Farewell Blog

Throughout my year and a half at Walden University I have learned a lot about diversity and how important it is to teach young children how to accept people for who they are instead of judging people based on their race, ethnicity and color of their skin. I have also learned that not all family situations are the same and therefore we need to be careful when we send letters that are addressed Dear Parents.
  The three deeply things I have learned while at Walden University is to always put the child's needs ahead of your own. It is very important to practice parent/teacher/student confidentiality and therefore before discussing any issues with your colleagues it is important to ask the parents and the student's permission before proceeding because you never want to betray a trust between parents and students. The second thing I have learned is that it is important to teach the students to always be nice to each other and if a child is getting teased it is important to address the situation immediately and have each child say it makes me feel sad when. I feel that if the item is addressed immediatly it is still fresh in the child's mind and it is easier for them to discuss it. The third thing I have learned is that the definition of family has changed over the years. I remember growing up with one mother and one father, but nowadays you have single parent homes, children raised by two mothers, two fathers or children being raised by their grandparents and therefore it is important to have events where families are invited and not limit events to just moms and dads.

I have two long term goals I am working on and am hoping to accomplish. My first goal is to open my own pre-school where parents can enroll their child without having to worry about costs. I feel that every child should attend preschool and receive the best education possible without having to worry about the cost and whether the equipment is outdated. My second goal is to start my own organization where I can help people with the adoption process. Randy and I have been looking to adopting for a while now and know it can be a long, hard and expensive process. We have been trying very hard to save money and looking for work. I think it would be great having my own organization where people can come together and help each other. I would have many fund raisers in which we raise money to help families pay adoption fees.

Dear Dr. Morgan and Colleagues:
   I want to take the time to say thank you for the support and guidance throughout my academic career. To my colleagues I want to say that I have learned from each and everyone of you ladies and I want to wish all of you the very best of luck. I am looking forward to keeping in touch with everybody and am so glad to have a lot of great friends. I will always remember how important each of you ladies are to me and how you all have helped me grow.
  To Dr. Morgan I want to say that I am grateful to have had you for two courses and that you have guided me and taught me a lot about diveristy and the importance of teaching children because you love to teach and not because of the pay. I have had many great instructors and a great advisor who always made sure that I was doing well and that if I needed help I could always come to them without being afraid.


My contact information:
my email address is: lovebunny225@yahoo.com

my facebook account is: Darlene Atkinson

International Organization

The first organization I have chosen was the International Step by Step Association. The reason why I chose this website is because it promotes equal education and care for all children. They offer a variety of programs that have education services and advocacy as well as tools to influence policy. Sadly there was no link for employment opportunities which is sad because this seems to be the kind of place I would love to work at.
    The second website I went to was the United Nations Education, Scientfic and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). The reason why I chose this website is because I saw a story that interested me. The story is called New York Launch of World Atlas of Gender Equality in Education. The story talks about the importance of educating women and girls. According to the website, "the education of girls and women is important, not only as a matter of respecting a basic human right for half the population, but as a powerful force for economic development and achieving other social goals such as improved health and civil movement" (New York, n.d.). I feel that it is important for girls and women to realize that education is important and the more educated they become the better career they can have. I feel that girls need to be taught at a young age that they can do more with their lives than just being a mother and a wife. It reminds me of something I heard the other day. A was shopping at a local grocery store and a little girl came up to me and said, "when I grow up I am going to be a doctor and no boy is going to tell me that I can't be a doctor". Sadly, there is no link for careers.
   The third organization I wnt to was the International Association of Special Education. This organization was founded in 1989 and their main goal is to improve the quality of life and service to those who have special needs. Even though they have several aims the one that means a lot to me is "to develop special education as a discipline and profession. There are no careers on this site, however there is a volunteer project that people can get involved it.

Sources:
International Association of Special Education. (n.d.). Retrieved April 4, 2012, from http://www.iase.org

International Step By Step Association. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.issa.nl/index.html

 United Nations Education, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2011). Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/unesco/about-us/who-we-are/introducing-unesco/