoke with a very heavy French accent. When my husband replied he began speaking in a made-up, terrible, nowhere close to accurate, French accent. He spoke about two sentences, then noticing what he was doing stopped himself and he apologized to them. They all laughed and he started again, without the strange drawl. He mentioned to me later that he had never spoken to someone with a true accent before and he wonders if that is why it just came out? That brings me to my first strategy to use to communicate more effectively with diverse groups..

1. The first thing I should do to increase my effectiveness of communication with African Americans is to find a friend or colleague to talk with. We could do something casual like go to a coffee shop or cafe.

2. Next I should do some research on the Middle East and learn about some of their well-known customs. I think if I knew more about this culture I would know where to start. I also think that I should interact personally with a person from this culture but I would like to learn some basic expectations first.

3. The third step I think that I should take to increase my communication skills with all diverse groups is to continue to practice and broaden my social group to include people from all walks of life. I am comfortable with my communication skills regarding people with diverse needs, but people with diverse cultures is still an area that needs improvement in my life. I think that this aspect could be approached in person as well as viral, or through the internet. I think that there is lot that one can learn and practice via facebook, texting, and emailing about diverse cultures, though the same rules do not always apply in person. 

I Love Lucy

            For this blog assignment I decided to watch "I Love Lucy" since it is a show I have not seen many times before and I thought it would be interesting to watch silently. The character relationships are very different when the sound is turned off compared to when the sound is turned on. Turned off, the characters do not seem to communicate very well; they do not consistently make eye contact nor wait for one another to stop talking before the other begins.

            With the sound turned off the relationships in the show do not seem sincere, but they do appear to be relationships that have lasted a long time. Ricky and Lucy seem to enjoy each other with lots of smiles and pats on one another's arms. However, they often talk facing away from one another insinuating that they do not respect each other enough to pay attention and listen effectively. They do not use many hand gestures but they do use body movements to emphasize certain points.

            The characters in this episode of "I Love Lucy" seem to be feeling very stressed and annoyed, according to their nonverbal behavior. They face their bodies away from one another, scowl at one another, and stomp their feet. Their more subtle body movements are sharp and agitated, showing their annoyance.

            When I re-watched this episode with the volume turned on, I realized that the characters are not really annoyed at one another, though they were stressed. The episode was about Lucy and Ethel buying a freezer behind Ricky and Fred's backs. At the beginning of the episode I thought that Ricky and Lucy were communicating poorly, but in reality they were just in the middle of a disagreement about buying a freezer. When Ethel enters the scene after Ricky leaves, I misinterpreted her communication with Lucy as well. I had thought their relationship was rude, but in reality they have a playful and sarcastic relationship that was simply hard to understand without the volume.

            I am not sure if this is the case with all television shows, but this show definitely needs to be watched with the volume on (or with subtitles). The characters spoken words and body language do not always agree with one another. Also sarcasm and irony are difficult to understand without language being used.

            I think that I would be able to interpret a show more accurately that I am more familiar with, but I cannot promise that. A lot of information is shared through verbal communication, which makes sense for a television show; which is typically created to be seen and heard.  

EDUC 6165-3

Effective Communication

"Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn"

~Benjamin Franklin

The most effective communicator I can recall is the teacher I completed my student teaching with (my SBTE). She has been elected Teacher of the Year multiple times, and she has been teaching for less than 10 years. What made her such an effective communicator (and teacher) was her ability to listen and 'read' the other person involved in the conversation. She knows when to add emphasis with body movements or gestures and exactly when to pause for effect. She can also often guess when more clarification will be needed and has a different example ready for a second attempt at understanding. Mrs. Shari Berg is an excellent teacher, and also an excellent communicator. I learned many things from her including how to effectively raise my voice and obtain control of a classroom, without over doing it. I also have to attribute my ability to listen closely to others to her; she set an excellent example. 

Thank you for reading, I look forward to a semester of learning and growth!

Jen Lewis

When I Think of Research...

An insight involving consent…

            One area of research that has perked my interest is regarding informed consent to be involved in a research study. Our text tells us that voluntary consent is absolutely essential (p. 73), however where does that leave observations? If the observation is conducted in a classroom consent is more easily addressed, but what about observations done in a public park where people come and go quickly? Do these people have the right to consent to be involved in your study, or are they consenting just by being in public? The topic of voluntary consent was very insightful, especially consent involving children. I am very relieved to know that consent should be gained from children according to their age and capabilities. Children are people too, and I am glad researchers are reminded of that while developing their research with children.

Developing views of research…

            I was interested previously in research from the scientific position, but I now am also interested in research that involves and benefits children, outside of the medical field. There is a lot more to be learned about and from children and their childhoods that can be used to benefit their lives greatly. We are constantly finding new best teaching practices and finding new ways to apply technology to our classrooms, and those are all because of dedicated researchers. I will now have much more support for, and interest in, research that is being conducted around me.

Lessons about research design…

            I learned that no interest is too small. In fact, the more defined and narrow the interest the easier the research process is. I also learned that you should not limit yourself or give yourself unnecessary restrictions while designing the research. Researchers need to think outside of the box sometimes, or researcher reflexivity.

Challenges…

            I had a challenge grasping the simulation aspect. I was at first stuck on the idea that I would have to actually conduct the research, so I really limited myself. Once I realized that I did not have to collect the data, just design it in theory I was much better off. I have also had many challenges this semester with balancing my new mommy duties and school work. I haven’t really overcome that challenge yet, it seems to be a losing battle. I have found, however, that I can get a lot more done throughout the week if I work on little pieces at a time.

Developing view of an early childhood professional…

            I now realize what an impact relevant research has made in the early childhood field. This made me realize that in order for the field to continue to grow and move in the right direction, further research must be conducted to guide our growth and movement. An early childhood professional should be embracing this knowledge and keeping up to date with current studies and research findings. Not all research will be valid or reliable, but it will inform the professional of where the field is going and why.

This is my last post for this semester, so thank you to all my colleagues that have been reading and writing along with me. Hopefully we will be keeping in touch in future Walden courses J

Sub-Sahara Africa, ECDVU

http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php

For this weeks’ blog assignment I reviewed the website of ECDVU: SSA (Early Childhood Development Virtual University, Sub-Saharan Africa). This site instantly caught my eye because the first thing they included in their site is their mission statement, which reads: “to further develop African ECD leadership capacity as a key strategy in support of child, family, and community well-being and broader social and economic development” (ECDVU: SSA, 2005).

This website was extremely beneficial in showing what current research is being conducted by students internationally. “Assignments, major projects, and theses focus on addressing pressing ECD issues within countries and on building the ECD literature for Africa” (ECDVU: SSA. 2005). There were a number of interesting and necessary research studies being conducted, but I have chosen just a few topics to share. Training programs for Ghana volunteers, assessing the quality of child services, nutrition in babies in motherless homes, supervision of early childhood education, culturally and developmentally appropriate practices, involving fathers in meaningful ways, as well as improving childcare quality through parent enrichment and training of trainers (ECDVU: SSA, 2005).

One new fact that I learned from this site is how participants become involved in this organization. Participants must be nominated from within the current members. Their inclusion or acceptance is based on “achieving inter-sectoral, multi-organizational representation, and evidence of individual commitment to child well-being and broader social development within the country” (ECDVU: SSA, 2005). Being nominated by current members limits the number of nominations possible, but I think that it also encourages networking and in turn the sharing of ideas. Networking is very important when large-scale changes are desired, and especially if those changes are to be positive and long lasting.

The final area that I researched on this site was called ECDVU Cohort Generated Country Reports. I selected the country of Nigeria to research further. Nigeria is an area of interest to me because of their high malnutrition and low immunizations. I learned from this area, also, that Nigeria has a high under 5 years mortality rate; in 1960 there were 207 deaths compared to in 1999 there were 178 (ECDVU: SSA, 2005). These numbers are not that different, but the years between them occurring are. Advances have been made in medicine, health, and awareness and I feel that those advances should have been applied to Nigeria by 1999. In 1975 IBHS (Integrated Basic Health Scheme) was implemented to control childhood and adult diseases, but “success was abysmal” (ECDVU: SSA, 2005). In 1996 EPI (Expanded Programme on Immunizations), NPI (National Programme on Immunizations), and RBM (Roll Back Malaria) began working together and they have had more success (ECDVU: SSA, 2005).

I will be returning to this site soon. Especially because I am interested in reading more about their ‘Academic Program Overview’ but it is currently being updated. 

Positive Research Application

A couple of years ago I was fortunate enough to be a part of a medical mission trip to El Salvador. A large team of medical doctors, psychiatrists, dentists, nutritionists, pharmacists, and farmers visits 5 different villages over the course of a week, and a smaller team stays behind year-round to help on a smaller scale. Data is collected each day based on what the village specifically needed- dental needs, eye care, mental health, proper nutrition, etc. The data is later analyzed so that their needs may be better met in the future. 

For example, the year that I participated in the mission trip the village we visited on the 2nd day had very little dentistry needs but the village on the 5th day had very high needs. The problem was that valuable resources that the 5th village greatly needed were already mostly used by the 5th day. The next year, the team visited the 5th village on the 1st day so that their high needs could be met with full resources. Similar situations occur with all of the specialties, so detailed data is gathered at each village each year so that assessments can be completed and plans can be adjusted as needed. 

Parenting in the 21st Century

For my research simulation this semester I have chosen to focus on parenting styles in the 21st century. I would really like to find out if parents are fitting somewhat nicely into current parenting style categories or if new parenting styles have emerged. Our children have changed greatly over the past few generations, and I am interested in seeing if our parenting styles have been affected by these changes. 

This was a difficult decision for me to make; I think mostly because I was limiting myself. I am currently a stay-at-home-mom, so I was focusing on the fact that I do not have a large number of children to observe or to conduct a research study with. Once I actually began researching a few different topics though, as well as a helpful push from our professor Dr. Dartt, deciding on a topic was not as hard as I was making it.

Since I have only just decided on a topic to focus on I have not spent too much time researching it, yet. However, I have found that for every great article there are five not-so-great articles. I have also found that it is quite easy to search only for articles that fit my current understanding of the topic instead of finding articles that broaden my understanding. 

I would greatly appreciate anyone's insights or opinions regarding my topic. There is so much information available that I'm still having some difficulties focusing. Thank you in advance for everyone's support! 

Learning from International Sources

Consequences of Learning about the International Early Childhood Field

• I have learned that our situation in the U.S. is not unique. Other countries are facing the same problems, and have taken different approaches to fixing them. We can learn a lot from studying decisions other countries have made that are similar to our own, as well as completely opposite. We made find inspiration in how an indigenous culture has dealt with poverty or we may find that inspiration in the rigor that the Japanese have taken towards their studies.

• There are international systems that work better than our own; though they do have their own unintended, positive and negative, consequences. I think our job is to learn all we can about their systems and then see how they could influence our own system in the U.S.

• I also came to the realization that when we seek advice from outside our usual comfort zone we may find options that we were unaware of, but that prove to be exceptionally useful.

Goals for the Field

• Continue to learn about different international education systems. Explore intended and unintended consequences of these systems and how their approaches could improve our own education system.

• Implement aspects of various international systems to small areas to gauge their effectiveness in our country.

El Salvador

This week I spoke with a friend in El Salvador. She is a doctor who travels to various villages to administer, and also teach about, medicine. She teaches women how to be midwives, basic hygiene to prevent sickness, dental care, and basic preventative measures to stay healthy. She puts a lot of focus on the children because she knows that a healthy life depends on a healthy start.

I asked her what her professional hopes, dreams, and challenges are. She hopes that all the people can overcome themselves to understand that medicine and knowledge are not bad. She hopes that what she teaches the children about taking care of themselves will not be forgotten, but will be used to help the children be safer and healthier. She hopes that more parents allow their children to be treated for various sicknesses so that they will not be hurt permanently. She has daily challenges with old culture clashing against new innovations. “Some of those clashes are good, they challenge us to question if the new way is really better. But some of those clashes are bad because they prevent children getting the help they really need.” 

I also asked her what some issues regarding early childhood education were where she works. She clarified that not all of the children in the villages go to school, and those that do attend do not go every day. She also reminded me of the school environment; few desks and chairs in the room, a couple posters, some rooms have chalk boards, there are some books but not enough for every child. She responded that the focus with children is teaching them to read, write, numbers, and daily living skills. There has been talk from time to time about including some English into the school day, but not enough of the teachers are familiar with English and some community members disagree with teaching it. The main focus with children is helping them attend school. The government helps by giving families vouchers for school clothes, books, and school supplies. Some families are still not able to attend because the commute to school is too far for their child to travel daily.