Hopes and Thanks

A Special Thanks To My Colleagues


Thank you for sharing your thoughts and insights with me over the last eight weeks. This small town southern girl has learned a great deal about diversity in the world we live in and the importance of providing all children with an anti-biased education. I have always been an accepting person but lacked the knowledge to truly educate children about differences. I appreciate all the stories, posts, and responses from each of you that allowed me to grow as a professional and a person.


My Hopes For Early Education


My hope for early education is that we teach all children that importance of diversity and accepting others for who they are. Children need to learn from an early age about other cultures and understand that it is okay to be different from your friend and neighbor. If we teach children acceptance for others and respect for all people when they are young, our schools and communities will be better places to learn and live. In order to accomplish this goal, educators must be willing to understand the importance of diversity so that they can share this understanding with young children. 


Good luck to each of you as you work to be an anti-biased educator! I wish you all success in your future goals!


Tabitha

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose the East Asia and Pacific because I do not have knowledge of the impacts on early education in this area. The other areas it seemed that I have some knowledge on and hear more about in the media.

Challenges of children in this region:

Childhood poverty:  In Lao PDR, while 38 percent of children are assessed as income poor, as many as 75 percent are assessed as living in poverty. Inequalities are the major factor to child poverty in this area. Adults see poverty primarily as a lack of income; children see poverty as not having enough to eat or not being able to go to school.

Nutritional Status: A survey reported that one in three children under age five in Viet Nam do not currently meet their full height potential which causes problems with cognitive and social growth. This is caused by chronic nutritional deficiency during the first 1,000 days of a child’s life. The damage caused by this deficiency to a child’s development is permanent.

Fiji Floods: 14,000 people (5,000 children) had to leave their homes due to the flooding in Western and Central Fiji. These people are sheltered in evacuation centers that are lacking access to water, food, and other items. There is concern for sickness and disease, as Leptospirosis, diarrhea and typhoid are a real threat in the flood-affected areas.

Any time a child is living in unsafe or unhealthy circumstances it can affect their emotional wellbeing and development. A child that lives in poverty does not get proper nutrition, and experiences horrible natural disasters will have challenges in development.

Exploring this website and reading about the challenges in East Asia and the Pacific reminds me of the many emotional challenges that children all over the world experience.  Although issues of severe poverty are not prevalent in my local community, I know that we have these issues in parts of our country as well. I would be interested to dig deeper and try to find out if there are government programs that support some of these families in this region.  Reading information like this inspires me to find a way to make a difference (even if it is a small difference) in the emotional well-being of young children.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

As Levin & Kilbourne (2009) states, "Children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture." Like most parents and early educators, I am extremely concerned about the effects of sexualization in the media on our children. As a parent of 9 and 5 year old boys and a 10 month old baby girl, I am terrified of the things that they may be exposed to when I am not around.

The most recent example of sexualization in the media is the song, "Sexy and I Know It." This song is all over every radio station, used as theme songs in numerous television shows, and even in a M&M commercial that aired for the first time while my family was watching the Superbowl. My five year old son loves music and loves to dance, so obviously this song is one that makes you want to dance. However, the lyrics and moves that go along with it are not appropriate (what so ever) for children. I have tried really hard to avoid this song at all cost, but it is hard to do when it is plastered all over the media. I have attached a link to the commercial for those of you that have not seen it. It may seem somewhat innocent; however, the original song and video are so inappropriate and the commerical is making reference to what is now called "the wiggle dance" made famous by the singing group of this song. You can also look up the original song on YouTube (just know that it is totally vulgar).
Commercial: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q33drZUXSzY

Another example of sexualization that I have experienced as a parent happened when my oldest son came home from school to tell me about a drawing on the school bus seat. Apparently, a middle school child had drawn two people doing sexual things on the back of the school bus seat. Well, of course, this led to the elementary children discussing what they thought the picture represented. My son came home very confused about things that some of the older children said on the bus. Unfortunately, my husband and I had to clear up some things with our 9 year old child that we were not yet ready for him to have to comprehend.

As an educator of fifth graders, I am often disturbed by the things I hear these children talk about. They seem to be very informed about sex, sexuality, and sexual content. I hear them talk about television shows, movies, music, and video games that are clearly not appropriate for children. Not only do I blame the media for completely exploiting sex to make money, I also blame the adults that are suppose to be supervising these children. I am not naive enough to believe that parents have complete control of what their children are watching and being exposed to; however, I do believe that part of the problem is the lack of supervision of children.

As educators, we can continue to provide positive, age-appropriate learning experiences for children. I would love to read this entire book, so that I can be prepared to help children survive and thrive in this sexualized world.

References:
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

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

I have taught fifth grade for seven years, and over those years, I would hear stories of teachers being accused of being racist by students and their parents. However, this was something that I thought would never happen to me. I was too devoted to all of my students for anyone to say such untruthful things about me. Well, I was wrong.

Several years ago, I had an African American male student that entered my classroom with a bad attitude about school. He was extremely intelligent, and I picked up on that right away. He misbehaved on a regular basis at the beginning of the year, and I knew of some issues with his home life. So, I was determined to let this child know that he was something special. Not only was he special to me, but he was special to the world. We immediately became very close, and I felt like I understood him. Occasionally, he would act out and get into trouble, but for the most part, things were going well.

It was time for parent-teacher conferences, and I was so excited to finally meet his mother and brag on what a bright child he was. To my surprise, this conference did not go as planned. The mother immediately became defensive and started reciting incidents that her child recalled from school. However, these incidents had never happened. On several occasions she called me racist.  The child sat there in the chair and stared at the floor (never looked up at me), and he continued to lie about events that had never occurred in my classroom. Obviously, I was heart-broken and so disappointed and wanted to make some sense of what had happened that day.

I talked with administrators, counselors, and other teachers who reassured me that they felt that he lied to his mother about things at school to get her attention at home. Even if the attention was negative and the situations were not happening, it still gave him the attention he was looking for. Although this made sense to me, I was devastated by this experience. It definitely changed my relationship with this child and also hindered my interaction with other African American children for some time. In the back of my mind, I was fearful of being accused of being racist again. Luckily, I was able to work beyond this fear as I built trust in families that I worked with.

Observing Communication

My observation for this week's blog was completed at a local park. I observed a mom and her young daughter while having a fun day of play. They were with a group of other moms and children. The young girl kept coming over to the mom and asking her something, but the mother was not paying her very much attention. I noticed the mom kinda try to nod her head and send the child back out to play. As the child left, the mother would pick up her conversation with the other moms. In a few minutes, the child would return trying once again to get her mother's attention. Again, the mother tried to occupy her and send her off to play. The child got frustrated and stomped her feet and threw up her hands as she walked away. A short time passed and the child returned. Only this time she became extremely frustrated when ignored by her mom, and she began crying and yelling. This time the mother had no choice but to pay attention to the little girl. After calming her down, she realized that the little girl wanted to show her something. There was a really big ant hill over by the huge sand box and some of the other kids were messing with it.

After making this observation, it made me think about the times that I may have treated my own children in this same way. Many people think listening is so simple, yet it is easy for listening to become just other task (Stephenson, 2009). The mom could have made this example of communication more effective by stopping her conversation with the other moms, getting down eye level with the child, and let her know she was listening. After the child expressed her concern over the ant hill, she could have walked over with the child to help her solve the problem.

Because the mother ignored the child on several attempts of communication, she may have relayed the message that you are not as important as the ladies I am talking with. It caused the child feelings of frustration, anger, and hurt.

This observation made me stop and think about the way I communicate with my own children. There are times when I feel as though I may ignore my children when busy doing something else. I think it would be more effective to stop what I am doing and explain to my child why I am not able to give him my undivided attention. Also, let him know that as soon as I finish the task at hand I will make sure to listen to him. This explanation may save me several additional interruptions and avoid frustration from both parties!

Reference:
Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90–95. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=37131016&site=ehost-live&scope=site 

Creating Affirming Environments

In my family child care home, it is important to represent a variety of cultures, ages, races, and abilities.  Providing a variety of materials will allow for children to make connections to their own life (Laureate Education, 2011). Specifically, I want to make sure that the differences of the children in my care are represented in my home. I want pictures of their families to be visible and work that the children completed to be on the walls. I want the environment of my child care home to be inviting, comfortable, and stimulating. 


In order to do this, the following will be present in my home:

• An inviting entry way with a place to put each child's belongings. There will be a board with a calendar of our learning events, birthdays, and other significant pieces of information. Parents will sign their children in at this location.
• Walls/Decor: Walls will be colorful with posters and other learning materials. There will be photos of families on the walls and work or art that the children completed.
•  Play area: In the play area, I want to include toys for both genders, different races, multiple cultures, and a variety of ability levels. This will include books about different cultures, races, and genders, dolls of different races, puzzles and games for different abilities, dress up materials for both genders, cars with tracks, blocks, legos, dinosaurs, doll house, airplanes, and many other toys that are age appropriate (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). 
• There will be an arts and crafts area that will include play dough, crayons, paper, easels, paint, and other art materials.
• There will be a cozy area that the children will lay on their own individual cot, with a blanket and small pillow for rest time. 
• There will be a fun outdoor area that includes outdoor play toys, sand/water table, and riding toys.
• The curriculum will consist of age appropriate learning activities that fosters cognitive and social development. Circle time will consist of discussions on character traits in which we will discuss similarities and differences. Students will be encouraged to ask questions and share feelings during this time. We will share information related to culture, holidays, and traditions throughout the year. Every child will feel welcome and comfortable expressing who they are!

What I Have Learned

My hope for children and families from diverse backgrounds is that they feel respected and accepted when in my classroom. I want the children to feel comfortable sharing things about their culture and all students to be accepting of each other. I want all children, no matter the background, to encounter a positive learning experience.


One goal I have for the field of early education is for all educators to have training in the importance of embracing children of diverse backgrounds. With this training, educators would be given strategies for interacting with these families, ways to incorporate different cultures into curriculum, and resources for future use.


A BIG THANK YOU!


Dear colleagues,
Thank you for sharing your thoughts, ideas, insights, and experiences with me. I appreciate your comments and responses on my work and have learned a great deal from each of you. As our program comes to a close, I wish each of you the best of luck. Hopefully, I will have the privilege of learning more from you in the next course.


Thanks again,
Tabitha Krueger