professional thanks!!

      I want to say a special thanks to all of my colleagues that have supported me up until this point in my journey and in this class specifically.  I have learned so much from each and every one of them and taken so much away from the experience from learning about collaboration and communication and how important it is in this profession specifically.  I have also learned so much about myself and my own communication and what I need to work on to make my communication skills better for when  I do work in groups of people and collaborate on different ideas.
     Again I want to thank all of my colleagues for their insight and feedback on my own Ideas and also sharing their ideas that have also inspired me and help me along the way in this course.  They have allowed me to think about things in a different light and viewpoint and I truly appreciate that.  I hope for nothing but the best of success to you all as you complete your journey here at Walden and as you each go into your professional fields, I am sure you will all do amazing things in the field.  I also want to thank the instructor for your valued input and allowing us to expand on our ideas and adding to our ideas with great feedback and questions, they have really helped a lot and I will take what I have gathered on with me as I continue on this journey.

Best Wishes!

Leaving a team...

As I think back to when I had to leave a group that was most important or a group that I had a lot of success working in I would have to say it was the daycare center that I started working in.  I worked there for 3 years and I definitely built a bond with my coworkers throughout the years together and we worked together very well.  This was probably the hardest place for me to leave because I was so used to the children there and watched a lot of them grow up and also the staff and I developed a working bond that helped a lot when we would do group projects or trips. With the closing ritual with this specific group we had a big meeting and going away party because I was the only one who was leaving and it was sad, but we all left on the note of if we were to ever need each other in the future we can always call or reach out for assistance in the future.  I am still in contact with them and definitely reach our for guidance and help in a lot of things or just advice for my own future endeavors in the early childhood field.

In regards to adjourning from my group of colleagues i imagine that it will be a little sad, but of course I will continue to keep in contact and definitely offer for anyone to keep in contact with me if need be for anything in the future, I would love to be of support and assistance in any way that I can.  Adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork, because at some point all things do come to an end and you have to begin work on something else, so leaving it at a good place is necessary, you may never know when you will work with the same people again if ever you do.

Conflict and disagreements.

I don't normally have open conflicts with people, but  I often have disagreements with people depending on what the topic is. I was recently having a disagreement with a friend of mine regarding voting and the political election.  My friend was saying that their vote wouldn't matter so they were not going to vote at all based on not liking either of the candidates.  Instead of yelling or getting into a verbal argument with my friend I simply stressed the importance of their vote and how it does matter.  I didn't pressure them to vote or scold them in any way instead I pointed out all of the positive things in it and why it is important to vote and why they should get their vote out their because it does matter.  I asked my friend who would they rather see in office and they told me and I asked and why would you rather them over the other candidate and my friend gave me a list of reasons why and I said that is exactly why you should vote.

There are many people just like my friend out there that are not voting for that very reason and a lot of the times they are misunderstood and they actually have good valid points that should be heard, I had someone talk me into voting recently at work because I had the very same mindset.  The way you approach people about things matters a whole lot and makes a huge difference in their response.

Perceptions of communication.

With evaluating myself and the way I communicate in comparison to how others evaluate me it came out quite the same.  I consider myself to be a very active communicator and listener,  I allow the other person or people to be heard before giving my own opinion on a topic.  Sometimes it may be hard to do, but I make it an effort to keep good communication and keep it all level.  I haven't always been that way it has taken some practice over the years and I may need some work in terms of facial expressions that I may have because  I do show a lot of emotion in my face more than with my words.
This week I learned from the resources and the mostly the activity of profiling the person and their characteristics.  I learned that as people we often make a lot of our assumptions on others  based on their physical attributes.  A lot of times we do this because its similar to someone we have seen before and we place people in the same group because it is something that is familiar to us.

Communicating with different cultures.

• Do you find yourself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures?

I do find myself communicating with different cultures in ways that they understand and how they are used to communicating, this is something that I have taught myself to do and it makes it easier when talking to people.  I want to be able to relate to them and understand them in every way especially when it is people I work with and when it comes to children it can help with my teaching and them learning from me.  

• If yes, in what ways do you communicate differently?

My speech and the words I use are what makes my communication different when dealing with people of different cultures. Sometimes I will speak slower and enunciate more with people. I try to match my communication with that of the person i am communicating with so that it makes it easier for me and for them as well.    

Verbal and Non verbal communication

I chose a scene from a movie called there's something about Mary. The scene is between Mary and Ben Stiller's character.  While watching the scene without sound, I could tell that the two knew each other and Ben had some sort of feelings for Mary, They are both happy in the scene and been is kind of nervous that is what I am reading from his facial expressions.  They may just be having a casual conversation, but Mary looks like she is flirting or maybe that is just her personality because she is smiling and laughing a lot and Ben seems to be listening and admiring her very well, he doesn't seem as comfortable as she does.  

I watched the same scene with sound and for the most part I was right, In the scene they are talking about school and different things, they know each other but have never had a relationship prior to speaking, he didn't even know mary knew his name.  He was really nervous and she said yes to going to prom with him, he was really nervous like I previously thought and he really liked Mary.  Based on the assumptions I made on the scene in the movie a lot of the characters facial and body behaviors made it easy to interpret what was going on in the scene without sound.  If i were watching something that I know really well I would have nailed it to a T.  

While watching this I realized how much physical communication can be and how you can understand and interpret people based on their physical and facial expressions and not only the words that they are saying.  Sometimes their body movement and face say a whole lot more than just the words alone and that is important to look at when communicating.  

Effective Communicator

One person that I look up to who was a very effective communicator was my oldest sister. She is part owner and supervisor of a daycare facility in Lansing, IL where I first began teaching when I lived in Chicago.  She has a very understanding and caring demeanor about her no matter who she comes into contact with, she knows how to express her opinion and is able to be able to understand and be open to the opinions of other whether it is family or young children. I know that all of the parents loved her and would always come to talk to her about any and everything because of her great communication and personality.  She has always been that way and I would love to take that into my own career, with being patient and just overall open so that children and parents are not afraid to come to me and talk to me when they need to.  I can truly connect in that way and create great bonds that will last.

Professional hopes and goals

• One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

One hope that i have for working with children and family that come from diverse backgrounds is being able to be a comfort to them and someone who is able to talk to them and for them to come to me about anything that they may not understand.  I want to be someone that diverse families aren't afraid of and regardless of us being different from one another I want them to know that I am always here and willing to listen, learn and teach without judgment.

• One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to always be open and honest and offer my own opinion and actively set goals to create change and help in those areas.  Always being a positive role model for growth and influencing my peers in positive ways when it comes to the subjects. 

I want to say thank you to all of my colleagues for sharing their different ideas and opinions over the course, I really do appreciate all that i have learned from each of you on this journey and I hope that you all continue to grow and learn with your studies and your time here at Walden! Best of luck to you all!

Welcoming families from around the world...

I just got word that there will be a new student arriving and being placed in my school age classroom. She is from Germany her an her family,  German is her native language but she knows some english and her and her family have only been in the united states for a month now, so she does not know much about america.

There are a few ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the child and the family:

1.) First I will be sure to be open and listen to the family and ask questions I may have being careful to rid myself of my own biases I may have.

2.) Learn the family dynamics and respect that within the family and incorporate it in how I deal with the family.

3.) Instill in the child to always stay true to their native culture all while learning a new one, making them feel comfortable with both.

4.) Offer advice care and attention to specific things that may not be familiar to the family and child.

5.) Learn as much as I can about the culture so that I myslelf am educated and going the extra mile to welcome a new family and culture into a new environment.

With these preparations, this will be a great start to learning from the family also making them feel a lot more comfortable and hopefully being able to trust and confide in me.  I want them to be able to come to me and not be afraid to ask me anything or talk to me about problems they may need help with.  I could learn a lot from them, and about a whole new culture and they could gain so much knowledge from me on my own culture and the united states as a whole.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

One memory of prejudice that I remember distincly was when  I was in high school.  My brother got into an argument with a fellow classmate outside of the classroom and I was in a group with my friends and I could see him arguing with this boy who is Caucasian and I just remember hearing the boy call my brother the "N" Word. that stuck out to me so heavily.  I ran over because I knew my brother was about to get violent after that and I remember him hitting the boy once and I was able to grab him altough he was quite stronger than me,  I grabbed him because I did not want him to end up suspended or expelled. After explaining the situation to the principal because security still came because of all the comotion and noise from all the kids screaming and wanting to see a fight, both of them were suspended.  My brother was suspended for hitting the boy and the boy was suspended for saying the "N" word.  That situation was very scary to me to witness because I didn't know how it would play out especially to someone so close to me. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

I feel like in the situation, equity was diminished because of how they both were punished the same, I personally feel like the boy should have had a harsher punishment than my brother, because words hurt a whole lot more than being physical. The word that was used in this situation was like daggers and caught a lot of people off guard which caused retaliation.  I am not saying my brothers actions were right, but being that disrespected is very much uncalled for. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

The incident brought of feelings of anger for me personally and once I saw my brothers reaction it made me sad because I knew he was hurt more than anything with the situation.  For a long time I was hurting for him and with him because my family means the world to me.  When my family is treated badly or in situations that are emotional and hurtful it affects me as if it were me.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

Both of the individuals in the situation could have made the situation a better opportunity for greater equity by being more mature and talking out instead of speaking in anger and saying hurtful words. It could have all turned out so differently, but in high school when I was going a lot of kids were not as mature as they should have been. Thank God for growth though.  

Practicing awareness of microagressions.

• Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

One Microagression that I noticed this week was from one of my friends who is African American.  He made a comment to his friend who is mexican that was a verbal racial microagression.  We were in Ihop and there were a lot of mexicans inside of there and it was pretty packed and my friend said to his mexican friend said "why yall people always travel in large groups."  He was referencing mexican people and saying they always travel in large groups together.  I didn't think much of it, I did look at his friend to see his reaction and it didn't seem to bother him as much because they make racial jokes like that a lot and make jokes about it.  His friend didn't really care but it someone else heard they may have taken offense to it.  

• In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people

This week with learning about microagressions and the different types of discrimination or prejudice it made me think of times when it was happening and I would really overlook it. Things like the comments people would make on race and how people treated others.  I am a pretty observant person, but this week taught me that there are a lot of things that I overlook.  With my friends they make racial jokes all the time and we all joke about it, but I wonder if it really affects them in a way even when they are laughing and joking around.  I will myself be more aware of what I say although I am not really a person to make comments about race or color, I can be more alert and not encourage it by not saying anything at all. 

Perspectives on culture and diversity.

This was a very interesting assignment for the assignment I chose to as 3 completely different people from completely different backgrounds on their definition of culture and diversity.  I asked my mother who is African American, One of my best friends who is Puerto Rican and a co worker who is Caucasian.

Definition of Culture: The definitions I got from the 3 people for this is either The background of a person and what they are and what defines them, this having to do with home life, different traditions, and something that makes the person unique.

Definition of Diversity:  The definitions I got were a persons uniqueness, special traits that make up the person, the differences of one person to the next.

Some aspects of culture and diversity that I have learned so far in the course I did receive in the answers that I got.  Such as the aspect of uniqueness in both culture and diversity.  Both culture and diversity make up a person and are individual.  The things that make you the person that you are are your own culture and diversity.

One thing that I noticed was that no one mentioned race or color when I mentioned diversity and culture.  They mostly looked outside of that although race is a huge factor in culture and diversity.  Thinking about other peoples definition of culture and diversity has only affirmed how I think of it, most of the people have similar definitions of it and that is what brings us together in that sense.

My family culture

• A description of the three items you would choose

If I were in a major catastrophe and only could bring three items the first item I would bring is my family album. This way I can keep those memories alive and be able to reminisce on old traditions and that will make me feel my connection to home and help in hard emotional times I may have. I'd also bring my journal, so I can keep track of daily life and help me to get my emotions out on paper.  Something to keep me busy and uplifted by writing and expressing myself.  The last thing I would bring is traditional home recipes so that I can keep the food traditions alive and have a taste of home with the food, your cultural food always makes you feel better.

• How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you

I would tell each person that these things describe me in a way and are close to me. They help me to be uplifted and to never forget where I came from.  It is important to have things that are dear to you near because it's hard being in a whole new place and not to have anything memorable around. 

• Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

I feel like I would be really sad and I wouldn't be settle with it, it would also be hard to choose which one to keep and which one I would have to give up.  All of them mean so much to me so is have a very hard time giving them up because I'm already sacrificing leaving my home and being in a completely new and foreign environment.

• Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise,

I found it hard to choose what o would take with me. There are so any important things in my life I would want to take, and I realized that while doing the exercise. 

When I think of research.....

• What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have gained a lot of knowledge and insight about research from taking this course.  I got to learn the insides of research and what elements are included in research such as the dependent and independent variables and what each part of the research represents.  I now know how to actually look for research and how to start my own research in an effective way, that I did not know before.

• In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

My ideas about doing research have changed in that now I know how to properly do research if that makes sense.  Effective research, before I didn't know where to begin because I had never really been good at research or taken any course on doing research.  I know how important research is by seeing a breakdown of everything that is included in it and what I can and cannot do to make research work for me and whatever I may be researching. 

• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

The lessons I have learned about conducting research is that you must have great communication and consent from the parties involved in the research and if with children you must have their parents or guardians consent.  planning takes many steps and outlining before you can actually conduct the research, you have to make sure you have all of you elements together.  As far as the design of the research this was very new to me.  The quantitative and qualitative approach was something that i had never knew before and something I learned in the class. You just needed to find out what design worked best for your particular study if either of them worked.  

• What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

Some challenges for me were the technical aspects of research and that it contains so many steps that I was pretty unfamiliar with because a lot of the terms that I did not know so in order for me to really understand I had to first learn the terms used for the research and that allowed me to understand more of how to go step by step while using my own research example.  Actually reading and learning was the only thing that helped me and going through the assignments each week got me to learning more and more.

• What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

Some ways that my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified is that I now understand and see how important the job is and how much work is included in it. Research is an important part of the profession because it helps to advance in the field and with the growth and development of the children as a priority it makes my job that much more important.  It really makes me want to continue to push forward in this field and learn as much as I can because someday I will be a very important factor in a child's life and their growth.  

Reference:

MacNaughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research around the world

The website that I chose to explore is http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/.

"EECERA is an independent, self-governing, international association which promotes and disseminates multi-disciplinary research on early childhood and its applications to policy and practice" 

They support cross national collaborations and themed publications through special interest groups. They provide a great forum for policy makers, scholars, researchers etc.

One surprising thing I learned about the site is that they largely support researchers in Europe. They have a lot of support groups and behemoths to the researchers and policy makers. 

One noteworthy thing about the site is the EECERA is one of the most prestigious Journals in the world. It is only one of 4 early years journals indexed by the institute for scientific information.

I definitely did learn great things from the site as far as research and their journal and how much support and effort is put into the Europeans research. It is great to read in it and compare and see similarities and differences from the ones in the United States.

Research that benefits children and families

If I had the  means and knowledge to conduct research on any topic with no restrictions I would do research on the study of autistic children all over focusing on their behavior inside the classroom and developing techniques to improve their growth and learning. I feel like autistic children sometimes do not get treated or attended to specially for their needs. It takes a great deal of patience to work with and develop autistic children. I feel like there should be a specific person who targets and works for autistic children in all school and care facilities.  They require quite a bit more attention than a child who is not autistic.

I would fund for schools to have specially trained people focusing on the study and development of autistic children and work towards including them into society and feeling welcomed.  I recently saw a video on Facebook of this autistic child and his mother and grandma and she was upset that they were trying to not allow him to walk across the stage for his graduation. She was very vocal with the principal who tried to not let her child walk across the stage and she made a very valid statement that if you continue to treat children who are autistic as if they don't matter or are not included they will never grow or develop and advance to their fullest potential. You have to show care and love to them and not treat them as if they aren't as important because of their condition.

There are many different programs that can be invested in and developed to help autistic children and if I had the money with no limits I would definitely invest to make their lives better and help in their development. It saddens me to see people treat autistic children in such ways that only make them feel worse and I have seen it.

My personal research journey

The topic I chose to study is how to effectively teach diverse children in early childhood.  The reason why I chose this topic specifically is because it is the area that I am focusing in my study here at walden.  This is also something that I don't have as much experience in from my teaching at the daycare center. I would love to learn more about proven techniques that could spark my own interest in the specific area and be able to develop my own creative way of teaching.  I know that earth teacher is unique and different in their own way and I want to develop my own way from my learnings.

The simulation process was fairly easy for me to choose from different subtopics to focus on within my topic. Because I want to incorporate art and acting in relation to teaching diverse children and how it can effectively help those children to open up and feel welcome and be able to reach them to help their growth and development.  So far in the course I am learning how to effectively look for quality research and what would be beneficial for me in researching.  Before this I didn't know how or what to look for in the research I find to determine if it is of quality now that I have some idea it will help me in my journey a lot more.

If anyone has any insight or ideas to share regarding teaching diverse children and any personal experiences I could benefit from hearing please share them with me I'd love to hear and rage more fri
 For future reference. Or if you have any credible resources you'd like to share that would speak to my topic that would fe great as well!

Final Blog!

During the course I did not get to speak with or connect with any international contacts but I did much research on the international websites provided and read up on the issues and trends faced in different places like Africa and Europe as well.  I learned that they are facing a lot of the same issues as the U.S when it comes to starving for better educational programs and providing quality in the educational programs they do have.  They have specific groups that focus on providing and educating professionals on public policy and resources that can be used for educators and families with children.

My goals in the field are to become more educated and be able to apply what I have learned to help develop new programs for children and families as well as learning more about the education system for early childhood education and becoming familiar with public policy and the standards.  Continuing my research and keeping it for my future as an early childhood professional.  I want to Mage a difference in children and families lives for the better.

Getting to know your international contacts-3

There are many issues that I see and witness on the daily in my own community as far as the quality in early childhood education.  I have a few friends who do have children and they stress all the time how hard it is for them to find a good childcare center in their community that would be of quality and also affordable to them.  In my immediate community I don't see as much childcare but there are different kids gyms and summer camp opportunities in my community especially.  These are great creative alternatives aside from a daycare center for those that specifically want their child to be more active and doing the different activities, which is partly sparks my inspiration of opening a drama school for children.

The opportunities for professional development are all over.  There is of course observation and taking different courses.  There is a wide variety of different professional development methods and ways to learn more for your specific area of study.  There are also seminars and groups dedicated to educating professionals.

My own professional goals include teaching young children in drama and performing arts providing that creative outlet for children to express themselves.  I also want to open up my own school for this specifically.  I want to focus a lot on working with diverse children and children that face many challenges and allow them to open up more. The challenges that I may face is the working with different cultures of people and children.  Being able to adapt and learn will be my challenge as well as finding creative ways that speaks to each individual child in a unique way.


From the website given I definitely got to some more insight on how the international support early childhood education. In Africa the UNESCO and education is key to the regions development.  They work to keep education high on the agenda of government and development partners.  Their focus is to improve the quality of teacher education in the region.  They focus on a lot of the same things that are focused on in teacher development in the U.S.

http://www.unesco.org/new/en/education/worldwide/education-regions/africa/

Sharing web resources

The website that I have been continuing to explore is zerotothree.org.  This site has so many things to explore and offer I came across a link to this blog for the website specifically, it led me to a tumblr page where the blog was entitled “The baby policy blog.” The fist posting that I noticed was a posting about celebrating the life of children and the joy that children do bring to parents lives. Not only the parents lives but also people who support their growth and development.

One section of the site that I went through thoroughly was the public policy section. We have been studying and learning about public policy in early childhood education and I thought I'd like to learn more about the site and Thor take on it. Their mission is to promote good health, strong families and positive learning experiences in families and children's lives.  This section provides many resources that helped to promote public policy but also gave information regarding children and families that helped shape public policies and gave a better idea of the demographics.  There are downloadable guides to infant and toddlers and how to assess children and resources for head-start etc.

The site definitely adds to my understanding of equity and excellence in early childhood education.  Reading through the policies and the different programs that are offered helped me to understand what exactly is needed to improve the equity in early childhood and what was lacking.  There are so many different areas that have to be focused on in early childhood for improvement but all have some sort of progression.

This week I got a clear understanding of just how important public policy is and how implementing the correct public policy can affect children in many ways.  I also gathered many resources in the site that led to the challenges faced in children in their early years and specific things to target to help their growth and development.  This website covered many avenues and I cannot wait to explore and learn more that I can take with me on my journey.

Getting to know international contacts part-2

I was not able to receive contact from my international contacts that I originally wanted to gain information from which was in South Africa and the U.K. Although I was not able to contact them I was able to conduct research of my own as well as viewing the site provided.  http://developingchild.harvard.edu/about/what-we-do/global-work/.

What I found interesting and more insightful about the website is that it focused heavily on spreading the awareness of the education gaps that exist as well as the socioeconomic disadvantage and the burden that it poses in people.  “Recent reports estimate that 200 million children fail to reach their full developmental potential by age 5.”  This site states working with not only the United States but focuses more so on Brazil, Canada, and Mexico by spreading the awareness and knowledge as well as helping those children from all around the world.

One country that they work with being Brazil, They ban together to create school readiness for the children, helping the Brazilian policy makers to train and learn to develop programs that inform policy.  The collaborative team they specifically work with is called Núcleo Ciência Pela Infância (NCPI).  Each of the countries stated informed me of how this program supports the countries and the children and specifically works with them to help with building for the children in their unique way that fits and speaks for their country and people.  We always hear about the issues and problems in the world if the United States but it was very refreshing and informative to hear what is being done in other countries and how they are getting to learn the best ways to promote policy and get those different programs in their education system that can better develop the children there.  Every child counts and the works never stops and is forever changing. The effort this far I have seen is a great start and impressive to say the least.

Sharing Web Resources

The website that I chose to study specifically is www.zerotothree.org.

The section that seemed most relevant to my professional development in Early Childhood is the Care and Education section.  In this section it specifically states the different types of care that children are around while growing up and which have major influence on their growth and development, The first one was Childcare which of course I naturally related to the most because it is the are that I am studying myself.  "More infants and toddlers than ever are spending a good portion of their childhood with adults other than their parents" (zerotothree.org).  Another part of caring children receive is by either neighbors or family members, each adult that cares for a child at the early stages of their life play a crucial role in their growth and development. School readiness birth to age 3 is also a tool used for early childcare which is mainly for parents and caregivers to learn the tools necessary to prepare children and support their early learning.  

The main Idea that got me to thinking about things in a new way even more than before is the idea of targeting children from birth to growth and focusing on their growth and development from the beginning.  I have always thought previously before taking any early childhood course that children as babies do not much of what is going on, this may be true but they are definitely growing and developing everyday whether they know it or not and the child may not know how effective and important it is for their development but it is crucial in every moment especially from birth and on.  The learning starts as soon as the child is on earth and I more than ever take that a lot more seriously and think about differently than I have before.  

"Neuroscientists have documented that even in the earliest days, weeks, and even months of life is a period of unparallelled growth" (zerotothree.org).  Their research also displays that health and development is also a reflection of the quality of childcare and the experiences with parents that a child has.  This research alone shows how supportive they are for early childcare.  It provides us as professionals and parents the information we need to deal with children on a daily basis and also tells us the importance and impact that we actually have on children which changes our approach all together which is very important.  

From the website I have learned that creating public policy for the field is important and being able to have the funds to support research and different projects to express the importance of childcare is huge.  These organizations spend so much money to fund projects and research to develop quality programs for children which will on help aid families and children even more each year and that to me is amazing. 

Getting to know International contacts.

I originally reached out to two different international contacts in the Unicef UK as well as in South Africa.  I did not receive any information or reply back from South Africa, But I did however receive a response from a representative in the UK.  Although she was sweet she was not able to provide me with any information.  I will share with you the email I received from her.

"Dear Brittney,

Thank you for your recent enquiry and for thinking of us for your assignment. Unfortunately, we are not in a position to participate in surveys or ongoing communication  with people in the field due to time limitations. 

However, you can find detailed information about our work in the UK and internationally on our websites, including many interviews with Unicef staff from around the world.

Visit www.unicef.org and www.unicef.org.uk. 

For academic studies our Unicef Publications Page may be of particular relevance and use. Sharing our knowledge and resources with the public through the internet is the most efficient way of directing our limited resources towards our work for children worldwide.

I wish you the best of luck with your research and every success in your studies. Thank you for your interest in our work.

Yours sincerely,

Frances Bernhardt

Supporter Care Advisor"

I completely understood her position I do wish I got a chance to communicate more with them but the information she provided to me I will look into more as well as check out some of the podcasts to gain more information for my own education and references.  I had my heart set on speaking with an actual person through email and that did not go as planned, but I will not give up I will continue to reach out and find different resources to help aid me to better understanding different aspects of Early Childhood education and what we are learning in this course.  

What I have learned in regards to poverty by visiting the website www.unicef.org.uk is that one of their main goals is to help children and families that are affected by hunger and malnutrition.  "Unicef provides 80% of the world’s life-saving emergency food." (www.unicef.org.uk.)  Unicef helps mothers and communities keep their children well nourished, they do this by treating the child in the first 1,000 days of being born which helps to aid in their health as they grow and as we all know first years of life for a child is very crucial.  

"A child dies every 15 seconds as a result of malnutrition. Millions more live with the lifetime effects - physical disabilities and learning difficulties." ( www.unicef.org.uk.) To help to prevent this from happening unicef helps to provide solutions and also accepts donations to help aid in fighting poverty in children and families.  

Sharing Web Resources.

The organization and site that I chose is Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families (http://www.zerotothree.org/) 

This organization focuses on helping parents, caregivers and policy makers information and knowledge on how to nurture a child from the start.  It has been documented and studied that the days, weeks and even months of life are a period of unparalleled growth and this organizations mission is to ensure that babies and toddlers experience a strong start in life.  This website has many resources for parents and caregivers who need information as well as a donation tab for people who want to help fund the organization as they grow and develop.  The early development is crucial for the child and their future, so I am excited to learn more so that it may better help me to be a better caregiver for young children.  

Establishing Contacts

To begin establishing my contacts I went to the Unicef Website to educate myself on it and I chose to contact people from different regions listed on the website One was in South Africa and the other was in the UK I contacted from the emails that they had listed. I have not gotten any contact back from them yet so if I do not hear back I will do the alternative assignment.  The website that I have decided to study is http://www.zerotothree.org/ (Zero To Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families) I picked this website because It provides information on how to learn and help with early development in children which can be useful for educators, parents and policy makers and that is what I would love to learn more about.  I was confused at first on how to contact someone are there any additional tips that my colleagues can give to contact professionals and where to go? 

My Supports

     There are many factors in my daily life that are supportive.  One of the most important supports that I have is my family and friends.  The way that they support me is they always call me and check on me.  They provide a lot of words of encouragement when I am down and need advice.  They also are there to support me when I am doing well and when I am not.  The benefits of these supports are that I know that I have people in my corner that have my best interest and are there for me no matter what.  I have someone to go to and help me with problems and build me up and everyone needs people like that in their life. It would be extremely difficult if I did not have the support of my family and friends, I think I would go insane and wouldn't be able to get through most of the things in my life that I go through.  The impact that it would have on my life if these people were gone would be a very huge impact in a bad way.  I would be lonely and depressed most of the time and probably would feel like I would not be able to get through for a long while, I am just blessed that I do have them and I cherish every moment with them and how supportive they are.
     The challenge I chose to imagine is myself moving to another country for work.  I have already moved away once and I know how difficult it can be to be away from my family but now I live in California and I have for 7 years and I have built friendships as well as a relationship here and this is my home now.  If I had to move again it would be extremely difficult and I would definitely need my family and friends more than ever to encourage me and lift me up.  I would essentially have to start over and that would not be an easy task.  Phone calls and face time calls from my family and friends would definitely be needed on a daily basis and any sort of positive and encouraging words to keep me going every day would be needed for me to get through this challenge.  The benefits that these supports would have on me in this situation would be to keep me happy and positive.  If this move is truly what is best for me then they would support me being there and this challenge and change in my life that could possibly provide many great things and opportunities in the long run.  If I did not have the support in the first place I probably would not last on this move and get discouraged very easily and move back possibly taking away a great opportunity.
   There are many things in my life that I have done and will continue to do big things and if it were not for the people in my life that support me on the daily and keep me going I would not be who I am or where I am so a lot of my success I owe to my supports, I am forever grateful for them.

My Connections to play!

1. “Play gives children a chance to practice what they are learning.” -Mr. Rogers 
2. “We are never more fully alive, more completely ourselves, or more deeply engrossed in anything than when we are playing.” -Charles Schaefer 

These Pictures Represent the essential items I remember when I was a child and I would play.  

     When I was a child Play was simply going outside with friends or inviting friends over to play barbies or make up our own games to play.  My parents definitely encouraged play with me and my brothers and sisters. They didn't want us sitting inside to watch television my mom always said we should be out exploring even though I could not leave the "block"or go across the street without permission.  We had to explore in our own boundaries and I grew up on a street with a lot of kids and everyone played together.  We would all meet up at someones porch and take it from their whether we played hide and seek or the girls would play barbies and the boys would wrestle or play with action figures.  My childhood was a lot of fun because for most of my play I got to use my imagination and learn from the other kids around me.  

     Play today is definitely different from when I was a child.  Technology has taken over today and kids don't go outside to play anymore with other kids.  There are ipads, and cell phones that children are so fascinated with today.  When I was a kid it was fun and we didn't have that at all I didn't get my first cell phone until I got to high school and kids today have them at 5 years old.  The imagination kids from my generation had was so different because we had to actually use only ourselves, but it never got boring for one second.  My hope for children today and for my own children in the future is for them to be allowed to play more without technology and television interfering so much.  I had an amazing childhood and I am grateful for the many things I got to learn just by playing.  

     Play for me allowed me to be creative and It made me realize just how creative I am.  I enjoyed playing pretend and being someone I am not.  It was fun to be in another world and that is partly why I have a passion for acting, when I was a child playing pretend allowed for me to be anyone I wanted and to make up scenarios and It was fun for me and easy for me I feel like every child should have that kind of experience because they can learn so much and discover new things for themselves and that is an amazing feeling.  

Relationship Reflection

         Relationships definitely mean a lot to me, the reason that they mean so much to me is because it is a reflection of me and the people that I care about the most in life and how we show our love and support for each other.  I have some really amazing people in my life that I am so proud to have here.  My dad and mom, my sisters and brothers my nice and nephew Also my grandparents.  There  are so many more people in my life that I have really positive relationships with and they all mean so much to me.  Below I have displayed a few pictures of some of my loved ones.
         The relationship I have with my parents is really positive.  They both support me in my decisions and goals and always provide advice and I do the same with them.  They have been here for me through a lot and have helped me when I have struggled and this relationship works because we have a certain dynamic and love that has been built for years and years.  I have always been really close to both of my parents and if it were not for them I would not have made it so far.
        My siblings, my brothers and sisters we have all supported each other in everything. We look to each other for guidance and have always had each others backs in so many different ways. We have that bond that works even when we haven't seen or talked to each other in a while nothing changes and that is what I love about my entire family, it is never weird we have an unbreakable bond that is filled with love and support.
        Some of the challenges that I face with maintaining these relationships is that I am all the way across the country from all of my family. I live in Los Angeles, and my family for the most part live in Chicago.  I have made a better effort to call and contact them when I can to keep the communication going and they do the same.  I also visit whenever I get the chance and they do as well.  I have lived in Los Angeles for 7 years now and we all have made an attempt to make our relationship work and it has never changed.
       The special characteristics that I do have with my family is that I am always open and honest with them.  They are always honest with me as well and we respect each other for that.  I know my family pretty well and I share with them a lot of my life since they are not able to be here all the time to see it.  My experience with knowing how to maintain and build these relationships with the people closest to me will definitely impact me as early childcare professional. I know how to communicate effectively and I have learned that over the years with having to learn that in my own family.  I have opened up a lot and ask questions and share my thoughts well.  I have learned to work hard at keeping my relationships positive and giving as well as receiving.  All of this will help me when I have to build on relationships and partnerships in my own career as an early childcare professional.