Time Well Spent

Wenger (n.d.) writes: “Communities of practice are groups of people who share a passion for something that they know how to do and who interact regularly to learn how to do it better.” It is important for early childhood educators to collaborate with other professionals to form a community of practice. In order to achieve goals, it is important to collaborate with others and find different ways to achieve these goals. This class has shown me how to create a Community of Practice that can help me achieve my goals.
Derman-Sparks and Edwards (2010) write that “early childhood educators have a deep faith in the principle that all people deserve the opportunities and resources to fulfill their complete humanity” (p 1).  I believe this statement to be essential when it comes to an anti-biased education. All children should get a chance to excel and be included in early childhood settings. Yet, societal biases can make it difficult for these children to be accepted. During this class, I have learned how to become a more anti-biased educator.
In addition, I have learned more about different leadership styles. I see myself as a democratic leader who “allows the team to provide input before making a decision, although the degree of the input can vary” (Mind Tool, 2011). Additionally, I am a bureaucratic leader because I am very rule oriented. I do follow procedures as closely as possible. Yet, I believe to become a better leader, I need to become more people oriented. Seeing first-hand how supportive a team can be with a people-oriented leader has made me more aware of how important leadership is.
A long term goal for me is to include all children into quality childcare despite their abilities by teaching others how to create an inclusive environment and identifying the needs of the children they work with.
I want to thank all my instructors and all my co-student for their help along my journey through Walden University. It has been a great journey and I appreciate all the input and discussions that I had with all of you. You have made me a greater leader and have helped me become more open minded about early childhood education.
References:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Mind Tools, Ltd. (2011). Leadership styles: Using the right ones for the situation. Retrieved from http://www.mindtools.com/pages/article/newLDR_84.htlm

Wenger, E. (n.d.). Cultivating communities of practice: A quick start-up guide. Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.ewenger.com/theory/start-up_guide_PDF.pdf

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

One international organization that interests me is UNICEF. I like this organization since it works for many different causes such as working for equal educational opportunities for both genders, HIV prevention, child development, child protection and much more. UNICEF works all over the globe and is well known. Their missions are well versed and they work to better the world for all children. One job that I would like to pursue with them is Chief Child Protector. This job will help formulate new policies to help better situation for children. In addition, they help gather funding and help research best policies. The requirements for this job is an education in social studies and at least 8 years of experiences in planning on an international level.

Another great organization is FHI 360. Again, this organization focuses on making a difference in children's life in less developed countries. They are working on policy making and educating other about best policies for young children. If I could choose a job with FHI 360, I would choose a career at the National Institute for Work and Learning. Their main jobs are fund raising and recruitment. A bachelor but a Masters is preferred. Only one year of experience in the field is required.

A third organization is the International Step by Step Association. This organization connects early childhood educators with each other. They work towards equal education for all children. Their intent is to influence policy makers. I could not find job opportunities with them but would be interested in being a teacher in their programing, especially for the early years. They offer classes from parenting to educating other educators. I think this would be a great place to make a difference.

Overall, there are many organizations that focus on advocating for children and help influence policy makers to create better policies. They have many great job opportunities. The biggest challenge will be to get enough experience to be able to apply for these jobs.

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

The first organization that I have chosen for this assignment is Kids Included Together (KIT). KIT's is committed to create best practices training for early childhood programs. They commit themselves to include all children despite their abilities. This is something that is very dear to me. I find that often teachers are at a loss how to include all children, including children with more challenging behaviors. Unless they are diagnosed, those children often fall behind because they are seen for their challenges rather than their strengths. If I could work for KIT, I would like a job as a Military Support Specialist.Kids Included. I have worked with KIT before and find their support and trainings great. I would like to help military families all over the world and educators serving our military families to establish quality care programs.

Another organization that I choose for this assignment is the National Association of Education for Young Children (NAEYC). NAEYC is a brand name for quality care. The organization sets standards that help all kinds of programs ensure quality care. I have worked in centers who are accredited and know from first hand experience how much more quality these programs provide. If I could, I would choose to become an inspector who travels to the different early childhood programs to inspect them to ensure they are following NAEYC standards. I believe this is an important job since families trust programs who are accredited to provide better quality than other programs.

The last organization that I choose is Zero To Three. This organization is a non-profit organization that is dedicated to inform, train and support parents, early childhood educators, and policy markers to better the lives of infants and toddlers. Having two small children of my own, I can understand the importance of being educated about best practices to set them up for success in their later life. If I could choose a job opportunity, I would like to be a representative who educates others. I believe it is important to help others gain the knowledge to provide a better quality for their children.

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

Since I want to work with military families in the future, I chose three organizations that work closely with Military communities. The first organization I chose is Kid Included Together (KIT). This organization helps military communities include children with and without disabilities. KIT can be accessed at http://www.kitonline.org/. It provides all early childhood professionals with great resources for ways to include all children.
Another organization I chose is the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). This organization can be accessed through http://www.naeyc.org/. NAEYC sets standards for early childhood educators to provide quality care. It is a great organization that is used by military communities to ensure the care they offer is of high quality and provides military families with care that will allow them to pursue their missions without having to worry about their families.
The last organization I chose is Zero-to-Three which can be accessed at http://www.zerotothree.org/. This organization is a great resource for all early childhood educators who work with young children. It is dear to me because it teaches about the difficult lifestyles most military families deal with. They have great resources on how to deal with deployments, frequent moves and much more.

Job opportunities that I would like to pursue are being an assessor for early childhood programs. This includes organizations such as NAEYC and different military entities such as CNIC or Army Headquarters. I would like to make sure that military children have a great place to succeed because I am part of the military community. So are my children and it is important to me that they have a great education. Military families have to deal with many changes and hardships. I want to make it possible for military families to have a place for their children and families without having to worry about their quality. Soldiers risk their lives every day in their job to protect us and I believe they should not have to worry about their children's education.

Reflecting on Learning

My most passionate hope for the future is to create a place that fosters learning for all children no matter their race, family condition, ability, etc. I love all children no matter whether they are challenging to work with or easy. Nothing is more frustrating to me than being confronted with biases that exclude children. To me, each child deserve a good education. Yet, I often hear from teachers and parents that a child with challenging behaviors is better off not being in a classroom or that content needs to be watered down because children with special needs are in the classroom.

I want to thank all my fellow students for their insights during this class. It is refreshing to hear that there are others working in the field of early childhood education that are concerned about including all children. I think if we keep advocating for the children and families that we work with, we will be able to make a difference.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

I chose Afghanistan as the area of the world to investigate. The reason I chose this country is because Afghanistan is prominent in the Media do to the war on terrorism. Yet, we hardly hear anything about the suffering of the children. About 60 percent of adults in Afghanistan are illiterate.  Children have been living with political instability and war for the last three decades. Do to harsh climates and barren terrain, schooling often neglected. In addition, the harsh Taliban regime has made almost impossible especially for girls to get educated (Unicef, Education, 2011). In Afghanistan, children also face child labor and child marriages. Child Abuse often goes unreported do to insecurities that riffle the country. Cultural norms and believes also make it hard for locals to distinguish child abuse from these norms (Unicef, Child Protection, 2011).

I think political instability and cultural norms have taken many tolls on the emotional well being of children. These children are faced with war, death, and abuse on a regular basis. Education level is low and most children do not schooled regularly. Our children are taught to play and thrive; these children are taught how to survive in an unstable world.

When I read more about how children in Afghanistan suffer, I was shocked both on a personal and a professional level. I believe in advocating for children because they do not have a voice of their own. We often do advocate for children who we are closely connected to but what about the children in other parts of the world? I think we have to make sure that we are making other professionals and politicians aware of the challenges children all over the world face to make a difference.

References:

Unicef (Nov 2011). Education. Afghanistan Country Office: Factsheet. Retrieved on 17 November 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/ACO_Education_Factsheet_-_November_2011_.pdf.

Unicef (Nov 2011). Child Protection. Afghanistan Country Office: Factsheet. Retrieved on 17 November 2011 from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/files/ACO_Child_Protection_Factsheet_-_November_2011.pdf.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Levin and Kilbourne (2009) write that "children growing up today are bombarded from a very early age with graphic messages about sex and sexiness in the media and popular culture" (p 2). What shocked me most about the article was not so much the fact that children inquired about sex but that they thought that it was alright to engage in sexual acts and language as early as elementary school. I grew up in Germany and talking about sex openly is not frowned upon. In Germany, sexual education does start in 5th grade and you are introduced on how babies are conceived. However, I would have never dreamed about performing sexual acts at such a young age.

After reading the article, I began to realize how much exposure children have at a young age to highly sexualized materials or shows that are passed as acceptable. Shows like "Toddlers and Tiaras" or "Dance Moms" show children dressed up with styled hair and tons of make-up. They look more like adults than children. They are put through tremendous amounts of pain such as waxing, eye brow plugging, fake teeth, etc. and are told they need all this to be beautiful. If they do not win, they are often crying and feeling worthless because they did not win.

Barbie dolls have been around for a long time and portray a false body image. Now children don't only have access to Barbie but also Brats dolls, Tinkerbell, and other toys that portray girls in clothing and makeup that most adults would blush to wear.

As an early childhood educator, I believe that we can work against this false image and teach children to be  children again. In order to achieve this, we have to make sure that the toys and materials we display are child appropriate and teach them that being beautiful comes in many shapes and has nothing to do with make up or clothing. We can give them opportunities to experiment with make up by having face painting sessions during which they can experience make up as something fun rather than having them believe they need make up to enhance their natural beauty.

Reference
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