Reflecting on Learning

 

 

 

 

Reflecting on Learning

            One of my most passionate hopes for students and families is that they can achieve any goal that they have without facing biases. All children deserve to feel valued and accepted so they can obtain high self esteem.  I see the stress on the faces of the families that I serve daily because they are struggling to survive economically in today’s world.  This stress is reflected in the children because they are living in dilapidated housing, have limited clothing, and they are often hungry.  I know this sounds like I am speaking about a third world country but I am talking about poor families that live in the Nation’s capitol and the home of the President of the United States.  By taking an anti-bias stance in education it is my dream to create high functioning adults of the future by nurturing these children why they are young.  I cannot sit back and wait for someone else to make the change because the change has to start with me. I also will employ other colleagues and parents on my journey because there needs to be a collective effort.  When examining biases it takes different insights and perspectives (Derman -Sparks & Edwards, 2012).  This course has opened my eyes to the ugliness of various types of biases and it is my obligation to make sure that every individual feels honored and respected.

            I would like to thank my classmates for sharing their personal experiences with biases.  Our lives are so much richer when we can share our thoughts, biases, and our innermost fears. I have grown professionally and personally because of the interactions.  Now that task is at hand for us to use what we have learned to make a significant difference in the lives of others.  I wish everybody much success in your professional endeavors!

 

 

 

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}.

 

 

           



Impacts on Early Emotional Development

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

            I selected the country of Cameroon because my sister had a DNA swab done a couple of years ago and we discovered that our ancestors came from Cameroon.  There is an alarming rate of malnutrition among mothers and children that have come from Central Africa to Cameroon because of wars (Press Centre, n.d.)   There are many children that are starving and malnourished in health facilities and the end result is often death.  UNICEF has been instrumental in helping these malnourished mothers and children and remains a beacon for their survival (Press Centre, n.d.).  UNICEF representative’s goal is to fight for the well being of all children because children cannot develop successfully without proper nutrition (Press Centre, n.d.).  A hungry child has very difficult time learning.

            It is so sad to see that there are children staring right in the US and this country is supposed to be one of the richest nations in the world but we allow our youngest citizens to starve.   I have personally experience this tragedy at the school where I am teaching, these impoverished children come in hungry and they often ask for seconds and sometimes third servings because they are lacking food at home.  When these children are full then they are ready to learn and receive new information.  It is my personal goal to make sure all inner city schools provide food and clothing banks for children and families.  Our families are hurting and not enough people seem to care.  As an early childhood professional I believe that it is my duty to handle the needs of the whole child.  I also hope to one day travel to Cameroon and try to help the children and families achieve better living conditions.

References

Press centre. (n.d.). Retrieved December 14, 2014, from

               http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/media_73991.html



The Sexualization of Early Childhood

 

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

 

In the book excerpt “So sexy so soon” the authors stated that children are being sexualized at a very early age because of the media and advertising (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009).  This phenomenon is presenting many problems for children and their parents because young children are not developmentally prepared to handle these feelings (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). I have noticed recently in my own preschool class that the children seem to be highly sexualized all of a sudden and I have been searching for ways to solve this problem.  One 4-old girl started showing her bottom to her classmates after going to the bathroom.  This action seemed to have a domino effect and other children repeated the same action while laughing.  The adult teachers in the class spoke with the children and explained that these actions were inappropriate.  We also told the girl’s parents but the mom denied the action.  Just last Friday a 3-year old boy was in the bathroom with a 3-year old girl and started caressing her from behind so we also had to have a discussion with them.  I spoke to the little boy’s father and his first response was that he planned to beat his son with a belt.  I cautioned the dad about taking such a harsh action, and I asked him if his son saw this behavior in the home.  The father informed me that his son did not get this from him and his wife but he felt that his son saw too many movies that were inappropriate.  He also mentioned a Chicken Little movie had hugging in the movie and his wife let his son watch adult movies like “White Chicks”.  The dad said that he has told his wife to stop letting their son watch those movies but his wife replied that she did not want their son to in his room alone.

            I have decided to read books to my class concerning good touches and bad touches, so we could have an open discussion about these behaviors.  My next step will be to have a meeting with the parents and have our school psychologist lead our session.  Children need to learn to be children again and not highly sexualized little adults.  I feel that the advertisers are the culprits, so teachers and parents have to save our children by controlling what they see.

References

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. Retrieved from: http://dianeelevin.com/sosexysosoon/introduction.pdf