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/

Week 4: Words of Inspiration and Motivation from Major Contributors to the Early Childhood Field

A noteworthy quote from the Women's Rights Are Human Rights Famous Speech by Hillary Clinton in Beijing, China: 5 September 1995

"As long as discrimination and inequities remain so commonplace around the world - as long as girls and women are valued less, fed less, fed last, overworked, underpaid, not schooled and subjected to violence in and out of their homes - the potential of the human family to create a peaceful, prosperous world will not be realized."

This resonates with me because so many fail to realize that the institution of the FAMILY is the basis for which all larger, governmental decisions are made. Any major political issue, strategy, program, etc. can be critiqued by how it is applied to the basic level of the population: the family. Furthermore, without women, there would be no families.

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A quote from Samuel J. Meisels, a contributor to the sector of Early Childhood Education in various ways. He is known for his work with the Erikson Institute and an advocate for well-rounded Head Start programs in the US.

“For decades, we in early intervention have been fighting the good fight over the true goals of Head Start, not to increase IQ per se but to increase social competence, help the child meet social expectancies, and assist children living in poverty to prepare for formal schooling.”

Meisels, S.J., & Shonkoff, J.P. (2003). Handbook of early childhood intervention 2^nd edition. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.

 

Week 3: My Childhood Web

Just a few who played a part in my childhood

My Dad: I have always been a “Daddy’s girl.” He has influenced my life in many ways over the years with things he’s done, things he’s not done. Like with my mother, our relationship, as all significant ones do, has had it’s ups and downs. I have never felt unloved though. He had a way of raising me which allowed me to make my own mistakes, but learn from them. He allowed me to explore the world around me while having personal pride and a sense of responsibility. This always made me feel special growing up because I was never forced into anything, but to be exactly who I want. My father continues to be a sense of support and encouragment in my life into adulthood by listening to my frusterations about being a “grown up,” and reminding me that change, options and choices can be a good thing.

                                                                                                                                                                               

My Auntie: My aunt has always been a source of support, patience, caring and nurturing in my life. As a child, she is another who encouraged my academic progress, always taking an interest in my studies, extra-curricular activities, but especially my dreams. When other’s doubted my long term plans, she was the one who said, “stick with it, Sess. If it doesn’t work, at least there will be no regrets.” She helped guide my parents with sharing my points of view when I felt “they just don’t get it.” Auntie Denise continues to be a great mentor as I become an adult and continue to progress.

My Brother: Alex and I grew up being delt the same deck of cards. Though we chose to handle our hands differently in our childhood, we were a team for most of it. I took the role of protector over him a lot, and he would reciprocate by making me laugh things off, going out to play, or being my “wingman” during disagreements with our parents. He made me feel special by making me realize that allowing freedom of choice is just as important as receiving it. He taught me that people must find their own ways, even if relationships are altered in the process. Our relationship continues to evolve, but he will always be my little brother.

My best friend: Shan and I met during the second year of high school, but as this happened, we realized that we were connected by mutual relationships during much of our childhood. For example, Shan’s first boy friend in middle school, was my boyfriend in 3^rd grade! Her second boyfriend was my 6^th grade crush and fellow band geek! During middle school, I played basketball, five minutes from where she spent weekends with her dad. We still to this day question why it took so long for fate to bring us together. Eventually it happened though and I am so thankful for our friendship. Transitioning from childhood to adulthood would have been unimaginably more difficult if we weren’t “platonic life partners” as we call ourselves. She is my voice of reason, as well as the one who encourages spontaneity. She has taught me a lot about how to take the good with the bad when it comes to the most random of situations. When I feel “stuck,” she gets me unglued. And when I feel totally overwhelemed and discouraged with the state of things, she brings me back to center.

My Mom: Mom and I have always been “tough cookies.” Sometimes this was an asset in our relationship, sometimes not. All the while though, I know she loves me “as big as the whole wide world.” My mother has influenced my life in a lot of ways. I have seen what a strong, independent, woman she has been in a man’s world. I have seen her give selflessly so my brother and I could have all we needed and wanted. She taught me to go after what I want, no matter others’ critique or doubt as well as to fight for what I believe in, even if I make people frusterated or become frusterated myself because it will be worth it. She continues to make me feel special by showing her pride in me, allowing me to teach her things from time to time and continuing to have a heart of gold.

Week 2

There are VERY few things that my parents have EVER agreed on that I can remember. But, one of them is that this (see below) is both of their favorite baby pictures of me. Rightly so! To this day, chicken off the bone is still one of my favorite foods. Check out chub on my arms too, must have been all that BBQ sauce!

Also added this week to my blog is one of my favorite childhood poems. One other things my parents can agree on is that taking out the garbage (or lack of doing so) was the source of many an arguement growing up! So, Shel Silverstein's Sarah Cynthia Silvia Stout Would Not Take the Garbage Out was a piece that I could identify with:

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out by Shel Silverstein (1974)

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Would not take the garbage out!

She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans,

Candy the yams and spice the hams,

And though her daddy would scream and shout,

She simply would not take the garbage out.

And so it piled up to the ceilings:

Coffee grounds, potato peelings,

Brown bananas, rotten peas,

Chunks of sour cottage cheese.

It filled the can, it covered the floor,

It cracked the window and blocked the door

With bacon rinds and chicken bones,

Drippy ends of ice cream cones,

Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,

Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,

Pizza crusts and withered greens,

Soggy beans and tangerines,

Crusts of black burned buttered toast,

Gristly bits of beefy roasts…

The garbage rolled on down the hall,

It raised the roof it broke the wall…

Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,

Globes of gooey bubble gum.

Cellophane from green baloney,

Rubbery blubbery macaroni,

Peanut butter caked and dry,

Curdled milk and crust of pie,

Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,

Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,

Cold french fried and rancid meat,

Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.

At last the garbage reached so high

That finally it touched the sky.

And all the neighbors moved away,

And none of her friends would come to play.

And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,

“OK, I’ll take the garbage out!”

But then, of course, it was too late…

The garbage reached across the state,

From New York to the Golden Gate.

And there, in the garbage she did hate,

Poor Sarah met an awful fate,

That I cannot right now relate

Because the hour is much too late.

But children, remember Sarah Stout

And always take the garbage out!

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Still makes me smile and laugh. The biggest difference between being a kid and being a grown up in my opinion is learning to "not sweat the small stuff." The best thing about working with kids is that they are so unbelieveably honest, even when it comes to things like the stress that taking out the garbage brings. I am so fortunate to work with kids, have no two days ever be alike and to remember that I am making a difference!

Week 1

So far, week 1 has been great. I am starting to get to know some of my classmates, and even though it is doubtful we will meet face to face, it is comforting to know that some of you are pretty local to me! Slowly but surely, I am getting the hang of the technology and have been looking forward to your responses to the assignments for the week.