Thank You

“Everything that irritates us about others can lead us to an understanding of ourselves.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung.  Retrieved from http://personalexcellence.co/blog/101-most-inspiring-quotes-part-4/#growth

Someone shared this quote with me many years ago. With it they said, those that you find the most challenging to work with are holding up a mirror to behaviors you don’t like in yourself. This quote came to mind often as learned about effective communication in this course. So often we blame others for communication breakdown and once again I have learned the only person I can change is me. I am responsible for part of every communication I have with others. The lesson of the Platinum Rule will remain with me (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011). Learning to treat others as they want to be treated has helped me improve the effectiveness of my communication with many people already.

Thank you to all of my colleagues that once again helped me learn and grow as an early childhood professional. We certainly developed a level of trust that allowed us to share very personal stories, enabling us to learn from each other’s experiences. It has been invaluable to be able to read the various perspectives of what we were learning. I gained insight from each discussion and blog post and was able to reflect on the information from a view I may have never considered on my own. 

I am optimistic that with our new understanding of effective communication we will go on to influence the field of early childhood in many positive ways. To my colleagues that will continue on to the Administration, Management and Leadership specialization, I look forward to studying with you again. To the rest of my colleagues I wish you continued success, please stay in touch.  I hope to see everyone at graduation next August!

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon

Adjourning

Learning about the five stages groups go through to form a team: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning has been very enlightening. As I was reading about this, I started to reflect on the many groups I have belonged to over the years to see if I could pick out the stages of our development.

I have a very vivid memory from high school, when the curtain closed on the last performance of the first high school play I was in. We performed Guys and Dolls and I was a member of the chorus. I had a huge sense of loss and I did not see that emotion coming. I believe part of it was age. At 14, I was so focused on the goal that I did not see past it. As an adult I realize that some groups will only be formed for a short period of time.

The group of 30 or so students that put on this production came from many different groups throughout the school. I was a sophomore at the time, but the group was composed of students from all classes. I made friends with people that I would not have met or interacted with if not for us all working together to put on this production. We spent hours together rehearsing and working toward our goal of perfecting every aspect of the production.  After months of rehearsal, it was over in five performances.

To ease our adjournment we had a cast party to celebrate our accomplishment. We spent time signing each other’s programs with our favorite memories. When the yearbooks came out at the end of the school year, many of us sought each other out to once again sign on the pages with play pictures. I was part of the school musicals for the next two years. People who were acquaintances when we began production were friends for years afterward.

I hope to celebrate this group’s adjournment by meeting in person to celebrate our graduation. I already have concerns, because several of us will no longer be in classes together as we begin studies in our respective specializations. I keep in touch with friends from previous courses through Walden email or text messaging.  Please feel free to reach out, we cannot build a strong enough support network as we near the finish, we will all have Capstone projects to complete! 

Reference

O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.  

Conflict Resolution

As I consider all the information we are learning about the causes of conflict and how to affect a positive resolution I have come to the realization that most of what inflames simple discussions between my husband and I is what the Conflict Resolution Network (n.d.) refers to as shadow hugging and boxing.

Our communication styles are part of our personal culture. Unfortunately for my husband and I our parent’s divorces and the modeling of conflict styles that lead to resolution was not something we witnessed growing up. Our respective parents did not divorce until we were young adults, so we had many years of being exposed to ineffective communication styles.

Fortunately for us this never affects the big decisions in our lives and we have been happily married for 24 years. We are very conscience of how our parent’s divorces have affected us and actively work to negate its influence. Sometimes it does turn what should be simple discussions into hurt feelings. This morning is a perfect example.

My fabulous husband happens to be a fantastic cook, and this summer he decided he would cook us a seafood dinner every Friday.  I don’t cook on Friday, so it is usually take out or dinner out. This morning we are both walking to our cars to head off to work after a very busy week for both of us, personally and professionally. He says that he is really tired and maybe won’t cook tonight. I reply that that is fine there are leftovers in the refrigerator. His reply is “That’s what you say, but not what you mean.” I reply, “No really I don’t care.” He says, “Come on, you would be disappointed if I didn’t cook tonight.” This is where the conflict arises.

He is correct; I would be disappointed, but not so much that I would guilt him into doing it. I am actually more upset he just won’t take me at my word and accept that I respect he deserves a night off. It escalated mildly, fitting the scenario of shadow hugging and boxing. The behavior of the other person that is really neutral is the hook because we project our feeling onto it. The symptom is we react emotionally. The projection is the part of our shadows that cause our strong reaction.

I was hooked when I projected that he was putting words in my mouth and implying that I would be resentful. Then I reacted emotionally. The only way for me to stop these reactions is to get control of my shadow, the emotional responses I have that are too painful to fully experience (Conflict Resolution Network, n.d.).

Does anyone else have these types of conflicts with their significant other and how have you chosen to handle them?

The scallops and shrimps in cream sauce were delicious! Thanks for another delicious dinner my love!

Reference

Conflict Resolution Network. (n.d.). CR kit. Retrieved from http://www.crnhq.org/pages.php?pID=12#skill_3

Who Am I as a Communicator?

The results of the communication assessment this week were more reassuring than surprising to me. I was curious to see if how I perceived myself was also how the world perceives me as a communicator. I was relieved to see that on all the assessments the two people I chose to help with the assignment scores were in the same range as my self-assessment. This assignment caused me to reflect back to my first year of teaching and the feedback I got from my directors about my communication style with parents in the very beginning of the year, let’s just say it was not the impression I was trying to make. I took that feedback very seriously and strive to continuously improve how I communicate with parents.

The people I chose to help on the assignment were my husband of 24 years and my assistant teacher who I began working with in September. I have to effectively communicate with both of them in order to be successful on either a personal or professional level.  My husband has observed me communicating with family, friends and others that affect our lives such as doctors or service workers. My assistant teacher sees me interact with students, parents, co-workers and administration.

My greatest concern was my score on the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.b).  I can be very assertive in certain situations when I have strong feeling about a topic. I was relieved that my scores by everyone put me in the moderate range, my assistant scoring me the lowest and my husband scoring me the highest. This tells me that I am more careful with my choice of words at work than I am at home. This is something I need to work on as my family deserves the same respect as people I work with. It also tells me that I should also work on finding a gentler way of communicating some information.

A second thing the scores revealed is that I am comfortable communicating, but my assistant’s score was just two points away from placing me in the mild level as opposed to the low level on the Communication Anxiety Inventory (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.a).  This revealed to me that I must somehow be showing a level of anxiety at work I do not show in other places. It maybe that I am communicating this nonverbally or that I am just more cautious particularly with parents that I find difficult to communicate with. Often these are the parents that challenge policy or want exceptions made for their child on a continuous basis.

Resources

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.a). Communication Anxiety Inventory [Video inventory]. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_communication/index.html

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (n.d.b). Verbal Aggressiveness Scale [Video inventory]. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6165/04/mm/quiz/quiz_verbal/index.html

Cultural Diversity in Communication

I do believe that I communicate differently with people from different groups and cultures. When talking with my family I am more relaxed. We often use nicknames or invented words that are inside jokes when we communicate. Our humor is often sarcastic.

When I talk with my students or their parents I refrain from using sarcasm. The children do not understand it and I would not want to offend a parent. My students get to hear many silly voices that I use throughout the day. It always gets their attention when I sing the clean-up song using an opera voice. Stories are much more interesting when the characters sound different.

I am outgoing with close friends who I know well. Sharing, laughing and hugging as we greet each other. I am reserved when meeting new people. I observe the situation to see which forms of communication will be the most effective and acceptable. I am cautious with people from other cultures because I do not what to offend. I will listen more and speak less in these situations in order to gather information.

I have a strong faith and have developed a deeper understanding of my religion through a women’s group at my church. This has actually allowed me to be more comfortable discussing religion with others. I respect other believes, but can now clearly communicate my own without feeling defensive.

 I have found that having a deeper understanding of what I wish to communicate has allowed me to be a more effective communicator. Active listening can improve communication in any group, it allows for clarification of message (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009). Even within my immediate family, conflict usually occurs when the intended message is not the message received. I tend to be an action-oriented listener, I believe that when working with the children and families in my class, becoming a more people-oriented listener would be valuable in some situations (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009). Also, if I am more attentive to nonverbal cues in communication, particularly when communicating with people from a different culture it will allow me to improve my communication skills. I will be able to interpret nonverbal messages and improve my ability to give others what they need and therefore improve our level of communication (Beebe, Beebe, & Redmond, 2011).

References

 Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication: Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

 O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Interpreting Nonverbal Communication

I found this week’s blog assignment fun and interesting. My husband often comments that I am a people watcher. When I have commented that a person’s actions do not match what they are saying he has asked “How would you know that?” In the past I have replied “I don’t know, I just do.” This week I quoted the text on page 123, where it stated that “women exhibit greater sensitivity to nonverbal messages” and “they also decode others’ nonverbal behavior more accurately, particularly those involving the face” (O’Hair & Wiemann, 2009). He found it amusing!

For this week’s assignment I chose to watch a new sitcom on ABC called Bunheads by executive producer Amy Sherman-Palladino. I watched the pilot episode using the onDemand feature of my cable network, the first time with the sound off and the second with the sound on.

The show began focusing on two chorus girls on a Vegas stage. They are talking during the performance, so my interpretation was that they are friends. It moves to a scene back stage where a man arrives and the lead female character is obviously uncomfortable, she does not seem to know him well. He arrived bearing gifts and does not seem persuaded by her lack of interest.

They later appear dining together, she is drinking heavily and he seems to be trying to persuade her about something. Then they are in a car with what appeared to be an engagement ring on her finger.

There is an additional storyline in the show. I next saw an older woman teaching ballet class. There is a definite focus on four of the teenage girls in the class. The eye-rolling and dismissive looks by one character lead me to believe there is a pecking order in this group of friends. Another girls constant self-grooming leads me to believe she is self-conscious and probably the one at the bottom of the order.

These storylines intersect when the original couple arrive at their destination and meet the older woman. There is a lot of hand gesturing and what appears to be yelling. Through eye contact I interpret it is the man that knows the older woman and she is not happy about something that has taken place.

When I watched again with the sound on I found that my assumptions were pretty accurate.

The dancer, Michelle, is being pursued by a man named Hubbell who is not from Vegas but loves her from afar. On their dinner date, as she talks about how she is unhappy with her life right now, he convinces her to get married. I thought they were only engaged. The older woman is Hubbell’s mother who is not at all happy that her son got married to someone she did not know. I was also accurate in my observation of the dance students, but verbal communication between various characters reveals that the girl at the top of the pecking order has many insecurities of her own.

My assumptions would have been more accurate if I was watching a show I know well because I would have had more background information on the characters and their relationships to each other. I would have had more experience interpreting how the characters communicate through verbal and nonverbal means.

Reference

 O’Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2009). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin’s.

Competent Communicator

When I read the assignment for this week the first person that came to mind as a competent communicator is Randy Pausch. If the name is not familiar to you, you may remember his story. If not, I invite you to learn more about this highly effective communicator.

I first became aware of Randy Pausch when he appeared on the Oprah show and reprised a much longer talk he had given at Carnegie Mellon University where he was a professor. The talk was about reaching your childhood dreams. It was part of an academic tradition where professors were given the opportunity to give their “last lecture”, what would they say to their students if they were hypothetically going to die. For Randy Pausch it was not hypothetical, he had been informed by his doctors that he had months to live. Randy passed July 25, 2008.

The reason I would like to model my communication after his style is because he often uses humor to emphasize a point. He has great visuals to go along with what he is saying. He shares just enough personal information to make the story engaging, but not so much that you feel you had to be an insider to understand his point. He credits others for information they have shared with him. Overall he is a positive person. Lastly, like I so often do with my young students when the real learning is hidden in our playful activity, the lesson of his talk is not what it appears to be on the service. Pausch refers to this as a head fake, he includes several in the long version of his talk.

Below are the links to his talk.

Randy Pausch on Oprah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVl8tj3Wf58

Randy Pausch -Original Last Lecture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

If you have to time this to view the original, it is very inspiring as an educator!

Professional Hopes and Goals

My hope is that the children and families I work with can develop the same sense of how we will all find peace as the author of this poem. The author is a child!

HOW PEACE BEGINS

Peace begins with saying sorry.

Peace begins with not hurting others.

Peace begins with honesty and trust.

Peace begins with showing cooperation and respect.

World Peace Begins With ME!

--Halley Hall

Retrieved from http://favicons.blogspot.com/2012/04/poems-by-children-on-diversity.html

The goal that I would set is the creation of learning environments that would allow children to explore and develop their own ideas about not only the objects, but the diverse people they interact with also. My goal would be to have children learning in diverse environments where “isms” are challenged and respect for all is taught.   We have the opportunity in the field of early childhood to allow children to explore the issues of diversity, equity and social justice as the play and learn alongside children and adults that represent a variety of cultures. The goal would be that children form a world view that will allow them to challenge inherited bias and the influence of media. In order for this goal to be achieved anti-bias education training for all teachers would need to be a requirement!

Thank you to all my colleagues in this course. Your openness and willingness to share stories related to the many “isms” we have studied took courage and trust. Acknowledging how much we all needed to learn and supporting each other through this journey was invaluable. I believe we have the beginnings of a great support system as we bring stronger anti-bias education to our work environments! Thank you also to Dr. Dartt for her challenging questions and support as we all navigated this new learning environment!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

The new family entering my early learning center is from Morocco!

Morocco is located in North Africa boarding the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

In researching this country to prepare for the families arrival I have learned the following…

1.      Moroccans are predominantly Sunni Muslims, but there is also a Jewish community so I cannot assume the faith of the family.

2.      Arabic is the official language, but French serves as the language of commerce and government and is widely taught. My student may be able to speak two languages already! There is also the possibility that English is also spoken as Al-Akhawayn, a private English- language university, that uses an American model was founded in 1993.

3.      Although education is free and compulsory through the age of 15, many children especially girls in rural areas, do not attend schools. Literacy rates differ between genders with males having the higher rate.

4.      Morocco for the most part is a patriarchal society, with girl and boys being raised much differently. Girls are shown more affection and are more closely monitored and disciplined.

5.      In Morocco lunch is the biggest meal of the day and shared with family.

The information I have gathered will allow me to greet and get to know this family without any preconceived notions. I am aware that their religion, language and education level may vary. Although Morocco is patriarchal, a modern Morocco exits, with women working outside the home. I need to meet the family to learn and understand its structure. I am aware that the educational expectations of this family may vary depending on the gender of the child. The information I have gathered will allow me to prepare my classroom and myself to provide as much cultural continuity between home and school as possible. Having 30 minutes for lunch instead of two hours, and eating with peers at the center instead of family is our first cultural conflict.

Reference

Stevens, G. M., Vollebergh, W. M., Pels, T. M., & Crijnen, A. M. (2007). Parenting and internalizing and externalizing problems in Moroccan immigrant youth in the Netherlands. Journal of Youth And Adolescence, 36(5), 685-695.s

U.S. Department of State. (2012, March 12). Background note: Morocco. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5431.htm

(This post was influenced by my oldest daughter who will be moving to Cartagena, Spain in Sept. to teach English for a year. She was very exited about where she will be teaching due to the Moroccan influence and its proximity to Morocco itself. After my research I share her enthusiasm!)

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

The memory I have of experiencing bias was shopping for wedding rings with my soon-to-be husband. My husband works in the service industry and at the time worked in the field. I was working in the ECE field. He had a customer that was a jeweler and his store was located in a very high end shopping mall.  My husband asked me to meet him one afternoon to look at the selection. We both went to the mall directly from work with little concern for what others would infer from how we were dressed.

My husband’s customer was cordial and happy to see us at his store. Unfortunately, his designs were not my taste. We decided to take the opportunity to look in other jewelry stores for wedding rings while we were there. Because of our attire, we were prejudged by most of the retail staff in the stores where we shopped. In several stores we were not greeted or asked if we needed help.

The assumption that we could not afford what they had for sale and therefore, were not worth waiting on, was made very apparent. I found that very interesting, as I am sure most of the employees in those stores did not have incomes higher than ours. Yet they treated us as less than, because of their assumption that their efforts would not result in a sale. We were unworthy of shopping in their establishment was the message we received, so we took our business elsewhere.  

Feelings of being less than or inferior due to economic status were brought to the surface for me. I was raised in a middle class neighborhood, but within the town I lived on the “poor” side of town. I had no awareness of this as a young child, but it became clear as I went onto middle and high school. The further I went in my schooling, the more neighborhoods were combined, and for some students, lines were clearly drawn according to economic status.

If I had been more self- assured at the time I would have requested service. That would have provided the opportunity to educate the sales staff that to make biased judgments due to someone’s dress is a mistake.  An overt statement would not have been necessary, just by the ability to pay for what I wanted would have sent a clear message.

Classism is based on the assumption that in order for one person to have enough someone else must have less, and the person with more is superior. We live in a very competitive society and believe someone needs to fail in order for other to succeed (Laureate Education Inc., n.d.). A lesson I have learned throughout my lifetime is to never assume someone’s economic status from the way they dress. Or in my case, the ability to pay for a special purchase after a year of saving!

A friend of my husband, who is also a plumber, shared a story of giving a customer a bill for his services. The customer replied “With prices like these you could vacation in the Bahamas!” To which he replied, “Am I not allowed to vacation in the Bahamas?” This remark was a clear example of classism. His microaggression was stating- In my eyes your job does not have the same status as mine, therefore not worth as much money and I should not meet you at my vacation spot because we are not equals.

Reference


Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (n.d.) Microaggressions in everyday life [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_550963_1%26url%3D

Practicing Awareness of Microaggresssions

Spending this week listening for microaggressions made me very aware of how often these offenses take place in an educational environment.

The first example took place as I entered the mobile infant classroom at the center where I work. The children were in their seats at the feeding table for morning snack and a teacher was heating up a meal. As she removed it from the microwave she stated “This is disgusting!”   I consider this a microaggression because it is an attack on that child’s family culture. This food, regardless of her opinion is what was prepared by his parents. Even though the children in this room are very young, her tone, facial expression and body language spoke volumes, even if they do not understand the word. I spoke to her about how I felt it was inappropriate and her reply was that she meant it was just too thick. I explained that in a much different tone of voice that is what she should have said.

My second example is a microaggression regarding able-ism. I have shared in the past that my son has a learning disability and an IEP. Earlier this week he was given a quarterly exam that included only questions that tested specifically what is IEP states he should receive accommodations for and none were made. Needless to say he did poorly. Through email and phone conversations with his teacher I have come to find out that she was unaware of this accommodation all year and now was unsure how to interpret what his IEP says. As a fellow educator I am outraged that a teacher can have a student in their class since August and not have taken the time to actually understand his needs. As a parent, I am upset with myself for not being on top of this all year.

My observation experience this week reinforces what Dr. Sue stated in this week’s video, Microaggressions in Everyday Life, that unintentional microaggressions are the most dangerous and educators  can do the great harm. I will be more aware of the comments I make in my classroom. I see the effect of this teacher’s lack of understanding on my son and can imagine the same for the boy at my center if he were to hear comments about his meals on a daily basis.

Resource

Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (n.d.) Microaggressions in Everyday Life [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_550963_1%26url%3D

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

How do people define culture and diversity?

My task this week was to find at least three friends, family members, acquaintances, and /or colleagues to share their definitions of culture and diversity, with at least one person being culturally different from me.

I intended to use several colleagues from work as we have a diverse staff and I thought it would be an interesting conversation to have. I explained that it was for my graduate school work but unfortunately most of my colleagues were very uncomfortable answering the question. I found this quite interesting and do not know the reason for their hesitation. Were they uncomfortable because of the diversity of people sitting at the lunchroom table at the time? Did they think there was a correct or incorrect answer? I explained there was not. Did they believe I or others would judge them for their answer? I will seek the answer to these questions over time.

 I did speak to one colleague who entered the field of Early Education straight out of high school after studying ECE for two years as part of our local poly tech. Next, I spoke to a friend and neighbor who is a Spanish Language teacher and of Cuban decent.  Third I spoke to my daughter, a recent college graduate with degrees in Political Science, International Studies and Spanish.

My colleague defined culture as someone’s ethnicity, race and family values. She saw diversity as the differences in hair and eye color.

My friend defined culture as what we bring to the table. Culture is what makes you a person and is a reflection of your heritage- art, music and food. She teaches her Spanish Language students that we shouldn’t generalize about culture. She teaches about culture to deepen the understanding of the language and open her student world view to make them more accepting. She believes it is easier to learn and appreciate the language if you understand the culture behind it. She shared that a professor once that stated we should not be teaching tolerance but teaching acceptance. Tolerance means I can just barely stand you, who wants to be tolerated?  Her definition of diversity means the differences from other things. Each one of us is different from each other. Even within each of us there are many differences.

My daughter stated that a culture can reflect a specific group of people that have a similar belief system.  Culture is formed because people live in the same location and have shared traditions and world view. Diversity has many levels. The same ethnic group may be diverse do to religious beliefs and geographic location. Every aspect of a person influences diversity. A person’s gender identity, education level, income level, political and religious views and ethnicity contribute to their diversity. Culture forms around those things. There are cultures that form with regard to ethnicity, gender identity and even education level. She also spoke about the cultural influence of language. Language within the United States often reflects the part of country you live in with differences in vocabulary and pronunciation. She also discussed how many of the Romance languages have words that are assigned a gender and how that reflects on the male/ female roles within that culture.

Many of the aspects of culture that I have studied in this course were reflected in the answers I received. The examples given show an understanding that a person’s cultural identity goes much deeper than their ethnic group.  Family values, gender roles, extended family were all touched upon.  Omissions included health care and housing arraignments. These might have been left out because I just asked for a definition and did not want to lead the responses in any way. The answers and non-answers that I received had made me aware that this topic still makes some individual uncomfortable. We obviously need more training in the field of Early Childhood Education to increase the comfort level because if we cannot have the discussion amongst ourselves how are we to have respectful conversations with the parents of our increasingly diverse students. 

My Family Culture

As I imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

The three items I would take are a family photo album that contained pictures of my husband’s and my childhood, our wedding and of our three children growing up. I would take the Bible I received at my first Women’s Cornerstone retreat. The third thing I would take is the love letter my husband wrote to me when he proposed; yes I have the proposal in writing.

I chose these items after much thought because as I consider not only my families culture but, also the culture of the United States and then contemplate the world of possibilities where my family may wind up living that do not have the same religious freedoms or rights for women, I wanted to have things that would remind me of those freedoms and rights.

I would tell others that the photo albums contained pictures of what our lives were like and how American culture has changed over the years. The photos are a timeline of our growth as a family. I would explain that I wanted the Bible because I am not sure that the country I am going to will have one or be English speaking and my faith and the ability to read God’s word is important to me and my family. I will need my faith to keep me centered as I struggle to learn a new language and customs. Food may actually be my biggest challenge.  Lastly, my husband’s loving words to me as he asked me to marry him showed how much he cared for and honored me as a person. It is my representation of his and my value of respect for women.

If upon arrival I was told that I could only keep one personal item and I would have to give up the rest I would be frustrated by having to make a choice, narrowing my possessions once again. I am hoping that I would be persuasive enough to be able to keep them all or at least tuck the letter and a few pictures into my Bible.

I found this exercise challenging, at first I could think of nothing I wanted to bring. As long as I had my immediate family nothing else would matter to me. I may have been overwhelmed by all the possibilities. Family rosaries, baby books, grandparent’s passports and children’s art work to name a few. Possessions are not my priority, I carry the people I love and memories of those I have lost in my heart. How I treat others and how I want to be treated cannot be represented in objects. I believe the items that I have chosen would convey what I want those that I meet about my family’s culture. Our culture is more about respect for each other and those we interact with than anything else.

When I think of research...

The insight I have gained from the Building Research Competencies course is to be much more aware of the source of the research I am considering. Having gained the understanding that research is influenced by the researcher’s ontology and epistemology will greatly inform how I consider research in the future. I now understand various research methods and have knowledge that allows me to check for bias in a study.

I have a deeper respect for researchers. I have always been fascinated by research and how we learn about human behavior. This course has allowed me to see the many circumstances and situations a researcher must consider in order to conduct equitable research.

 Planning, designing and conducting research with young children involves many considerations. Research involving children has specific ethical guidelines that provide special protections. [See link below.] Designing a study that will allow children to participate and show what they know and feel about their world is complicated. All of this can be accomplished with a well thought out plan and literature review so that when the study is started the researcher is well prepared.

The challenges that I encountered during this course were understanding the differences in some of the closely related research methods and the unfamiliar vocabulary. Looking to other resources for their definitions of terms and reading fellow students discussion board postings helped to clarify my understanding.

My perception of EC professionals has been modified as a result of this course because now I see us as invaluable to the research field. Many of us are quite capable of conducting research with the correct support system (I know we still have much to learn). Additionally, EC professionals can provide researchers with topics we wish we had more information about as we work with our students and families.

Thank you

Thank you to all of my fellow students; it has been a pleasure learning with you and your support and encouragement was invaluable, especially as we all started this course with trepidation. I gained great insight and deeper understanding from each discussion board. I learned valuable information from your blogs. I wish you all success as we continue or educational journey!

Resource

 U.S. Department of Health and Human Services: Office for Human Research Protections (OHRP). (n.d.) Special protections for children as research subjects. HHS.gov. Retrieved on from http://www.hhs.gov/ohrp/policy/populations/children.html

Research Around the World

I chose to look into research on the Early Childhood Australia website. This year I have a girl in my class whose father is Australian and we spent several days in class learning about that country. The family was kind enough to share cultural books, as well as Australian children books. The class favorite was a book of photos of their classmate and her family in Australia, the photo of her petting a kangaroo was astonishing to them.

Early Childhood Australia publishes the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) it is the longest-running major journal in the early childhood field. (Australasian refers to Australia, New Zealand and the neighboring islands in the South Pacific Ocean).

You need to subscribe to have full access to the journal articles but I was able to access the index and abstracts for the most current issue, Volume 36, published on December 4, 2011. Several of the research studies were topics that are of interest in the United States such as parental views of the influence of television on the development of young children. The Australian study by Garvis & Pendegast found that very often if a TV program is rated educational parents do no further investigating on their own.

Another study by Colmer, Rutherford & Murphy looked at attachment theory and primary caregiving in early childhood settings. Utilizing the primary caregiver as a partner to intervene with families where there are disruptions to the parent – child attachment. I found this idea very interesting and a new way to look at the importance of primary caregiving and I wonder if it would work in child care settings here in the US.

Play is the focus of much research in the US and a comparison study conducted by Reynolds, Stagnitti, & Kidd conducted in Victoria, Australia found that children from low socioeconomic areas that attended school with a play-based curriculum gained more social and language skills than the children that attended a traditional school.

Noteworthy information that I found is that there are a lot of changes happening in early childhood education in Australia this year. As of January 1 of this year, the Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) is working to implement high –quality early childhood education and care for all children. Australia as a nation has recognized the importance of rich preschool experiences and veiws it as a way to close the widening gap between children who are doing well academically and those that are not. The Education and Care Services National Law Act 2010 was passed with an understanding that a strong cognitive and language base leads to later educational success. May we in the US get our policy makers to develop this understanding!

References

Colmer, K., Rutherford, L., & Murphy, P. (2011). Attachment theory and primary caregiving [Abstract]. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 36.

Early Childhood Australia website http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/  

Garvis, S., & Pendergast, D., (2011). Warning-Television viewing may harm your child’s health: Parent perceptions of early Childhood viewing habits [Abstract]. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 36.

Reynolds, E., Stagnitti, K. & Kidd, E., (2011). Play, Language and social skills of children attending a play-based curriculum school and a traditionally structured classroom curriculum school in low socioeconomic areas [Abstract]. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood. 36.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

 In 2001 the U.S. Department of Justice implement a project called the Safe Start Initiative. The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention started the initiative in the hope of mitigating some of the effects on children exposed to violence. Current estimates indicate that in the United States as many as 10 million children have witnessed or been victims of violence in their homes or communities.  Children’s exposure to violence has been linked to lower academic achievement, as well as, increased anxiety, depression, and anger. Increased alcohol and drug abuse is also a result. The project was divided into several phases.

 In 2011, The RAND Corporation researched the effectiveness of phase two of the project and found positive results. Phase two involved the implementation and evaluation of a range of interventions to help children and families cope with the effects of children’s exposure to violence at 15 sites throughout the country.

Because of many obstacles in collecting data, forming strong conclusions was not possible. What was learned for future implementation, is the type of obstacles practitioners using these types of interventions will face and how to modify their approaches.

Despite difficulty in data collection researchers were able to identify that many of the programs were successful in establishing their individual program goals. The programs were able to develop procedures to increase identification of children exposed to violence. Also, communication and coordination among service providers was established. Services gaps for children and their families were addressed through interagency and communitywide partnerships. Overall awareness of the effects on children who are exposed to violence was increased, as well as, the need to respond to it with effective interventions.

As we are continuously reminded of the violence in our communities and schools by daily news reports this is an example of research providing effective techniques and increasing community resources to help reduce some of the consequences for the children and families exposed to the violence. May we someday be able to stop all the violence!

As a student learning about research and feeling slightly overwhelmed by the prospect of creating a research simulation, I was reassured to find out that this project was still considered successful and useful information was gathered despite the researchers having difficulty with data collection.

References

Jaycox, L. H., Hickman, L. J., Schultz, D., Barnes-Proby, D., Setodji, C.M., Harris, R., Acosta, J.D., & Francois, T. (2011). National evaluation of safe start promising approaches: Assessing program outcomes. Retrieved from The RAND Corporation website: http://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/technical_reports/2011/RAND_TR991-1.sum.pdf

U.S. Department of Justice: Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention. (2001, April). Children’s exposure to violence: The safe start initiative. Retrieved from https://www.ncjrs.gov/pdffiles1/ojjdp/fs200113.pdf

My Personal Research Journey

The topic for the research simulation I have chosen is shyness in preschool age children. Throughout my teaching career I have often had shy children in my class and done my best to help them develop skills that allow them to feel more comfortable interacting with their peers and the other adults at school. Through my studies I have been learning about the importance of social/emotional development and its connections to all other areas of development. More importantly the effects of not having appropriate social awareness skills can have on emotion health in middle childhood and beyond (Berger, 2009).

This topic is of particular interest to me this year because of a child I have in my class. She joined our class in September two mornings a week and has just begun to answer my direct questions with one or two word answers within the last month or so.  She spoke to my co-teacher for the first time this week. At home the only person she really interacts with is her mother.  She never talks to the other children, but will play alongside them. None of the shy children I have worked with in the past have taken this long to begin communicating in the classroom so it has made this topic one of great interest to me.

The simulation process so far has reduced my anxiety level a bit. Knowing that we are going to work on this in smaller steps has been helpful. Learning that there are several ways to conduct research that is valid is also helpful because some research designs seemed very overwhelming to me. I am still concerned about formulating the research questions for my study as the topic is very broad in my thought processes right now and I am still unsure of the direction I want to go in.

One thing that I found very helpful when looking for literature on my topic of study using the Walden library was to use a variety of search terms in the database fields. Using shyness AND preschool children produced different results than using reducing shyness AND preschool children. I entered the same terms in different databases which provided me with different results also increasing my choice of research to learn from. 

Any helpful tips on locating quality research are greatly appreciated. If a fellow student is doing a closely related topic I would love to share resources that I find with you as they may be more helpful for your line of inquiry than mine.

References

Berger, K. S. (2009). The developing person through childhood (5th ed.). New York, NY: Worth Publishers.

Consequences of Establishing International Contacts

When I first read the assignment description regarding establishing international contacts I will admit to feeling very overwhelmed. I was unsure that I would be successful, wondering if anyone would take the time to help a student in the US with their studies. I was concerned that with so many of us reaching out to the same reference list our odds of establishing contact would go down, with that in mind I decided to take an alternate route to finding connections through my Linkedin early childhood groups. I reached out to at least five group members and received only two initial replies. When I initiated specific course related discussions Godfrey, from Kenya, was the only one to reply. Thank you again Godfrey.

Three consequences that resulted from establishing this contact are:

•   Gaining a more developed world view of early education and care.
•   Gaining an understanding that many of the problems and goals of the US education system are shared by other countries.
•   Establishing a professional relationship that can be a valuable resource throughout my career.

As I shared last week, it is my hope and intention to remain in contact with Godfrey, he agrees we have much to learn from each other. I have had the opportunity to share my opinion and knowledge with others in the Linkedin groups I belong to, establishing contact with early childhood educators around the world. A goal to continue to share knowledge about quality and equity in early care and education on an international level is one I would not have pursued on my own but have found very rewarding.

Thank you to all my fellow classmates for your thoughtful comments and interesting posts!

Professionalism- Training, Development and Goals: A View from Kenya

I have thoroughly enjoyed getting to correspond with my international contact, Godfrey, from Kenya. I have learned a great deal with regard to the many similarities our countries have as we try to improve equity in early care and education.

The past two weeks, once again, Godfrey has been kind enough to take the time to engage in a discussion about quality and professionalism in early education.  Godfrey has a bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education and with that degree he works at a college overseeing Diploma and Certificate students.  The difference in education between Diploma and Certificate students is minimal; all students are introduced to the basics of early childhood development and education. The contents of instruction are not as in depth for Certificate students and the programs have different entrance requirements with the Diploma student needing higher grades to enter. Both can work as teachers in centers and Godfrey reports that interestingly it is often the Certificate students that are rated higher in the field. This made me think of our discussion this week in class about what the requirements to be an early childhood educator need to be. 

His primary duty is to train teachers that will work directly with children at child care centers. The Ministry of Education provides a syllabus that covers diverse topics that include curriculum, child rights, management of early childhood centers, as well as, special needs education.  The hope is that with an extensive curriculum teachers will be better prepared for various issues that come up once they enter the classroom. Additionally, Godfrey assesses teaching students in the field, focusing on pedagogy. Further, the Diploma students in Kenya conduct research on various issues in the field of early childhood.  Godfrey feels it is important that the ministry allows students to be exposed to conducting research.  I shared with Godfrey that in the United States, it requires at a minimum a master’s degree and in most cases a doctorate to oversee education students although some of the requirements, such as research, seem very in depth for non-master’s level work.

I shared with Godfrey that I was a master’s degree student when looking for someone to correspond with.  I shared that I was an Early Childhood Studies student with a specialization in Administration, Management and Leadership. I chose this specialization because although I knew I wanted to advance my career this allowed my several options, to direct a center, to work with adults within the profession or to work in the area of advocacy. Godfrey shared that he would also like to continue his education and specialize in the area of developmental psychology or special needs education in order to develop a better understanding of children. He intends to establish a consultancy and training firm to deal with ECE issues.  I wish him much success! I can feel his passion for his work in the messages we have shared and know the ECE field in Kenya is blessed to have him.

The government and NGO’s sponsor conferences and workshops for educators in Kenya.  One held last fall was entitled Knowledge Sharing Among ECE Stakeholders. Godfrey, like many of us in the ECE field find attending conferences, workshops and earning advanced degrees challenging due to time and financial constraints.

As this class nears the end I would like to thank Godfrey for taking time to share his thoughts and dreams with me, a stranger from across the globe. It is my intention to stay in touch with my new professional contact to support each other as we continue our journeys in the ECE field. Who knows maybe someday we will have the blessing of meeting in person.

Exploring the NIEER newsletter for expanded resources.

NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research) provides several ways to follow their research. I have chosen to subscribe through Facebook and to get their newsletter emailed to me. Often when I receive these alerts I will use the links provided to get more information on what was highlighted.

The newsletter is broken down into several categories, Hot Topics, a link to Preschool Matters Today (NIEER’S blog), Calendar, Early Education News Roundup, and Resources.

In Hot Topics this week were the results of a yearlong study in Texas showing an achievement gap in children as young as 3. While 52% of students overall were ready for Kindergarten, in low income area this number dropped to 12% (United Way, 2011). These findings are very much related to my current studies at Walden regarding equity in early education and the influences of poverty on children’s learning outcomes.

The calendar section provides links to conferences, summits and workshops being held throughout the United States and abroad. There is a conference in Estonia, June 18-19^th 2012, being held by the International Council of Children’s Play.  The keynote speaker is John Wall a professor at Rutgers University which is my home state of New Jersey.  More information can be found at http://www.iccp-play.org/conferencetallinn2012.htm

The area I chose to explore more extensively was The Early Education News Roundup. This part of the newsletter provided links to many recently written articles in the area of early education. It was interesting to me that most of the articles discussed the importance of early education and children’s later educational success and productivity as adults or impending budget cuts to early education programs across the United States. Also discussed was constitutes quality education and are we asking too much of young children. All of the articles related to equity and excellence in early care and education.  The challenges of balancing equity of access to quality early education and being able to fund that access has been the focus of my studies in my current coursework. I found it very interesting how different states are handling or mishandling early education in their state. The article on California’s transition kindergarten program and funding cut is an excellent example. To read more http://nieer.org/news/index.php?NewsID=3301

A new issue that I read about is developmental psychologist Dr. Gordon Neufeld believes we are asking too much of young children and our approach to early education need to change. We should be focusing on play and not be concerned with outcomes until the children reach the age of seven. He believes that there is a correlation to children going to school younger and losing their curiosity by 12^th grade. He believes their prefrontal cortex is not developed and they are much better equipped to work at the age of seven. This was interesting reading and gave me a lot to consider. I have been aware of the pushing down of curriculum and felt that was an issue in early childhood, but not starting formal education until the age of seven was not something I had considered.  To learn more of Dr. Neufeld thoughts on this issue follow this link http://www.montrealgazette.com/life/work+play/6109961/story.html

References

NIEER http://nieer.org/

United Way. (October, 2011). Are there neighborhoods where very young children are identified with developmental vulnerabilities? Children’s Optimal Health, Young Children Volume II - United Way Capital Area Success by 6 Partnership. Retrieved from  http://childrensoptimalhealth.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/02/UWay-Map-Report-10-13-11-Small1.pdf

Equity and Excellence in Early Childhood Education: The United States and Kenya

I have been communicating with Godfrey, an Early Childhood Education & Development Specialist from Kenya. When I inquired about how his country was addressing equity and excellence in education I saw many similarities to the challenges we are also facing here in the United States.

Godfrey shared that the government is addressing the issue of equity because there are a large number of children who do not benefit from early childhood services due to inaccessibility and poverty. Kindergarten is also not mandatory but is available. Currently there is policy being considered by Parliament that will make early childhood education part of the education system and therefore mandatory. He is hopeful that this policy will pass.

Godfrey believes once there is access for all children then excellence can be addressed. Currently privately owned early childhood programs and kindergartens have excellent standards and practices for their students.

He shared his concerns about the children having an opportunity for outdoor play at urban schools due to space restraints.  This has many in his field concerned about overall development of the children.

I see many similarities in the US with lack of access to quality early education for children living in poverty. Children living in poverty are more likely to attend schools with limited resources (Moore, Redd, Burkhauser, Mbwana, & Collins, 2009). The US is also investing in early childhood education as a way to end poverty and continue economic growth for our nation (Lombardi, 2009). As the US invests in early childhood, consideration for improving the quality and insuring the needs of all children are being met should be the primary focus (Lombardi, 2009). Common standards and continuity from 0-8 years of age is a key component to ensure at-risk children receive the same early education as their not at-risk peers (Lombardi, 2009). As the US continues to consider universal pre-K I am hopeful that the governments of both our countries will see the benefits of providing access to excellent early childhood programs has for all citizens in the long run.

References 

Lombardi, J. (2009). The dawn of a new era. Exchange, (188), 8–9

Moore, K. A., Redd, Z., Burkhauser, M., Mbwana, K., & Collins, A. (2009). Children in poverty: Trends, consequences, and policy options (Research Brief Publication No. 2009-11). Retrieved from Child Trends website: http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2009_04_07_RB_ChildreninPoverty.pdf 

Economist Influence of Early Education

Did the people at NIEER get a copy of the course syllabus for this class? This blog posting on Preschool Matters Today for this week was right on topic. Megan Carolan, Policy Research Coordinator for  NIEER reported on the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) holding its high level roundtable “Starting Strong: Implementing Policies for High Quality Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC)” in Oslo, Norway this week. The round table was held January 24^th and 25 ^th.

 I learned that the OECD has 34 member nations that collaborate as a way to allow governments to share best practices and address common problems in many areas. The OECD has made early childhood and early care (EDEC) a special initiative since 1996, recognizing the impact of high-quality early learning on all of society.

The blog provided a link to video footage of the roundtable. Steve Barnett director of NIEER was the keynote speaker. Norway Minister of Education Kristen Halvorsen shared the progress Norway has made in improving access to quality EDEC. As a country Norway chose to address the issue of division of class and look at it root cause, access to education and especially early education was seen as a major cause. In 2003 Norway chose to look at how EDEC was funded and through 2010 has increased funding. They now have equal treatment of grants to public and private institutions and fund EDEC programs for all children, not just programs for children in poverty. The goal was to create equal access for all.

One of Norway's Outdoor Preschools

Minister Halvorsen argument, as former Minister of Finance, was that human capital was 70-80% of Norway’s wealth. Halvorsen stated the key to the countries future success was to have children that had a happy childhood, because a happy childhood last a lifetime. Therefore, the EDEC programs use a holistic approach rooted in play where curiosity, exploration and innovation are the focus. She also focused on the importance of having the ability to form and maintain human relationships.

Norway’s current goal is to increase staff competence, especially those working with very young children, but also throughout the EDEC field. Currently with an average 1-4 ratio only about 1/3 of the staff are qualified preschool teachers.

I was pleased to hear of Norway progress in EDEC and that their approach had allowed children to keep their childhoods. The fact that their former Minister of Finance, who is now the Minister of Education sees the value of early education but also the value in retaining childhood was encouraging to me. I hope that the US can learn from their progress and their approach!

Resources

 Preschool Matters Today retrieved from http://preschoolmatters.org/2012/01/27/early-education-on-the-international-scene/

 OECD Round Table. Norwegian Ministry of Education retrieved from http://media01.smartcom.no/Microsite/dss_01.aspx?eventid=6688

Childhood Poverty- International Contact

I have been communicating with Godfrey an Early Childhood Education Specialist from Kenya, Africa. (My second contact did not respond to any of my follow up emails.) In his current position Godfrey is working to train and educate teachers in early childhood development.

After sharing with Godfrey that the poverty level in the United States is growing and now at 14.3 percent as a nation and in New Jersey, where I live, it is 29 percent for children he replied that in Kenya the poverty rate is 56 percent. More than have the population is living in poverty and on less than a dollar a day.

Poverty affects the schools in a similar way to those in low-income areas of the US. There is limited or non-existent resources and low quality. There is a lack of materials and equipment necessary for effective learning to take place. We also discussed how play was important for learning and that many  early learning centers that are established in the slums or marginalized communities have very little land and therefore no place for the children to play. The educational outcome for students attending these centers is lower than students that attend schools in established communities where there are more resources.

Recently non-governmental organizations have become involve to help support the government’s efforts which he believes are insufficient in providing an equitable and quality education for all students even though they adopted the Education for All initiative. The Education for All initiative (EFA) is an international initiative of a coalition of national governments, civil society groups, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in affiliation with the World Bank to bring education to “every citizen in every society”. You can learn more about EFA by following the link below.

Since EFA was established in Kenya in 2003 basic education is now free but early childhood education was left out, resulting in very little governmental support. The most that is offered are a few grants to selected centers making quality early education unaffordable to most families in Kenya. Resulting in what we often see in the US, children of families that can afford to pay for early education enter primary school better prepared than those children that had no early education.

The same issue affects the quality and training of the teachers. Due to cost, very few teachers are trained in early childhood education, which results in the children being taught by unqualified personnel.  Godfrey also shared that the teacher salaries are very low in the poor neighborhoods leading to low morale and low quality of services provided.

Godfrey believes that positive change may be coming in Kenya as they passed a new constitution last year and now county governments will be responsible for early childhood education. He believes local communities will be better at effective change. He sees the biggest challenge will be the wide gap between the rich and the poor. He fears this will continue to influence the upward economic mobility of the poor.  

Another related issue is health care. Health care facilities are not easily accessible for most of the population in Kenya. Many families must travel a considerable distance to get to health care facilities or clinics. This results in many illnesses not being treated or vaccinated against. Many children become very sick or die from diseases which are easily treatable or preventable through vaccination. 

I now have a clearer picture of how so much of any nation’s economy and stability is tied to the education of it poorest citizens. I also now understand how parental education, access to health care and access to basic transportation are intertwined in their effect on children, their education and future earning potential. The mission of the EFA is an important one, as every citizen deserves a quality education for the good of all citizens.

Education for All http://web.worldbank.org/WBSITE/EXTERNAL/TOPICS/EXTEDUCATION/0,,contentMDK:20374062~menuPK:540090~pagePK:148956~piPK:216618~theSitePK:282386,00.html