End of a Journey

Three Deep Learning Experiences:

My first deep learning experience occurred when I finally uncovered the biases I had towards a particular group. This was incredibly difficult at the time. I struggled to understand how I could possess such biases and still be a teacher each day. It is through this program I was able to uncover my bias and worth through my bias with the support of my colleagues in this program and colleagues at my school.

The next deep learning was in regard to the support system I had. Early on in the Master’s program we were asked to share those that were a part of our support system. I did not recognize why this was so important to the degree I was working towards, however now I recognize that the support system we have and those that surround us are the very ones that help us grow and develop just like our children. It is each of these members that play a role in the overall development of a child including me as a child enters my classroom each day.

The final deep learning I had was in regard to the power we have to change the injustices that exist towards children and families. Each person that has stood for children and worked towards change had to start somewhere just like us. This helped me realize that any of us can be advocates or positive change in our children.

One of my long term goals is to work towards improving the quality of teaching I provide my children with each day, and to help improve the quality of teaching that exists around my school as a whole. I hope to bring forth new strategies and information that will spark the passion of those in my school who have lost sight of their passion, and help support new teachers in building positive high quality classrooms. As a person who recently began my career as a teacher, I am in tune with some of the challenges and set backs that may occur and my goal is to be a mentor as we gain many new teachers in the coming year.

International Organizations

World Vision-   This organization is Christian- based and focused on working with children, families, and communities world-wide to help them reach their fullest potential despite the causes of poverty and injustice.  World Vision ( 2013) serves close to 100 million people in 100 countries around the world. In the United States, this organization works in the urban and rural areas to provide poverty relief services.  They help children by providing free tutoring from trained volunteers as well as helping expand current community organizations that are child-centered.  This organization also provides disaster relief world wide, nutrition, and water supply to those in need, as well as health needs of expecting parents.   Looking into the many job opportunity, one in particular caught my eye. This administrative coordinator position is in Nashville, TN and required extensive attention to detail and ability to multitask. Some of the responsibilities include coordinating calendar appointments for team leaders, coordinating tour representative travel, ordering supplies for events, and conducting data entry and analysis to report project results.  This job requires 5 years of administrative support experience, which I do not have, but all other requirements I possess. This job sounds very challenging and a major change of pace for me as a current teacher.

Save the Children-  Save the Children has some similarities to World Vision, in that they both respond when disasters strike. They are there to provide nutrition, medical care, and education as well as remain through the long recovery process. In the United States they provide programs to support children growing up in poverty. Save the Children (2013) states that nearly 13 million children understand all too well what it means to go without including access to books, preschool, healthy foods and a place to play and exercise. Save the Children has programs such as Ready to Learn, Success in School, and Healthy and Active which served nearly 185,000 children last year. While there are job openings all over the world, the closest one is in Kentucky as a Program Specialist for School Based Programs. This job requires partner planning and site support, implementation of training and technical assistance programs as well as monitoring the implementation of school based programs. For this job I almost fulfill all the requirements expect for a minimum of 5 years as a teacher. This is a job to definitely keep my eyes on in the future.

CARE- This is a leading organization in fighting global poverty. This organizations focus is on helping women in poverty because they feel women have the power to help whole families and entire communities (CARE, 2013).  This organization works to improve education, access to clean water, expand economic opportunities and protect natural resources. CARE responds in times of crisis by providing the immediate survival needs and helps them rebuild their lives in the weeks and months to follow.  CARE also works at the local, national, and international levels to bring about policies that address the underlying causes of poverty. Many of the positions under the CARE organization were stationed overseas or simply did not meet my interest, however under the internship and fellowship section they included two positions, one for economic development and the other for learning tours. The learning tours position involves a great deal of research on potential countries for future trips, recruitment, and post trip responsibilities.  This job is something a little different from what I am typically interested in, but I do feel it would provide a great learning experience to develop my communication skills, and understanding of poverty around the world.

References

http://www.care.org/

http://www.savethechildren.org

http://www.worldvision.org

National/Federal Organizations

    The three national/federal organizations I selected include The National Center of Family Literacy, The United States Department of Health and Human Services, and Jumpstart. Each of these organizations grabbed my attention in different ways.

     The National Center of Family Literacy grabbed my attention simply by the title. Literacy is such a critical topic within our nation today. This organization focused on the entire family literacy not just the child’s. Its focus is supported by research that children’s reading scores are improved when their parents are involved in helping them learn to read. They also find that low income and mother’s lack of education are big factors in students’ education. This organization currently does not have any positions available and does not state any information about job descriptions or qualifications. It simply mentioned sending in a resume.

      The next organization is the United States Department of Health and Human Services in the Administration of Children and Families. One specific job is a child care program specialists. This job would involve evaluation child care programs, identifying and researching policies that impact child care, as well as assisting other staff with presenting information regarding successful child care program practices. This job requires progress in a Master’s program or a Master’s Degree.

     The final organization is Jumpstart. This organization works hard to close the achievement gap between our countries children. While this organization focuses on training college students and volunteers to work with preschool children, it also has many jobs for others.  One particular job within this organization is the Executive Director of a particular region. This job requires monitoring and evaluating current strategies in use for the program, as well as build partnerships with those in higher education and early educator because of there impact in helping reach goals. This position also requires taking on full management of 35 regional staff and maintain a positive culture in which each individual is maximizing their potential. This position requires at least a Bachelor’s degree but prefers Master’s or more. It also requires 10 years experience within the fundraising or nonprofit leadership which is something I am far from possessing.

From these three observations of job positions it is clear that my opportunities exceed beyond the classroom, however I also need develop my experience in fundraising and leadership.

References:

http://www.famlit.org/

http://www.hhs.gov/careers/

http://www.jstart.org/

Exploring State and Local Roles in the Early Childhood Education Community

This week has been quiet stressful with the accumulation of all the different responsibilities in my life. I am quiet thankful for my support team who have been great ears to listen, and minds to help bounce ideas off. As I looked into different local and state organizations, I found that Memphis has many different organizations, agencies, and communities of practice that gain my interest.

Metropolitan Inner Faith Association (MIFA) is an organization that supports vulnerable seniors and families in crisis through high impact programs. One particular program helps families who experience an unexpected loss of income and help provide them with housing and food. They also have programs that provide life skills training, counseling, and mentoring. This organization strikes my interest because it falls in line with my passion for helping families of low economic status and provide them with resources that will help them get on their feet as well as support the family. The main aspect that drew my attention to this organization originally, was its top value to welcome and respect all people and act with integrity (MIFA, 2008).  While no current positions are available within this organization, it does state that college degree is required. However, many volunteer opportunities are currently available within this organization such as delivering meals, working alongside a mentor.

Stand for Children Leadership Center is an organization focused on solving problems facing children. It also provides training for other individuals who wish to be a part of standing up for issues facing children by convincing elected officials and voters to invest in vital children’s programs. A career within this field would help provide change in the childhood programs in another avenue outside of being a classroom teacher. This is actually a job I truly feel would fulfill my passion towards childhood education outside of being a classroom teacher. A job within this organization would involve excellent leadership skills, as well as the ability to motivate, manage, and develop a staff that can create proposals to state and district policies. Looking over these qualifications I am lacking the five years experience in the education field at the moment, as well as experience in writing in this form.

Porter-Leath is the primary resource in the Memphis area for at risk children and families (Porter -Leath, 2013). This organization provides the building blocks needed for healthy development along with the tools necessary to make this happen. This organization includes Head Start programs as well as resources to provide training for parents as they teach their children. Many other resources and outreach opportunities are provided throughout the year from this organization. This is yet another program that fuels my passion to help families in the Memphis area in ways beyond working in the classroom. Many positions are available in this organization including an educational coordinator which would oversee all the activities occurring in a Head Start program, and the Parent Educator which will visit with up to 30 families within the program and provide training on parents as teachers.  I am comforted to know that both of these positions fit the qualifications I currently possess, as fall directly in line with a type of position that I can see myself holding in future years.

With these three organizations in mind, I have realized that fulfilling my passion does not simply mean I must remain in the classroom. While I love my job as a classroom teacher, I am aware that within the next few years I will want change. Recognizing that making that change is more possible than I originally thought is comforting.

References:

Metropolitain Inner Faith Association (2008). Our programs. Retrieved from www.mifa.org

Porter-Leather: Better children. Better Families (2013). About Porter- Leath. Retrieved from www. porterleath.org

Week 8 Reflecting on Learning

As I think back to this past course, I think of all the growth I have made in removing my biases and understanding how I can provide an anti-bias learning environment for children. My most passionate hope is that I will be able to provide my children with new light into how to show respect and acceptance towards others. I hope to be a model to my students of what respect and acceptance of others for their differences looks like.  Every teacher leaves small imprints on a child's heart, and my most passionate hope is that I leave some imprints on their heart that let them feel they were a part of my class, and accepted, loved, and nurtured for who they are as in individual.  Just like the quote many of us have heard before, "a child may forget what you taught them, but they will never forget how you made them feel." If our teaching truly comes from the heart and we embrace those teachable moments, we will help build their positive sense of self identity.

To my wonderful colleagues, thank you all for yet another wonderful class filled with new insights. Many of us have been together since our journey began in course one! Thank you for all your support, helpful comments, and thoughts. I wish you the best in your final course in this degree!

Merry Christmas!
Jo Ann

Week 7 Blog Assignment- Impacts of Early Emotional Development

I selected the Central and Eastern Europe Region. As I contemplated a region that gained my interest, I thought of my friend who traveled to Turkey during our undergraduate classes. She always had so much to share so I was curious to learn more for myself.

One particular challenge I found is this region is that many children face violence including exclusion, deprivation of parental care, homelessness, and drug use. Children facing such challenges can struggle with feelings of positive self identity because of the lack of nurturing move from their parent. Children also need the support of strong parental involvement and care to learn how to handle emotions is a positive way.

Another challenge I found in this region is that children are often placed in institutional care due to family poverty, violence in the home, or disability. Despite strenuous efforts institutional care is often a first resort rather than a last resort. These situations led children to be more vulnerable to violence because of the separation from parents and society. This is harmful to their emotional development because they are also not gaining the opportunity to build strong relationships, handle problems in positive ways, and feel the love and nurture from a family.

As I reflect on the readings, I am saddened to see the trouble many of our children face across the world. As I think about my friend sharing all the wonderful stories of Turkey, I also have to remind myself that she was seeing the world from the outside in and only on the surface, just like a person coming to the United States might see. Each country faces many challenges that in turn can impact our children. One positive aspect is to see that these challenges are identified and ways to eliminate these challenges can now be implemented.  As a professional, seeing many of these challenges and stories displays yet another reason why we are not just educators in the academic area, but we must also focus highly on other areas including the emotional component. We are responsible for helping teach our children feel a sense of self worth and build their ability to problem solve in a positive way.I think about a quote I have hear so many times; "children will always remember how you made them feel." This is a constant reminder that we are important role models in each child's life.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

• Share your reaction to the topic of the sexualization of early childhood.

  Reading about the sexualization of early childhood is a saddening topic. Children are already trying to make sense of the world around them. However, when the world is now filled with so many sexualized messages regrading how girls are suppose to look and act, along with how boys are to look and act, we can only imagine the struggle and pressure this brings them. I think about the impact these messages have on a young boy or girl's self esteem.

• Provide three or more examples, from your personal or professional experience, that further illustrate the exposure of young children to a highly sexualized environment.

My niece is in 5th grade and  slightly overweight. All of her friends talk about and wear the cute "barely there" clothing. My niece has began to feel that this is what is expected for a young girl to be "liked" or "pretty" Not only is society sending her the message that thin is in, she also receives the message that "barely there" clothing is in; both of which she is feels she does not meet.
Another example involves some students within a school I taught. Similar to one of the examples given by Levin and Kilbourne (2009) about two girls performing sexual acts in the restroom; several Kindergarten boys were in a bathroom stall also experimenting with activities they have been exposed to. Just as Levin and Kilbourne (2009) stated our children are being exposed to so many sexual messages that the can not understand. 
As a professional I am able to see how many of my children are not enjoying the simply childhood activities I once enjoyed like coloring, being read to, playing at recess on the swings. Instead, I find many of my girls talking about make-up, clothes, and fashion websites for what is popular. Many of my boys are focused on who is the toughest boy. One of the boys even stated that when he gets in fights its okay because it shows he is strong and that is what he is suppose to do. 

• Explain the implications this may have on children’s healthy development. Include ideas you might have,as an early childhood professional, to best respond to these concerns and to reduce the negative impact on children. 

Throughout our courses we have learned many components that impact the healthy development of children. It is clear that children are highly influenced by what they see and hear. The sexualization of early childhood plays just as much impact on our children's healthy development as any other activities they are exposed to. In the early childhood years, children being to understand how they are alike and different from those around them, as well as develop their own understanding and sense of self. These sexualized messages within society on top of the development currently taken place can have a negative impact on children as they try to meet and reach society's messages.

• Describe the ways in which your awareness of the sexualization of early childhood has been influenced and/or modified by studying the topic this week. 

I did not realize the severity of this topic within our society. While I have encountered some very mind boggling experiences that I never thought children would be involved in, I thought it was something rare. Levin & Kilbourne (2009) clearly show how this is a national problem in society. It has also helped me see that this is something that can not be solved with one person or one group, but will involve a complete change in society. Levin & Kilbourne (2009) also address that it is not something we should blame parents for. I can honestly say that I have mentally placed blame on parents for any behaviors I have observed that are due to sexualized messages, however after reading this article I see that we can not place the blame on parents nor can we expect parents to do it on their own without the support from society.




References

Levin, D. E., & Kilbourne, J. (2009). [Introduction]. So sexy so soon: The new sexualized childhood and what parents can do to protect their kids (pp. 1-8). New York: Ballantine Books. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf