Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The National Education Association is a community of practice of educators who share a common goal to improve the quality of education. The National Education Association (NEA), the nation's largest professional employee organization, is committed to advancing the cause of public education (nea.org).  The NEA offers members to teachers who share and provide research in education.

The PTA is a local community of practice where parents and teachers work together to enhance the school environment for teachers.  In the PTA, I work as a collaborator.  I help to organize meetings and events for the children.  I also help to raise funds for field trips and activities. 

The Mississippi Association of Educators (MAE) has been at the cutting edge with productive accomplishments for educators and public education in Mississippi (maetoday.nea.org).  The Mississippi Association of Educators is a state level organization under the National Education Association.  The organization is dedicated to improving education in Mississippi.  Members are teachers from Mississippi schools.  The members work together to create better practices to be used in the classroom.

References

http://www.nea.org/

http://maetoday.nea.org/

Reflecting on Learning

Hope for Early Childhood Education

My hope as an early childhood educator is to provide the best learning experience for all children.  My goal is to estabish effective relationships with families to better understand their needs and the needs of children.  I plan to teach anti-bias education, and to act as an advocate for all children.  I believe that children need to understand and embrace diversity.  Therefore, I will apply what I have learned in this course to improve the quality of my classroom.

Personal Thanks

I would like to thank every one of my fellow scholars for contributing to my blog. I wish you the best in your future courses and your goals as early childhood educators.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose to investigate the regions of West and Central Africa.  These regions are exposed to high rates of poverty and disease.  The site reported that “nearly 2 children out of 10 never reach their fifth birthday. They die from malaria, diarrheal diseases and vaccine-preventable diseases such as measles, and Malnutrition is widespread in the region” (UNICEF, 2013).  I chose to review this region because of news and information I had previously studied about Africa.  After visiting the site, I have learned a lot of information about the area.  As a result, I was shocked to learn how disease and poverty has limited the educational opportunities for children, and poverty and traditional beliefs keep 40% of children out of school” (UNICEF, 2013).  Thankfully, UNICEF is working to combat these challenges.

Poverty and disease impact children’s health and wellbeing.  As an educator, I have seen how poverty and disease affects children in schools in Mississippi.  Educators have to step up as advocates for children and work with families to connect them with services to help them overcome poverty.  Poorer families do not always provide the best nutrition or health for children.  This impacts the physical, emotional, and mental development of these children.  Therefore, reviewing the site helped me to understand how these challenges can stifle the development of children.

Reference

UNICEF. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html.

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Working with a diverse group of children and families, I encounter various consequences when "isms" surface in the classroom and in parent interactions.  In one case, a child used classism to degrade another child. Classism occurs when people discriminated against others because of social status.  In this case, the child told the other child that his clothes were cheap and dirty because he was poor.  The child comes from a low socioeconomic background and does not have the best shoes or clothing.  As a result, the child’s feelings were hurt.  I immediately addressed the young girl who made the comment and explained that it was not nice to talk negatively about other people.  I also explained to the class that bullying and teasing was inappropriate behavior.  Although I addressed the situation, the child was still hurt.  I attempted to comfort the child and explain that he was a good student; therefore, he should not allow others to tear him down.  I also explained that his parents were doing the best for him and that some people will always have negative things to say. 

Another “ism” is LGBTism.  Sue (2010) stated that “LGBT-ism creates oppression for LGBT parents” (p. 187).  I can relate to this because I have had subconscious thoughts about gay parents.  This can hinder my ability to communicate with them, especially when I have hidden issues about homosexuality.  I do not openly discriminate against homosexuals; however, I do not agree with the lifestyle or practices.  I have learned that I must accept others and create change in myself.  Therefore, I must continue to work on this to avoid negative situations in the classroom.  I understand that slang and slurs can occur in the classroom, and children are often brutally open and honest about things they have learned at home.  As a result, I have heard children call other children’s parents “homos”.  I have always addressed this as bullying and made every effort to explain the differences in society to children.  Therefore, I must become more aware of diversity for myself to become a better educator.

Reference

Sue, D. W. (2010). Microaggressions in everyday life: Race, gender, and sexual orientation. New York, NY: Wiley

Observing Communication

Currently, I work in Head Start and I see children communicate with adults on a regular basis.  In one conversation, the teacher was explaining to a three year old child that hitting was wrong.  The child kept saying that “he hit me first”; however, the teacher kept implying that hitting is wrong and it was against school rules.  In this situation, I realized that the conversation was one sided, and the teacher was failing to listen.  Stephenson (2009) stated that “stepping back meant not only slowing down and really listening, but also consciously shifting my mind from the immediacy of the conversation to consider it from other perspectives” (p. 90). The teacher never looked at the situation from the child’s perspective.  Some parents tell children to hit back.  As a result, the teacher should have asked the child, “What should you do if someone hits you?”  This would have given the child a chance to further the conversation.  In this case, I believe the teacher insulted the child and made the child feel ashamed and threatened.   I do not like it when teachers do not consider the child’s feelings and stick hard to the rules.  Sometimes, you have to hear the child out and find out why the behavior started.

References

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95.

Creating Affirming Environments

I would create an environment that had images of diverse families and people on the wall.  For example, I would have images of a group of people in different fields from different races.  I currently have this poster in my class and it shows minorities in a range of jobs including women in jobs typically assigned to men.  Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards (2010) stated that it is important that “an anti-bias environment is culturally consistent for the children and families it serves” (p. 43).  The majority of the children are from minority families.  Therefore, it is necessary to have positive images for the children.

I would also have diverse reading materials that can be used at reading time.  I would create a play area that had a range of toys and games.  I would not limit children to a boys’ or girls’ area.  Instead, the toys would encourage play for all students.  I would also have arts and crafts in the class to encourage students to draw pictures relevant to their culture and cultural diversity.  Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards (2010) stated that “an environment rich in anti-bias materials invites exploration and discovery and support play and conversation in both emergent and planned activities” (p. 43). Therefore, I would use play to teach diversity and anti-bias education in the class.

Reference

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

What I Have Learned

My hope is to work with diverse families and children to help them understand the importance of diversity and inclusion, and to provide them with the services and assistance that they need for their children to be productive in school and society.

My goal as an educator is to provide more diversity training and education in the classroom.  I realize that I have a chance to impact the lives of students and to provide them with a better understanding of diverse families and biases in society.  I also plan to incorporate more anti-bias education into the classroom.

I would like to send a personal thanks to everyone that has contributed to my blog and worked with me on this journey.

Debra Morgan.