Channette's Early Childhood Studies Blog

  Assignment 2: Blog Assignment/EDUC 6165 I believe it is important to continue to try to improve oneself through out life. By taking this week’s assessments I am able to explore some the communication characteristics I like about myself and some that I want to improve on. A similarity between how I evaluated myself as a communicator and how others evaluated me was level of anxiety I demonstrate when I am communicating. According to the Communication Anxiety Inventory assessment I demonstrate a low level of anxiety. I had my director, Audrey, take the assessment and her score agreed with my score rating. Lately, the only time I demonstrate anxiety is when I am attempting to speak the Italian language with locals. Audrey has never seen me in this situation. I am a fairly confident speaker in one on one or group situations. I learned this week that others view me as I hope they do. They view me as someone that is empathic to the feelings of others and as a good listener. I believ...

  Everyone does not communicate the same. When I communicate with different people, I try to keep in mind the differences we have and the things we share in common. I find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. I have come to realize that I communicate differently with colleagues, family, and Italian friends. I currently live in a small community in Italy. I take Italian language lessons once a week to better communicate with the Italians. In order to meet local Italian people and create friendship with them I must learn the Italian language. When I attempt to practice speaking the Italian language with my Italian friends I speak very slowly. I speak slowly because I am attempting to pronouncing the language correctly. In addition, I pay attention to my body language and my facial expressions. According to Interpersonal Communication Relating to Others, “ Misunderstanding and miscommunication occur between people from different cultures b...

    Thus far in this course I have learned that communication is more than words. Communication can occur with body language as well. The television episode that I chose to watch was from a very old television show called The Jeffersons. The episode of The Jeffersons that I watched was from season 3 and it was episode 16 titled, George’s Guilt. At the beginning of the episode a relationship that was determined early on was between George and Weezy. The scene began with George opening the door for Weezy and then helping her remove her coat. George was attentive and helpful to Weezy which leads me to understand that they have a close relationship.   The next relationship that I observed with no sound was between Florence and George. Florence was George’s maid for his apartment. George and Florence’s body language towards each other demonstrated annoyance with each other. During the episode when they speak to each other they often put their hands on their hips and seem...

  Assignment 2: Blog Assignment      Growing up I always admired how my mother was able to communicate with various people. My mother was able to demonstrate competent communication within any particular context. My mother retired from the United States Navy after serving 20 years. When I was younger, and I would go to work with my mother I would admire how she could command a room of sailors. She was able to lead them into action with her words. My mother knew how to speak clearly and with authority in her voice. When my mother had to present speeches to the sailors, she seemed confident in what she was saying even when I knew she was nervous. She was always able to connect with her audience by making eye contact and making everyone feel like she was talking to each of them individually. In addition, she was able to keep speaking at a good pace and had little to no pauses. All of these actions or behaviors helped her to exhibit an effect style of communication the...

  The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression During this course I have gained a new perspective on how to help families feel respect and accepted when choosing to enroll their children within my facility. One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that my facility will become a resource they recommend to others. When families do recommend my facility, I hope that they will explain to others how myself and my staff accepted and respected their diverse background. I hope that the children and families within my facility will see their culture represented within my facility. One goal that I would like to set for in the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be to bring more awareness of this issues to my staff. I currently work at a facility that is on a military base overseas. I have found that staff often are not aware of some issues related diversity, e...

  Welcoming Families from Around the World   There are many countries in Africa that I have never heard of or know how to pronounce. If I was working at a childcare center and a new family emigrated from Gabon. I would not know anything about their culture or way of life. However, there are many ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family.   First, I would identify what is the language of Gabon. One of the primary languages used in Gabon is French. Therefore, to be welcoming to the family I would learn and teach my co-workers a few common words in French. Some common words we could learn before they arrive are hello, goodbye, please and thank you. Second, I would prepare myself to be opened minded to any cultural differences that may arise. Third, I would attempt to contact the family to see if there is anything I can do support them in having an inclusive experience within the facility. I would attempt to find out if there is a...

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression A memory that I have of an incident when I experienced prejudice happened recently. Currently, I work in an environment in which I am the oldest person. The majority of my colleagues are in their twenties and early thirties. I often feel as though I am experiencing prejudice due to my age. The way people interact with me or leave me out of things I think has to do with my age. People are often shocked to learn that I am in my forties. All the time people tell me I look like I am in my early thirties. However, once my current colleagues find out my real age, they tend to treat me differently and isolate me more. Recently, I was at a gathering at a new colleague’s home. We were all sitting in the living room when the topic of everyone’s age started. Everyone went around the room and talked about how old they were. I never provided my age, but a colleague stated that I was the oldest in the room. Then another colleague stated that I was...

  Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions On Saturday evening I attended a barbeque with some friends. While there a gentleman began to tell me about an experience he had while living in Spain. The experience he described to me was a microaggression. The man explained to me that there was a club in Spain that if he, an African American male, went to alone he would not be let in. The owners of the establishment would point out something he is wearing and say it was against the dress code. However, if he went to the club with a local Spaniard he would be let into the club. The owners of the club were assuming that people who are non-Spaniard were perhaps criminals or would be disrespectful in some sort of way to the club. The man’s experience was an example of a racial microaggression. When the gentleman was describing his experience in Spain I was not surprised. I often here stories of how African American’s are treated in overseas countries. Generally, I have heard that if or ...

  Perspectives on Diversity and Culture I have many friends all over the world that I thought would be interested in helping me with this Blog assignment. Therefore, I posted a comment on my Facebook page reaching out to everyone to answer. The three responses I received where from Ms. Kristen, Tiffany and Monik. Everyone had a different perspective of culture and diversity. The first person that answered is a person that I believe to be in many ways culturally different from me. The first person that reached out to help me was my previous director Ms. Kristin. She is employed at another military base overseas and I still consider her a colleague. Ms. Kristin is older than me, a different race them me and economically in a different class than me. Nonetheless, I admire her achievements, respect her opinions, and adore her as the beautiful person she is. Ms. Kristen stated, “ culture is the way of life that someone is raised into as a part of their family/ancestral background. T...

  My Family Culture      I work for the United States Navy overseas in Italy. Earlier this month the base I am located at received over 5,000 refugees from Afghanistan. I saw thousands of people come here with only things they could carry. I am thankful that I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for these people to leave their country. Most people had a small suitcase or nothing in their hands but their children. If I could only grab three items that I hold dear to my culture I would grab my United States passport, my quilt that my grandmother made for me,   and my family recipe book.      In the event, that I would need to stay permanently in the host country I would still want to remain a United States citizen. By keeping my passport, I would be able to prove that I am U.S. citizen. I would explain to others that my citizenship is a part of my culture. The quilt my grandmother made for me would bring me comfort. My grandmother sho...

  When I Think of Research...   When choosing my research simulation, I wanted to pick something that I knew would benefit the children in my care. My research simulation was to conduct a research study that would determine the benefits of providing guidance related to deployments to children of military parents. It is vital that as childcare workers we provide guidance to children based on their needs. My simulation is important to the field of early childhood because it will demonstrate the importance of providing guidance to children. By providing children with guidance, they learn how to handle a variety of situations. In my research simulation children would learn how to cope with their parents’ deployments. The research simulation would help childcare workers determine which methods are most effective and which are not. The research simulation would help childcare worker in the early childhood field have better judgement of the behavior’s children display when dealin...

  Assignment 2: Research Around the World Since I am currently living overseas in Europe, the link that I have chosen to explore is European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). The EECERA link provides the reader with journals related to early childhood. The journals are referred to as European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ). The journals focus on issues that are affecting kids and families. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal (EECERJ) - EECERA Some of the current international research topics that can be found on the link are related to the culture of early childhood, teachers’ perspectives of early childhood, and nutrition polices. These are topics that are an issue not only in Europe but internationally. The articles related to these topics were published as recent as June 2021. A new insight that I gained from exploring the EECERJ website was from a journal article called ‘I thought all you needed for a successful ...

    Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories If I possessed the means and the knowledge to conduct a research study on any topic in the early childhood field, I would choose the topic healthy nutritional food options for childcare facilities. Providing healthy nutritious food options is important to the healthy development of children. There are many positive contributions that can occur by offering children nutritious food options at a childcare facility.             When a childcare facility provides healthy options of food for children, the children will develop the skill of choosing healthy food options outside of the facility. According to The more schools do to promote healthy eating, the healthier the dietary choices by students, “The number of actions that secondary schools have in place to promote healthy eating is significantly associated with healthy food choices made by students.” (Tow...

  Your Personal Research Journey   When a childcare professional is able to provide a child with a guidance a bond is created between the child and the adult. My chosen topic for the simulation is guidance. When a childcare professional provides positive guidance for a child, I believe the child will have more opportunities to experience learning in a safe environment. It is vital that a childcare professional be engaged with children and provide them with guidance. I believe guidance is important because without it an individual is not providing an experience that will influence the life of a child. I believe in order for an individual to provide appropriate positive guidance they must educate themselves and participate in trainings that allow them to demonstrate what they have learned. I have chosen the topic guidance, because I want to make a strong impact on the lives of the children I care for. I want to be someone they remember provided them with live long memories...

  Final Blog Assignment   Prior to taken this course I was unaware of the many issues that are affecting children outside of the United States. It is easy to live in this world and only think of those that are in your life. The first consequence of learning about the international early childhood field for my professional and personal development was how Covid-19 is affecting children and childcare in countries outside of the United States.   There are millions of children around the world who simply went without an education or childcare due to the pandemic. Not only did these children experience the death that came with the virus, but they experienced it with no support. Know one can predict when the world will return back to how it was before March 2020. I cannot help to think about all the children that are missing out on their childhood and education due to the panic, it is sad. The second consequence of learning about the international early childhood field fo...

  Blog Assignment: Professional Goals, Hopes and Dreams   What issues regarding quality and early childhood professionals are being discussed where you live and work? An issue regarding quality and early childhood professionals that is being discussed where I live, and work is accessibility. I currently work for 3 childcare facilities on a military base in Sigonella, Italy. Due to Covid-19 restrictions the only families able to receive care are children that have parents that both work mandatory jobs. Families of that have at least one parent at home are unable to receive care. There are currently over 50 children that are on a waiting list to receive childcare services. The 50 plus children that are unable to receive services have at least one parent that is not a mandatory worker. In addition, due to low staffing 2 of the facilities can no longer accept more children. Also, the Youth Complex that provides care for youth between the ages of 11 to 18 is closed ...

  Blog Assignment: Sharing Web Resources- Week 6 The website that I have chosen to explore throughout this course is Savethechildren.org. There are several links throughout the website. The link that I have chosen to explore this week of the course are the links associated with the donate subpage. These links lead to information regarding the finances of Save the Children. On the donate subpage there are links to Forbes, Charity Watch and Great Nonprofits. Forbes provides financial information from the top charities in the United States. According to Forbes, Save the Children organization received “$424 million” in private donations in 2019 and a total revenue of $864 million”. Charity Watch is an organization that looks out for donors of a charity. It reports any abuse of funds and keeps an out on an organization. The organization conducts in depth analysis of the financial records of nonprofit organizations, such as Save the Children. They provide the organizations with a grade...

  Global Children’s Initiative   To help children around the world reach their full potential the Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University collaborates with organizations around the world to provide ground-breaking information in regard to how science is connected to child development. The information is shared with policy makers. I find it fascinating that there is a global effort to improve the lives of children. According to Harvard University’s “Global Children’s Initiative” website , “The Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University was established in 2006 by Center director  Jack P. Shonkoff, M.D.  Our founding mission was to generate, translate, and apply scientific knowledge that would close the gap between what we know and what we do to improve the lives of children facing adversity.” (Center on the Developing Child at Harvard University, 2010 ). The scientific knowledge that is discovered or gathered at the center is taught to orga...