An explanation of your most passionate hope for your future as an early childhood professional and for the children and families with whom you work or will work.
My most passionate hope for my future as an early childhood professional is to make a huge impact in the lives of the children and the families that I serve. It is my goal to give each child the necessary time and individualization that is needed to ensure that they are developmentally prepare for school. I would like to us my tools and educational knowledge to help my co-workers understand that I am a positive role model which I plan to help educate others about the importance of being a positive educator.
A brief note of thanks to your colleagues.
As a future graduate of Walden University, I would like to wish all of my fellow classmates luck in all of their future endeavors. I feel that Walden was a great place to learn about the importance of educating children and their families. I wish that each person learns various concepts will make each person great in their career.
Saturday, February 25, 2012
Saturday, February 18, 2012
Impact on Early Emotional Development
- Look for information on specific challenges in the area that would affect the emotional development of children living in this region
The country that I decided to research was Latin America. While researching the country, I had the opportunity to learn more about this country and some of the issues and challenges that children face in this country. One major issue that I researched was a project that focused on abuse and exploitation and trafficking in children and adolescents in Central America and Dominican Republic.
As I read about this topic I learned just how frequently children are abused and mistreated. I also read about the different types of methods that they are taking to ensure that all illegal actions are reprimanded. Four areas that were focused on in the project were 1. Innovative practices in participation for the prevention, 2. Innovative practices in tourism, 3. Innovative practices in care and 4. Innovative practices in administration of justice. With these efforts that program was attempting to make this area safe for travelers as well as residents of the country.
I feel that this issue would definitely affect the emotional development of children due to the fact that abusing and exploitation of children is a serious issue. I know some children that have went through an abusing home environment and they have turned out to have major issues. Abuse is something that would affect a child for the rest of their life. I know that it is important to understand and accept the culture in certain countries, however, abuse and exploitation of children is totally unacceptable.
This information was researched through the http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html. Website.
The country that I decided to research was Latin America. While researching the country, I had the opportunity to learn more about this country and some of the issues and challenges that children face in this country. One major issue that I researched was a project that focused on abuse and exploitation and trafficking in children and adolescents in Central America and Dominican Republic.
As I read about this topic I learned just how frequently children are abused and mistreated. I also read about the different types of methods that they are taking to ensure that all illegal actions are reprimanded. Four areas that were focused on in the project were 1. Innovative practices in participation for the prevention, 2. Innovative practices in tourism, 3. Innovative practices in care and 4. Innovative practices in administration of justice. With these efforts that program was attempting to make this area safe for travelers as well as residents of the country.
I feel that this issue would definitely affect the emotional development of children due to the fact that abusing and exploitation of children is a serious issue. I know some children that have went through an abusing home environment and they have turned out to have major issues. Abuse is something that would affect a child for the rest of their life. I know that it is important to understand and accept the culture in certain countries, however, abuse and exploitation of children is totally unacceptable.
This information was researched through the http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html. Website.
Saturday, February 11, 2012
The sexualization of Early Childhood
• Share your reaction to the topic of the sexualization of early childhood.
I believe that sexualization in early childhood and is prevalent and constantly changing. It is important to understand that this subject must be explained carefully with children so that they understand what it is and show it in the world today.
• Provide three or more examples, from your personal or professional experience, that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment.
The three examples, that I can remember that are related to sexualization of early childhood education are:
- A boy telling another child that they cannot play in a group due to the fact that they are girl. Some boys form groups or clicks that have issues with allowing girls to participate in the male bonding group activities.
- Another example is when come children have created their own ideas about careers and their future. Some children feel that only certain jobs can be held by certain gender individuals. For example, some children feel that a nurse or teacher can only be a female.
They also believe that certain types of sports are considered real sports because women are not real athletes.
- I have also experience certain girls only allowing girls to participate in certain activities because they are not female.
I believe that sexualization in early childhood and is prevalent and constantly changing. It is important to understand that this subject must be explained carefully with children so that they understand what it is and show it in the world today.
• Provide three or more examples, from your personal or professional experience, that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment.
The three examples, that I can remember that are related to sexualization of early childhood education are:
- A boy telling another child that they cannot play in a group due to the fact that they are girl. Some boys form groups or clicks that have issues with allowing girls to participate in the male bonding group activities.
- Another example is when come children have created their own ideas about careers and their future. Some children feel that only certain jobs can be held by certain gender individuals. For example, some children feel that a nurse or teacher can only be a female.
They also believe that certain types of sports are considered real sports because women are not real athletes.
- I have also experience certain girls only allowing girls to participate in certain activities because they are not female.
Saturday, January 21, 2012
Observing Communication
I had the opportunity to observe children interacting with adults at a youth basketball game. This was very intertesting to see due to the fact it was my son's game. It is very interesting to see the coach of each team speak and guide the children’s actions during the game. Each team had their own signals and plays that helped them to make each basket. One coach yelled at the players during each play, however the other coach did little to no yelling however he fussed at the children when they missed each basket during the teams timeouts.
As well as the coaches the players had interesting ways of interacting with the coach. Some players ignored the coaches wishes and majority of the players followed the coach’s instructions. I learned that the game of basketball is very competitive and requires a lot of practice. One major strategy is that it takes patience and great communication skills to encourage the players to win the game even if they are losing the game. This is an important thing to remember when working with young children.
I do feel that the coach that was constantly could have done less yelling and talked to
the children to make their communication method more pleasant. Using positive methods of communication and strategies does work to build positive communication procedures.
As well as the coaches the players had interesting ways of interacting with the coach. Some players ignored the coaches wishes and majority of the players followed the coach’s instructions. I learned that the game of basketball is very competitive and requires a lot of practice. One major strategy is that it takes patience and great communication skills to encourage the players to win the game even if they are losing the game. This is an important thing to remember when working with young children.
I do feel that the coach that was constantly could have done less yelling and talked to
the children to make their communication method more pleasant. Using positive methods of communication and strategies does work to build positive communication procedures.
Saturday, January 14, 2012
Creating Affirming Environments
The assignment that we were assigned to complete was to start and operational Family Child Care Center. I have honestly never worked in any other type of program besides child care programs. I knew that I would have to do some research to find out the types of materials and curriculum that were used in a family child care program.
After watching the video about Adriana' Castillo’s family child care program, I learned a lot about her center and the methods that she works with the families in her program. I thought that she did a good job of setting up the areas and having purpose behind the reasons that each area was set in a certain place in the home. One major quality that I really like about her program is that she interacts and works with the families to ensure that they feel involved in the program.
In my family child care program I would have a program that has 12 children at the max. I would have I would only have about four children that were preschoolers and the remaining children would be infants and toddlers. I feel that preschool children need to be a program that can focus on their individual needs and I want to ensure that I am doing such. I would have two other adults that work with me in the program. I would have a one to four ratio. At times I would have the children working in the areas together when they arrive in the program. However, I would have individual areas for each age group due to the fact that children from different ages play on different aggressive levels.
The areas that I would have in my center are: house area, block area, library area, sand and water area, science area, art area, computer area and I would also have a cozy area and a quiet area. The main part of the cozy area is to have a place for children to go to when they are upset and or need redirection. This small area would have pillows books and stuff soft animals that children can lay on or cuddle up with. I will also have a angry jar to give children an opportunity to release and let go of their anger and seal it up in the jar. Besides the cozy area I would have a quiet area where children can go and reflect about things that affect them.
I would also have family photos on the wall that showed each child's culture and family structure. I feel that having these photos will make it easier for children to transition into the program and nap time daily. I also would have story time daily before each nap time. I would have a family bring in a book or record their voice reading the book and we will play the tape during the nap time story. I feel that each parent really feel involved when they are doing these nap time stories. I really like the way Adriana' Castillo had a area where parents brought in things or items that were close to their family. That definitely pull the families in and made them feel like a part of the program.
As well as areas, I would have a parent board that gives parents information about what is going on in our program. This board would list the menus, lesson plans, schedules and our program calendar about the list of days we will have activities going on in the center. I would also send home daily reports that showed how the child's day was. I would also have a lending library for the families in my program. This would give me an opportunity to lend books to children while at home. I would have a system that would allow parents to check out books daily and read them at home to their children before bed or during the day. This is so important for me because I want to encourage families to read to their children in hopes of encouraging children to form a love for reading.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community (2012) [DVD] Strategies for Working with Diverse Children. Baltimore, MD: Author.
After watching the video about Adriana' Castillo’s family child care program, I learned a lot about her center and the methods that she works with the families in her program. I thought that she did a good job of setting up the areas and having purpose behind the reasons that each area was set in a certain place in the home. One major quality that I really like about her program is that she interacts and works with the families to ensure that they feel involved in the program.
In my family child care program I would have a program that has 12 children at the max. I would have I would only have about four children that were preschoolers and the remaining children would be infants and toddlers. I feel that preschool children need to be a program that can focus on their individual needs and I want to ensure that I am doing such. I would have two other adults that work with me in the program. I would have a one to four ratio. At times I would have the children working in the areas together when they arrive in the program. However, I would have individual areas for each age group due to the fact that children from different ages play on different aggressive levels.
The areas that I would have in my center are: house area, block area, library area, sand and water area, science area, art area, computer area and I would also have a cozy area and a quiet area. The main part of the cozy area is to have a place for children to go to when they are upset and or need redirection. This small area would have pillows books and stuff soft animals that children can lay on or cuddle up with. I will also have a angry jar to give children an opportunity to release and let go of their anger and seal it up in the jar. Besides the cozy area I would have a quiet area where children can go and reflect about things that affect them.
I would also have family photos on the wall that showed each child's culture and family structure. I feel that having these photos will make it easier for children to transition into the program and nap time daily. I also would have story time daily before each nap time. I would have a family bring in a book or record their voice reading the book and we will play the tape during the nap time story. I feel that each parent really feel involved when they are doing these nap time stories. I really like the way Adriana' Castillo had a area where parents brought in things or items that were close to their family. That definitely pull the families in and made them feel like a part of the program.
As well as areas, I would have a parent board that gives parents information about what is going on in our program. This board would list the menus, lesson plans, schedules and our program calendar about the list of days we will have activities going on in the center. I would also send home daily reports that showed how the child's day was. I would also have a lending library for the families in my program. This would give me an opportunity to lend books to children while at home. I would have a system that would allow parents to check out books daily and read them at home to their children before bed or during the day. This is so important for me because I want to encourage families to read to their children in hopes of encouraging children to form a love for reading.
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community (2012) [DVD] Strategies for Working with Diverse Children. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Monday, December 19, 2011
WHAT DIVERSITY MEANS TO ME...
What diversity means to me….
I see the children’s colorful faces,
looking different in every way,
I wonder where they came from
and where are they going every day.
Each person has a different destiny and
Journey they must decide
Each person must go to school and
Learn to read, subtract add and multiply.
After learning your alphabet and numbers
You will learn how to socialize
You will meet new friends along the way,
And learn where they were born and reside.
While learning a person’s background you will
Learn more about their culture and their way of life.
Learn about their customs and the hardships and shrifts.
Last of all diversity deals with being different and unique,
Being confident in all you do and knowing what you think is right.
Knowing each person has a destiny and a legacy that must live on
Starts right in the hands of diversity and a person’s right to be different and unique
while staying where they belong.
I see the children’s colorful faces,
looking different in every way,
I wonder where they came from
and where are they going every day.
Each person has a different destiny and
Journey they must decide
Each person must go to school and
Learn to read, subtract add and multiply.
After learning your alphabet and numbers
You will learn how to socialize
You will meet new friends along the way,
And learn where they were born and reside.
While learning a person’s background you will
Learn more about their culture and their way of life.
Learn about their customs and the hardships and shrifts.
Last of all diversity deals with being different and unique,
Being confident in all you do and knowing what you think is right.
Knowing each person has a destiny and a legacy that must live on
Starts right in the hands of diversity and a person’s right to be different and unique
while staying where they belong.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"
Being an educator is a great way to understand how children work. I also get the opportunity to guide children’s behavior and learning. Working in the classroom as a three year old teacher gives you multiple opportunity to hear the funny things that children say. At times we have to change what children say and what they think. I often use literature and reading materials to show children about the proper things to do and say at all times.
For example, in our three year old classroom we had a child that wore glasses to school every day. Many children saw the glasses and they understood that children and adults use the glasses to see better. However, after a doctor appointment the children went to the child came to school with a patch over her left eye. When the child came into the classroom with her parent every child stopped and stared at the child. One child went up to the child and the parent and said “Did Madison go to the doctor to have her eye taken out. She looks like a one eye-pirate.” I felt awful when the child called the other child this horrible name. After the child made this comment, I knew that I had to change the conversation immediately. I immediately gave the child and the classroom the eye that let him know to move away immediately.
Working in this classroom with children that needed to understand the importance of not teasing or calling other children names is so important. I know that it is so important to explain to children that name calling is so hurtful. I want to teach children that words hurt.
For example, in our three year old classroom we had a child that wore glasses to school every day. Many children saw the glasses and they understood that children and adults use the glasses to see better. However, after a doctor appointment the children went to the child came to school with a patch over her left eye. When the child came into the classroom with her parent every child stopped and stared at the child. One child went up to the child and the parent and said “Did Madison go to the doctor to have her eye taken out. She looks like a one eye-pirate.” I felt awful when the child called the other child this horrible name. After the child made this comment, I knew that I had to change the conversation immediately. I immediately gave the child and the classroom the eye that let him know to move away immediately.
Working in this classroom with children that needed to understand the importance of not teasing or calling other children names is so important. I know that it is so important to explain to children that name calling is so hurtful. I want to teach children that words hurt.
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