I want to thank you all. I have enjoyed reading and interacting with you all. I have enjoyed the class and our journey so far. This semester has been a bit hard to get through and I hope to see you all to the end.

I hope that while working with children and families from all the different backgrounds that I remember the things I have learned in this class and apply them. I think one goal I would like to set would be that more classes are given in this area in undergraduate studies and even in general education for the field, individuals that are just starting in the field should know what a difference this can make in building the trust of the child and family by supporting their diverse backgrounds.

Blog: Welcoming Families From Around the World

Africa.

Africa is the name of the country that I don't know much about.

Five ways to prepare from this family:

1.Research things about the culture of the family

2.Purchase things related to their culture that may be important for them to feel comfortable.

3.Be careful to use the correct language when talking to them and not say the wrong thing.

4. Make sure the other staff are also on board and don't say he wrong things that may offend the family. 

5. Learn some language to help communicate with the family better.

I think that learning everything about the family first would be helpful, I would assume that alot of information would come from the agency handling the family was coming from. I think the things would help the family and I to get off to a good start as we get to know each other.

The personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

As I have probably stated several times at this point, I don't have a lot of experiences or incidents related to Bias, Prejudice or oppression. I am sure that is because of  personality and I just don't really let things bother me but this class has made me look at things a little more critically and I don't know if that is a good thing or bad. I think the things that I have noticed lately have been a few experiences while out shopping and I didn't make a scene when these thing happen, I didn't day anything in fact and even tried to rationalise and explain the behavior of others.

While shopping at Jcpenny in the jewelry section I picked out some earrings and waiting at the counter for an elderly white women to finish her purchase at this time some additional members of her family came up and were holding items clearly not from the jewelry section and the cashier had already told me she would be right with me before they arrived but as what I assumed was her mother left her and her teenage daughter stepped up to the counter with their items. The cashier told her, well "asked" her if it was okay to wait on me first, which wasn't okay because why should you have to ask her that and then she hesitated saying...uh I guess and I was very close to saying "Why shouldn't it be okay"  and I know other's who would have said that and a lot more. I believe  the teenager said to the mother "she was here first" as her mom hesitated to say I should be waited on first. I paid for my belonging and walked away, but that made me feel away for several reasons and then I tried to rationalise that maybe they were there first but no they had bra's and other things so they may have been with the other lady but had walked away and were not present when I arrived but they felt privileged to go ahead of me. And the cashier even felt the need to "ask" if it was okay to wait on me first. And I wonder if she had said no what the cashier would have said or what I would have said.
I think because it went the way it did nothing was really learned and I don't want to make excuses or guess what she may have meant about it but the way I took it was she is either rude or thought she should be helped before me.

Practicing Awarness of Microaggressions

I didn't detect any examples of micro aggression this week possibly because I didn't interact with anyone except family and my staff and the families at my center. But I do have examples to share. Microinvalidations is one of the types of micoagression that was described in the video segment with Dr. Sue(Laureate Education 2011). Micoinvaladation is a form of micro aggression that excludes or negates a persons thoughts or feelings.
I have a friend who every time we go anywhere, shopping out to eat always feels that we as African Americans are being either not shown enough attention and good customer service as our white counterparts or we are being undo targeted as people who are gonna steal. Me and the other friend never see the same thing she is seeing and we always negate her feelings and at times have even walked away from her as she gets loud and out of hand and embarrassing. But after listening to Dr. Sue and thinking about it due to her experiences she may see things that the other two of use are just ignoring. She grew up in the city and me and my friend didn't and the things we have experienced may be different then her which make her see things that we don't.

I also experienced an example of microinsult about two weeks before I knew what it even meant. I was at Walmart with my cart in the little girls section and was looking at items when a white couple came near me with their cart full of stuff in my direction and literally was going to push their way right in front of me until I just moved my cart, there was no excuse me or anything just pushing through and standing there for me to move as if THEY were intitiled to cut in front of me, intitled to without so much as an excuse me or sorry. Now this could just be because they have no manners, but when I was in another section of the store and they attempted the same things again, I didn't move and give them any POWER over me. It bothered me but those things haven't happen many times to me anyway.

I think this observation experience has reminded me of things that have happen or things that I may have did that aren't appropriate as far as my friend. But I think it is also going to make me aware of the hidden meaning behind everything someone say's

Laureate Education. (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu  

Perspective on Diversity and Culture-

I reached out to several individuals regarding their perspectives on Diversity:

My Dads statement:
Culture is a set of identifying traits, habits or principles used to set apart a group of individuals from others as unique.
Diversity on the other hand is those characteristic which establish differences between people when looking at the whole. 


A Caucasian former co-worker:
Culture is celebrating and learning about all walks of life and being enlightened.
Diversity is all different walks of life.


A cousin in California:
Culture is the collective traditions and practices observed on a regular basis by particular groups of people.
Diversity id different groups of people practicing different cultures but still interacting with each other and living within close proximity to each other.



I have learned that culture is every aspect of a group of people, the way we sleep, talk, care for our families and relate to each other and withing our group and what makes us comfortable. and I think that most of the people I asked that question to agreed with that definition. I think that they have omitted listing all the things that make up a person's culture, it is everything that a person does the way the dress, look, talk and the things they eat.
Reading things that other individuals think about the definitions just helps to see that everyone has a different idea of what it means because it means different things to everyone.

My Family Culture?

I had to put a question mark after the title, because I was at a lost of what I have in my possession that would represent my families culture, I wondered since I have been raised a military brat and have never lived near my extended families to share the history or culture of our family I am lost. After reading some of the other post, I don't have a family item or a special item from a grandparent because I have never spent ore than a few weeks around them.

That being said I would bring my cell
My Dog, he's small enough
And my small page of personal hygiene supplies

I know these things have nothing to do with culture, but I really just don't have anything that represents my culture, my cell phone contains all my pictures except the big ones on my walls.
My dog is part of my family, leaving him behind would be like leaving behind my child. I was so sad seeing previous disasters in our world like Katrina and all the pets that were displaced.
And then my supply bag just because you need those items to feel clean and yourself.

If I then had to chose one it would have to be my dog, Trigger. He is part of the family.

Research around the world

The website I explored was Early childhood Australia: 

I felt this website was definitely the Australia version of NAEYC. I totally felt that while exploring it.
Some of the current international research topics I noticed were: Family daycare in Australia and to asses its quality and identify pertinent topics for future research.
Literacy is another topic of research and even in Australia they know the importance of early literacy experiences and how that affects future literacy development.

Some of the surprising facts are that even in Australia they support the "Learning through play practice, we know how important it is and to know that it is an international movement is insightful.

And I think it is insightful that Earlychilhood is important on so many levels and in so many other countries.

I found the website interesting in general to see the code of ethics and just all the same things that our website contains.

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au

Benefits to children and their families.

I Grew up  in a military family, my father was a marine for 28 years. We moved around constantly to new duty stations, I remember one duty station in Maryland when my father was in school and we only staid for 6 months, I was enrolled in school for 6 months. Other duty stations were anywhere from a year with the majority being three year duty stations. The changes for me a shy child were very hard to adjust to, it was a little better when we moved during the summer because that gave me time to make friends in the neighborhood and not be so "new" when school started back. But then there were the times when we would move to a new duty station during Christmas break.
I paint this picture to say that if I could  conduct research it would be to study the effect on children of military parents and the effects of the constant moving of duty stations and the absence of parents and the effect that has on the child and the social emotional development and the relationship building capabilities of these children in the future.

I would hope that the positive contribution of this research would help families to learn what they could do in these types of situations to foster strong relationship building skills and support social emotional skills.

Personal Research Journey so Far.

The journey so far has been tough for me for various reasons and I am playing catch up. I have chosen  topic:
Ways to promote social inclusion and respect for diversity in Early Childhood. I feel like that is too broad so I will have to figure out how to break that down into something doable.Does anyone who might go back to read this have any help with narrowing that down for something I can research for this class?

Week 8 Final Blog

As I reflect on this final blog assignment in this class and the things I have learned from the readings of the resources and that of the post of my classmates I have learned alot about this issues and about the trends and about myself

The consequences of learning about the international side of early childhood education is knowing that our concerns are the same but yet somehow different then our colleges on the other side of the country and we cannot always solve all of these problems we just have to do what we can to make a difference in the children's lives.

That our roles as educators are not any different basically from those across the world

I have learned so much about the different cultures and that has made me aware and leads to my goals of learning more about the different cultures and being aware of the issues related to children in other cultures.

Week7 Blog Assignment: Getting to Know Your International Contacts

Blog Assignment: Getting to Know Your International Contacts

While exploring the site for the UNESCO (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/), I learned that they have a commitment to putting education at the heart of development and that it was established in 1945. And that this organization helps to reform their education systems at all levels of education and I also read how it promotes literacy as a human right and the basis for lifelong learning.

References

 (http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/themes/strengthening-education-systems/early-childhood/),

Week 6 Sharing Web Resources

http://www.buildinitiative.org/ 

is the link I was led to from my website. The build initiative builds a strong foundation for our children. This website has a vast amount of information about the policies and ways that they help to bridge the gaps between children and the things that prevent them from having access to early childhood programs.

Things I learned: By 2020 their will be no more "Majority gap" among children because at the moment 45% of children are of color. The importance of closing the other gaps that will exist by income, language and culture both in children and families. Closing these gaps are vital to our future success as a nation.

Retrieved from http://www.buildinitiative.org/ 

Week 5 Blog Assignment

I thought the website http://developing child.harvard.edu/ was very informative and gave me a look into how early childhood is viewed globally. I thought the video on how caregivers unresponsiveness can be harmful to a child's development.
The sections on: Science of Early childhood, understanding interactions and innovation as well as the Global child Development section was very informative and is a resource I will add to my list of resources.

1. Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website http://developingchild.harvard.edu/initiatives/global_initiative/

Week 4 Sharing Web Resources

Website: http://www.nbcdi.org/

The specific sections of this website that were revelent to me were the New Sections the showed the current things happening with this association and the events. I also found the section with resources and policy and advocacy.


I found the statements that substantial funding should be available to help programs to move up the quality ladder through environmental improvement and professional development to be the goal of all educational organizations.

I think I received not a better understanding but just again recognized the importance of the investment in Early care quality programs and how in the long run the investment saves money and taxpayers reap the benefits of lower special education classes.

Week 3 Poverty

I have not made any connections and the website that is listed as the alternative didn't work. But I did chose the country of Africa to research.

 Mandela once said " Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, it's an act of justice".

Zimbabwe in Africa has not even established that children have rights. And with them not having rights this denies them the basic rights of healthcare, education and food and water and these rights that we guarantee our children have here in America are denied to them on a daily basis.

1 out of every 2 children live in poverty and since the children's rights are no established they are forced into labor or slavery.

The water supply in this area of the country is not sufficient to provide for the population and the children have to drink water that is polluted which then leads to health complications. With the lack of water in the country and the rationing of the water that is available, hygiene is difficult to maintain also.

Retrieved from www.humanium.org/en/zimbabwe

Week 2: Sharing Web Resources

The name of the organization that I selected was NBCDI: National Black Child Development Institute, www.nbcdi.org.is org
This organization is committed to improving and advancing the quality of life for black children and their families through education and advocacy. they provide resources for families  of black children in areas of child welfare, literacy and family engagement, early care and education.

An issue that caught my attention was their section on Early Care and Education Initiative that leads with the quote from Barack Obama, 2008 "Life doesn't count for much unless you're willing to do your small part to leave our children-all our children-a better world"
The organization has a commitment to ensuring cultural and racial diversity in the workforce. They are  on top of that need since our population has grown so much more diverse.

I was also lead to another site resource on Diversity and equality in Early childhood system. www.buildinitiative.org


References


http://www.nbcdi.org/

http://www.buildinitiative.org/

Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I decided to go with the option of the world forum podcast, but I could not find any on the site. So I will continue this week to try to make contact with 2 colleagues from other countries. I have chosen the website http://www.nbcdi.org/. I found this website while looking on the world forum website. It is the National Black Child Development Institute who's mission is “to improve and advance the quality of life for Black children and their families through education and advocacy.”  and has a vision to NBCDI envisions a society that ensures a successful future for all children.

My Supports.

sup·port

səˈpôrt/

verb

1. 1.

   bear all or part of the weight of; hold up.

   "the dome was supported by a hundred white columns"

   synonyms:

   hold up, bear, carry, prop up, keep up, brace, shore up, underpin,buttress, reinforce, under gird More
2. 2.

   give assistance to, esp. financially; enable to function or act.

   "the government gives $2.5 billion a year to support the activities of the voluntary sector"

   synonyms:

   help, aid, assist; More

noun

1. 1.

   a thing that bears the weight of something or keeps it upright.

   "the best support for a camera is a tripod"

   synonyms:

   pillar, post, prop, upright, crutch, plinth, brace, buttress; More
2. 2.

   material assistance.

   "he urged that military support be sent to protect humanitarian convoys"

   synonyms:

   maintenance, keep, sustenance,

Support to me means the help, guidance given to me by people or things that helps me to complete my goals,or job or dreams or just to move through life.

My family is very supportive of me and my goals. My children are adults but I have raised my grandson since his birth(he just turned 11 this week) and with the support of my mom and step dad i have had so much support with him that I have still been able to continue my education, they took care of him while I pursued my undergraduate degrees and he is there after school every day to complete homework and have dinner. My step dad is like a father to him and even coaches his basketball team at the recreation center. Like all parents we never want to be the grandparents that are raising the grandchildren and I know that I couldn't do it without them, they are retired and they are always there for him and I.

My new glasses. I have really had alot of problems with my eyes and headaches with all the computer time I get from work,school and just cell phone time. World of difference since I have received them. Without them I would continue to have headaches and not be albe to see and my eyesight continuing to deteriate .

 Picture of my mom who is very supportive like I meantinoned above. She helps Dj with his homeowrk daily. Dj is a A student because of her efforts. Without the support of her and my step Dad I would hate to imagine how my life would be different. I don't have to worry about having  to leave work for a sick child and always know that they are going to be there to make things easier for me, I feel bad for others who don't have that support

My Samsung galaxy Note 3.... I'm obsessed with it and it holds everything. I use it for everything and is like my laptop on the go in addition to being my phone. I depend on it to keep up with all my numbers for all the people I know, I message to my child's basketball team members parents, I send group messages to my staff when we were closed for snow days the past two weeks. I can remember my life before cell phones, but I can't imagine it without it now. I have got to work and left it and had to turn around and get it because it's like the life line.

The challenge I chose was a single parent or grandparent with no family support and new to the area so no friendship supports either. I think I take for granted that I have lived near my parents and have their support. But for a single mother or father responsible for children but still having to work and then a child ends up sick who do you turn to, maybe you can't afford to take off work but you have no choice because there is no one there to take care of your child while you go on to work. This would be a hard situation if you didn't have this support. But I would hope you could look to several agencies in your community that would support the parent and lead her or him to the right services to help and maybe to groups that parents in similar situations could connect.

"My Connections to Play"

“Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” – Mr. Rogers

“Play is often talked about as if it were a relief from serious learning. But for children play is serious learning. Play is really the work of childhood.” -  Fred Rogers

 toys for young children need to match their stages of development and emerging abilities. 

    

 Blocks, Musical Instruments and Dolls are three essential toys.

The only memories I have of play in my younger years is that of being outside with friends, inside activities with my younger siblings. I think that these opportunities were provided and encouraged by my parents. We always were provided educational activities to museums when we lived in duty stations that provided these opportunities. I don't have anymore specific memories of play in my childhood because I don't really have a full memory of my early childhood at all but I do personally feel that it is important to provide several different types of opportunities for play to stimulate all the child's senses thus to develop all the child's areas of development.

I think that in the past we participated in a lot more outdoor play and activities and not specific directed play that was intended to help develop our educational development. I think that know there is so many advances in technology and research so that now we know how important it is to stimulate their development.

As an early childhood educator I know the importance of play in the children that are in my care and I try to convey that importance to the staff and families in my care. Parents still want to see the worksheets and physical proff that they can hold to prove that their child is learning but they learn through play.

References

www.naeyc.org/toys

RELATIONSHIP REFLECTION.

re·la·tion·ship

riˈlāSHənˌSHip/

noun

1. 1.

   the way in which two or more concepts, objects, or people are connected, or the state of being connected.
2. 
   
3. I think that Relationships are important to me and my life because all of the different ones have helped shaped my life and who I am. Some relationships happen just to teach you something.

This is a picture of my oldest daughter and her family, including three of my "gran girls". My daughter, Whitney and her husband Aki, who is a marine got stationed in New Jersey Two years ago and the distance has been hard because this is really the first time Whitney has not been here for all the events, holidays and all. It's hard to accept that she's all grown up with her own family. We stay in contact with calls and skype so that the gran girls continue to know who "Nana" is.

All of my "Gran Girls, Alaia, Anaya and Amara who are Whitney's children. And Felicity, AKA. Pootie and her brother my only Gran Boy.Dj, who are Nicole's children. I have raised Dj since he was born so that is a really different bond. He is with me day and night and at an age when I thought I would be long done raising a child, I still am.

This is Ms. Sherry and she is one of my Sister Directors, we are both Directors for the same company and this is a picture from our annual Directors conference that our company holds for our region and we were celebrating this night. It is great to have a relationship with Ms. Sherry because we can support each other in regards to work and personal matters and be there to vent if necessary.

This is a picture of my staff, the relationships between me and them is important to us all and the families that we serve. Because we have a good relationship it boils over into the relationships we are able to build with our families and played into our school becoming a FIVE STAR school.

This is my "Trigger". He is like my little baby and he gives that unconditional love and is always glad to see me, I would say he doesn't ever give me trouble or "Talk back", but he does.

Having a pet is said to be good for your health and I know once my DJ get a little older and starts leading his own "teenage" life Trigger will be here to keep me company.

 From Top to bottom: My step Dad Ron who is very important to my relationship and that with Dj who he helps to raise with me. He is very important to the development of Dj.

Next two are my friends Fran and Carolyn and the relationship with them are very important . We like to hang out, go out to eat, and shop together and we are each important to the other as we offer support to one another when needed.

This is a picture of me and my second ex husband. Even though he is my ex we do have a friendship that is important to both of us. We have been divorced for seven years now but still are part of each others lives.

My Youngest daughter, Nicole and mother to Dj and my youngest gran girl, Felicity. Everyone has that one child..well she is mine. Love her to death but it has been a strained relationship through the years, I am raising her oldest child and I have since birth. She lives here in town so we do interact and share family events together. She is very close to her Step father pictured above.

 Last but least, my mom and friend. I am the oldest of her three daughters and I live here right in town and she also is a great help with the raising of my grandson and her great grandson. Without her and Ron I couldn't do it and still have my life. With there help and support I was able to finish my BS degree. Couldn't function without them two.

The challenges of developing and maintaining relationships is difficult me, I am very introverted so I think that makes it difficult for me develop  and maintain relationships, I often think it's odd that I don't really have a "Best Friend".

The relationships I have listed are mostly family and coworkers or employees so these are relationships that you don't have to work hard to maintain.

I think that all of the relationships are partnerships because it is a give an take relationship, some times I may give more and sometimes the other side but we are all in it together.

I think my limited experience with other relationships including my ability to be an active, reflective contributor sometimes make me less effective in my relationships with parents, I have to work harder because I am not so outgoing and bubbly and don't do a lot of "small talking" 

This was put on my facebook page by a former co worker who knows me so well. It sums me up.