Professional Hopes & Goals

My hope for working with young children is that I will be able to inspire others to advocate for young children.  I believe that my role as an early childhood educator is to not only advocate for the children, but also the families that I serve. 

My goal for working with young children is to continue my education in early childhood education and apply that knowledge in everything that I do.  I will continue to work on my vision, and treat all children equitably.

I would like to take the time to say, "Thank you" to all of my colleagues for reading my blog, and discussion posts.  I hope that I will see many of you in future classes.  Good luck!

Welcoming Families from around the World

Welcoming families from around the world is pertinent to helping newly enrolled children become acclimated to an early learning environment.  In this specific scenario, I am a Director of an early learning center and we were just informed that a family is enrolling in our program.  The family's country of origin is Burma.  In order to help the child and his family I would take the following steps:

1. I would learn all that I could about Burma.
2. I would enlist the help of a translator to assist with language.
3. I would research the culture of Burma.
4. I would try to contact colleagues that are familiar with Burmese families.
5. I would encourage the family to ask questions, and become involved if they would like to do so.

By learning and developing a plan for newly enrolled families, the children will be more successful.  The culture and community of the program will benefit from involving families as well.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What really surprised me this week was some of the posts made by peers regarding the LGBT community.  I think that we as educators must look at all individuals and appreciate their differences.  Some people believe that this is a choice for individuals to be gay or lesbian.  I have friends that are homosexual/bi-sexual, and they knew from a very early age that they were different.

The most important thing as an early childhood educator is to allow children to make choices that are right for them.  We know that a little boy playing with dolls, doesn't necessarily mean that he will become gay. Or that little girls that like to play with trucks will become lesbian.  Our goal as leaders and educators is to allow children to explore their environment and be skilled in acceptance of all people despite our differences.