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