The first community of practice I have chosen is the National Association for the Education of Young Children.  I choose this organization because of its commitment to the education of young children.  “The National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) is the world's largest organization working on behalf of young children with nearly 80,000 members, a national network of more than 300 state and local Affiliates, and a growing global alliance of like-minded organizations (NAEYC, 2012).  The job I would like with the NAEYC is to go to preschools around the county and train the staff about the standards and practices.  I have seen the great need within my community of such training, and I would love to have a position in which it was possible for me to help make a change for the better. 

 The second community of practice I have chosen is Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI).   “ACEI is a global community of educators and advocates who unite knowledge, experience, and perspectives in order to exchange information, explore innovation, and advocate for children. The Association promotes and supports the optimal education and development of children, from birth through early adolescence, and the professional growth of educators and others committed to the needs of children in a changing society (ACEI, 2011)”.    A job that I would love to have is to be a collaborator with all of the educators of the world.  To be a part of that council would be an amazing opportunity. 

Finally, the last community of practice I choose the National Head Start Association (NHSA).  “NHSA is dedicated to meeting the needs of Head Start children and their families. The Association provides support for the Head Start community by advocating for policies to strengthen Head Start services; providing training and professional development to Head Start staff; and developing and disseminating research, information, and resources that enrich Head Start program delivery (NHSA, 2012)”.  Head Start is an important organization that helps low income children and their families.  The one flaw of Head Start is money.  Once Head Start was an all day, all year organization, but now due to budgets cut Head Start is a half day program that runs 9 months of the year.  I would like to be a part of fund raising opportunities to help to restore Head Start’s budget so more children can benefit from an early childhood education.

Resources

Association for Childhood Education International (ACEI) (2011) About Us. Retrieved from http://www.acei.org/about-us/about-us.html

National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC) (2012) About US. Retrieved from http://www.naeyc.org/content/about-naeyc

National Head Start Association (NHSA) (2012) About NHSA. Retrieved from http://www.nhsa.org/about_nhsa

Exploring Roles in the ECE Community: Local and State Levels

The three local community of practice organizations that appeal to me are: Headstart, STRIDE Learning Center, and Peak Wellness Center. 

We all know Headstart.  It is a federally run early childhood program for lower income families.  STRIDE Learning Center is the developmental preschool where I work.  Peak Wellness Center is a private mental health facility that works with children and families.  These three organizations form a community of practice within my community.  When a child does not qualify for STRIDE, we often refer their family to Headstart.  When a child has greater needs than Headstart is prepared to handle, they refer to STRIDE.  When a family is in crisis at either Headstart or STRIDE, Peak Wellness Center is called to help the situation. 

One job opportunity that interests me is to coach colleagues with behavioral students.  Coaching would help educators deal with problems as they arise, and brain storming on how best to serve each child.  That would be the perfect job for me!

Skills that would be needed to competently fill this role would be excellent communication skills, behavioral analysis background, and the ability to be a team player. 

Observations

I observed a four year old boy and his mother at a coffee shop.  The mother was talking on the phone, while the child sat very quietly beside her.  The child did not have a drink or snack in front of him or a toy to play with.  This went on for twenty minutes.  After twenty minutes, the child asked, very politely for a drink.  The mother told him to, “Hang on”.  The child waited another five minutes before beginning to yell that he needed a drink.  The mother responded to the yelling, hung up on her phone call and got the child a drink.  She scolded her child for yelling in the coffee shop, but reinforced the yelling by getting him what he wanted. 

What I learned from this experience is that the mother could have been more engaged with her child.  Sitting for 25 minutes, being virtually ignored is extremely hard for a four year old.  Expecting that child to behave is nearly impossible.  From that experience, the child learned that if he is not getting attention from the first attempt at communication, all he needs to do is to yell to get attention and his wants and needs met. 

I learned from this experience of watching a mother and child that you need to be fully present when you are with a child.  You need to engage them, and to communicate with them, not just scold them once they become loud. 

Creating Affirming Environments

As the director of the Family Child Care Center I will strive to ensure that all of the children and caregivers feel welcome and included in our community.  To help with inclusion, I will invite all of the families to create a square for the family quilt that will be hanging in the classroom.  The square will consist of family pictures and anything else that is important for the family to share. 

I will invite families to include several activities throughout the year.  We will have family circle times, we will have family cultural week where all families can share their culture and diversity, and we will have special events for caregivers as well.  There will be materials from all ethnicities, and lessons to accompany them.  We will also include child lead lessons as well to promote critical thinking in the children. 

It is critical for all families to feel welcome and included.  The Family Child Care Center will strive to make all feel welcome, included, and part of our community. 

Finally....

One hope I have when I think about working with diverse children and families is that I hope I show my anti-bias attitiude to all of the people I work for and with. 

My goal is the same is well.  To treat all children and families with dignity, respect, and equity.  To never let any bias creep up and cloud my judegement. 

Finally, a note of thanks to all of my colleagues.  Your support and your sharing have inspired me, and I wish you all well with all of your future plans!

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

It is hard to imagine anyone who does not have a story of a child asking an inappropriate question at an inappropriate time.  Being in public leaves you exposed to many unusual situations.  Being the mother of a child with Autism, I find myself in this situation on a regular basis. 

The most mortifying situation happened in a grocery store.  I was was shopping with all three of my children when we happened into an empty isle.  We were at on end of the isle, and an elderly woman was at the other end.  The elderly woman was riding in a shopping scooter, so my son, in his loudest voice said, "Clear the way, Old Lady coming through!"  At this point I was hoping the ground would swallow me up, but no such luck!  The woman rolled up to me and told me to wash my son's mouth out with soap. 

I handled the situation like I handle all of the situation my son and I find ourselves in.  We discuss how yelling out someones physical features to describe them is not appropriate.  While my son felt he was being helpful, we discussed that since the woman did not ask for help, it was ok not try and clear the isle. 

Saying Goodbye

Adjourning is one of the most important phases in team development.  The hardest times that to adjourn from a team is when the team is working very well together.  High-performance groups are very hard to leave; groups that also have the clearest established norms are also difficult to leave.  Those are the groups that work well together and show results. 

The groups that I had a very hard time leaving are groups that I get along with personally and professionally.  Getting closure can help a team move on to work on other teams.  For these reasons, it is essential to adjourn from groups at the end of a project.

Non-Violent Communication

I have had a recent situation in which I had to explain to a parent that their child had many of the red flags of autism.  I employed all of the 3 R's for the discussion.  Being in the moment, being respectful, and being responsive are so critical in conversations such as these.  It is a painful moment for parents to be told that their child may have a condition that they were not expecting.  Communicating my message with compassion, sensitivity, as well as the 3 R's helped get me through even the toughest situations.

Communication Scales

I gave the communication quizzes to two people who know me in different aspects of my life.  I gave my husband, John, the quizzes, and I gave my colleague Christina the quizzes as well.  John is the person who knows me the best, and Christina knows me only from work.  I was nervous and excited to read what they thought of my communication style. 

            Their scores were similar to mine except for two areas.  The first area that differed from my results came from my husband was in the Verbal Aggressiveness Scale.  He thought that perhaps I am more verbally aggressive than I give myself credit for.  John thinks I can become verbally aggressive and insult a person’s character, ideas, and moral position (Rubin, Rubin, Graham, Perse, & Seibold, 2009).  Although I mainly am verbally aggressive with my husband in this manner in jest, I can see his point and will try my best not to insult his intelligence when we are having a verbal debate; but I am not promising anything. 

            Christina, who only knows me in a more formal setting, differed from my score in the Communication Anxiety Inventory.  Christina’s score me in the low anxiety range which states, “You reported that you feel comfortable communicating in most situations and feel confident in anticipating such encounters (Rubin, Rubin, Graham, Perse, & Seibold, 2009)”.  Christina has only ever seen me address small groups, and in small groups I am a confident communicator.  What Christina does not know is that when it is necessary for me to speak in public, I begin to have the symptoms of a panic attack.  My pulse races, my breathing increases, my heart palpitates, and there is a pit in my stomach.  It feels bizarre that Christina only knows one side of my communication style.  On the other hand; my husband mainly knows the more casual side of my communication style. 

Cultural Communication

I recently had a new student placed in my classroom.  His family is from India, but he was born in the United States.  His family speaks two different languages at home; English and Kannada.  The little boy who was placed in my class uses mainly scripted language from Dora the Explorer.  Thankfully, his parents have a great sense of humor about having a tri-lingual child, who mainly speaks Spanish. 

With this little boy, I find myself communicating more deliberately and with more specific intent.  I use more pictures and objects to explain my message.  He also uses a picture schedule to help him get used to the classroom routine. 

Although I try to stay away from the cliched ways of communicating with this little boy such as talking louder or repeating myself several times, I have caught myself doing that to try and communicate with him. 

I have found that it has not been too difficult for he and I to be able to communicate on some level.  It is a superficial relationship for now, he mainly comes to me for his wants and needs, but hopefully with all the supports we have in place, more meaningful communication can occur soon.

Nonverbal Communication

I watched a new episode of How I Met Your Mother with the volume turned down.  I have been a long time fan of the show, so it was fairly easy to figure out the premise.  There was alot of movement and physical comedy in the episode.  Which helped with the nonverbal communication part of this assignment.  I guessed the episode was about one of the main characters trying to deal with his roommate moving out. 

When I watched the show back with the volume turned up, I was pretty accurate with my assessment.  This was a very interesting assignment.  It is a fun way to test how accurately you can predict a situation with just using your eyes and not your ears.  This skill can be very useful for a teacher who students are nonverbal!

Effective Communication

The person who I would like to emulate in the ways she communicates is my sister.  She is the treasury manager for an alternative energy company.  She handles hundreds of millions of dollars every day, effective communication is not just a requirement, it is crucial. 

The behaviors my sister exhibits that make her effective is the clear and precise manner in which she conveys her message.  She is no nonsense, and she is very decisive.  My sister is the person you want when you need to get things done!

I get very nervous when I have to confront parents or colleagues.  I will fret about what I will say for a long time making myself more and more nervous.  Once I finally talk with the person it usually is never as bad as I have made it in my head.  I need to model my communication style after my sister.  I would really like to be a more effective communicator.    

Goals for Diversity, Equity, and Social Justice

One hope I have for working with children from a diverse background is that I always make them feel welcome and a part of my class.  I never want them to feel ashamed of their background or less than any other student; I want to celebrate all of the diversity in my classroom. 

One goal I want to set related to diversity, equity, and social justice is to share my studies and findings with others in my preschool.  I would like others to be aware of microaggressions and the damage they can cause.  I would also like to share with my colleagues the information I have gathered regarding social privilege; in the hopes that we all take a critical look at how students from lesser social backgrounds are treated.

Finally, a brief note of thanks to my colleagues;  You have all challenged and taught me in every course we have taken together at Walden.  Thank you for sharing your most personal stories, your ideas, and thoughts on diversity, equity and social justice.  I would have not learned nearly as much as I did without all of you. 

Welcoming Families from Around the World

I have a family arriving to my developmental preschool from Sweden.  I have no knowledge about Sweden.  I know nothing about the culture, the politics, the history, or the people of Sweden. 

5 things I will do to prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family will be:

Research the country and learn as much as I can about it

Find Swedish books and toys and have them available upon the child’s arrival.

Research the Finnish, the native language of Sweden and try to learn some phrases to make the child feel comfortable.  I will also find a translator if needed for the child.

Finally, I will invite the child’s family to come to the school to teach the other children and me about the land of Sweden.  I will also speak privately to the parents and conduct a home visit to discover what else I can do to make them and their child feels welcome and comfortable at their new school.

I hope these preparations will put the child and parents at ease.  I also hope that the knowledge I have gained will help me head off any potential behavioral issues that may arise as a result of moving to a new country. 

Incidence of Inequality

I recently became angry over the demand that Ellen Degeneres step down as spokesperson for JC Penney's.  This demand was made by One Million Moms. 

One Million Moms defines itself on its Facebook page as "an online activism campaign which gives mothers an impact with entertainment media decision-makers, and lets them know we are upset with the messages they are sending our children and the values being taught."

A week ago, One Million Moms put out a statement asking that JC Penney remove DeGeneres as its spokesperson, saying in part, "The majority of JC Penney shoppers will be offended and choose to no longer shop there. ... By jumping on the pro-gay bandwagon, JC Penney is attempting to gain a new target market and in the process will lose customers with traditional values that have been faithful to them over all these years." The group asked supporters to make personal phone calls to the company demanding it lose DeGeneres as its new face.  Thankfully the group failed miserably.  JC Penney stood by Ellen and choose not to remover her as their spokesperson. 

This incident made me want to shop at JC Penney.  I never shop there, but I will now.  I think people should live and let live, and the mothers who are worried about what their children are being taught should maybe stop and talk to their children instead of targeting a celebrity who brings nothing but joy and happiness. 

Microaggression

            I recently had an experience with microaggression in the workplace.  My colleague, Lisa, is an openly gay woman, who has never hid her lifestyle from anyone at work.  My work place has 101 employees, 4 of which are men.  One of the men I work with, Bob, walked up to a group of woman including Lisa and greeted us by saying, “Ladies…Lisa”.  In my mind two things happened, first of all Bob gave Lisa a microinsult on two levels.  He insinuated that Lisa was not a lady, and should be greeted separately.  That microinsult made me feel that Bob marginalized Lisa in a very demeaning way.  He greeted her separately almost as if he believes that gay people should be on the fringe of society, not a part of the dominate culture.

            I never asked Lisa about this incident, but I have been thinking about it long before this lesson on microaggression.  I have a brother who is gay, so I am sensitive to stupid remarks from heterosexuals to homosexuals. 

Culture and Diversity

I asked my father who is 83 what is culture.  He told me culture is where you are from, your background.  I asked him what diversity was, and he told me it was people of different raes and cultures living, going to school, and working together.

I asked my friend who is a different race and religion than I am the same questions. She told me culture is your heritage, the way you are raised, and the traditions that are passed down. She felt that diversity was like America used to be.  A melting pot of races, cultures and religions.

Finally I asked my sister what is culture is and she told me it is people with  a common belief system, sort of like religion, who all come from the same place and share the same experiences.  Diversity, according to my sister is people of all different cultures living together. 

These answers are included in the definition of culture and diversity that I am learning in my class.  But the point their answers missed is that culture is all inclusive.  It is not of the past, but of the present and the future.  Culture encompasses the entire being of a person. 

Learning how other people view this topic has increased my awareness of culture and diversity. 

Three Items

If I were forced to leave my home and go somewhere new with only three items that represent my culture, that would be very difficult. 

First, I would take a cross to represent my Catholic faith.  I would just take a plain wooden cross, one that I would not have to worry about breaking.  One that would represent the burden I am bearing in a new land. I hope it would give me strength to persevere. 

Second, I would take my Nook.  I have a strong belief in education.  Having all of my books in one place would be a saving grace.  I would be able to read to find comfort, and I would have my children read as well. 

The last item I would take is a pot my grandparents passed down to my parents, and eventually down to me.  It represents many home cooked meals.  It represents comfort and love.  It represents all that is family to me. 

If I were only allowed to keep one of these items, as much as it would pain me to choose, I would have to keep the Nook.  I can face anything as long as I can read.  Keeping the Nook would allow my family to read about their history and to continue the traditions long handed down.  It would be important to me for my family to be able to read their history, I believe it would make a difference to their future.