Creating Affirming Environments

This week I was to imagine opening my very own family child care home, with help from this week’s resources I was able to create and visualize how I would want my family child care home. After watching Adriana’s care home media segment, I saw how diverse the learning areas where right from the entrance of her care home. Pictures of the children were utilized throughout the learning areas, comfort zones were created for the children, diverse activities were provided, and I even loved how Adriana made homemade toys that reflected diverse learning. After reflecting from the media segment, it was easier for me to visualize on what I would want in my own child care home. Diversity was going to be my main goal when visualizing my very own family child care home.

At “United Little Minds Family Child Care Home” from the moment you walk into through the front door you are welcomed by the child care home director. The families and the children are welcomed with smiles, positive communication, and body language. Once you enter the home all you see throughout the learning areas of the home are diverse pictures of the families of the children enrolled hanging the walls. In the comfort zone there will be a huge “United Little Minds Family Tree” so that children can have comfort seeing their families on the tree. I will provide a Parent board with information for parents in all the languages my program caters to. Learning environments will consist of 3 rooms filled with safe and healthy age appropriate materials, furniture, books, and learning activities. In all 3 rooms you see diverse environments that reflects the children and their families I serve such as diverse music, posters, materials, music instruments, dramatic clothes, books, and dolls. The outdoor play area is a safe exploring environment. All children will always explore in a diverse learning environment. At “United Little Minds Family Child Care Home” children’s needs will be met educationally, diversely, and age appropriately. Most importantly children will be able to explore learning comfortably and appropriately.

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author

Blog: What I Have Learned

     My hope when working with children and families who come from diverse families is to ensure educators and professionals are culturally and linguistically diverse. I would hope that educators and staff will respect all children and their families by catering to all the children and family’s individual needs such as: Implementing primary language, ethnic backgrounds, religion, disability, culture, and sex. Accept and respect diversity when working with children and their families. Everyone should be respected and feel welcomed when working with diverse families.

     One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field relating to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be to achieve cultural competence. This would help educators and staff to appreciate the families, but to increase the quality and effectiveness of all diverse backgrounds.

     I would also like to thank all my colleagues for broadening my views on diversity. I have learned so much from each of you, and I appreciate all the positive feedback I received from discussions and blog assignments. Best of luck in your educational path.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: Creating Art

Song: If You’re Happy That Were Equal Clap Your Hands
(Tune: If you’re happy and you know it)

By: Stacy Almendarez

If you’re happy that were equal clap your hands
If you’re happy that were equal clap your hands
If you’re happy that were equal, then your smile will truly show it
If you’re happy that were equal clap your hands
If you’re happy that were equal, hug a friend
If you’re happy that were equal, hug a friend
If you’re happy that were equal, then your smile will truly show it
If you’re happy that were equal, hug a friend
If you’re happy that were equal, shout “We love everyone”
If you’re happy that were equal, shout “We love everyone”
If you’re happy that were equal, then your smile will truly show it
If you’re happy that were equal, shout “We love everyone”

Creating art is a beautiful thing, and for me I love to see children express themselves through art. This is my reason for creating a song that will allow children to sing, dance, and create art as they send the message ” We welcome diversity”. I feel this is a great way to begin teaching diversity in early childhood.

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: “We Don’t Say Those Words in Class!”

In Week 6 Blog I have the pleasure of sharing my good friend Jeanine Garcia’s experience with ” We Don’t Say Those Words in Class!”. 

A time when you witnessed an adult (or yourself) reprimand or silence a child after he or she pointed out someone they saw as different (e.g., “That lady talks funny,” ” That man only has one leg!” “Why is that man so pretty!”). Include what the child said and what the adult did or said in response.
I am currently a STEM teacher for an elementary school. I teach grades pre-k-5. In a few of my classes, we have students from the life skills class join us during rotation. During one class, the life skills students were very agitated. All the students turned to see what the commotion was and gestured to each other to turn and look towards the back of the class, to which the aide got after them for looking and staring. I called the attention of the students back to the front and asked for the teacher’s aide to return to her class with the agitated students. Once the life skills students had left the room, I addressed the situation with the remaining students.
 What messages might have been communicated to this child/these child by the educator or adult in response
 The teacher’s aide might have communicated to the remaining students that their interest and curiosity is bad. That their questions to what had just happened were invalid and that they were not respected enough to understand what had just taken place, and how it affects them too.
 An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child’s (or classroom’s) understanding
 An anti-bias teacher would understand that both parties involved are affected by the situation. The regular ed students turned because they were curious about what was going on. There was no name calling or commenting, they were simply in the middle of a lesson when commotion interrupted their learning and they turned to make sense of what was going on. I would like to think that an anti-bias educator would take that as an opportunity to educate both types of students. Because of the teacher’s aide’s agitated state, I asked her to remove the students to a more controlled and familiar environment (their regular classroom). I then asked the students how they felt about what had just occurred. We talked about the similarities and differences between themselves and the other students. And we discussed how they will try to return to our class the following week for rotation and what can we do help them function when we come together. The students decided to “adopt a buddy” so that all the life skills students would not be altogether feeding off the energy of each other in case one of them had another bad day. They also decided that the table leader will help the “buddy” complete assignments so that they have someone to talk to, feel comfortable with and so that they won’t get frustrated with not being able to keep up. So far, this is currently working, and we have not had another outburst.

 

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

 

My response to those who believe that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families
I strongly believe early childhood centers should implement books of all diverse families, as educators we need to be supporting all children and their families in a fair, and equitable manner. Diversity is so important to teach children, if we don’t educate children to respect and value everyone, and their families how do expect for them to understand the world we live in. The diversity of families has changed so much in the past decades, and with change comes same sex couple households. Many children have same couple parents, and that is their family, so why shouldn’t they be able to see their families in books at the childhood centers they go to. All children need to feel welcome and be able to relate to the world they live in, and other children need to be educated on diversity of families.
How you would respond to a parent/family member who informed you they did not want anyone who is perceived (or self-reported) homosexual or transgender to be caring for, educating, and/or interacting with their child
I would respond by explaining how important it is to implement and welcome diversity. I would let them know everyone is entitled to their opinion, but also explain to them that in this situation all that should matter is that educator is educating their child. If the person is educating and following the proper curriculum and following the school’s rules. Basically, all I could do is explain the importance to welcome everyone, and accepting diversity in their life, but most importantly how important it is to teach their child about diversity, so they accept and treat everyone with respect. Overall a parent or family member will have total control on who interacts or educates their child but educating them on the importance on diversity would be my main conversation to them.

Time Well Spent

It all started with a challenge from my son when speaking to him on the importance of education and accomplishing his educational goals, and when asked of my goal I answered “I would of loved to have completed my Master’s Degree” and his words to me were “If it’s important for me to accomplish mine why isn’t it important for you to accomplish yours?” and that was it I was challenged to be a positive role model for my children, and enrolled at Walden University. Although I said to myself how I am going to juggle being a mother, a supervisor, and a student the challenge was many bumps in the road along with many life changes in my life, but I continued past all the challenges that came my way. Walden University taught me so much more about Early Childhood. Walden University helped me by supporting me when I needed support with my classes, and the instructors are very supportive and understanding to their student’s needs. The online classes were very easy to understand and follow. All the colleagues were so supportive during discussions, and always willing to help each other out. The program was just a wonderful experience that I will share with others.

          After completing the programs I hope to one day accomplish my long-term goal to have my own non-profit organization that caters to teen parents and their children. This goal will better the future of teen parents and their children in their educational path.

I’m so grateful for everyone here at Walden University, and blessed to have shared this journey with all my fellow colleagues. It’s been a long journey with many challenges in my path, but with all the support I received from all my instructors I was able to accomplish my educational goal I set for myself. I wish everyone the best of luck in their future.

Blog Assignment: Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

My passion for early childhood goes beyond just working with children at my Head Start Program, I love children and helping them be successful in their education path, but most of all I want to make a difference in every child’s life including those from around the world. There are many organizations I support and like what they stand for, but most of all they help all the children of the world. Some of the organizations I like are the UNICEF, United Nations Children’s Fund, and Save the Children. As I was exploring their websites I found several job opportunities I would be interested in applying for if I was able to work around the world to help better children. Listed below were the job listings that caught my attention.

Batch Vacancy – Child Protection Specialist, NO-3, Brasilia & Rio de Janeiro, Brazil                    Location: Brazil
Work Type: Fixed Term Staff | Level:
The Child Protection Specialist will be responsible for support of the development and preparation of the Child Protection programs/projects and for managing, implementing, monitoring, evaluating and reporting of progress of child protection programs/projects within the country program.

Experience
– A minimum of five (5) years of professional experience in social development planning and management in the field of child protection and other related areas is required.
– Relevant experience in child protection and related areas (i.e. urban violence context), program/project development is considered desirable.

– Previous relevant work experience in UN system and/or agency is considered an asset. 

– Experience in both development and humanitarian contexts is considered an asset.

 

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

How exciting it was to search for federal agencies that I would love to work for, and with the quickness I found several that I love to apply for, and be considered for the positions. The first ideal job found was for the Texas Head Start Association, and the job title was Executive Director for their center for New Communities Early Head Start. The position consisted  of  reporting to the President and requires the expertise of a qualified individual with strong leadership, and the professional skill set necessary successfully administer and manage the program. The EHS Executive Director (ED) should be a visionary and a strategic leader who can work effectively in a dynamic, growing, multicultural, and collaborative program dedicated to serving the needs of 224 low income children and their families in the Bexar and Gillespie County areas. The qualifications the position was requiring B.A. required and M.A. or Ph.D. degree preferred and relevant credentials/certificates in education administration, public administration, early childhood development, education, special education, social work, developmental psychology, or other appropriate field;  At least 5-8 years’ experience in administering a comprehensive, community-based early childhood education and family development program; Familiarity with the budgetary, administrative, and organizational complexity of managing multiple grants; Prior senior management experience in Early Head Start or Head Start preferred.

The Second position that caught my eye was the Director of Program Services for Texas Head Start Association. The job description consisted of  the EHS/HS Director of Program Services is responsible for helping to ensure the entire Head Start program mandates and standard for excellence are met on a daily basis. This position participates in the development of the structure, systems and procedures to facilitate a high quality EHS/HS program.  Qualification it is seeking Bachelor’s Degree required from an accredited college or university. Major in any of the following disciplines preferred: Education, Educational Administration, and Business Administration Management. If major is in a non-management discipline, must also have at least 24 semester unites in administration, management or equivalent. Additional experience in administration may be substituted for required education on a year to year basis. Minimum 3-5 years of progressive more responsible management experience. Direct experience in managing government funded program is highly desired. Head Start experience was a plus for this position.

Lastly, I found a position of a Compliance Manger for Texas Head Start Association. The job description was someone who Implements and facilitates the Agency’s Review of Contract (ROC) process; documents enterprise-wide compliance program; researches, develops and reviews compliance policies, procedures, processes and compliance aides for adherence to funder requirements and government regulations and otherwise supports the Agency’s regulatory compliance function.  Stays informed  on current issues affecting Agency operations and programs. The qualifications for this job was a Bachelor’s degree from four-year college or university in Business, Education, Mathematics, Science, or any other related field.  Advanced degree preferred but not required.  Must have previous professional experience with regulatory compliance , and/or contract compliance management.  Current professional certifications in compliance and/or contract functions strongly preferred. I strongly feel I may not have the qualifications for this position, but sure would love to be considered for this position. This would be something I would love to try in the Head Start Field.

All positions were with federal Head Start agencies, and out of the three I feel strongly for the first two, due to I’m fully qualified for both.

Week 2 : Exploring Roles In the ECE Community

This weeks reflecting on effective community practice has allowed me to reflect on some things I would like to do in my community, and other things I would like to explore in my career. Some professions I would love to do, and apply for besides my current job as a Head Start Director would be the following:

1. An Assistant Professor for Early Childhood Education at UTSA main campus or downtown campus. I feel I could qualify for the position after I complete my Master’s . The qualifications it is requiring are experience in infant/toddler settings, experience in early intervention, I feel really strong in qualifying for this position. I feel it would be a change for me, but It would allow me to educate others in the Early childhood Education Field.
2. I have always dreamed of having my own non-profit organization that catered to educating teen parents on early childhood. I have seen so many grants offered for non-profit organizations, and I would love to apply for the grants. Qualifications I feel I qualify for, now with my experience in grant writing I feel I can apply for grants, and make my dreams a reality.

3. Professional Development Trainer is something I have always wanted to do. Since I already give staff development training at my job I feel this position would suit me well. I feel I’m qualified for this position, and meet the requirements it is asking for. Such as the Master’s in child Development. I love educating other’s on early childhood.

I love that this weeks blog assignment made me think outside my comfort zone, and allowed me to really think on what I want to do in my future.

Week 8: My Support System

The past 8 weeks I have been part of a wonderful collaborative learning community. We all have been supportive of each other throughout the 8 weeks. I have enjoyed all the support from my colleagues. My colleagues have been so supportive in giving me feedback on my discussions and blog assignments. They have given me helpful information on early childhood by sharing their experiences, and knowledge in the field. They all have been so positive in communication with me. I loved how they would praise me for my discussions and blog assignments. But most importantly all my colleagues were always ready to help with anything I needed as it related to what we were studying. I too have done the same for my colleagues, and hope they continue to be successful in their journey to reach their educational goals.