Reflecting on Life

   I have many things I am passionate about: my husband, my family and education. One of my goals in life is to own a preschool where children from different walks of life can attend to receive a diverse education and parents do not need to worry about being able to afford to send their child to school. I feel that a preschool education is extremely important and that all children should attend preschool prior to entering Kindergarten. I know that preschool is not mandatory in the United States, but I feel that preschool should be mandatory because it is the basic building block for a solid education. I know that with the economy being weak and many people being out of work the one thing that gets cut out of the budget is preschool. I feel that parents should not have to choose which things to cut of the budget and deprive their child of an education which can have a positive impact in the child’s life. Once I open my own preschool I want to get to know my students and the parents on a personal level. I feel that parents, teachers and students need to work together for academic and life success. I feel that by knowing what each families background is it helps me become a better teacher who can help each child individually. I also feel that income should never play a role in whether a school is a great school or a bad school. I feel that any child regardless of parent’s income should receive the best education possible and therefore I feel that parents should not have to worry whether they can afford to send their child to school and therefore I would look at each families income individually before deciding on how much to charge parents.  

Dear Colleagues:
   I would love to take a few minutes to say thank you for coming along with me on our journey towards getting our Master's Degree. I feel that I have learned a lot from all of you and that if it were not for the support and guidance throughout this program I would not have made it through my first class let alone achieve my goal of receiving my Master's Degree. I want to wish all of you the best of luck in our last class and hope that everyone achieves their goals.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

   The area of the world I have chosen was the Eastern and Southern Africa. The country I have chosen was Ethiopia. The reason why I have chosen Ethiopia was because I see many commercials that focus on people who are starving, have no means of getting proper medical care and sadly live in poverty.
   The country of Ethiopia has many challenges that young children go through. Children are not prperly educated and most parents are not well educated either, many children live in famine and are not properly fed nor do they have clean water, and the one good thing is that pneumonia death rates are down. I feel that it is important for young children to receieve a solid education so they can get out of poverty and improve their lives and the lives of others. One particular article I have read was titled "UNICEF Plans to Expand Innovative Pre-School Programme" which focuses on how they want to remove barriers by helping those in preschool obtain knowledge so they can enter the first grade with success. There is a programme called "Getting Ready For School: A Child-to-Child Approach! The programme is low costing and it suppliments preschool education so they can be better prepared for first grade and for other grades. It is important that each child learns at a young age so they can be successful in school and in life.
     The way that these experiences might have an effect on children's emotional well being and development is that if a child attends school hungry and are living in poverty they do not do well in school. The child is worried about whether they will be eating today or if they will be going hungry again. Children who leave the hosue with no food in their stomachs are not able to focus. Children who attend school wearing dirty clothes or clothes that do not fit them are afraid that other people are going to tease by others. A child who does not have the proper medical care can spread diseases and if they are sick they cannot get better. It is important for children to get immunizations so they can prevent getting sick and not spread diseases to others.
    My peronal reflection is that I feel we should help these other nations who need help. I feel it is important to educate others in order to see these countries be successful and to live out of poverty. I feel if we can help these nations maybe we can try to help these nations become stronger. On a professional level I feel it is important to educate people in order for them to live better lives. I feel that as educators we need to hold national conferences in order to help these third world countries. It is important to teach these children English. I have a cousin who is living in Korea and is teaching English to elementary age children. She loves working with them because they want to learn.

Source:
 UNICEF (2011). Retrieved from: http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/index.html

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

  After reading the article So Sexy So Soon, the book excerpt had really upset me. It is sad that nowadays young people are asking questions about sex and using inappropriate words because they hear it on television or on the radio. The first thing I saw in the article that upset me was “A four-year-old girl, in the dramatic play area of her preschool, begins swaying her hips and singing, “Baby, I’m your slave. I’ll let you whip me if I misbehave.” When her teacher goes over to talk to her about it, she volunteers that she learned the song from her eight-year-old sister. After doing a bit of research, the teacher discovers that the words are from a highly popular Justin Timberlake song” (Levin and Kilbourne, 2009). It is sad that parents would allow young children to listen to such lyrics. It reminds me of a young girl who came to the house on Halloween dressed up in a very short skirt and wearing a ton of makeup. The little girl told me that she wears makeup everyday to preschool and it had me wonder why parents would allow young girls to wear makeup to school. I know I was not allowed to wear makeup until I was in high school, but I chose to never wear makeup because I figured people should like me for who I am instead of what the others wanted me to be.

  The second thing that upset me was “Children as young as four learning to gyrate to songs in ways that might have stunned grown-ups a few decades ago.  Elementary school children looking at pornography on the Internet and using words such as“rape” and “blow job.” Young teens engaging in oral sex. Parents, grandparents, and teachers around the country and beyond tell us stories like these all the time—about how issues related to sex and sexuality come up in unexpected and even shocking ways with children, often at very young ages” (Levin and Kilbourne, 2009). I feel that the media is partly to blame for children acting the way they do, however I feel that the parents also need to be more responsible and watch what their children are doing online and what they watch on television.  I know that my young nephews (age 6) watch the cartoon Family Guy and they pick up on a lot of the language. Whenever I am watching them I make sure that they do not watch Family Guy and I also monitor what my older nephew does online. He is allowed thirty minutes online unless he is doing homework then he can be on longer to get his assignment done. I do not feel that it is fair to rush him when he is doing homework.

The third thing that upset me in this article is “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. We have heard scores of stories, such as the ones above, about children who are learning to look and act in ways that disturb and even shock many adults. But these children are acting in ways that make perfect sense given the sexualized environment that surrounds them” (Levin and Kilbourne, 2009).  I feel that the media is telling people that money is the most important thing in the world and that it acceptable for boys and girls to act like adults. I feel as parents and educators we need to monitor what young children are doing and make sure that before our children ask for a certain CD or Video game that parents find a way to view them first to make sure that they are appropriate for young children.

  Three personal experiences are young children watching adult cartoons such as The Simpsons and Family Guy. I feel that young children should not be allowed to watch these cartoons because they are not appropriate for young children. These cartoons are rated TV 14, but yet my sister allows her six year old sons watch these shows. I feel that my sister needs to watch these shows first to make sure that they are appropriate. The second experience I have is that many young children wear inappropriate clothes and young children as young as four are wearing makeup. I remember when I was doing a classroom observation there was a four year girl who was wearing a lot of makeup. I had thought that she had gotten into her mother’s makeup, but when the child came up to me she told me that her mom was the one who put the makeup on her daughter I was upset. I do not feel that a four year old girl needs to be wearing makeup and it sends the message that a girl is only pretty when she wears makeup. I was never allowed to wear makeup unless I was in high school, but I chose not wear any makeup because I felt that I did not need to wear any. The third experience I have is when a mother goes out with their children and the mother wears skin tight jeans and a halter top. I feel that the message that is being sent is that a girl needs to show off her body in order to be accepted and this is the wrong message to be sent to girls. Girls need to realize that it is important what a person looks like on the inside instead of what they look like on the outside.

  I feel that if children are dressed inappropriately the parents need to come and pick their child up from school and make them change their clothes. Parents need to see how their child is dressed before leaving the house. I remember my sister being sent to her room to get dressed because she was wear something inappropriate. I think when a child mentions a certain word that is inappropriate the teacher should ask where the child heard the word from and tell children that they need to watch their language. I would also mention it to the parents when the parents come and pick their child up. I feel that parents need to monitor what their children are doing and what they are listening to.

  After studying this topic this week I have come to the conclusion that parents need to be really careful what they allow their children to listen to and watch on television. Parents need to set better guidelines on what they can look up on the Internet and what video games they can play. I think that parents need to pick out their children’s clothing and not allow young girls to wear a lot of makeup.

Source:
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

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

  I am not a Pre-school teacher yet, but once I obtain my degree I would love to eventually open  my own Pre-school where children can get an education without parents having to worry about how to pay for their child's education. I am a strong believer in education and how important it is for young children to learn about themselves and about other cultures. I strongly believe in parent involvment in children's education and feel that children succeed better when their parents come to school and see how their child is progressing.  I feel that racism and prejudice are issues that are still prominate in today's society and that in order to elinimate racism and prejudice educators need to teach young children about other cultures and races. I think that ways we can teach young children about other cultures is to introduce them to language, ethnic food, traditional clothing, and books that are written in other languages.
   I want to hire a diversity of teachers from different ethinc backgrounds and also have a diverse classroom. I will teach my students that it is hurtful to make fun of other children and if I do hear of other children making fun of each other I will put a stop to it fast. I will use dolls as an example and have the kids discuss the importance of teasing each other and making fun of those who are different from each other. I feel it is important to have role playing games so children can see what it feels like to be teased and the one who does the teasing.