Reflecting on learning

As teachers and advocates we need to be more than just nice. We need to be able to recognize issues that are already affecting the lives of the children and families we will work with. We need to adapt and change when necessary to teach our young learners. Classroom practices that move rhetoric and substance should be:

1. Grounded in the lives of our students. Instruction should start with the needs of the child and connections between students and their lives and can be a starting point for the understanding of social justice.
2. Critical. Children should be taught it is alright to critique information, and literature and these critiques must move beyond the classroom and be linked to real-world challenges. We need to teach them how to think.
3. Multicultural, antiracist, and pro-justice. Our curriculum should be changing, presenting ongoing that addresses multiple perspectives.
4. Participatory and experimental. Use a variety of mental and physical, engaging activities. We need to help children to learn how to make real decisions and how to solve problems.
5. Hopeful, joyful, kind and visionary. Classrooms need to be designed in ways that teach children to trust and care for each other and provide ways to show the good in people and empower them to overcome their inequities.
6. Activist. We should teach children to be human and humane and show examples of people struggling for justice.
7. Academically rigorous. A social justice curriculum should be academically rigorous and should prepare students for the real world.
8. Culturally sensitive. Critical teaching requires teachers to admit they don’t know everything and we need to listen, and learn from our students (Boutte, 2008).

This will not be an easy task, however it is necessary if we want to help our children grow up and become productive members of our society.

Erich Fromm: Why should society feel responsible only for the education of children, and not for the education of all adults of every age?

To My Colleagues

Don't ever be afraid to seek help when you truly need it. We don't enter college as geniuses, and we don't leave college as geniuses. We leave as learners, who are determined to succeed. “Keep on teaching”.

Reference

Boutte, G. (2008). Beyond the illusion of diversity: How early childhood teachers can       promote social justice. Social Studies, 99(4), 165--173.
   Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

   I have to admit, the UNISEF website was full of overwhelming information and the one thing that was apparent in many of the topics I read was the number of children living in poverty and this definitely affects the emotional development of children. This lead to further my investigation on children and poverty as it has in the past courses I have taken through Walden University as well. After reading The Crisis of Childhood Poverty it validated the truth about how poverty can lead to lifelong learning disabilities, can be passed on from generation to generation, and can lead to lifelong emotional and physical health issues, http://www.childhoodpoverty.org. I wanted to learn more about how poverty can lead to these issues and one resource I came across was Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf. This article has some very interesting theories about all of the above consequences of poverty. This paper states that most rural community development efforts is to relieve causes or symptoms of poverty, it makes a difference to which theory of poverty is believed to be responsible for the problem being addressed. This paper explore five competing theories,

1. Individual deficiencies-
2. Cultural belief systems that support subcultures in poverty
3. Political-economical distortions
4. Geographical disparities
5. Cumulative and circumstantial origins

This paper helps to understand the theories and shows how they shape different community development practices that address sources of poverty more effectively than comparing to one single theory. This resource also explores the relationship between individuals and their community in placing people in poverty, keeping them there, and potentially getting them out. This resource seems to support that idea that individuals are shaped by their community, and communities are a consequence shaped by their individual members.

Resources

Bradshaw, T. Rural Poverty Research Center. Theories of Poverty and Anti-Poverty Programs in Community Development, retrieved from, http://www.rupri.org/Forms/WP06-05.pdf, August 15, 2013.

CHIP-Knowledge of Tackeling Childhood Poverty. The Crisis of Childhood Poverty, Retrived from http://www.childhoodpoverty.org/, August 15, 2013.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

Our young children are being exposed to sexual stereo types, sexual images and much more early on in their young lives. Children learn at a very young age that their value is determined by beauty, looks, weight, sexy behavior, macho behavior and much more (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). All of this is leading to a misconception and disturbing impact on children’s’ understanding of gender, sexuality and relationships (2009).

In Harro’s “Cycle of Socialization” the diagram shows the “First Socialization” as being the part of our lives where the trust and love is built, we are taught to play our roles and follow rules, we shape our self concepts, perceptions of us and others, values, expectations of future roles, and we get mixed messages and feelings and become guilty for not understanding because we are confused about these messages. The messages the media sends to our children add to this confusion for our young children.

For an example of media’s messaging would be “Shrek” by Disney, which I watched with my five year old grandson and the characters in this movie are as follows:

Shrek-the green monster, which is really a giant teddy bear

Fiona-the beautiful princess

Puss n Boots- Shrek’s side kick, a cat

Donkey-Shrek’s side kick, a donkey

The message is the same in this movie as many others, the hero is Shrek and he is trying to earn the love of the princess. The side kicks are along for the ride to help this happen. The princess and Shrek spoke English, Donkey spoke English and Puss n Boots spoke English too. This story portrayed the beautiful young princess who was for the most part off limits, so they thought, to Shrek because he was an “ugly” sort of character. All of these characters were made up of fantasy and make believe. However, it did send a message of beauty for young girls. The princess lived in her beautiful castle and was surrounded by all the finer things in life. Shrek was from a humble working class, had low self-esteem, and was trying to win the princess love throughout the movie. This is just one of many movies our young children will encounter.

The “Platinum Rule” means “Do unto others as they want done unto them” (Beebe, Beebe & Redmond, 2011). This is very similar to the “Golden Rule” which is “Do unto others the way you’d have them do unto”. The “Platinum Rule” is all about the other person and a good lesson to teach. I still like the Golden Rule” because it is more of a two-way street, it involves all parties. But the “Platinum Rule” is just as important if not more important when it comes to communication. We are not all the same and we do not all want the same things. This would be a good lesson to teach our children of all ages. When we communicate with children we need to think about them, and adapt accordingly. We need to take ourselves out of the equation, and empathize with what they might be going through, and adjust accordingly. Good communication with children takes special skills in kindness, respect, language, empathy and understanding the dynamics of all involved.

Reference

Beebe, S. A., Beebe, S. J., & Redmond, M. V. (2011). Interpersonal communication:    Relating to others (6th ed.). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.

        Chapter 4, "Interpersonal Communication and Diversity: Adapting to Others" (pp. 85–        114)

Harro, B. (2010). The cycle of socialization. In M. Adams, W. Blumenfeld, C. Castaneda,    H. W. Hackman, M. L. Peters, & X. Zuniga (Eds.), Readings for diversity and social    justice (Figure 6.1 on p. 46, 2nd ed.). New York, NY: Routledge.

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

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

From classism to racism all of the isms are wrong. The differences in the values and behaviors among poor people are just the same as wealthy people (Gorski, 2008). Every appearance of disability is an image and is made in the social act of appearance (Titchkosky, 2009). What I have learned this week is I do have a challenge understanding certain homeless people and this fall under “classism”. I have realized I do tend to judge a book by cover and I need to take the time to open the book to see what is inside. I never thought I did this in the past. I have always had the attitude of we are all the same. Some people really do chose to be homeless and it is a life choice and I should not judge. Classism is instilled in my history and my values and this can keep me from seeing each person as a unique, whole person that deserves my respect, regardless of how they live (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010). This was not taught to me it was a learned behavior.

   My brothers living the way they do have contributed to my attitude toward the homeless. They are both on drugs and everyday they “pan handle” to buy their drugs and their alcohol. I did not realize I discriminated towards the homeless until I started my early childhood development courses through Walden University. No all people that are homeless chose to be this way, however some do. In my brothers case I feel it is a choice, however there are many other underlying addictions that contribute to their feelings of wanting to be homeless. This makes it hard for me to help the homeless like my brothers. When people ask me for money, I would rather buy them food instead, this way I feel I am not contributing to whatever addiction they might have. I need to change my attitude towards this because not all homeless people are addicts, they are asking for money to feed their families or many other various reasons.

   I need to learn how to accept the fact that there are people hurting on the streets that just need our help and after all they are human beings. I know the economic recession has forced many people out of their homes, and they just need a hand in finding a job, shelter, and a place to live. We are currently in an economic crisis and there are many people who take advantage of the system from the big businesses taking enormous bail outs to the other end of the spectrum where citizens fell a sense of entitlement. Those with alcohol and drug challenges should receive treatment, so that they can find jobs and a place to live, but they have to want it first. I cannot forget the numerous homeless people who are mentally challenged and the war veterans. Homelessness is definitely a problem in this country. However, I feel that drug use is the major cause of being homeless.

   I know first hand how difficult it can be to be homeless and I need to become more empathetic on their situations no matter what the cause is. Needless to mention helping people out of their unfortunate situations will not only help the individuals, but it will help the community lower crime rates. If we can help the homeless by empowering them with the necessary tools needed to overcome homelessness we will in turn be able to use more of the governments money towards education and making our communities better. If people can work, they can pay taxes. They can also make the community better by keeping up their homes and apartments. By helping the homeless the crime rate will go down because people won’t have to rob, steal, and sell drugs to support themselves and their habits. By learning how to help the homeless I can help create a positive environment for all people to live in. Instead of have a negative opinion towards the homeless, I can work on making a difference in someone’s life.  

  

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children    and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

   Garris Christian, L. (2006). Understanding families: Applying family systems theory to    early childhood practice. Young Children, 61(1), 12–20.
Gorski, P. (2008). The myth of the "culture of poverty." Educational Leadership, 65(7),    32--36. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete    database:

Titchkosky, T. (2009). Disability images and the art of theorizing normality.    International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 22(1), 75--84.    doi:10.1080/09518390802581893.