Time Well Spent

For the past two years I have devoted my time to continuing my education. I have taken the time to look deeper inside myself to help educate young children. I have developed a greater appreciation for  the early childhood education field.

The most important thing that I have learned through this experience is how to find and dispel biases that I have. It is important to put my feelings aside in order to give the children and their families the best education possible. I have also learned that it takes many different people to help maintain quality education. There are so many different problems that families face all over the world and we can't tackle them all on our own. We have to come together as a community of educators to make sure that children are able to reach their highest potential. The final thing that I learned is that just being a teacher in the classroom isn't enough for me. During this process I have found so many different job opportunities that interest me. I use to think that I was making the biggest difference being the teacher in the classroom, but what I learned is that I want to do so much more. Now I know how to make those dreams a reality and take my education and goals to the next level to reach even more children.

My long term goal is reach as many children as possible. I want to continue my education so that I can go on to do more and take even higher job opportunities. I would love to open my own childcare center that is affordable for all families but offers an extremely high quality of education. I want it to be a center that values for education not only for students but also for the teachers. If I could open  more that one center, I would open as many as I can to make the biggest difference.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues and instructors that have helped my on my journey. Without your help I would not have been as successful as I am today. Your comments and questions have helped me broaden my thinking and imagine new possibilities. I wish you good luck on your journey after your masters program and wish you great success in reaching your goals.

Lauren Downer

lmdowner@live.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

There are so many different jobs available internationally that revolve around making a difference in the early childhood field. One of the voluntary programs that looking into years ago was a program called Cross-Cultural Solutions. This is a volunteer program where teachers can travel across the world to a city of their choosing and work with under privileged students. The volunteers will work with the students regular teacher to help them enrich the education of their students. Sometimes the teachers have too many students and they need the help of the volunteer to help reach each students for individual learning time. There is a job opportunity available for this non-profit organization as a program specialist in New Rochelle, New York. As the program specialist you will help lead the volunteers in preparing for their international journey. You will have to communicate with all prospects and be able to answer their questions and concerns about volunteering abroad. To be qualified for this job you would have had to go through a Cross-Cultural Solutions program and traveled to previously volunteer. You would need an undergraduate degree and be able to organize a variety of tasks in a timely manner.  It would be a plus for you to have previous telephone communication skills.

Academy of Educational Development is an organization that helps serve in many countries all over the world that helps educate others on interrelated developmental challenges. This organization wants all individuals in all communities to be able to reach their highest potential. I like how this organization works together to educate many different types of people all over the world and helps them become more knowledgeable. This organization has different job opportunities all over the world. One of the jobs that they had that interest me was the Early Childhood Education specialist based out of Washington DC. This job required you to work with grantees of the head start program for their School Readiness, Parent, Family and Community Engagement, Collaboration, and Professional Development individualized programs. You would have to attend meetings that will help these organizations continue to improve the quality of their programs. To be qualified for this job you have to have at least a BA or BS in Early Childhood Education but they would like to see a masters degree as well. You would have had to work with young children in field for at least 5 years and have knowledge of childhood development. most importantly you should have good people skills and be able to communicate and work effectively with teachers and other educators. You must be able to travel as 50% of the job is done traveling.

Association for Early Childhood Education International has a variety of programs that help young children all over the world. They have a great program called Love Me, Teach Me. This program promotes the needs and children's righter everywhere. They want all children to have the right to be heard and have their own personal identity. They believe that every child should be heard and have the right to participate. They believe that all children should be loved, they should feel loved, have stability and protection. They also believe that all children should have the right to education and to be taught to their greatest potential.  One of the programs that this organization has is a country liaison. This person provides information and events to others in their countries organization. They go into public and private schools to help run theme based events. Each country has a different focus of education purposes. In order to be a country liaison you would just have to volunteer for the program through their website. 

References: 

Academy for Educational Development. (2011). Retrieved from  http://www.fhi360.org/

Association for Early Childhood Education International. (2011). Retrieved from https://acei.org/

Cross-Cultural Solutions. (2014) Retrieved from http://www.crossculturalsolutions.org/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: National/Federal Level

I have looked into many different organizations when researching for my Inclusion capstone project. I wanted to focus on special education students fitting in and being just as accepted as their typical peers.

One of the national organizations that I thought would be a huge help for the students that I want to work with is the National Inclusion Project. (http://www.inclusionproject.org/) This organization did not have any specific job opportunities listed but I found many different ways to donate and support their program. You can help a child go to an inclusion camp called Let's all Play. During the holiday seasons you can wrap presents to help raise inclusion awareness. To be able to help and donate your time you just need to be aware of the local activities that you can help volunteer.  You can donate in different amount increments and make a one time payment or a recurring donation to help the project. This is a organization that I want to find ways to held and donate my time.

Another organization that I found to help me in my journey is the Kind Foundation. (http://www.kindfoundation.org/) This is an organization that helps aid teachers and parents when working with developmentally delayed and learning disabled students. This was another organization that is not hiring at this time or is not advertising an open position. I did however find a place to donate in any amount. You can sign up to volunteer at an of their events as well. In order to be apart of this organization you would have to have an awareness for students with these types of disabilities. You would also have to be willing to collaborate with other teachers and parents about meeting the needs of these young children. I would love to find a local meeting where I can collaborate with teachers and parents in my area and help the young children.

With regards to the education of young children, The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is always at the top of my list. (http://www.naeyc.org) They work for the young children to make sure that their voice is heard and we are working for the child. All of the jobs that are available though NAEYC are located in Washington DC. In the Executive office the have a position for a Quality Enhancement Coordinator. This person would support all new and ongoing projects. They would have to be an administrator and assist the director for these projects. To be qualified for this job you have to have a B.A. Degree in International Development or something related. It is highly recommended that you have knowledge of Middle East/North Africa.  I think that working this job with the NAEYC would be a once in a lifetime, being able to travel and work with different people on many different projects that support children. What an amazing opportunity! 

References:

Kind Foundation. Retrieved from  http://www.kindfoundation.org/

National Association for the Education of Young Children, (NAEYC). Retrieved from
     http://www.naeyc.org

National Inclusion Project. Retrieved from http://www.inclusionproject.org/

Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

For my capstone project I want to take a look into inclusion and dispelling biases of children who will not interact or play with children that have different ability levels. I think that this is a topic that hurts so many young children because they do not feel included in the classroom.

When taking the time to research my topic and find resources to help me I can across three great organizations that I feel would be extremely helpful to my studies. The agencies that I would enlist help from would be: Children and Adults with Attention Deficit/Hyperactive Disorder (CHADD), Nevada PEP, and Families for Effective Autism Treatment (FEAT).

I chose to pick CHADD and FEAT because I see an increasing number of children with ADHD and autism in the classroom. These students are ofter times misunderstood for behavior problems and not taken for who they really are. I believe that this organization can help these students learn coping behaviors in the classroom and also do lessons with myself and the other students in my classroom. I could not find job opportunities for either of these organizations, but they did have multiple volunteer options.

The reason that I chose Nevada PEP is because I want families to also feel incorporated in this process of including all students and coming together as a community. This organization is very helpful and has tons of resources that can help everyone in my classroom feel welcome and special.
Nevada PEP has a job opening for a Family specialist. I think that this would be a great role to help support and train families. I would teach them how to support their child and their individual needs in the community. In order to take this job I would need a little more background knowledge on the opportunities available to families.  

References

"CHADD - Nationally Recognized Authority on ADHD." CHADD - Nationally Recognized Authority on ADHD. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://www.chadd.org/

 "Las Vegas Autism Support | FEATSONV.ORG." Las Vegas Autism Support | FEATSONV.ORG. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://featsonv.org/

 "Welcome to Nevada PEP." Welcome to Nevada PEP. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2014. http://nvpep.org/

Reflecting on Learning

Going through the past 8 weeks,  I have learned about how to build an anti biased classroom. I have thought about and reflected on different situations and conversations that could happen in my classroom and how I would deal with the situation. My biggest hope is that I walk away from this course an even more anti biased role model for my students. I am able to talk with them and help explain to them that we should be grateful for each others differences and abilities. My hopes are that I can dispel any biases that my students might have and teach them to be respectful to everyone.

I want to give a big thank you to my colleagues that have been supporting me the past 8 weeks. You have helped me unveil my biases and reflect on my own person views. You have also helped me come up with amazing activities that I can do with my students to help them also become anti biased individuals. Good luck with your future journey!

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I choose to look closer at West and Central Africa. This is one part of the world that has always interested me and I have always tried to research and learn more about this area when I am given the opportunity. I also that their educational system is much different than ours and this always intrigues me.

One of the biggest challenges that these children face is malnutrition, and 2 out of every 10 children don't even reach their 5th birthday. If they do make it past their 5th birthday they usually do not go to school because of poverty and traditional beliefs. Often times these children are are victims of violence and sexual behaviors.

I can completely understand why it is hard for these children to learn and develop. If they are malnourished they are not going to be able to focus or learn anything that is being taught to them. They are going to be more concerned with their next meal. If they come down with disease that happens often in this area of the world, learning is the least of their concern. If they are victims they are going to be more worried about their survival then about what they are going to learn next. The priority of these children are completely different than the children that we have in our classrooms in the United States.

After reflecting on this situation it always reminds me of the quote, "Someone always has it worse." I reflect on the things that I worry about in my personal life and the things that my students worry about and some of it is so irrelevant. I have children that worry when their next meal will be, but they also know that they will get food. The children in West and Central Africa do not know when their next meal will come.

Resources:
UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

I will be the first to agree that children are exposed to sexuality at a very young age. I am raising a child in Las Vegas where every other billboard has pictures of half naked women. There are driving billboards with call girl phone numbers and there are many different strip clubs and adult stores. I will be the first to say that I live outside of the main view points of these things but there are times we do have to go near or by these places. Thankfully my son is not at the age where he understands or asks questions but eventually he will be.

As for my children at work, we just had hat day a few weeks back. One of my students came to school in a Hooters hat. When I asked him about the hat he said that he does there to eat with his family. My personal view is that they do have great food but you don't always have to let your young children eat there or wear their hat, this parent shouldn't have allowed their child to wear this hat to school.

As a school we celebrate student reading achievements. This past week a girl received a reward in front of the school. She had a beautiful long red dress that was from her Spanish culture. When she went up to receive her reward one of the kindergarten children yells, "She is sexy!" I looked at the teacher and she looked at me and we questioned if we really just heard that, until he said it again. This is something that he has heard at home or on TV, and was able to use in proper context. The teacher just quietly told him that it wasn't appropriate and he looked devastated because he had no idea. 

Children need to be just that, children. They need to be able to learn and grow without having to experience things that their young minds can't handle, such as sexual content. There is no reason for children to have think or see things that might warp their thinking. They need to be exposed to fun, imagination and learning not something that they might become afraid of or might be inappropriate.

While I think that children are being exposed at a very young age, I also think that parents can do a better job of supervising what their children are watching, buying and playing. As a busy parent myself I know that this is not always an easy task but that is why it is important to talk with your children about things that are appropriate vs. inappropriate.