Week 8: Foundations Wrap Up

So, this week wraps up my first class towards my MS in Early Childhood Studies. I remember back 2 months ago how nervous I was to be a student again. I wondered how I would balance school and continuing to work full time, and still have a life. I think I have been able to make the balancing act work in my favor because I have realized what an asset continued education can have, especially in this field. I know that Walden was a good choice and I am confident that this degree will allow me to reach goals I honestly didn't know I had, and for that, this Easter weekend, I am grateful.

I will continue to utilize this blog as sort of a narration of this journey I am still only just beginning towards this degree. I hope to share my point of view, but more importantly, I hope to express my passion for working with children and families to the point that others acknowlege the need for such work.

The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams.
Eleanor Roosevelt

Week 7: Examining Codes of Ethics for Early Childhood Professionals

I believe that having codes of ethics and ideals to strive for are especially important when working with children. This field is constantly changing with research, programs and policies, as well as general societal opinion and we as advocates have an obligation to serve children and families as whole, independent, and capable entities. So, it is necessary to all be on the same page when serving our communities.

Below are three ideals from the Codes of Conduct from the National Association for the Education of Young Children and the Division of Early Childhood that I believe are particularly important in the service that I provide professionally.

NAEYC. (2005, April). Code of ethical conduct and statement of commitment. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSETH05.pdf

1. I-1.10—To ensure that each child’s culture, language,

ethnicity, and family structure are recognized and

valued in the program.

This ideal is important to me to remember when working with children and families and as part of my professional career because I am from a diverse background, like many in the field. Acknowledging a child’s cultural, linguistic, ethnic background is vital in providing effective services from which the family will benefit. Furthermore, it is important that children and families know service providers respect these issues, and therefore, they feel more supported during services.

2. I-2.1—To be familiar with the knowledge base related to

working effectively with families and to stay informed

through continuing education and training.

In this field staying current on issues, problems, solutions, practices and resources is crucial to working with children and families. How can one work to advocate if they are not up-to-date on the latest news, training, and public outlook regarding children and programs to serve them? Training has many benefits including broadening service providers’ networks of resources, collegial support, as well as how we practice serving families. Not to mention, every once in a while, it feels good to go to a new training or professional experience, and have a break from the normal daily routine! J

3. I-4.6—To promote knowledge and understanding of

young children and their needs. To work toward

greater societal acknowledgment of children’s rights

and greater social acceptance of responsibility for the

well-being of all children.

There are many people out there who have no clue what the current issues of children are or how they could help, even in the simplest of ways. In working in this field and hopefully by expanding my knowledge base, leadership skills, and professional network, I plan to talk to anyone who will listen what my opinions are, issues I encounter, as well as barriers, which face my clients and their families daily. Only when people are informed can they make a positive difference, advocate for, and appreciate our future generations.

The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.dec-sped.org/

1. 2. We shall honor and respect the rights, knowledge, and skills of the multidisciplinary colleagues

with whom we work recognizing their unique contributions to children, families, and the field of

early childhood special education.

I rely often on the colleagues on my team for support and collaboration when working with families, especially those from other disciplines, of which I am less educated. I depend on their input, experience, and know how when working with families with numerous needs. This helps also to create camaraderie among my immediate community of fellow service providers which may make the difference in the delivery of those services.  

2. 2. We shall use every resource, including referral when appropriate, to ensure high quality services

are accessible and are provided to children and families.

Many of the above ideals and ethical codes coincide with this. One of the most important roles we have is to inform our children and families that there is a network of support resources in their communities to support them. A constant goal I have when working with children and families is to link them with resources they may not know of or have access to. I believe advocacy starts with community action and services that have been thoroughly assessed for their success.

3. 6. We shall respect families’ rights to choose or refuse early childhood special education or related

services.

Advocacy, empowerment, and overall willingness to participate in programs for children and families must be voluntary actions on our client’s behalves to ensure we are not asking them to take on what they are not prepared to follow through with. As professionals, all we can do is list the costs and rewards of services which may benefit the safety and well being of children. Shoving services at people only makes them defensive and skeptical. I also think it is very important that we keep the communication lines open with families who feel this way, so that they know we will be there when they choose to learn more and participate.

 

Week 6: A Favorite and Festive Childhood Memory in Lieu of Blog Assignment

Just because we do not have a regular blog assignment for class this week, doesn't mean that I want to neglect my blog, so I have chosen a great memory of my childhood to share as we come up on the Easter and Passover Holidays.

We have just passed the half way point in our first class with Walden's MS in Early Childhood Studies and it feels great to be a student again! As these holidays get closer and Spring is in full force, I am reminded of the lessons these important days bring with them. To make a long story short, they remind us that the future can and will be better for us than the present. Most of us struggle with things currently, which in a couple years from now, may seem laughable and insignificant. Our only recourse to this is to learn from our mistakes, trying not to have any regrets.

I remember going to Grandma and Grandpa's "Big Red House" for Seder dinner (mom and dad always making sure my brother and I enjoyed our Easter Baskets as well). Being the first born grandchild, it was often my responsibility before Alex could read, to read the story of the Child Slaves escaping evil Pharaoh of Egypt, learning to count our blessings, asking the four questions, and of course eating Grandma's amazing kosher foods. Latkes, Matzo Ball Soup (nobody's Matzo Balls are as light and fluffy as Grandma's), brisket, challah, etc.

This is a great website for anyone to visit to learn more about the Passover Holiday, as well as how it very similarly coincides with Easter.  http://www.happypassover.net/ it is a user-friendly site to learn about the history of the holiday, the lessons which may be extracted from it, recipes, music, activities, etc.

I think it is important to remind the children and families we serve that things may always be worse than they are, that hope is a good thing, and that we all must play our parts in making sure we leave the world a better place than we found it.

Hope everyone has a great week!

Week 5: Early Childhood Course Resources

Some of my favorite words to live by are "Live as though you were to die tomorrow, learn as though you were to live forever" by Mahatma Ghandi. People are never "finished." We are constantly evolving, and whether it is our intention or not, we evolve by learning new things, sharing ideas, and observing the world around us. Here are some very valueable resources which will be useful to those in the field of Early Childhood Studies. I hope to build upon this list in the months and years to come so that I may stay abreast of current issues regarding children!

Position Statements and Influential Practices
NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com/ec/courses/56611/CRS-CW-4894980/educ6005_readings/naeyc_dap_position_statement.pdf

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf

NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf

NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf

NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller

FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families. (FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf

Note: The following article can be found in the Walden University Library databases.

Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al.  (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42–53.

Global Support for Children’s Rights and Well-Being

Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf

Websites:World Forum Foundation
http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php
This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage 

World Organization for Early Childhood Education
http://www.omep-usnc.org/
Read about OMEP’s mission. 

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/about/

Early Childhood Organizations

National Association for the Education of Young Children
http://www.naeyc.org/

The Division for Early Childhood
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
http://www.zerotothree.org/

WESTED
http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm

Harvard Education Letter
http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85

FPG Child Development Institute
http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm

Administration for Children and Families Headstart’s National Research Conference
http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/

HighScope
http://www.highscope.org/

Children’s Defense Fund
http://www.childrensdefense.org/

Center for Child Care Workforce
http://www.ccw.org/

Council for Exceptional Children
http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home

Institute for Women’s Policy Research
http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm

National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/

National Child Care Association
http://www.nccanet.org/

National Institute for Early Education Research
http://nieer.org/

Pre[K]Now
http://www.preknow.org/

Voices for America’s Children
http://www.voices.org/

The Erikson Institute
http://www.erikson.edu/

Professional Journals

• YC Young Children
• Childhood
• Journal of Child & Family Studies
• Child Study Journal
• Multicultural Education
• Early Childhood Education Journal
• Journal of Early Childhood Research
• International Journal of Early Childhood
• Early Childhood Research Quarterly
• Developmental Psychology
• Social Studies
• Maternal & Child Health Journal
• International Journal of Early Years Education

Resources Particularly Close To My Heart

National Coalition Against Domestic Violence
http://www.ncadv.org/

The Satir Institute: During my Undergraduate studies at Eckerd College, one of my favorite classes was called Childhood Roles and Family Systems, where we studied different types of families, how to work with them in a theraputic enviornment, and especially how children were typically raised within them. One theorist and pratitioner's works that I really identified with was Virgina Satir.      

http://www.satirinstitute.org/index.php

She wrote the following article originally published in The Satir Journal in 2009 and since then, whenever I am working with a particularly challenging family and wonder how they got that way, I re-read it and somehow regain my motivation and inspiration.

http://www.satirinstitute.org/src/MyFatherMyClient.pdf

The United Way is a big player in the area of early childhood here in Tampa Bay where I live and work. They help provide a lot of funding, volunteer oppertunities, and are always encouraging community involvment to help the current issues which face our youth. They are also internationally known for their efforts of advocacy, mobilization, and cross-cultural affairs which is in an on-going source of inspiration to me. "Live United."

http://worldwide.unitedway.org/