microagressions

One example of microagression that I experienced was this week was our Head Start program has hired a new director. When discussing with a member of management (The whole management team is white and our previous director was white)what the new director was like, This is how she decribed her. Well its a woman and she worked in northern Virginia with a non-profit. She was the director there and had been there for a good while and she is black. What difference does that make in how she will perform her duties with us? I am not black but my husband is and I took offense to that. She may not have meant anything by it, but when discussing her as a person and professional why did she mention her race?
This observation made me take a second look at my own actions. I have been really aware of how I am saying things when talking too family and friends since this happened. I keep asking myself, "Do I do that?" It has made me want to scrutinize my language and actions when talking about people. Even if the person is my same race and don't intentionally offend them, I still want to make sure I think about it before I say it. This observation has made me look at everything I say and the way I say it. I don't want to belittle or offend anyone. Whether it is unintentional or intentional I don't want it to happen.

My Family Culture

I would take with me 1. Bible 2. picture of my family 3. my wedding ring

i would let people know that the most important things were with me. The Bible would be the most important thing then the picture of my family and then the wedding ring. My family is what means alot to me and God is the most important. If I had to choose between the three and only keep the one it would really hurt but I would have to choose my Bible over all because God is my everything and his word is whats important in my life and essential for my survival.

This assignment has made me really think about who I really am. It also had made me really see that it isn't the material things that are most important to me but my creator is my everything. This is a part of my culture and my family culture because this has been passed from generation to generation in my family.

When I Think of Research

The insights I have gained about research from taking this course are the facts of importance of validity, having an independent and dependent variable, and having equity in research.

My ideas have changed about the nature of doing research by me learning the steps to take for conducting research. I always thought you just went out and collected data. I didn't realize that you needed an outline or a timetable for research. This was a new idea for me.

The lesson I learned are basically as I said in the previous statement. I learned that it was important to plan an outline and design how you will gather data, how you will select participants, who will participate, etc. This was all new for me. I just thought it was an issue to research and you went out and did what you had to do to find it. The timetable thing makes sense because if you drag it on a long time, it could change results.

Some of the challenges I encountered were the aspect of remaining neutral and putting aside biases. WHen you come into a research topic, you kind of start thinking about how you feel about the subject or what your take is on it. I faced these challenges by reminding myself the research hadn;t been conducted yet so I needed to put the opinions to the back of my head and concentrate on the facts that I gather. This is easier said than done. Way easier said than done!

My perceptions of an EC professional have been modified by raising the awareness of the importance of our profession to children. It also raised awareness of the importance of our future. We have an amazing task ahead of us that requires us to be dedicated to the children of today, tomorrow as they are our future. Research is something that is really needed to ensure that we offer our children the best opprtunities possible. Research is also important to the fact that we need to offer those opportinites in the best way available.

Research Around the World

Early Childhood Australia:

* What are some of the current international research topics?

1. Play based learning

2. Is discussion relating to sexuality in Early Childhood dangerous business?

3. Researching with/for whom? Stepping in and out of practitioner research.

* What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

I saw something that said Long Day care. I fond out that it is basically the same as our daycare here in the United States. It is daycare for children of working families. It can also be care before and after school.


* What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?
I saw things on the site that are very similar to what we have here in the United states. They are selling scarves and different toys for children. It was neat to see that they do some of the same things we do to educate our young children. There was a whole list of books and different teaching aids available for purchase. The website was real interesting and I saved it in my favorites so I can refer to it from time to time.

Uplifting Stories

The story that came to mind of me is our Conscious Discipline that we have been studying with Becky Bailey. This is an alternative form of discipline that has been researched and it is making positive impact on children. This form of discipline puts the focus on the child and the child's feelings. One of our children was a real problem in the classroom. He was real defiant and violent. We began implementing this Conscious Discipline at the beginning of the school year. The teacher and assistant are using all the techniques and even shared them with his mom so she could implement them as well at home. This boy has made a complete turn around! This is almost the end of the school year and it has made a difference in his life. This is one positive effect that I can see from their research. I am not as involved in the Conscious Discipline as the teaching staff is, but I am eager to get more familiar with it. Has anyone ever heard of it before? Does anyone live in Florida, because I believe that is where it is based?

Research Simulation

The topic I chose is Increasing Parental Involvement. I chose this topic because I have problems getting parents involved in our Head Start classrooms. It would make such a difference in the education of the children if parents would get involved. The questions that I had to go over in my head for the assignment were so many. I did enjoy coming up with them because it made me think about what is it I really want to know? I am also interested in knowing if anyone has any ideas for increasing parental involvement not just in the classroom but at home. This would involve using methods of teaching at home and being involved in homework and school extension activities?
My questions for researching increasing parental involvement are:

1. Why are parents reluctant to get involved?
2. What are some strategies that have been successful in involving parents in the past?
3. Should we offer an incentive to entice parents to be involved?

Anyone who has suggestions or comments on these questions please feel free to comment. Also, if you know where I can find resources for answers to these questions, please leave them here for me. Thanks!

Getting to Know Your International Contacts-Part 3

I am having trouble with my international contact. All of a sudden I am not hearing anymore from him. I am not sure if he is extremely busy or if he is no longer there. The email hasn't bounced back so I know the address is still good. I did however meet a person Monday night at a parent workshop that was held at my son's school, (Also the school where the Head Start class I work in is located). She isn't international but she is in another state. This person I talked to had a wealth of information for me. I had printed out this assignment for the blog, so I was asking her some of the questions. She is a parent trainer, and also trains teachers and teacher assistants in the Early Childhood professions. She said the issue regarding quality childcare that they are talking about is training. Of course she is in the training field so they are most concerned about the development of staff. She said they find the primary reason programs do not train staff is because of budget. However this is so important for maintaining a high quality center.
They have several different opportunities for professionals. One of them is the CDA-Credential. The program that she works with offers that for groups and will send out professionals to oversee staff working on the credential. They also offer private trainings on a variety of topics focused on specific needs of programs.
Her professional goals are to travel, meet and train as many Early Childhood Professionals as she possibly can. She feels this is the key to transforming our childcare standards to higher quality. Her dream is to see a set of Standards put into place for all child care centers that want to be licensed. She also wants to see a system of checks and balances so that we know the centers are abiding by the standards.
I really enjoyed the chat with her that happened by chance. I don't believe in coincidences, I feel God sent her my way because he knew I would need her. I also got her card so maybe our teaching staff can be trained by her.