Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

*          At least three local or state organizations or communities of

practice that appealed to you, and explain why you chose them

            Family and Children Services, Head Start, and Easter Seals.

All three of these organizations have a local office and work with children who have special needs.  Family and Children Services offers a variety of services and programs for children at risk, low income families and assist with early intervention needs for all children.  Head Start helps children who are less fortunate that others.  This program gives children a competitive edge with their peers in school.  Easter Seals offers supports to individuals and programs for children with special needs, as well as financially.

           

*          Job opportunities (currently available or not) that interest you

The job opportunity that I would be of the most interest to me is working with the early intervention assessment team.  Being able to support children and their families from the initial diagnosis would be rewarding.    The position with Easter Seals would be a coordinator.  This position assists families in setting up therapy, day care or other services for individuals with special needs.

           

*          Skills and experience that you would need to competently fulfill each of these roles.  The skills and experiences needed are to know the process of evaluating a young child with special needs.  Early childhood training, courses and hands on experience in working with special needs are essential for knowing how to establish effective programs that will benefit the child and family.

Week 1 Wordle in the Final Stretch

The final stretch is here.  My wordle topic is dealing with the public school systems wanting to delete play from the early childhood years.  Good luck to everyone in our last course.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

       The country of the family’s origin is Italy.

The ways that I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family would first be through research of the country; 2) with affiliation to the military I would check family services to see what we could offer a family that is moving to this area with different ethnical backgrounds; 3) make a list of questions to ask the family that I feel would beneficial to me from the research conducted on Italy; 4) ask the staff if there is anyone who has ever lived or has relatives from Italy; 5) set my classroom up with some items from Italy that would make the family feel welcome on the first visit; 6) ask the family if the items I’ve placed in the class are appropriate or could they assist me in making the necessary corrections.

I believe that these preparations will assist me in eliminating some of my own biases or fears of the unknown when the family arrives.  Also this will I hope make the family feel a little more comfortable and empowered when they walk into my classroom.  I want all of my families and children to know that this is their classroom.  For parents to feel comfortable knowing that they have a voice in what we do and the creation of the education for their children.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Living in South Korea I had a hard time dealing with the way women are treated.  The value is of little significance.  The women are there to take care of the children, house and the men.  If an as women married an American male who had children (female) they treated that child as if she was a threat to the relationship.  

 

This oppression diminished the equity between the male and female race; making the male more superior.  These women were oppressed as they were not allowed to speak up unless directed.   The women automatically knew their places in society.  As a woman of the western culture, this is what we were called, it made my skill crawl to see how they treated the women and to know the little girls were going to grow up the same way.

The feels this brought up for me was that of anger, resent, the who do they think they are syndrome, and if it were not for the women they wouldn’t exist either.  For anyone to think they are more superior to the next is pure ignorance.  Men could not survive without women in the world; they need to get over themselves. 

What and or who that would have to change would be society and history.  History has made its mark on the culture and now only society can change the way things are passed from generation to generation.  When there society realizes that everyone is human and should be treated equal only then will the opportunity for greater equity be seen.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week at school the one microaggression that I heard was a microinsult.  Our high school has a very diverse population of students.  A lesbian couple was sitting on the stairs when other student walked past saying to two should be ashamed of yourselves. At first I wasn’t sure what the student was talking about, but he had seen the girls kiss.  The young man was upset that the two girls showed this display of affection in public.  I felt sorry for the girls but understood the young man’s feels as well.  His culture beliefs did not allow for such expressions and one could be outcaste for doing so in public.  The girls seemed to let it roll off without saying anything as if it was an everyday occurrence.

My observation of this situation this week left me wondering how we can better educate our students of the diverse population that they live in.  Instead of sitting back and waiting I spoke with our school psychologist about the lack of education our students have on discrimination, prejudice, and how they stereotype each other.  Her office is in the process of setting up assemblies with the medical field on base to discuss some of these issues with students and the effects of ones actions can have on another student.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week we were asked to obtain the definition of culture and diversity from three friends.  I wrote to three colleagues; their definitions were similar to what we have been reading.  One aspect that we’ve studied that my friends spoke of was culture groups (Smidt, 2006).  Some of the examples from their definitions of what is culture: commonality among a group of people, their history, family, traditions, and their beliefs.

The one aspect that was omitted was the dominant culture.  My friends spoke of a mingling of various cultures embracing the differences of one another or multiple cultures interacting in an environment.  No one spoke of how the dominant culture might affect the individual cultures or how these individuals are encouraged to conform to the dominant views.

When thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity I found that my friends’ way of thinking was similar to my own thoughts.  Culture defines who we are as an individual, where diversity is where and/or we fit into the social cultural groups.  I believe that when we think of culture or diversity you have to remember that we are all different but these differences are what make us unique individuals.  The different cultures can provided for an awesome learning opportunity in our diverse classrooms.

My Family Culture

Three items that I would take with me to the evacuating country would be a small photo album, a cookbook and a ipod.   

I would explain that I brought the small photo album to show my children the ancestors and where they came from.  These photos cannot be replaced and represent passed memories of my family.  The cookbook would contain all the traditional family recipes that my mother, grandmother and other family members had cooked for me as a child.  The ipod would hold all the music that I enjoy listening to and the other songs from our country and era of the disaster. 

Upon arrive if I was told that I had to give up two of the items I would be devastated.  I would give up the cookbook and ipod as the photos could not be replaced.  The photos are a link to the past, present and future. 

The insight I gained is that I valued having pictures to remember family members that have since left us for a better place.  I can look at the photos and remember times we shared together and the things they taught me as I was growing up.