Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have for working with children and families is that I can make a difference for those I work with. That I can teach them and spread the knowledge I have. I want parents and their families to feel comfortable and that they are in an open environment that is interested in learning about how they are. I want those I work with to also make families feel this way.

One goal I have is that people gain awareness about diversity, equity and social justices, especially in the early childhood field. I do not think that everyone in the field are aware of how important being aware of diversity, equity, and social justices are in the field. We impact children so much and if we want to make a change we need to educate the young and be advocates for them. We need to educate our field so that we can guide children to the best of our abilities.

I would like to thank all my colleagues I have learned so much from all of you from sharing what you have learned and your personal stories. I learn from all of you. I wish you the best in your studies and hope to continuing having classes with you all and continuing to learn together!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Brunei is the country that my new family has emigrated from.

In order to be culturally responsive towards my new family I will:

-Learn about signs of respect that children are taught.

-Learn about if their are any family traditions and roles that are different then my own.

-I will learn about the language of the child and their family if it is different then English so that I can use some of the language around the classroom to keep the child’s culture alive. 

-I will learn about food from the country and if any kind of food goes against religious beliefs and if it is possible to incorporate anything new into the menus.

-I will learn about any Holidays of that country and use them as a way to educate the rest of the class about the new child’s culture.

I hope that these preparations will help the family feel more comfortable and accepted. I want them to feel wanted so that we can creates bonds with them and help their child to learn and grow, especially during the transition.   

I also would look forward from learning from this experience not only about a new country and a new culture but helping me to be more culturally diverse so that I can better educate others. I will take my knowledge from the experience and share it with others to help them to learn more.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

This week I attended a star service training. At my training were different people in different departments of Fleet and Family Services for the Department of the Navy and Air-force. One gentleman was talking about how he receives good service from Filipino. He continued by saying they will hold clothes for him as he shops and go above and beyond that he fills he needs to tip them. He said that they still think they need to serve everyone. Well this was taken many different ways by many different people in my class. 

This incident diminished equity because he was not seeing people as equals he was pointing out differences and talking as if he was better then a different race. He was also stereotyping a whole race because of the biases he had.

This incident made me feel uncomfortable and all I could think of was this class. I also had one of my employees from my center with me who is Filipino and I could tell she was mad because of the comment and that made me feel sympathy for her and that, that man’s comment should have never been said.

The man who spoke could have given the example without generalizing and putting down an entire race. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One form of Microaggression that I have witnessed was when two of my coworkers were discusses another coworker at work last week. 

Coworker 1: Ms. Tina told me I was gaining weight today.

Coworker 2: What? Why would she think that was ok to say?

Coworker 1: You know how those Philippine women think.

Coworker 2: I’m Philippine

Coworker 1: Well not you act like you are from here.

Coworker 2: I am from here.

Coworker 1: I’m sorry you know what I meant.

The conversation ended when coworker 2 knotted her head, smiled and turned around to work on her computer. 

When coworker 1 brought up the scenario at first I understood what she was talking about I had a similar situation with that coworker and agreed with coworker 2 when she said “What? Why would she think that was ok to say?” But once coworker number 1 brought up race I felt uncomfortable and just kept feeling more uncomfortable as the situation went on. I also felt really bad for coworker 2 because unintentionally coworker 1 used a microinvalidation about her culture and I could tell she felt hurt. 

This week, observing other I can see that discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people still exist. Dr. Sue said in the video that racism is was taking a new form and unfortunately I would have to agree with him. I see it through microinsults and microinvalidations.

Resources:

“Microaggressions in Everyday Life” 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

INTERVIEWS:

Jon:

Culture: “Culture is a persons ethnic history and background.”

Diversity: “Diversity is differences with an individual.”

Maggie:

Culture: “Culture is one’s way of life that characterizes people into a certain culture. Culture may be someone’s religion, beliefs, practices, or way of thinking.”

Diversity: “Diversity includes different beliefs, cultures, religions, ethnicities, or anything that makes people different from one another.”

Amos:

Culture: “Culture is the way different groups of people practice customs that dictate or govern their daily lives.”

Diversity: “Diversity is the differences that exist among human beings and they range from religion, color, cultural beliefs and practices, socio economic status, education and nationality.” 

Lani:

Culture: “Culture is how someone was raised. Their traditions, practices, beliefs, religion, and ways they handle situations.

Diversity: “Diversity is a combination of different cultural groups.”

Matthew:

Culture: “A person or peoples beliefs, traditions, and norms. Including language, religion, foods, laws, etc.

Diversity: “Being mixed with a lot of variety in one area or group.”

Stefanie:

Culture: “Culture is part of one’s identity. A person’s culture can be their peer group, religion, political view, customs, etc. Culture helps people identify where they fit into the world.”

Diversity: “Diversity is the array of differences amongst people, race, religion, age, etc.”

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?

Many of the people I interviewed definitions of culture go along with what I have learned in this class. Culture is complex and many elements make up a persons culture. Some of them also saw that diversity and culture go hand and hand.

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

Some of the people I interviewed saw diversity as mixture of races and or cultures. This has not been included in our class.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

Interviewing others I see that the topics are difficult for people to answer and that some of them almost felt uncomfortable. I think these are important topics that need to be addressed. Culture and diversity are things to embrace. 

My Family Culture

My three items that I would bring with me to the new country would be:

1. Some form of music, hopefully I would have a plug in and would bring my ipod. I would tell others that music is not only relaxing and comforting to me but does remind me of my family. My older sisters and I have our certain songs that every time we hear them we call each other and sing them. When we are all together we sing and dance for fun. Its essential that I have some form of music to listen to. 
2. The second thing I would bring is a blanket that my great aunt made me. I take it everywhere with me and everyone in my family has one and mine is as special to me as the rest of my families ones are to them.
3. The third item would be a notebook. It would be a place to write my thoughts, sketch, etc. I come from a very artistic family. My sisters and I all draw and paint. Our parents house is only decorated with our artwork. I notebook would be a place for me to express myself and makes me think my family. 

If I was told I could only have one of my items I would be ok. I would select to bring my blanket. I can find other things to draw on and new forms of music in the country. 

This exercise has shown me that I am not very connect to any material things. It was difficult for me to come up with a list of three items. I do not have family heirlooms other then my blanket. I have moved around a lot in the passed six years that I have disconnected myself from items. Whats important to me is who I am with and how I spend my time. Its the things I do that trigger memories and are my traditions. 

When I Think of Research...

This class has greatly broadened my knowledge of research. I had a very brief understanding of what research was prior to this class and now I feel confident in my skills and abilities to become a beginner researcher. Terms were made clearer for me, I learned how to read a research study, and I now know the in’s and out’s of how to conduct research.

Prior to this class doing research for me was to look at others research and evaluating it, I had not really thought about conducting my own research or the steps I would take to do so.

This class has taught me where to begin when doing research, it has broken down a complex subject to a manageable task.

Some challenges I encountered were misunderstanding things when they were first presented to me (some of the terms and steps), using the book was a big help, along with the articles on variables and doing quantitative research. 

I have always thought of myself as an early childhood professional, this class however has helped me to grow as an early childhood professional and has helped me to relate to others and understand others better. This class has been very informative and helpful.

Research Around the World

The Website I decided to look at was Early Childhood Australia.

Some current international research topics in EAC are:

• Malaysia solution must not extend to children under any circumstance. The ECA provides recommendations for the Malaysian children seeking asylum.
• Opposition Leader Tony Abbott is missing the point on early childhood education and care reforms. Pam Cahir ECA chief executive speaks out about the issue.
• EAC also released a position statement on the Children of Asylum Seekers. 

In their latest newsletter they addressed:

- One Day at a Time’ resource for parents of children with a disability.

- The importance of play in children’s lives.

It was very insightful to see what other countries do for children in early childhood. I liked how the website brakes Australia's states up into sections so you can see what each state is doing. 

I found the website to be a great resource. The EAC is making a lot of progress and doing a lot of things for early childhood and having the EAC website lets others see the progress they have made. I can see the resemblance to NAEYC, I do not think their organization has come as far as the NAETC has however they are on their way. 

Resource: 

Early Childhood Australia: This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. You can access several links to early childhood research from the menu on the left side of the home page. http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

I work as a supervisor for one of the two school age care centers on Pearl Harbor- Hickam we have a number of kinders who just entered the facility who have asthma, which I found to be unusual, thinking back to when I was growing up and not knowing anyone with asthma. 

I found a research study that followed 1314 children from birth to 13 years old called, Perennial allergen sensitisation early in life and chronic asthma in children: a birth cohort study. The study looked at how indoor perennial allergens affected children and at which ages the effect was greater vs. those who did not have indoor perennial allergens. Indoor perennial allergens are, having dogs, cats, dust mites, etc.

The results of the study were that children with indoor perennial allergens had a greater chance of asthma and depending of the age of exposer chronic asthma throughout their life. “Therefore, the timing of the process seems of importance: the harmful effect of indoor allergen exposure interacting with sensitisation towards these allergens was most pronounced for the first 3 years of life. Adaptive immunity in children matures over the first 6 years of life, but the most important steps towards the development of mature systemic immune responses are taken in the first 1-2 years of life” (Illi, Von Mutius, Lau, Niggemann,  & et al., 2006).

This research will help parents know the effects of having animals and dust mites on their child’s health when they are under 6 years old. 

Resource:

Illi, S., Von Mutius, E., Lau, S., Niggemann, B., & et al. (2006). Perennial allergen sensitisation in life and chronic asthma in children: a birth cohort study. The Lancet, 368 (9537), 763-70.  Retrieved from ProQuest Health and Medical Complete. 

Your Personal Research Journey

During week 1 I formed a topic along with three subtopics:

Topic: 

The developmental differences in children having an early childhood educator that attended college and had training verses an educator who has no formal training.

Subtopics:

1. The quality of children’s development (social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language) in the classroom of teacher with educational training. 
2. The quality of children’s development (social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language) in the classroom of teacher with no formal training. 
3. Does having a formal education and training help a teacher to better prepare their class for kindergarten.

I decided to concentrate on subtopic number one: The quality of children’s development (social-emotional, physical, cognitive and language) in the classroom of teacher with educational training. I used to be a preschool teacher and saw both trained and untrained teachers. I always wondered what the effects were on the children, if any area of development was effected. 

Does anyone have an personal stories or information that will help me? Thanks!

Final Blog Assignment

Over the past eight weeks I have learned so much. I have had the opportunity to learn about children in Kenya first hand from my international contact Amos Balongo and his organization Camp Ohana. I have read about many of my colleagues experiences with different wedsites which has given me so much new information, you have all taught me to broaden my personal resource library! I just want to thank everyone for helping me learn and grow over these past eight weeks and I wish you all the best in the future and hope to continue having classes with you and learning from you. 

From talking with Amos and learning about Camp Ohana I shared with him that I was interested continuing to learn from him and helping with Camp Ohana. I feel very passionate about his organization and what they are accomplishing and am happy that this class helped me to form an even better relationship with him that allows me to help with children internationally. 

I have learned what a quality program components should be part of one. I hope to start changing the facilities within the Department of the Navy and continue with the rest of Hawaii to insure that we are providing quality programs for children. 

I hope that everyone in this field is able to grow professionally and that we are able to change children lives everywhere. Amos had wrote me and said that he wish to change children’s lives one child at a time. This is a very wide open topic but I would have to agree with him and hope to have a part in doing so. 

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

Camp Ohana is Amos Balango’s dream. He is hoping to break group at the end of  2013. Amos said hopefully the project will be finished in 2014. http://www.campohana.org.

Amos said he wants to “change the world one child at a time.”

Amos also told me about the education system in Africa. He said in rural areas they have untrained teachers. These teachers do not receive any kind of education. Next he said they had teacher schools. This is what most people go to and it is similar to an associates degree. Last, teachers can attend University, this is the same as a four year college here. Some students also go to universities in other countries but these students are extremely wealthy he said. 

Sharing Web Resources

This week I learned that the children’s Defense Fund is everywhere. You can follow them on Facebook, twitter,youtube, etc. They are trying varies avenues to getting their cause known. 

I receive the Children’s Defense Fund’s newsletters. This weeks newsletter outlined budget cuts and after reviewing this weeks tops I see that these budget cuts are taking place in the poor areas in our society. This is making quality care establishments hard for our poor communities to access. The article said:

1. Protecting children from all budget cuts. Children are the poorest age group in America and child hunger, homelessness and poverty have risen dramatically in recent years. We must stop the downward mobility of millions of poor children and the disappearance of America’s dream of a better life for the next generation that will result if Congressional extremists prevail.

2. Investing in children to strengthen our nation’s economic future. Leading economists agree that quality childhood development and education investments are sound economic investments. We need healthy, educated children who are our principal national security. That many leaders in the House are recklessly proposing to slash these investments is economically foolish.

3. Ensuring the richest and most powerful contribute their fair share. The gap between the rich and poor is the highest ever recorded. Yet shrill partisan voices in Congress seek to further widen that gap with rigid no new tax pledges. It’s time to end massive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, close tax loopholes for huge corporations, and help our poorly educated and suffering children.

Children’s Defense Fund

I also explored the website and found a link to a New York Times article titled, “Bloomberg to Use Own Funds in Plan to Aid Minority Youth”. The article goes along with this weeks topic on Awareness, Accountability, and Responsiveness. 

Resources:

Barbaro, M. & Santos, F. (2011). Bloomberg to Use Own Funds in Plan to Aid Minority Youth. New York Times. Retrieved from: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/04/nyregion/new-york-plan-will-aim-to-lift-minority-youth.html?_r=2&hp

The Children's Defense Fund. (2011). http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Matthews, H., & Ewen, D. (2010). Early education programs and children of immigrants: Learning each other's language. Retrieved from the Urban Institute website: http://www.urban.org/UploadedPDF/412205-early-education.pdf

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 2

This week Amos Balongo shared with me information about Kenya’s school system. He told me that where a child lives makes all the difference.  A child who grows up in the urban areas of Kenya goes first to nursery school. Then the child goes to kindergarten which he described as a mixture of preschool and kindergarten in the United States. Then the child would attend primary school for the rest of their education. 

However Amos also told me about education in the rural areas of Kenya. He said unless the child comes from a wealth background it was not rare for them to not go to school until primary school and even then they might start primary school later in life. 

From this week I see that in Kenya if a child does not come from money or life in the right parts of Kenya that their education suffers. 

Sharing Web Resources

“The federal budget is an important moral statement of what we value as a nation and where our priorities lie. This year, the federal budget process is more important than ever. Many states are facing budget shortfalls and the deficit is at a record high. CDF believes investing in programs for children and youth is the long-term answer to our country’s budget problems. We will keep a close eye on the budget process, looking carefully at what funding increases or decreases are being proposed and how funding for these programs will affect millions of children and low income families across the country.”

The Children’s Defense Fund is taking a similar stand as The Rand Corporation. They realize that our country is going through some economic difficulties. However their stand is for different reasons then economist, they are trying to keep the money for the children and not see it get cut, so they are making a plan that will appeal to the economist and politicians. 

This week I had also received an email from the Children’s Defense Fund and found the information to be very interesting and relevant to this weeks topic:

“Did you know that in 2010 General Electric reaped pretax profits of $5.1 billion in the United States but paid nothing in federal income taxes? Had GE paid the full 35 percent corporate tax rate, it would have paid $1.8 billion in taxes to the Internal Revenue Service. Instead, GE reported $3.3 billion in tax benefits! In total, GE's federal tax breaks in 2010 were over $5 billion!

This lost revenue could have been used to fund an additional 670,000 eligible preschoolers in Head Start, creating at least 67,000 new jobs for teachers.

Imagine if all corporate loopholes were closed. Politicians in Washington have a decision to make. And we must insist they make the right choices by choosing education over corporations. They must protect children and education from all budget cuts and close corporate loopholes.”

The CDF is keeping their eye on what our government is doing and trying to show how the decisions they are making are not necessarily benefiting our future which investing in education would benefit our future.

The Children’s Defense Fund is really giving children a voice, I just hope that the CDF is listened to and making a difference. In order for them to be successful they need the support of others, including our government. 

http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 1

For this weeks assignment I only heard back from one of my contacts, Amos Balongo. Amos does many things in Kenya related to children and serves on a board for all of Africa to make choices for children but Amos's passion is Camp Ohana and he is the Chairman. Camp Ohana "has a singular focus, which is the development of underprivileged, orphaned Kenyan children into compassionate adults who are successful leaders in their communities and in an increasingly globalized world. The Foundation will accomplish this through the creation of an educational camp program called Camp Ohana."(Camp Ohana).


I emailed Mr. Balango and asked him about poverty in Kenya and this is what he sent me.


"Hi Amy,

Poverty in Kenya is a topic that I almost can not discuss in one sitting as it takes many shapes and forms.

At the center of it all is the fact that many kenyans do not have access to the basics which is food, water, shelter and clothing. The unemployment rate in Kenya Hoovers at about 40% with a population of about 34 million.

Water is life, with that said, I want to discuss one of the contributing factors to poverty in Kenya and that is lack of water. Please visit www.campohana.org and check out our projects. There you will find information on the clean water project.

Additionally you will find information on our health and wellness program that my foundation runs in kenya. This is another way that we are dealing with extreme poverty in Kenya."


After reading my email I went and checked out the website and found...
"Over 50 percent of Kenyans are living below the poverty line. The HIV/AIDS pandemic has compounded the deteriorating health standards and resulted in growing destitution, and unprecedented levels of poverty.
The water crisis in Kenya is disrupting social and economic activities throughout the country. Unfortunately, the current wave of droughts and water shortages in Kenya and the rest of East Africa is only expected to continue" (Camp Ohana). Amos along with others are working to change the water and poverty situation in Kenya. 


Please visit the website, it was very inspiring to see that people can make changes. www.campohana.org

Issues and Trends: Changing Demographics and Diversity

Children’s Defense Fund. http://www.childrensdefense.org/

The Children’s Defense Fund’s main focus is to provide a voice for all children. 

Their mission statement states:

“CDF provides a strong, effective and independent voice for all the children of America who cannot vote, lobby or speak for themselves. We pay particular attention to the needs of poor and minority children and those with disabilities. CDF educates the nation about the needs of children and encourages preventive investments before they get sick, drop out of school, get into trouble or suffer family breakdown.” 

This past newsletter I received went out right before the forth of July and it was a “Declaration for Dependents”, it was a declaration for our children. What needs to be done in order to provide for them. 

They also discussed “Closing The Achievement Gap Before It Starts”, they want everyone to have equal opportunity and some cultures are suffering and they want to close those gaps.

Another issues that were discussed were, “Making the Case for Full-Day Kindergarten”, “From Freedom Rides to Freedom Schools”, “Dozens of Dynamic Workshops at Proctor Institute”, and “Happy 45th Anniversary Medicaid”.

After reading the newsletter for this weeks assignment I did see the connection between our weekly topic and the newsletter. In the newsletter I read about “Closing The Achievement Gap Before It Starts”, this article is about not having achievement differences between different races. Its showing that our culture is changing and we are trying to bring equality to education.

I also believe that the Children’s Defense Fund’s mission to give all children a voice relates to our topic. All children include all children from different cultures, different backgrounds, etc. 

Getting Ready—Establishing Professional Contacts and Expanding Resources

I am very fortunate to have had a lot of experience working internationally with youth. For 5 years off and on I worked as a contract partner for the U.S. government and lived in many countries for 3-9 months at a time. Over this time I have met many people working in the Early Childhood Field.

My first contact is named Christine and she is a Child Development Center Director in Lakenheath England. I lost touch with her but was able to begin to corresponding with her now through email.

My next contact lives in Kenya. His name is Amos and he works for leader compass and is building Camp Ohana, an orphanage projects for his government.

Selecting an early childhood organization was very easy for me. I already receive newsletters from the Child’s Defense Fund. After researching this organization for another class I thought the organization was amazing and wanted to keep informed about it, so I signed up a couple months ago. I feel like the organization does not just talk about making changes, they really make them!
http://www.childrensdefense.org/

My Supports

My supports are:

-My family, they all live far away from me but having the ability to call them up for anything is so important to me. If I was not able to keep in connect with my family over phone or email, I feel like apart of me would be lost, that I would not feel as whole. I would be losing my base.

-My boyfriend, he is who I go to with any problem and is my biggest support in Hawaii. I have actually been through a time when he was deployed and all communication was cut off and it was very hard. I had to find new ways to vent, new people to surround myself by, a way to continue my routine without him, which was very difficult. I became a little more independent then I already am during this time.

-My friends, my family doesn’t live in Hawaii and my boyfriend is in the Navy and leaves often but my friends are always here, they have become my new family. If I did not have my friends around I would be depressed, I think I would lose apart of myself.

-My car, I rely on it everyday to get me to and from work and where I need to go. I think life would be different without it and I would have to find new forms of transportation, like the bus but I would still be able to function, it would just be a change. 

-My To Do list, I am a huge writer of do to list and have to be balancing work, school, and everything else. I would most likely forget to do things if I did not have them. I would have to find a new to keep organized, it would be a difficult transition.

-Money, even though I do not like to admit it but I need money. If I did not have money I would lose my apartment, I would not be able to buy food, etc. It is one of those things people can’t live without but if I had to, I would see a giant life change.

-A place to receive some kind of education, something to make me think and challenge myself. School and work provide me with my need to challenge myself. If I did not have that challenge and had no responsibilities I would lose my edge and my drive. I would lose my goals and overall not be the best I could be.

I have two cousins who are in wheelchairs and always wondered how they do it, how they stay positive and do not let them get in their way. So this is the challenge I chose. Supports that I foresee that I would need are; support from my family, boyfriend and friends, I would need someone on my side, someone who cares about who I am not my abilities. I would need to rely on others for transportation, for helping accesses places I couldn’t and to help make my daily routine something I could do on my own (move my clothes, food, and things I need to get ready to where I could reach them, etc). If I did not have people to depend on I do not know how I would function and I would also not be emotional stable. People are what help me get through the hard times. 

My Connections to Play

Quotes:

“When you're curious, you find lots of interesting things to do.” 

-Walt Disney

“Before you met me I was a fairy princess

I caught frogs and called them prince 

And made myself a queen

Before you knew me I traveled 'round the world

I slept in castles and fell in love 

Because I was taught to dream”

-Lori McKenna 

Play items:

When I was younger everything was based on my imagination. My mom did home daycare and their was always a lot of kids around. Watching tv was not an option, my mom always encouraged us to go outside and play or make up games to play.

I feel like a lot of things have changed since I was a child. I am 24 years old and I can see a difference. In my preschool class some parents base their parenting on electronics, I have children who get rewarded with i-pods and i-pads. I do not think using your imagination is support as much as it was when I was little, kids have so many toys and so many options, they do not need to use their imaginations to stay entertained. 

When I was little I was content with my princess dress, my bag to put things I collected from outside in and my treehouse. I hope for the future that children are able to be children, that they are able to explore, create and imagine.