Module 3 -Diverse Perspectives From The Field

It is always interesting to get a dissimilar opinion to something that means a lot to you and has become your passion.  You get almost defensive over the topic and your beliefs.  But as an early childhood professional it is imperative to not only be open minded but maintain an open heart as well.  When we stop and listen to someone else opinion, especially those that differ from our own we can begin to visualize their perspective through their eyes.  I have a colleague that truly believes that inclusive classrooms are disruptive and take away from the advantages of a normal classroom for students without disabilities as well as takes away from the advantages of the students with disabilities to get the individualized attention they may need or desire.  She feels that many times the teachers focus must be on the student with disabilities therefore her other students fall through the cracks.  This is especially true when dealing with children that fall under the ASD umbrella.  There are different things that may set any individual off, but these students tend to be set off more frequently.  When discussing this topic with her I felt threatened by her closed minded approach to early childhood education.  Once she explained her position on the topic I could see where she was coming from.  Although I think inclusive classrooms are a positive.  Understanding her feelings as a classroom teacher who has experienced it firsthand I had to respect her opinion and outlook on the topic.

Personal Introduction for Global Perspectives on Development and Learning

Hello everyone!  I have not had to do a blog for a class at Walden in quite sometime.  I am currently on the fast track to complete my Ed.D by taking two classes a semester.  I work better when I am totally 100% engaged in something so I actually think it is easier to take two at one time.  I know that sounds nuts, but as an owner of an early childhood facility I have ample opportunities to develop current knowledge and research with a hands on approach.  I have two children Connor who is 8 and McKenzie who is 6.  They are a full-time job of their very own between all of their activities.  I look forward to blogging with you all and exchanging tidbits of interesting facts we are gathering through this process.  Best of luck to you all!
Respectfully,
Brooke Downs

Final Post

Well this is it!  I cannot believe that I am finishing my master’s degree.  It is always interesting where life takes you and the challenges that you can push through in order to achieve success.  I plan on continuing to advance my personal knowledge by beginning the doctorate program January 6^th! 

Week 6

Three international organizations that I was interested in looking into to investigate any available jobs were the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development, Save the Children as well as UNICEF.  All three of these organizations value the education of young children and truly make a difference in the early childhood field as a whole.  Three potential jobs I identified with these organizations were a research-analyst which was a program for international student assessments, Specialist Early Childhood Development as well as an Education Specialist.  Unfortunately all three of these jobs require that I speak more than one language.  Although I took three years of a Spanish and French I do not feel that I am fluent enough to efficiently perform the job.  All three of these occupations would be immensely educating and exciting. 

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

Three organizations that interest me and I would be so grateful for any job at would be NAEYC, National Head Start Association as well as National Association of Early Childhood Educators.  Although I would love the experience of working at these different organizations my true passion is to be in a college classroom directly assisting future early childhood educators.  The jobs I located on these sites would require me to have additional understanding of national standards and criteria.  As an owner and director of an early childcare facility I am knowledgeable when it comes to these different issues, but I feel that I would need a deeper more complex understanding to actually work at these organizations.   Three specific jobs I would be interested and currently have the education required to fulfill are Public Policy Associate, Program Coordinator, as well as a Human Resource. 

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community:Local and State Levels

There are different varieties of communities of practice that appeal to me personally.  This is due to the fact that I have an intense desire to better the field of early childhood education for young children as well as educators.  With this said three communities of practice that appeal to me in my local area is the early learning coalition, episcopal children’s services as well as Putnam provider association.  These three communities of practice deal with implementing successful practices that will continue to improve the field of early childhood education.  The reason I began the educational journey I am currently on is to implement effective practices for future educators in the early childhood field.  My desire is to teach on the college level.  I have not had a lot of experience trying to get my foot in the door in this field however. I will continue my education when this journey is complete by beginning my doctorate degree in January.  I currently own a local preschool and have been successful in maintaining excellence in the preschool for our small rural community.  I feel it is essential to strive to educate professionals in the field and that it is a duty to continue to push for early childhood educators to be educated!  

Dear Classmates

Dear classmates….I look forward to getting to know all of you through the different 

activities that we will engage in during this last class.  I can’t believe that this is it!  

Good luck to all of you!

Brooke Downs Guy

Professional Hopes and Goals

My never ending hope when working with diverse families and children is to cherish their diversity, and use it as a resource to educate others.  The early childhood field is so often overlooked and underappreciated.  I will continue to strive to educate others on the importance of early childhood education as a whole.  Thank you all for your inspirational guidance throughout this course.  I wish you all the best in your educational journey. 

Week 8 EDUC 6165-6

To All My Dear Colleagues,

I wish you all success as you move forward with your educational journey.  It has been so interesting getting to know each individual.  We have learned and collaborated together to form new ideas and goals for the early learning environments that we work in.  Together we can make the necessary changes to continue to elevate the early childhood education field.  We can show the importance of early learning to law makers and citizens alike.  We have a responsibility to take the education we have received and spread it to other early childhood educators.  I wish you all the best in your future endeavors! 

Sincerely,

Brooke Downs Guy

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Families Country of Origin: American Samoa

American Samoa is a small archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean and is comprised of five volcanic islands (Tutuila, Ta'u, Ofu, Olosega, Aunu'u, Nu'utele) and two coral atolls (Swain's and Rose Islands). Tutuila contains about two thirds of the total area and is home to 95% of the 64 000 islanders.

In the time of 1000 B.C. Southeast Asian immmigrants arrived in the Samoan islands and from there they settled the rest of Polynesia.

First sparsely contacts with Europeans began in the early 1700s, intensified with the arrival of English missionaries and traders in the 1830s.

International rivalries had been settled by the Treaty of Berlin in 1899 in which Germany and the US divided the Samoan archipelago. The US formally occupied its portion.

Despite of modern influences Samoan people still hold firmly to "Fa'asamoa", the traditional Samoan way, related to their language, dress, food, customs and even property (http://www.nationsonline.org/oneworld/american_samoa.htm#Culture).

Five ways that I will prepare for this family’s arrival would be

*Educate myself

*Educate the other early childhood professionals that will also be assisting with this family.

*Prepare the students by discussing the family’s country of origin.  Discuss with the children how they may feel if they were moving to a new country as well as how we could make the child and their family feel welcomed.

*Display items in the classroom that would be familiar to the child.

*Locate music from the country of origin that they are relocating from and play it as background music in the classroom.

The preparations that I would take will help the child and family to feel welcome in their new environment.  It will help them know that I care about them and respect where they are coming from.  I would hope they would see that I was making an effort in understanding their background to assist their child in the relocation.  

Week 6

Groups are generally hard to leave behind when they are groups with passionate and respectful individuals that make up the overall group.  High performance groups are hardest for me to leave behind due to the over whelming amount of problems we tend to successfully solve together.  The more we work together to accomplish our goals the closer we get and the harder it is to say goodbye.  Rituals that are important to me at the close of a group is recapping the achievements the group has made and reviewing the time line of the accomplishments.  I have become close with a few individuals that attend Walden and I feel it will be very different to leave this group of individuals.  Anytime there is a group that only communicates and performs online it is bound to be different than groups that are created and function face to face.  Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it is critical to end on a positive note that will help the group members to successfully be a part of future groups.

The Personal SIde of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

When I was in high school I distinctly remember a fellow cheerleader friend of mine being the target of prejudice behavior.  The entire cheerleading squad was white middle class girls except for one individual.  She was an African American individual who had a middle class family as well. We were having a squad sleep over.  The cheerleader who was hosting the sleep over did not want our fellow squad member to attend because she was “just different than us”.  I absolutely stood my ground and refused to go unless she was invited as well.  This was ridiculous behavior I felt and had a very hard time understanding it.  I decided no matter what the final decision would be on inviting this individual I would not attend the sleep over.  I did not want to associate with individuals that could be so hurtful.  When people stand up for what they believe in, it shows others the right thing to do.  We are all equals in this world.  We may have a different skin color, religion or sexual orientation but we are still equal. 

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

Stress and conflict are always present when working with many different individuals.  It is essential that we as early childhood educators are equipment to handle these situations in a professional manner.  For instance I have a child who just turned three years old in May (at the end of May as well).  Because I will not move this child to a pre-k class room and feel she would benefit from her time in a three year old classroom the parents were furious and took her out of the school.  During this time I feel many different emotions, however I must keep them in check and remember that I am not that child’s parent and whether I agree or not they are doing what they feel is best for her.  I dealt with this frustration by writing down my concerns and then speaking with the parents about them.  It is important for both sides of the conflict to be heard and respected.  As early childhood educators we will deal with situations such as these often and must be able to handle them by equipping ourselves with the knowledge needed.

Who Am I as a Communicator?

This week’s assessments shed valuable light on my personal areas of strength and weakness.  My colleagues basically rated me the same.  There was very little difference in the results that I received myself and the results that I scored when they did the assessment.  The one thing that truly surprised me was the verbal aggressiveness assessment.  I scored much more aggressive than I believed I would have.  This is a wonderful example of the world may see you differently than you view yourself.  I have set three reachable goals for my communication strategies and will continue to strive to achieve them.  I will strive to be a more active listener, this will directly assist me in my communication strategies with parents. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I was driving down the road with my friend today when she noticed a group of individuals on the side of the road.  She was talking about one person in the group yet referred to all of them as “those” people.  This was a microinsult due to the fact that she was indicating that because every individual in the group was acting a specific way the whole group of individuals would act that way.  These individuals were all the same race.  She was directly insulting the racial heritage of the group of individuals on the side of the road.  I felt ashamed that I would have a friend who would insult a group of individuals without knowing them personally.  This experience made me open my eyes and be aware that discrimination is just common behavior for many individuals. I feel that this is a learned behavior that must be altered immediately.  We have got to break the cycle somewhere. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

When interviewing three different individuals concerning what culture and diversity are, I received a variety of answers. Interview 1 stated: It just means valuing that there are a multiple opinions in the universe, and that not everybody has the same beliefs, religion or customs. Interview 2 stated:  People from different countries or a different race.  Interview 3 stated: People that are different in their ethnic background, race and religion.  All of these answers when put together do fit into what culture and diversity mean.  Whereas we could add a lot to these three definitions, these individuals are not currently studying perspectives on diversity and culture.  These three individuals were however early childhood educators.  This shows me directly the importance of continuing education.  It is essential as early childhood educators that we have a real sense of what diversity and culture involve and how to facilitate the vast differences in families and children in our programs.   All of the aspects of culture and diversity discussed have been studied in this course, but we have taken the information and dug deeper and looked closer at diverse meanings of diversity and culture.  None of these aspects have necessarily been omitted however we look deeper into such things such as race or ethnic background.  By evaluating how other individuals think of diversity and culture it has made my feelings strengthen in the importance of education on these topics.  We must open our minds and hearts to the multiple meaning of both of these words and to understand that we are each and every one different and diverse. 

Communication and Culture

Communicating with individuals who are dissimilar to me can sometimes be difficult if we do not see eye to eye.  However, through my journey at Walden University I have learned how to incorporate each other’s difference to grow and learn rather than close myself off.  I often feel very isolated and alone because I do not think there are many people that see the world the way that I do.  I live in a small rural town and as Miranda Lambert’s song indicates there are the bar fly’s and the Baptist.  That may sound judgmental however that is the general makeup of our community and I do not fit into either one of those categories.  I find that I do communicate differently with individuals that are dissimilar to me.  This is because I strategize how to effectively communicate with them without offending them.  If I am not careful, things can come out of my mouth in a way that I did not intend for them to come out.  I communicate on a more cautious level.  There are strategies that could potentially help me to communicate more effectively with people that are different than me.  These strategies include

1. Research –the more an individual knows about diverse groups the less stereotypical they will be concerning those individuals or groups of people.

2. Practice- Practice makes perfect.  The more you open yourself up and communicate with people the easier the task at hand gets.

3. Acceptance- acceptance is a vital component in effectively communicating with people that are dissimilar to me. 

 

Communication Skills-Week 2

The TV show that I chose was Good Luck Charlie.  My children love this show so I sat in with them today and watched it with no volume (they loved that)!  The family seemed to be really close.  The middle aged boy always got a frustrated look from the parents and an older lady that came over and knocked on the door.  The older children looked irritated much of the time.  But the family seemed to come together at the end of the show and looked like a compassionate family.  When I turned the volume on I heard what I had thought originally.  The middle age boy tended to stay in trouble with his parents and the older lady was the neighbor next door that he constantly aggravated.  The older children had a lot of responsibility.  By the end of the show everyone was one big happy family.   

My Family Culture

If a major catastrophe forced myself and my family out of our home country and into a diverse situation; that was going to be completely dissimilar to the environment and society make up that we were currently accustomed to I would take three items that I hold dear.  One of these most precious to me would be a necklace with an engraved tree on it.  One reason I would pick this necklace is because it shows strength.  As a tree grows and changes so will we as a family.  Also we would have strong roots like the tree.  Regardless of where we planted our family we would remain strong together.  When other people would ask why this item was so important to me I would explain that it is a symbol of strength.  I would probably also explain that with such a long journey it was essential to be able to wear what I brought to keep my hands free for the extent of the journey ahead.  I would also take a note from my father that I hold close to my heart as well as a pair of earrings from my mother.  If forced to choose only one I would pick the necklace because that is a symbol of the strength I find in our family.  Our family could overcome anything, this would serve as a daily reminder.  Through this assignment I thought deeply about what I value and hold dear.  Things are not important at all, it is the individuals who make up our family that are important. 

Competent Communication

Throughout my life I have had many wonderful role models that effectively communicate.  My sister is an incredible communicator.  She seems to never get flustered and her facial expression does not alter to show her feelings throughout the individual’s conversation.  She does not interrupt.  She waits till the person communicating has finished what they have to say good, bad or in between and then she comments with ease and comfort.  I have strived to learn her ways of competent communication throughout the years.  I have improved in my tactics but I have a long way to go.