REFLECTING ON LEARNING

This class has truly enlightened me on the wealth of information we have received about biases and stereotypes. This has given me information on how things are perceived and how we can help to make things easier for the children. I have learned that things I can do to help with the different questions students may have about a different race of people or culture and also how to teach children about others with disabilities. This information will help me learn what things I need to put in place to allow all students of every culture a chance to express themselves and ways I can bring the families together to help them better understand the differences we all have and how we can be an asset to each other. 

I want to work more to find out as much information as I can and will begin to work on examples of how I can relay to children the need to not criticize something they do not understand. It is so easy to offend without knowing and I want to be able to break the bonds that have been in place that allow students to feel comfortable criticizing others. I want to be an example of love and compassion to all students and want to help families distill the notion that one race or gender is greater than another.

I wish all of my colleagues well in all that they endeavor to do in their lives and appreciate all of the information each of them have shared to help me get to this part of my journey.  May God bless each of you and wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.  Now let's go out and change the world. 

BLOG ASSIGNMENT: IMPACT ON EARLY EMOTIONAL DEVELOPMENT

For this assignment, I chose the Middle East and North African Regions.  I chose these regions because I wanted to get more information on how the people of my four fathers are living and being educated and the effects different things have on their education and learning. UNICEF works with all over the world to help children and their families deal with challenges they face daily.

In this region there are several things that would have an adverse affect on a child's learning and things that would be challenges for children.  These things include An End violence initiative. This advocacy motto or theme is to help all children live free without the threat of violence. They believe all children have a right to be free of violence which harms their physical and mental growth.  They believe for too many years people have turned a blind eye to the violence in this country and believe once everyone is aware and we work together to end the violence, the children will be protected. 

Another challenge is HIV and AIDS. This disease is widespread all over the country. Statistics show "as of 2011, roughly 17.3 million children under the age of 18 have lost one or both parents to AIDS, and millions more have been affected, with a vastly increased risk of poverty, homelessness, school dropout, discrimination and loss of life opportunities. These hardships include illness and death. Of the estimated 1.7 million [1.5 million–1.9 million] people who died of AIDS-related illnesses in 2011, 230,000 [200,000–270,000] of them were children under 15 years of age."  UNICEF is one organization that has worked hard to lessen this normal and has worked to help mothers get assistance with medications. 

Another challenge they have is nutrition.  It is said that with the proper nutrition, children are more productive, healthy and able to learn. "Stunting - or low height for age - traps people into a lifelong cycle of poor nutrition, illness, poverty and inequity. The damage to physical and cognitive development, especially during the first two years of a child’s life, is largely irreversible."  

All of these things have adverse effects on children's emotional well being and development.  It is very hard to learn when they have so many things fighting against them. If we can work to change these things along with UNICEF, we can help these children become bright, educated, healthy students. These are so many things that students in these countries have to deal with and it takes a village to help these children. Although things such as the many children with HIV/AIDS and the type of violence that some of these children incur may not be to that widespread in the United States, we do have these things here and must work hard not only for our children but also for the children in other countries. 

As an educator, I have come in contact with students who have problems in their homes with poverty, gang violence, and also having parents who are incarcerated and these things have an affect on their learning.  Some of them act out and others appear saddened as if the weight of the world is on their shoulders.  We have to go the extra mile to work on the personal things in the homes and communities that prevent children from being the best they can possibly be. No child should be in the classroom worrying about whether he or she will have food to eat, electricity in the home or whether they will have to run through gunshots in the community to get home.  It is up to us to make a difference.

I was enlightened to see how UNICEF has gone up and beyond to lighten the loads of millions of children and their families by helping become more aware of what is going on and raising the funds to make a difference. 

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html.
All children have the right to live free from violence. Violence which harms their physical and

Blog Assignment: The Sexualization of Early Childhood

"Many industries make an obscene amount of money using sex and violence to market their products to children. Whatever their race, ethnic group, economic status, or gender, and whether they can afford to buy a lot or very few of these products, children are deeply affected" (Levin & Kilbourne (2009).  This was a very interesting article.  It is true that society such as the media has increased the awareness of sex.  This has definitely had an affect on how our children view sex.  Children should not be in elementary school worrying about their size or worrying about whether they are compatible to someone of the opposite sex. I do not feel at that early age that they are aware of their own bodies or are able to handle things such as relationships. Some of the information is shocking to hear about how society has changed since I was a child. 

I have several nieces and nephews and was certain I wanted to spend my life as a teacher in middle school.  While attending a track meet at one of the schools.  I noticed one of my nieces and her friends hugged up together on the bleachers. These children spent the entire track meet running back and forth hugging and some kids were kissing. This was very challenging for me and I started to realize how things have changed.

While spending time at my church with some of the preteens, I notice one child wearing makeup and having her eyebrows arched. I was so surprised that this child was wearing makeup and one other adult asked the parent about this and she replied the child wanted it and she allowed it. I do believe this takes away from the child's youth and makes her want to be an adult much older than she should be.  

As a teacher, I have noticed that children start spending more time together and start communicating more with the opposite sex. Often the little boys and girls are choosing their boyfriends and girlfriends and seem to seriously believe that they are in a relationship. I find this alarming but I do not feel these children are prepared to have their hearts broken this early on in life.

I want to help children to realize that things such as sexuality at an early age. I do believe things are happening too fast and children are getting the wrong idea from what they are seeing in the media. I believe they are confused about what they see and they need to have these things explained to them. They should be able to talk about what they are feeling and need to ask questions about what is going on as far as sexual relationships go.  There are so many diseases out there and I do believe they have enough information about what oral sex and sexual intercourse to be engaging in it. Not knowing all the information about diseases and even pregnancy can seriously hurt our children. 

Mothers and grandmothers should not have to continue to spend their lives helping to raise children that are fathered or mothered by children. I do not believe they are mature enough mentally or psychologically to handle pregnancy or diseases that can possibly kill them. These are serious things that need to be addressed early on, especially now that sexuality is so popular in the media.

Schools should foster all types of information and materials to enlighten the students on what is out there and what can happen to them if they continue to engage in sexual activities without protection or knowledge of what can happen.

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

Blog Assignment: Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

Growing up down south I have been the subject of stereotypes or biases even in education.  These have included racism and classism.  As an African-American, I have often been discriminated against because of my color.  I was sent to a predominantly white high school where I had to catch a bus from my neighborhood to another school in a different neighborhood.  This was hard but I did learn in that time that not all people are prejudice.  I did learn that there were teachers/educators who saw my abilities and potential and worked very hard to make sure I learned everything necessary to move on in life. I learned with this that I would never want a child to feel what I felt from those around me, including my classmates, that did not recognize that I was a human being first.

In classism, because I was poor, often people would associate the fact that my family was poor and that I came from a poor neighborhood with people who were lazy, loud and did not care anything about their appearance.  All of these things were opposite for me and often I was told that I didn't act like the normal child that came from a large black family.

I now know the feeling when you are in a community where you have been raised in a different culture and the fears associated with trying to belong or just to be treated as equal with the rest of the class.  I would expect those of different isms to be withdrawn or to feel like they don't belong until someone such as an educator would do things to make that child feel like they belong. When coming into the classroom, I feel there should be famous people of all races pictured throughout the classroom along with their achievements.  I believe there should be a wall where students can write things about themselves and their families and to use this as a stepping stone to help all children realize they are special.

I believe, as the educator, they should see me as one who inspires them to do their best and should never see me look down on them because they have a hard time pronouncing certain words of the english language.  I should never allow any students to disrespect any other student and always present the face of love, peace and understanding.