Farewll

 This course has taught me a great deal about the early childhood education. First, I  was overwhelmed by how many issues we as a class found to deal with in the ealry childhood education field.  I believe we could have  came up  with a book of issues that need to be dealt with. Second, I learned that  to accomplish a goal, you will need to look at many factors within the issue you have chosen.  For instance the issues history. I have never thought about learning about the history of something that I want  to solve. Third, I learned that there a many organizations that can aid in   helping a community of practice to accomplish solving a challenge it is working on.
 A long term goal I want to make is to continue working on my issue which was improving parent involvement within education. I believe that this issue  will continue into the future with all the changes we are looking toward in education.
 I want to THANK each and every one of you for  your input within the class. I got excellent feed back from all of you. I want to wish all a great and blessed life. 
 Here is my school email address I would love to stay in touch with you all. sdouglas@worthschools.net

 Thanks to Mrs. Ferrari for a great class expereince. I think the class went well as this was the first time the class was offered. I believe that this Masters program has broaden  my understanding  of diversity within our edcuation system. 

Organizations

 One organization I found very interesting was the World at Work website.  The site can be found at http://www.worldatwork.org . This site is a not- for -profit oragnaization that provides education, conferences and research focused on global resources. This site has a  job site link to which you post your resume for jobs around the world. I chose this site because I like the fact that it mentioned global resources. Some parts of the world do not have the same resources as others,  This site works  with edcuational leaders around the wprld to help provide quality education.

Another organization was the Parent Involvement Matters site. This site can be found at  http://www.parentinvolvementmatters.org .  This site emphasizes the importance of a child's social, emotional and intellectual learning and development. We all know that paretns must be a part of this development. This site also has a great get involved link that gives you ways to get involved with the organizarion. You can join the organization as a consultant if you work with families or schools.

 The third organization I chose was Unicef. The site can be found at http://unicef.org
 Unicef works hard to promote edcaution around the world and helps with nutrition and medcial needs of children and families.  There are job oppotunities within the unicef organization from volunterring to a Senior staff position around the world. You must summit a resume and a United Nations Personal History P11 and then email them to the unicef site. They have job opportunities around the globe and you chose where you would like to go.

Organizations

 There are many organizations that are helping in promoting paretn involvement within school and children's edcuation. One  such organization is  the National Coalition for Parent Involvement in Education.  This organization can be viewed on the web at  http:ncpie.org. This  organization has a wonderful site in which teachers and parents can view vital information on parent involvement. this organization post on its site a list of all of  its members in the member index, which also has great resources listed.  This organization provides trainings for teacher, parents and school inprovement personal. I like that the organization post updated information and newsletters. I do not know if this  organization has any openings. I have emailed the organization but have not gotton a reply as of yet.
 Another organization that many of us are familiar with is the Parent Teacher Association (PTA). I think this is an excellent organization because the PTA can be found in many schools across the nation.  The PTA get paretns involved with thier child's education and help schools put on activities where parents can can and have fun learning with their child. The PTA also help schools with fund raiser which with all the budget cuts is greatly needed. I could not find if there were any job openings at the national level of the PTA. However,  since PTA's are in school paretns could hold an office such as President, Secatary etc. The skills required would be that   you are trustworthy and understand the  importance of parent involvement.
 Another organization is the Harvards Family Research Project. This organization  can be  found at http:www.hfrp.org.  This site deals with early childcare and education, out-of-school time and community involvement.This organization  is sponsored  by Harvard  Education. There are no job openings at this time for this organization.

Communities of Practice

 The three local community of practice  I would like to be involved with are DEFACS, Relay for Life and School improvement and Parent Involvement. I have also loved working with children and their families this is why I would like to be involved with DEFACS. I do not know if our local DEFACS is hiring. I believe the  skills I would need  are those of our state law and I believe the courses I have taken through Walden would also be a great  assess also. The school improvement and parent involvement are housed within the schools  of our school system. I also beleieve that the diversity  class I have taken would help in the job of school improvement and parent involvement. I would like to work and volunteer for Relay for life due to the fact that my mother died in 2000 of lung cancer. This is a great community practice for every community. I have looked into volunteering for our towns next relay for lfe event.
 Community practice are a great tool to helo better our communities.

As an Anti-bias Edcuator

 As an Anti-bias educator, I hope that I make every child and his or her family feel that that have  gotton a wonderful school experience. I want the child and family to feel that they were a part of something that will help change their feeling toward education. I want to make the child and family feel proud of their hertiage, culture and most important of who they are within our society.

 I want to  THANK all of you for such wonderful information.  As we come to the end of our journey for our Masters I want to wish each and every one of you the best  in  your future edcuational plans. I hope to keep in touch.
 THANKS AGAIN
 Joy

Emotional Distress in Africa

 I chose to  search West and Central Africa. The children here are in great emotional distress every day. There is sickness ranging from malaria , AIDS, to  preventable diseases like measels. The children here are under fed due to lack of food. There  is also child trafficking and child labor. Sad but children are force to particpate in war activitities.
 The  Challenges these children face are horrible. They are not vaccinated with the child vaccines to prevent childhood disease. They  lose family members due to AIDS, war and malnutrition. The emotional  damage could have lfe long issues. MAny of the children especially the girls are not allowed  to go to school and sometimes if they go to schoo, they could be sexually assaulted.
 In America we are constantly complaining about  our nation, however, I beleieve that we live in a great nation. As I viewed, this information, I find myself  very thankful yet sadden for the children in Africa. I think as an educator, I should  discuss this issue with my fellow teachers  to make sure that are  children are safe within our community and school.

Children Growing up too fast

  I was very shocked as I read the scenarios in the So Sexy So Soon byLevin and kilborne. I totally agree with the statement that our children are growing up and turning into sex symbols at a very young age. As a teacher I see many examples of this within our school system.   I see young girls in second and thrid grade wearing veryshort skirts to school. This is also a major problem within our highschool. However, I know teachers who dress a little flirty  to be working at school. I hear songs in which some of the Pre-K and Kindergarten students sing.  When I ask where they heard that song, they say my mom and dad listens to it in the car. Another example is when a Kindergarten student discussed that she was going to marry another student and what all they had to do before  she got pregnant.

 I think that  eventhough there are  guidelines and age limits in tv. I blame many parents for allowing thier children  to watch such stuff on tv.  Ibeleive that these sexual messages can damage a child self worth. We have  live girls acting as they are 20 , dressing in provockative clothings. I also think that beauty pagnants are somewhat sending the same message to our young girls.  I do believe that there is more pressure on the girls than the boys.
 As a teacher I  want to persuade and show my girls that they all are beautiful just the way they are. They do not have to put on a show  for others to like them. I also think that teachers need to help inforce the schools dress code. Also Teachers need to set a great lady like example for the young girls.

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

 I think that as a early childhood educator we experience and see "isms" within our classroom from parents and our students. However, what gets me is the parents that show  these prejudice and bias in front of their children. I taught inclusion for  four years. I can remeber the second year of teachign inclusion, had a parent of  a student who  did not want her child in the inclusion  class, because she thouhgt that I would"water down" the lessons. This really bothered me in more than one way. First, I wanted her to know that i did not water down any information given. I reassured her that I had high expectations for each student. Second i wanted the parent to understand that her child would learn compassion and understanding from someone who is different and  learns things in a different way.
 I think that s an ealry childhood educator, sometimes it is hard  to be the one in control  when issues arise. We must remember that each person has thier own way of thinking. However, when people as the parent from above learn something new it s a great expereince for all.

Adult and child communication

 I observed an adult child conversation outside on a p;ayground. The child had hit another and the paretn was very upset with the child.  The mother made the child apoloze to the other, but then the mother continued to talk to her child in a rather uncalming voice. As I continued to observe, I notice that the child was trying to tell his mother something. Finally she hushed and asked the child what was it. The child answer "I hit him because he hot me first."  The mother had this look of   surprise.
 I think that the parent felt embarassed that her child hit. I think that for the communication between an  adult to be more reaffirming, the adult must first find out why the behavior happened, before talking harshly and discussing punishment. Children are smaller versions of adults, they can tell you why they did something, however, it is up to  the adult to say why the reason was  a good or bad one.  i think in our society today with all the stress, adults automatically start with the punishment talk due to emotionsthey are felling at that moment. However, after out emotions have calmed, that is when we finally decide to find out why did you do that.
 I believe that as adults when we talk harsh and punish our children before we find out all the details, that we are telling our children that we do not trust their problem solving skills. Do not get me wrong I do not support hitting at all, But I do think that when children do not take up from themself, this leads to being bullied..
 As I watched this communication, I began to think about how I talk to my own children. I must confess that I tend to talk harsh and discuss punishment before i ask why did you do that. What I have learned from this conversation is that I need to make my conversation with my children and students  meaningful. There needs to be purpose within the communication. But more important, the communicatiion between an adult and a child needs  does not need to be one sided.

Childcare center

 I would love to have my own childcare center. I would have colorful rooms but also a nap room that was painted with soothing and calming colors.  In the rooms, I would have multi-cultural books, posters of cultures from around the world, cultural language posted on items and workers who are proud to work with diverse groups of children and families.  I like what Mrs. Castillo said about the schedule being posted for the parents.  
i would love to have days set aside when familes and childrens can come in mingle with each other. I would also love to incorporate culture day where families can come in and maybecook their childs favorite food or discuss something that is unique about their culture. The main thing I would like  for my childcare center to experience is being known as the place wher all children and their familes as well as worker cooperate to enhance childrens learning.