6165 Elfie, now that we're friends I've decided to make you my new project.

 

…..I remind them on their own behalf to think of celebrated heads of state or especially great communicators. Didn't they have brains or knowledge? Don’t make me laugh! They were Popular. ….

Are the great communicators because they are popular or are they popular because they can communicate greatly? One of life’s great mysteries. 

I myself am not a good communicator. I tend to get flustered and awkward. However given time to think and return back to whatever is being spoken about I am awesome. I’ve always said I am a wonderful person to have around the day after an emergency.  

So who are some people that communicate? Oprah. Newscasters. Presidents. But communication has changed now. I mean facebook and twitter can be considered communication devices – that totally changes the game. Hmmmm….

Moms are usually excellent communicators. Moms can look at their child and have an instant communication.  I know my mom was always good at talking to me. 

My friend Lisa is awesome at getting groups of people to understand one another. She is also wonderful at unraveling confusion. Lisa is great because she has this ability, a super power if you will, to hear the core of what someone is saying and then is able to portray that message to others and not a single person has hurt feelings in the end.  There are many intangible things that make Lisa good at this. For one thing she looks at people when they are speaking. She is also good at the “repeat back” – making the speaker hear what those listening hear. 

Has anyone read Crucial Conversations? It is an important book.  Kerry Patterson, Jospeh Grenny, Ron McMillian, and Al Switzer have made a book all about intense conversations. It was great for me. Little things like using I statements to avoid putting words in the other’s mouth. Don’t ever assume what the other is thinking.  Really, I recommend this book.

Ok so what is the wrap up message? Communicating is important to life. [though it may or may not make you popular]

6164 - Thankful

First off I would like to thank the good people of EDUC6164 for making this course so valuable. I have changed throughout this class and I am glad I have. We have all been honest with one another and supportive of one another: a perfect environment for a course like this. Thank You to everyone.

When I think of working with children and families I really want to make every family feel loved and worthy of love. I want to make sure they know that I care and want to get to know them and help them. As we have learned people are often treated badly in a world that doesn’t understand them. I want to be the opposite – I want to understand and appreciate all the people I work with. I hope that I can use what I’ve learned in this class and share my journey with other to open their minds and hearts as well. 

I would like to see the future of early childhood be more accepting. I worked at a center that would be considered very diverse. I enjoyed working there however I also felt that those who were different often bothered the teachers. Like the teachers didn’t like having to care for a child in a different way and would complain about having special food, or being too attached to the parents. It was upsetting to me then and now that I have taken this course even more upsetting. How come we still hold all the kids to the standards of the dominant culture? I hope that teachers will take more courses like this. Maybe it can be an incentive program or something. I want more people to feel as jazzed as I do about Equity and Diversity.

Again I am so glad to have been a part of this class. Shout Out to Professor Darragh! Thank you for being supportive of our journey and not judging. I never felt worried about being wrong. Thank you. 

6163 - Dr. Frankenstein I am NOT....

When I think of research I think of overwhelming stress and working really hard. This class has deepened my appreciation of research now that I have a greater understanding of the work behind it.

The nature of doing research is awful. I could never do this for my life’s work. If I had to have a research job I would want to be a team member as opposed to doing all the work like we did in this class. I’d like a helper role because I dig research but not the designing everything part.

Challenges were aplenty in this course. There’s the basic of learning the terminology and then learning the different paradigms. And I felt like I was always learning contradictory information.  Thinking up a topic and then having consider all the factors that go into research….I am surprised there are any researchers left in the world. It is such a stressful, pull your hair out kind of world. I both think these people are crazy and amazing.

This class was so hard. I am not sure how I made it through  and I am so thankful that I didn’t go through it alone. Knowing my classmates were going through the same thing really helped. THANKS EVERYONE!!!  

6164 Week 7 A Bunny from Turkey

First Up some notes.

These are the websites I used to gather information on Turkey. And I have decided to call my imaginary classroom The Bunnies.

http://kids.nationalgeographic.com/kids/places/find/turkey/

https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/tu.html

http://www.turkishculture.org/

Now to my thoughts…

I have just received word that a family from Turkey will be joining my class. I am excited about learning about this new culture and welcoming a new child into our Bunny world.  I want to do my best to welcome this family.

I have done a little bit of research and I’ve learned that Turkey has been through a lot over the years.  They have a parliamentary government. They have been “settled” by numerous groups that has given the Turkish people many ethnicities. They gave women modern rights in the 1920’s. They are also one of the first Muslim countries to have a separation of faith and government. I was trying to find information about how Turkey views children and children roles.  I had no such luck. So I will just have to wing it. I know that welcoming a new family will take time. We will not be BFF’s overnight. I’ll just take my time and do my best.

I would introduce myself and give a tour of the room. I will ask for family photos and explain why. One of my websites said that asking questions is a part of Turkish culture so that will be great for me. I will ask many questions in regards to what they want for their child and how they see our relationship as teacher and parents. I will ask them about toilet training habits, sleep habits, and eating habits. Most of Turkey is Sunni Muslim – I will ensure there is always an option for the child when we serve pork dishes. I will ask about any other diet specifications.  I will ask if they any story books or other comfort items from home. I will also need to find out how they view themselves as parents.  I just realized this family may not speak English in which case I will ask MCV for an interpreter.  I will explain to them about our open door policy and about visitation. They are welcome to come by whenever they have time. We encourage our parents to take an active role in our children’s lives.  

I will also put out a bulletin about our new family to give my families a heads up and to gently encourage them to be welcoming as well. I cannot control adult behavior.  But Bunny parents are usually good about supporting one another. I know we have other international families and I know there are other Muslim families, maybe I can ask them what made them feel welcome for more ideas.

Perhaps we will set up a Family Meal. That’s what we call it when we invite the families and have a big meal together. Turkish culture celebrates with hospitality and food maybe a family meal will be nice. It will allow all the Bunnies and their families to get to know one another.  

I really want all my children to form happy healthy identities. Being a child in a new country is harder than I will ever know. I can only hope that I do a good job and make sure this child is loved and respected as all my other little bunnies.  

6164 week 6 I can't think of a title

Ok I know this may seem a long shot but what about the famous scene in Roots. LeVar 

Burton is being whipped because he won’t relinquish his identity as Kunta Kinte.  It churns our 

stomachs because there is so much wrong/evil going on. And at its core it is a story of 

oppression.   Stripping people of their humanity for economic gain. Didn’t we read a thing 

about oppressors do themselves a disservice because they have to convince themselves that 

those they are oppressing are not human….I feel like we did.

This is not going the way I thought it would. Because I can think of no way to go back in time 

and teach people that slavery is at the top of the evil scale.  

I have heard throughout my life that people need to “get over” slavery. This is such crap.  It is 

unreasonable to expect people to detach themselves from their history. It is a part of who they 

are. Who we are as Americans. [of the United States] and Yes this concept of keeping those 

different from us (could be skin color or religion or class or whatever) infiltrates our world 

today. We read about school tracking and self fulfilling prophecies….so much of our modern 

inequities are related to past ones. 

6163 Week 5 - P.Sherman 42 Wallaby Way, Sydney

Early Childhood Australia is the head, most authority for early childhood in Australia. [Australia is the only continent that is its own country. I learned that in 4^th grade] It is equivalent to our NAEYC. I clicked around the site looking at news, research archives, themes, position statements; you know just getting a feel for the place.

There is a theme of quality care. I found an abstract that discusses the changes in quality care over the past 40 years. (Logan, Press, Sumison 2012) From what I can understand, early childhood education and care is relatively new in Australia and is gaining momentum as a respected field. There was a media release calling for bipartisan support of early childhood. Apparently reforms were made and now some people want to undo them.(media release 2012)

It was hard to get a grasp on research because you need to be a subscriber but from what I can Australia is a happening place to be in regard to early childhood education and care.  When we had to do our lit review and search for articles I found several from Australia.  

Another thing I liked about this website – there are several articles referring to parents and worker voices. I love that Australian researchers are branching out to work with the families because families are who is directly affected by our work. Their voice should be considered important.  

References

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Logan, H., Press, F.,  Sumison, J. (2012). The quality imperative: Tracing the rise of ‘quality’ in Australian early childhood education and care policy. (As seen on: www.earlychildhoodaustraila.org.au)