So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Goodbye

Well now comes the hard part.

Saying so long to my colleagues. 

You know where I was raised out in the west the term So Long really meant See You Soon. 

That is how I like to say goodbye to others.   

So what have I learned the past 20 months?

Culture is important.  We all have culture, learning to recognize that and respect that is vital to harmony in the world.

Bias must be overcome. The mass killings in our country we must get to the bottom of it and make it right.  What a child experiences in the early years 0-6 forms the foundation for the rest of our lives.  One could almost say we live and die by what we learn as young children.  What we learn about the world and our place in it and what we learn about ourselves. 

It is all about relationships.  Forming strong attachments and trusting relationships is foundational for young children. I have worked with children who long for that and don’t have it in their environment.  Now when I see a child I smile.  Even that brief contact in a positive form is a place to start.  My work in parent education is just beginning, I feel though that this is important work helping the parent be able to form those attachments and relationships with their child. 

Long Term Goal

        The last 8 months I have been dealing with a medical problem. One which has prevented me from working and following the path I wanted.  I plan on working on getting my full health back so I can pursue my goals.   My long term goal – there is so much I want to do.  I see the possibility of developing my cap stone project into a real program and present it to independent preschools for social – emotional behavior management training. This is something no one address in training of preschool teachers and other staff.  I think it could be a valuable thing to offer and possibly it could be part of a plan to provide for myself.   I am still thinking of using Montessori some way.  I have talked with the pastor at the church I attend about using the Catechesis of the Good Shepard for Children’s Church.  If I can extend the program to last from Sunday school the children will have two full hours to work in the classroom and I can incorporate other Montessori work into the space.  Finding a job that will give me long term employment is another goal.  While that may seem like a short term goal I live in a very depressed area and finding a decent job here is very difficult.  Traditional preschools here pay minimum wage for a teaching position to start.  Rather hard to make ends meet on that but it would be a start.  I am also going to write about my experiences being suddenly disabled for a local newspaper here and a Montessori Chat for them too.  So I don’t have one big long term goal but lots of small ones that I hope can meld together and turn into a good life that is satisfying and fulfilling while keeping me financially solvent as well. 

I want to thank my instructors for the past classes and Dr. Embree for the Capstone class.  She was a great help when I had questions. 

I want to thank my classmates.  Always nice to work with you in the classes. 

I also want to thank my kids.   They have put up with a lot the past 20 months and have excelled in their own scholarly pursuits as well.  The one goal I had for my children was that they go to college and all have done so.  I am proud of all of them. 

I want to leave you with Maria Montessori’s thoughts on the child and teacher relationship.

The teacher, when she begins to work in our schools, must have a kind of faith that the child will reveal himself through work. She must free herself from all preconceived ideas concerning the levels at which the children may be. The many different types of children . . . must not worry her. . . . The teacher must believe that this child before her will show his true nature when he finds a piece of work that attracts him. So what must she look out for? That one child or another will begin to concentrate" (The Absorbent Mind, p. 276). 

One of the most notable differences between Montessori teachers and traditional teachers is the enormous trust Montessori teachers place in the developmental abilities of the children. It takes a tremendous amount of faith to “follow the child”. It is so much easier to say to the children, follow where I lead and no one will get lost. Nonetheless, with careful observation and planning, Montessori teachers remain constantly alert to the direction each child is heading and actively works to help them succeed.

Montessori teachers are not the center of attention in the classroom. Their role centers on the preparation and organization of learning materials to meet the needs and interests of the Montessori children. The focus is on children learning, not on teachers teaching.

Know thyself and follow the child. Two very important things in my Early Childhood Education World.

You can contact me on http://ww.Linkdin.com . My identity is Linda Bale.  I’d be happy to connect.

Peace and all good.

Thanks for stopping by.

June 11, 2015

                                       What is going on in the world of ECE ?

This week we are to explore three international organizations for early childhood education.

I found one from the resourced provided in content of the course work

http://www.fhi360.org/

Vision:

FHI 360 envisions a world in which all individuals and communities have the opportunity to reach their highest potential.

MISSION

To improve lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions for human development.

      I was interested in this organization because of the emphasis on women and children.  They have many components to focus on including disability, nutrition, family and community and education.  They work globally and here in the U. S.  These are all things I would be interested in supporting.  While I did not find any positions I am interested in or qualified for I will still follow the progress it makes with the projects here in the U. S. and across the world.

The other two organizations I will be following are:

Montessori Education for Autism.  Located in Blackheath UK I was able to visit this program in 2011 and have been associated with it ever since.  I want to have the opportunity to go back and take the post graduate course soon. There are no job openings as of now.  To work in the UK takes jumping through many hoops and I believe I have a calling to Montessori Education here in the United States.

www.mefa.org

Montessori Foundation is a global entity involving training and support for Montessori schools all over the world.  They offer classes in building schools, community, family involvement and teacher training.  The part of this organization I am interested in is the Montessori Leadership Institute.  This is the training course on developing a world class Montessori school.  Again no positions open at this time but my goal is to develop a school here in Ohio I do think the course work here will be beneficial.

http://distancelearning.montessori.org 

Old Adage:

Give a woman a fish

Feed her for a day

Teach a woman to fish

Feed her and her family for a lifetime. 

Thanks for dropping by.

Peace and all good 

May 25, 2015

                                                       
HALF WAY HOME :-)

                                                                National Communities of Practice

This week marks our half way point of our cap stone class and then it is on to graduation and doing good things.  I am really excited.  It has been a long haul for me, but running the marathon has been worth it.

So my national communities of practice are:

National Association for the Education of Young Children

       Several years ago when I first learned of NAEYC I thought it was just some kind of a rule and regulation organization. I was having none of it.  As a Montessori teacher I just shake my head over some of the rules early learning centers have to abide by that are so counter to what Dr. Montessori noted from her scientific observations of young children over many years.  And those observations could and were replicated in other locations using her methods.  When I began my master's program we used several resources from NAEYC and I heard Ms. Derman -Sparks speak with such passion, humility and compassion about early childhood education I couldn't help but be won over.  Since that ititial introduction I have learned many wonderful things through the NAEYC organization.  I would love to one day be more affiliated with them and learn from them what I can incorporate into a parent and teacher training program I want to develop on early childhood development and education.  As I have investigated employment opportunities in NAEYC the positions I would be interested in are not listed on the web site.  I'd like to work on the national level.  There are many positions for early learning teachers or administrators.  Both are worthy endeavors but I'd like to get in on some of the policy planning and making representing the Montessori perspective.

American Montessori Society/ American Montessori International

    These two organizations are the national organizations for Montessori educators.  While the two entities have often been at loggerheads about how to practice the "Method" both have components that I can appreciate.  One follows the child by making sure there are plenty of developmentally appropriate works on the shelves for the child to choose from.  The other delves into Dr. Montessori's philosophy and method in a deep and thoughtful way.  As I said I have learned a great deal from members of each camp.  I think as a Montessori educator I can use a both/and approach in the classroom and if any program I lead that has to do with early childhood development and education.
My dream job would be in a classroom with an experienced teacher to mentor me for at least the first year of teaching. Since there are no Montessori schools within an hours drive of my home I will use my understanding of the Montessori philosophy in other positions and opportunities I can be involved with. Again parent and teacher training would be something I want to facilitate. It would be a joy to do this and get paid well.  In the last year or so AMS and AMI are working together collaboratively to bring Montessori into the larger context of the public sector.

Montessori Education for Autism

     MEfA is an organization I became aware of when I began researching autism and looking for a Montessori teacher training center.  In 2011 I had the opportunity to do the study abroad class with Walden and went to London UK.  I got to spend 24 hours with Wendy Fidler and see her organization working with both autistic and neuro typical children. She also has a post graduate class where Montessori teachers may get a further certification in this field of study.  I am an adjudicator for her students papers and give them feed back on their work.  The field of special needs and the Montessori Method is wide open for interpretation and I want to be a part of that.
      As an avowed Anglophile I want to go back to the UK and work and tour for a year or two one day. There is so much history there I could not begin to see it all and absorb it all in just a few short weeks. I'd like to work with Wendy for a year however as a Yankee jobs are few and far between in the UK for foreigners.  Guess I'll have to find that money tree in my woods if I am to go.

Well it has been a good run so far.
 
Thanks for dropping by

Peace and all good.

                                                           References

National Association for the Education of Young Children  http://www.naeyc.org/

American Montessori Society http://www.amshq.org

American Montessori International http://amiusa.org/

Montessori Education for Autism http://www.montessorieducationforautism.com/

                                        Dream Team and Community of Practice

Week 2

ED 6990

Linda Krouse

              This week we are asked to think about three or four organizations to work with that can support or enhance our vision for early childhood education.  These need to be in the area where we live or work and have an interest in early childhood education.  I admit I have held several positions in the early childhood world but none that interested me so as finding out about the Ohio Coalition for the Education of Children with Disabilities.  This organization has several components that I could plug into either as volunteer or an employee.  One is parent mentoring.  This person goes to the schools in the area and helps parents understand things like IEP and classroom main stream assignments for their child.  Another component is as an educator for either parents or teachers or both.  I just attended one of their training this past Monday on “Taking the Sting Out of Challenging Behavior”  This is a topic that is close to my heart.  As a teacher I have not been trained in this area at all.  This is also the biggest area new teachers struggle with.  I attend as many of these kinds of sessions as I can so I can learn strategies for understanding and helping children understand the rules of behavior in the classroom and in society.  I have heard of children as young as three being dismissed from a pre-school for not behaving but in reality it was the teachers who didn't know how to help that child learn to behave.

             The second organization is Help Me Grow. This is an early intervention organization that identifies children who are lagging behind their developmental milestones. They do in home therapy for infants, toddlers to age 3.  “The program is family centered and is available in all of Ohio’s 88 counties. Their services include parent education, ongoing screening, coordination and referrals for community resources and transition at age 3.”   The organization which is nearest me is the Northwest Ohio Help Me Grow.  I have applied for a position there in the past and keep my eye out for any openings.  As a child development specialist I can see myself in a role in this organization. 

             The third organization I would like to get to be involved with is the Good Samaritan School for children and adults with developmental disabilities.  This school has a pre-school I would love to work in this setting for a while.  While I am passionate about Montessori education I know that it takes experience working with children with many kinds of developmental delays and disabilities.  I don’t have enough experience yet to have an inclusive classroom of my own but I hope to one day.   I can see how being a classroom assistant in this setting would benefit me in building my knowledge and skills. 

              I have checked out the employment opportunities in all of these places and at this time there are no openings.  But I continue to monitor that situation.  I feel the right thing will come along for me in the right time.

              I feel I have a great deal of knowledge about developmental disabilities and delays.  I am good at identifying the kinds of delays that children might have that would hold them back in normal development. So I would be a good fit for Help Me Grow.  I am also very good at explaining things and doing workshops so I could be a parent mentor or a parent/ teacher educator and hold workshops on the various topics I am familiar with.  Really what I lack is the experience in the teaching and classroom management and desire a mentor teacher to work with. 

            As they used to say “If you build it they will come.”  One thing I and my partner are working toward is a non - profit organization that will provide programming for children on the autism spectrum.  Geared toward their interests we will be facilitators in the community. We have already talked to several local businesses about participating. One is a stained glass shop who has done this before and was very positive in her feedback about doing it again and an artist who may be interested.  There is a ceramic shop also we want to get hold of.  We have plans to hopefully use the kitchen of the church we attend and have cooking night and do some community activities. We want to have a theater and a movement class too.  I am a certified Autism Movement Therapist so this would be fun.  These would be once or twice a month and the cost would be minimal for the families.  Once we get the pieces in place we can begin to gear the activities toward the interest of the children, and let them lead the activities.  We don’t have a name for our adventure but I did create an organization several years ago called Holistic Integrated Therapy – Make every day a H.I.T.  I have not formally registered it but if Monica agrees we could have the name and hopefully a base of operations by this fall.  I am excited by the possibility of getting this off the ground. 

Well thanks for dropping by

Peace and all good

             

Passion – “Anyone can dabble, but once you've made that commitment, your blood has that particular thing in it, and it's very hard for people to stop you."

— Bill Cosby
Comedian

This week is the beginning of the last class in the Master of Science in Early Childhood Studies.  We were asked to create a Wordle I couldn't get the sight to work so I made my own.   

We were to pick four words that we may focus on during this class.  Here are mine. 

                               Diversity

            “We need to give each other the space to grow, to be ourselves, to exercise our diversity. We need to give each other space so that we may both give and receive such beautiful things as ideas, openness, dignity, joy, healing, and inclusion.”

               Max de Pree   

Social Justice

                      “If help and salvation are to come, they can only come from the children, for the children are the makers of men.”  Dr. Maria Montessori

       Developmentally Appropriate

“ Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to worlds but by experiences in the environment.”

Dr. Maria Montessori

                                              Hope for the Future in Early Childhood Education


                Well it has been an eight week journey in to diversity.  We have reflected upon our own diversity and bias.  We have thought long and hard about how we will combat that in our lives and in our classrooms.  We have thought how to support the children and families in all of the varying ways the express the uniqueness of who they are and where they come from.  It has been a good time to travel.

               What will all this mean for me and the children I may work with in early childhood education?  For me it means I will have a deeper understanding of the personal relationship between identity and culture.  It will mean that as I see each child as an individual. I will also see him or her as a multi layered art piece and know that even though the top layer may be smooth and calm underneath is the possibility of a great storm and when I breaks I need to be ready to honor that instead of trying to put the tempest in the framework of what is the norm of the dominate culture.  I can frame what the expression of the child is in that moment in the light of seeing the multiple layers with the light of that person showing through.  Understanding that none of us had a static context for who we are and what we want in life I as the adult can help remove the lines we are not supposed to color out side of and let those colors blend and mix and swirl.  It has been said that children are resilient.  I think for the most part that is true however I also have seen who our bias can dampen the budding identity of a child and mute the expression of those colors, when enough people do that things get muddy colored and it looks like a mess.   Louise Derman -Sparks and Julie Edwards Olsen along with Maria Montessori have really brought home the importance of the spiritual preparation of the teacher. Unless this component is addressed in teaching programs children can not be well served.  I especially am concerned with children with a hidden disability such as autism, Asperger's, ADD and ADHD who have a hard time with social - emotional context will be left in the dust not only academically but on the level of functioning and being successful in the social world of work and play.   Having a challenging child in the class can be very frustrating for a teacher especially for the pre school teacher who may not have a great deal of training or experience.  One of the aims I would like to implement in the area where I live is some behavior management classes showing techniques on how to understand behavior and how to help the child with the challenging moments to work through them and successfully deal with what has gotten him or her off track.   The one thing I hope to use the philosophy of anti-bias for is to teach others when they are working with these children their bias can cloud the work they are doing and it is important for address that early on in their career.
Below I have included two articles that have come through my news feed on Face book that I thought were interesting in regards to anti-bias education and classroom management.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/04/16/us-usa-race-schooldiscipline http://www.technology.org/2015/04/21/study-shows-early-environment-has-a-lasting-impact-on-stress-response-systems/      

I want to thanks my cohort for dropping by and it has been a pleasure working with you all.  May you have a successful and enjoyable career.  See you in the Capstone class.

Peace and all good.

                                What children experience in Bosnia/Herzegovina

This week we are asked to look at other places in the world using the UNICEF site and choose a country to explore.  While I was paroozing the BiH pages two articles caught my attention.  The first is children who are in the criminal justice system there and the second about children going to school and having their language and culture being respected.

I chose this area of the world because in the West we don't hear about what is going on in other parts of the world unless it is some kind of crisis.  I remember when this part of the world was at war and wanted to see how things had progressed since the 1980's.  So here is a synopsis of the articles and links to them to read them for yourself.

Justice for Children: High-Level Visit to Zenica (2013)  

In 2010 a programme named Protection of children at risk and children in contact with the justice system in BiH.  Ambassadors from Sweden, Switzerland, BiH and UNICEF came together with their teams to see how children involved with the justice system were being treated and if any of those children were helped by the efforts.  The aim was to identify families and children at risk and look into prevention rather than punishment. „The reform of the juvenile justice system is but one of the requirements to ensure a proper implementation of the UN Convention on the rights of the child, a set of globally accepted rules which include the equal treatment of children without discrimination, the right to live and develop in a healthy manner, the right to be heard in all matters affecting him or her - in short – to always secure the best interests of the child..” – stated H.E. Fredrik Schiller, Ambassador of Sweden in BiH.  The delegations also visited various sites one a child friendly room at a police station.  The central theme was on focusing on prevention and reintegration.  Putting children in jail is not an optimal way to increase success but working on a strategy for prevention and reintegration back into society is something that has been shown to work.  

Justice for Children: High-Level Visit to Zenica (n.a.)(2013) Retrieved April 18, 2015 from http://www.unicef.org/bih/media_25305.html

The next article was just as interesting especially since we have been discussing  a child's right to have their culture and language honored. 

UNICEF: Children should go to school and their cultural and languages specificities should be respected

Keeping in the spirit with the Rights of the Child UNICEF has created a panel to look into the concerns or families who are questioning why their child should only learn in a language not familiar to them.  UNICEF representative  "Mrs Bauer also highlights that in parallel it is key to find a solution to the broad issues of discrimination, segregation and politicization in education. ”All schools should respect the language and cultural specificities of every child by teaching the three recognized languages and two scripts, providing common core curriculum “neutral” subjects with agreed same contents in any language and script, providing the national group of subjects in respective languages and scripts and making education materials available in languages and scripts chosen by the pupils.” 

UNICEF:Children should go to school and their cultural and languages specificities should be respected. (n.a.) (2013) Retrieved April 18,2015 from http://www.unicef.org/bih/media_24974.html 

While there are many places in the world that need attention I am always interested in what has happened in a country since the crisis.  So now I know at least some of it. 

Peace and all good 

Thanks for dropping by 

             So this week we talk about the sexualization of young girls/boys in our American society.  This has been a big concern for many teachers and parents for most of the last twenty years.  I think for me it was the Jean Bennett Ramsey case where the little girl was a rising baby beauty star who was murdered.  Now her status as a baby beauty star had nothing to do with her being murdered but when I saw the pictures and video of her performance and she was dressed up like an adult at three years old I was pretty shocked by it.  I have two daughters, they are both drop dead gorgeous.  But my rule was that kids will be kids and I didn't encourage any of the seemingly “normal” stuff other mom’s let their children do at an early age.  You could safely say I was that controlling mother who watched what my kids were exposed to.  We didn't watch much TV and it was PBS when we did, we read the classics and we did a lot of stuff out side.  My oldest daughter wanted to wear dresses all the time but they were dresses that were modest. We didn't go to see the latest Disney movie nor emulate the latest Disney Princess.  I made sure my sons had the proper sense of how to treat a girl or women. Respect them along with everyone else.   

       Time has passed.  My children are now adults and watch and wear what they want.  While I am not always thrilled with their choices I can’t complain much.  And as I watch TV and read magazines I am over whelmed by the blatant adds directed at tweens to adult women that make them think having long silky hair, a curvaceous figure and long eye lashes makes them a more desirable date.   In my teaching I have run into this in the early childhood classroom.  The main problem seems to be cloths.  One year the little girls had pants on so tight they couldn't sit down in them without being very uncomfortable.  I asked one of the other teachers if they had noticed all the little girls dressing this way and she said yes.  She told me it was the style and no one carried anything else in the girls department.  One child was so uncomfortable I asked her mother to start sending her in sweat pants so she would be able to sit still.  She tried it but soon went back to the “style” because the child had a fit to dress like everyone else.   

         Parents play their part in all this too.  They get sucked into the hype that is sold to their kids.  One of the couples I used to baby sit for dressed to look like Barbie and Ken dolls.  Their 3 year old daughter wanted to dress like mamma so she was dressed in rather revealing short shorts and middy tops. She also swung her hips side to side when she walked.   I think many young parents today try to make themselves feel good by buying the children the latest thing.   It is not a strategy that works well. 

         What it all comes down to is how we help our children find their true identity and it isn’t to be found in the perception others give us about ourselves.  “Identity is shaped from the outside but constructed on the inside.” (Derman Sparks & Olson Edwards 2009)  The messages we give to young children about their worth is very important.  I have met mothers who live vicariously through their daughters by dressing them in grown up out fits.  I have met mothers who think their daughters should be modest, in the homeschooling world this may mean denim skirt, white blouse and white tennis shoes. Modest and practical.   What children truly need is a relationship with their parents that is trusting and honest.  Like the young boy in the reading So Sexy So Soon (Levin & Kilbourne 2012) who was able to talk freely to his mother about the love notes he was getting in fourth grade.

          Parents who are willing to take the time to build a trusting relationship with their child can help them navigate the tough stuff they will encounter in the media soaked culture we live in.  As a parent of both sons and daughters I know it is a fine line we walk.  Not to let them be too precocious and not to be too strict.  The issue is not about sex or sexuality but sexualizing or objectifying a person.  “Both boys and girls are routinely exposed to images of sexual behavior devoid of emotions, attachment, or consequences. They learn that sex is often linked to violence. And they learn to associate physical appearance and buying the right products not only with being sexy but also with being successful as a person.”  Levin & Kilbourne (2009).  When the foundations are laid in this manner children run a much greater risk of engaged in risky behavior. 

         Focusing in this issue in the early learning years can help families build strong relationships and more confident children therefore stronger and more confident tweens, teens and young adults. 

Derman – Sparks, L & Olsen Edwards, J. Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  

              Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children. (NAEYC)

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

·        

 

                                             Promoting Anti-Bias in Early Learning . 


This is a topic that is hard for me to envision.  I have done an extensive 'ism" search of my own life and don't find any.  I do make some faux pas in my language however.  Because I am of a certain age I will use the term Oriental instead of Asian, my daughter has corrected me on that one and I strive to re-frame my nomenclature for ethnic constructs.  Just as some people grew up using the word retarded for people with developmental disabilities. Since I was aware how damaging this was I chose early on in my life never to use that term in any way to refer to anyone. But terms like Oriental and Negro came to a halt later as awareness in the 1960's and 1970's grew.  I find it interesting how we as a nation make a differentiation between people who are famous and just regular folks.  We didn't refer to Jimmy Hendrix as Jimmy Hendrix the Black left handed guitar player.   We refer to him as the most famous left handed guitar player who changed the course of music in rock and roll. We don't refer George Taki as the gay Japanese American man who played Mr. Sulu on Star Trek. We refer to him as the actor who played Mr Sulu on Star Trek.  We don't refer to Mya Angelou to the Black Female Poet Laureate of the United States.  We refer to her as May Angelou; Poet Laureate.  There are plenty of people who play a wicked good guitar riff, many people who are fine actors and actresses and many many wonderful poets in their own right.  Why does it take a person to become famous to be seen in a more generic way in the public square?  

Of course those seen in a not so good light in the 1960's were not referred to so benignly.  Angela Davis and Eldridge Clever were termed "black" for their affiliations with the Students For A Democratic Society and the Black Panther movement. 

Respecting ethnic and cultural differences and yet unifying us through our sameness is a fine balance.  To a the Africa American community Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. may be seen not as Black but as a hero to be looked up to.  But to the white community he is noted as a Black Civil Rights advocate.  How do we synthesize the two worlds?  

One way to do this is to begin early on in the educational setting of a young child.  One way I would like to do this is to help the child discover all the things that are same with him or her in the culture of the classroom. Children who have many of the same qualities.  We have hair, legs, arms, skin, teeth, eyes and hands.  We all have a voice and a back bone.  But then the differences show up.  The skin tones vary, the eye shape or color is different.  Hair is of a different color or texture. Some back bones are very strait some are bent and curve.  I want to help a child look beyond the out side differences and sameness.   

We can then move on to differing abilities. Some children can walk on two legs, some children must use a walker or a wheel chair to help them.  Some children can talk and some have little ability to put words and sentences together but can talk using an assisted device. Some children use a picture exchange system to get their needs and desires understood.  
Other children can run, others can not. Some  can climb, others can not. Some  play the piano by ear others can not.  There is a wide variety in abilities.  How we support those abilities and strengths is also very important in the early learning classroom.   

Then there is the cultural aspect of the child's identity. Some children are left to their own devices at home, some work right along side mom or dad or grandma while at home.   Some sit on the floor to eat some eat at a table.  Some use spicy things in their cooking others like a bland diet.  When I grew up the American meal was typically meat and potatoes.  Some children sleep in a hammock, some on the floor others use a bed on four legs.  Some have a family bed or sleep with several siblings.  Some children come from a multilingual house hold. Some only speak one language at home and that language may not be the predominate language of the dominate culture.  A child's home may be multi - generational, bi-racial or multi faith. 

What a lot of social constructs for a teacher to address on a daily basis!!!

One of the ways I have contemplated addressing these and promoting anti-bias education among early learners is to use the Persona Dolls.  I would have two sets.  A small set to use in the shelf in work on cultural studies.  Perhaps they would represent the kinds of cultures we have in the classroom from year to year.  And then a larger set to use during community time and in the making up of plays and stories about things pertaining to bias that arise in the course of the year.  

Why is anti-bias education important to the early learner?  As a Montessori teacher I have seen the default of being in a niche market in the early learning years.  Most Montessori schools are private and cater to more affluent families.  Children of Anglo, Indian and Asian decent are seen most in the population of a Montessori school.  (This is my own observation and I don't have any statistics to give on this) I do know there are several Head Start Montessori schools and inner city Montessori schools who serve a quite different population. I feel the use of the persona dolls is quite benign and won't give anyone the idea that there has to be an "us and them" social construct.  I feel the dolls can help children develop empathy and build identity in the course of their growing up years.   The dolls can be used to solve social problems in the classroom and to help them understand that in the long run we are more alike than different. It will also help a young child to understand that being different is OK.  Accepting differences among their peers can help a child be more confident in making friends. When adults are on board with this the likelihood of bias developing in the classroom decreases.  My aim as an early childhood educator is to help young children to build a social identity that includes all kinds of people.  This is one way we can promote peacefulness among people who have social identities that differ from one another.  Dr. Montessori saw the child as the hope for the future.  Through anti-bias education perhaps we can help see her vision become reality.    

This week we are discussion communication with children. We are asked to observe adults and children interacting.  I wrote about a tutoring gig I had recently and what I observed when the parent is  not a confident parent nor a competent communicator.

My observations were with a little girl 3.0 years old and her mother.  I was with them for about 12 hours in the home. Mom works from home and was to be the Montessori tutor for the little girl who also was supposed to have sensory processing disorder.  Parents self-diagnosed not done by a doctor or pediatric OT.   So upon observing I noticed mom was not a confident communicator and the child pretty much had her way by using the technique of running and screaming when she did not want to do something.  At the initial interview little one swung a toy segmented wooded snake closer and closer to mom and then hit her with it.  Mom excuse was that child liked to feel the pressure of the snake hitting her.  It hurt mom but she didn’t respond in any way Dad took the toy away.   What I saw was a child who did not want her mom’s attention be anywhere but on her.  She is at that age where testing the boundaries will be done.  Continually until she is sure where they are and if they are firmly in place.  She tried the same thing with me the first time I read to her.  She hit me on the head. I gently took her hand and guided back down to her lap and told her “I won’t let you hit me.” She then tried it on several places on my body more gently than the first and I did and told her the same thing.  That was the end of it.

 I also heard mom do the bribing thing.  It is so easy to fall into that habit especially when you are not a confident person nor a competent communicator.  As someone who struggles to find the right language to deal with interpersonal situations I can relate.  I have come up with some very good resources.  One is Janet Lansbury’s blog Elevating Child Care and her book No Bad Kids.

The other is Chick Moorman.  His books deal specifically with what words to use and how we speak to others.  That has helped a lot.  I hope you too will find these resources helpful in your journey in early childhood education. 

As for this mom and her daughter I feel sorry for them.  Mom was not open to any advice I had to give and the tutoring thing was stopped.  I was respectful but could not agree to tell her what she wanted to hear to assuage her psychological need to have her daughter totally dependent upon her. There was no sign of SPD.  Mom needs something to be wrong with her daughter in order for her daughter to be dependent upon her.  This is going to back fire one day and this child is going to give her parents a run for their money.  Her father is complicit in it all because he is a week person as well.  The child’s self-esteem is already fragile because she senses they view her as not competent nor complete as she is. 

The last time I was there the child threw a full blown fit because mom needed to get some work done and sat down at the computer.  I was able to redirect her but she put on her act again about five minute later.  What she got was several minutes of mom’s attention for essential oil treatment. While I think aroma therapy is useful that is not what she really got. She got what she was after which was mom’s attention.  Mom was played and never saw it coming.  Again I have to say I feel sorry for this family and hope someone can get through to them about their parenting style. And that their child is developmentally spot on in every way.

If this sounds judgmental I am sorry as a child developmentalist and an experienced mother of 5 I feel I have the agency to assess this situation.

Resources

Lansburry, J. (2014) No bad kids: Toddler discipline without shame.  JLML Press. ISBN:978-

                  1499351118

http://www.janetlansbury.com

http://chickmoorman.com

Blog Week 2

ED 6853

        Having had an in home day care for several years in the 1980’s I have some experience with the topic of anti-bias education in the early childcare setting.  At the time I had a variety of children, a white middle class boy and a little Mexican girl who had two moms and was from a rather hard background.  My own two children and a brother and sister whose parents were divorced and went back and forth on a weekly basis.  Because I had a Montessori pre-school program incorporated into my daycare.  In the Montessori environment it is unusual to have lots of posters on the wall or dolls and dress up cloths to play with.  But that doesn’t mean that anti-bias education doesn’t happen.  Reading books aloud to the children is a wonderful way to introduce and incorporate ideas into a child’s schema.  My daughters frequent Good Will and my oldest daughter is always bringing me books that deal with anti-bias in their stories.  I love it.  One of my favorite stories is of a little girl who is African American who wants to play the role of Peter Pan in the school play.  Other children tell her she can’t be Peter Pan because she is a girl and she is Black.  As the story progresses her family supports her and she wins the part through her studying her lines and doing a great job in her acting.  But if she had believed the myth the anti-bias thinking had written for her she would have remained on the side lines.  Now in real life I am hearing of having a Black Odette in the ballet Swan Lake.  There is a lot of hullaballoo surrounding this decision.  I applaud it. As a former ballet dancer I have seen the mostly all white casting of the major roles. 

         Another way a Montessori education can address anti – bias is using the peace curriculum.  The philosophy is to promote inner peace and thus outer peacefulness as the child becomes able to control his or her impulses and develop the language to speak about how other’s perceptions may not be correct.  One of the most important aspects of anti-bias education is to educate ourselves.  Years ago when I started working in day care centers I ran across so many teachers or adult child care workers who were eager to label a child as bad or lazy or a hellion.  I couldn’t understand it, why did they think a child was bad when they knew nothing about them?  And they certainly weren’t willing to find out why a child would behave in such a way.  I began to investigate early childhood then, I didn’t pursue a career in ECE then but when I had my one home care program and then homeschooling my own children I tried to read and study everything I could on child development and understand behavior.  As I then progressed through my undergraduate degree and Montessori training and now my Master’s degree I began to be convinced that development and behavior are influenced by culture of the family and society in general.  But the most important component was the transformation within myself.  When Derman-Sparks and Olsen – Edwards put that word in the title of the text they made a point of highlighting the necessity of teachers and another adults working with young children to become self-aware and reflective.  The same thing happens in a good training program for Montessori guides.  Becoming aware of how I as an adult may have bias unintentional or not.  How to re frame my thoughts about society and culture in a positive light and discover how to relate to others especially families of young children regardless of the culture or back ground they come from.  In the future I want to incorporate cultural shelves from the families of the children who attend my program and encourage family events such as pot luck suppers.  I am looking forward to the community that can be built within the context of anti-bias education with in early childhood education.

Derman-Sparks, L. and Edwards Olsen, J. (2010) Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.   Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children. (NAEYC)

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author

This week we think about the future.  What about our practice in early childhood education do we want to improve?  For me I think it would  be raising awareness of the child on the autism spectrum,the one who has ADHD or a Sensory Integration issue or any other kind of behavior mode. I want to help teachers to understand and accommodate instead of that child being tagged as a bad child or the parent is tagged as a permissive or neglectful parent. I have observed this kind of thinking in many early childhood programs. 

 Why?  

I believe it is because no early childhood degree or certification program has properly prepared teachers to deal with serious behavior issues.  There needs to be some very specific training and interning with an experienced and successful mentor in this area.  Many schools do not possess the resources to have an experienced social worker or OT on staff.  That becomes a detriment to everyone at the school.  The child and the teacher whose moral is low because try as they might that one child can not be reached.  

Bias usually comes from not having experience.  If we have no experience in mountain climbing we might be bias against it.  If we have no success in teaching a child with SPD we will inadvertently develop a bit of a bias towards that child.  

My goal is to work to provide training and help for the early childhood teachers, the families and the children who learn and approach the world differently than others do. Everyone deserves success and it starts with early learning and support from all of the adults in the child's life.  When the adults don't know what to do there should be someone somewhere to go to for help.  

I want to thank my classmates for dropping by and commenting on my blog.  I wish you every success in the important work we have chosen.  

Blog Week 7

This week we are to create something hat would describe how we have learned about diversity and learning in the courses we have taken for our Masters ‘program.  I have always been a fan of inclusive classrooms and board rooms and the one thing I can think of to express this is an epigram by Edwin Markham. 

              Outwitted

He drew a circle that shut me out--

Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.

But Love and I had the wit to win:

We drew a circle that took him in!

So many of the kids I have taught even at a young age fit this description.  They are rebels without a cause many times dealing with the effects of poverty and an unstable home environment.  I wish I could say I have always understood and been patient with them, I have not.  However as I have read the materials for these classes it has given me a greater understanding of what they are dealing with and how to approach them and their circumstances in a better way.  My Montessori Teacher’s page on Face Book has brought me much wisdom as Dr. Montessori was very much convinced that how we respect children is indicative of how we will develop as a nation. I think Markham’s poem sums it up for me and I will have it printed and framed in my classroom next year.

Thanks for dropping by

Peace and all good    

Happy Valentines Day

Well this week we were to think of a time when we  or perhaps our child said something that was bias toward someone.  Hummmmmmmmmm  I have thought and thought can't think of an incident.
What you say all kids to this at least once!!!
Well maybe not all kids.
Here is what I came up with.
I was raised during a tumultuous time in the USA the 1950"s ad 60's.  However I was exposed by default to many kinds of people.
I was around many different kinds of people and I have always thought difference was fascinating.
Here's how it went.
I had two grandmothers who had heart conditions and were elderly when I was born.  (My parents got a late start.)  One of my grandmothers wore coke bottle bottoms for glasses. That is an idiom) She couldn't see very well due to cataracts.  She used a magnifying glass to read with.
I was around people in my family who lived in poverty. I mean dirt poor and my dad was the only one to have graduated high school.
I was exposed to Black people through the family who share cropped my Grand Mother's farm in South Carolina.
I was exposed to Mexican people through going to the Mission Church my home church sponsored  in my hometown.
I was exposed to Native American through going to live on a reservation for a summer while my dad worked there.
I was exposed to a different religion through there being a large Mormon population in and around the place I lived.  
I was exposed to children with Developmental Disabilities because of the little girl in my neighborhood that I played with and there was the State School for DD children in my town and we went there to sing Christmas Carols and made tray favors as projects in Girl Scouts and church groups I belonged to.
In my part of Colorado everyone was from some place else.  Not very many "natives" like myself and my dad around.  The family down the street was from South Dakota, and had an accent when they spoke.   My mother was from South Carolina.
Mom and I took the train every year to South Carolina to see her family.  There were always someone to watch and talk to on the train.  I was one of those kids who never knew a stranger. So I talked to everyone I came across.
When we were in Oklahoma City for my dad to go to school I got very sick and was in the ER waiting my turn.  Mom and dad were very worried.  An Osage (Native American) man came in with a knife wound in his belly.  I was crying and he talked to me the whole time.  We were put in rooms with just a curtain between us  and while the doctor looked at me he kept talking to me telling me it was going to be OK and that both of us would get better.  Not to be afraid.  We left before they were done stitching him up but I will never for get that.  He was brave and helped me to be brave too.
In college I got balled out by Roman Gabriel and famous Native American football player.
Guess it takes all kinds.
My children didn't get to have the variety of experience I had but they knew that to be rude to anyone because of appearance or status or intelligence just was not acceptable.  While they were allowed to ask questions at home about things or people they never within my hearing asked rude questions or made rude remarks.  I guess I did something right.

Thanks fro dropping by
Peace and all good

 January 23, 2015


                                                  I've Come A Long Way Baby!

           This week we are asked to reflect upon gender identity and sexual orientation.  Gender identity is a topic that has come up recently in our household.  You see I am the mother of three boys and two girls.  My oldest daughter has mentioned upon more than one occasion that her gender was unfairly treated when it came to things like toys and getting cap pistols, BB guns and bows and arrows.  As she is correct.  Her brothers got all of those things while she and her sister got stuffed animals and dolls, or doll clothes.  She also notes that I was more willing to let her brothers wonder wild and free where as she and her sister we protectively hovered over.  Again she is correct.  As I pondered this as a parent I realized I had more consciousness about making sure my boys were able to play with dolls then I made sure that my girls were able to shoot a gun or bow. One of my sons dressed up as Cinderella for years and I didn't try to change that.  I wanted to protect the girls but had faith in the boys that they would know how to handle someone trying to hurt them.  As she pointed out I should have had a more equal view of the whole process.  As a parent I was doing the best that I knew how, with loving intentions.  Once when my oldest daughter was younger she had written a shanty that was quite violent in nature.  I don't remember the content of the piece but she told me I made her throw it away.  I do remember that it shocked me that she had written something so violent and out of her nature.  She is truly a peacemaker and as a parent I didn't see this side of her.  I guess I didn't want to see it.  All I can say is "What was I thinking?"  Fortunately I have some very savvy children. All of them have embraced the idea that all children should be encouraged to explore their identity and gender orientation. I too am less inclined to treat boys and girls somewhat differently albeit with good and loving intentions.
            I have grown too through my Montessori training to trust the children to know their way.  Children are not blank slates they have personalities and preferences and we as adults need to respect that.  We should also help them to be aware of grace and courtesy for all people.  This begins at home of course.  As a primary teacher in a Montessori environment we endeavor to make sure all are welcome.  This includes couples who are gay or lesbian and have children who want or do attend a school I teach or administer in.  Most Montessori schools are nonsectarian and thus do not tend to have the prejudice that other schools have in regards to same sex couples or children who are gay or transgender.  People are people and most Montessorians are open minded enough to accept others into the community as long as the basic ground rules are observed.

          The post below came across my feed on Face book this evening while I was composing this blog.  Unfortunately this happens more than we'd like to think.  As a gay woman I was lucky to be able to accept my sexual orientation without much angst.  But the plight of young people who are gay has not changed nor has the community that should help them through a fragile time in their lives done so.  Finding an adequate school for your child should not have to be a game of rights and wrongs.  School should be a community where all children and their families are welcomed and supported in what ever way they can, with as much acceptance as possible.
         In the case of a parent who would not want their child to be cared for or taught by someone who is gay or transgender I would have to say that if the staff person was very qualified (and I wouldn't be hiring anyone who wasn't) they could check out other schools in the area and give them a referral.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jamie-mcgonnigal/antigay-tennessee-school

I feel that making a strong atmosphere of acceptance and love in the community of the school will translate to the children and the families.  If peace and acceptance are going to rule in the world it has to begin with me.  That means that I model and live the philosophy I have about acceptance of differently abled people, people who are ethnically different than me and people who have a different lifestyle than I do.  It really does not matter what that difference is what matters is that I show respect for the person.  

Peace and all good

Thanks for dropping by.