Reflecting on Learning

     Upon reflection on the field of early childhood and what I hope to be able to accomplish one thing comes to mind- that every child know that they matter, that they know that I believe in them and that I care about them as people.  All too often we as educators get caught up in the daily things such as standardized tests, scores, and things of that nature, but my goal is to let each child know that they matter to me outside of the scores and the testing.
     I want to teach children to be confident in themselves and to have faith in themselves rather than to make excuses; excuses are what you get as a result of a child being frustrated and not getting something.  I know that I cannot go home with the students, but if only one person tells these children that they matter, that they can do whatever it is they aspire to do, that there is no dream out of their reach if they are willing to work hard to get there, then I want that person to be me.
     Thank you to all of my colleagues who I have learned so much from during this course; the course materials are good, but the experiences that we share and the diversity that we bring to the table make this course fantastic!  Thank you to Dr. Shepard for being there when I had questions about things; I also appreciate the feedback on each and every assignment as I feel like your words helped guide me and make me better.  Good luck in the future courses to all of you!

Impact on Early Emotional Development

     I chose to look deeper at China because students here the United States are always compared to the students in China in terms of "quality education".  I was hoping to look at China and see what it is that this country does so differently than we do her in the U.S. to see what may give them the educational advantage.
     One of the things that children of China have to overcome is the natural disasters that strike the country.  The earthquakes and such that strike the country cause such wide spread devastation that it takes the country quite some time to recuperate.  Some children end up without families and homes; finding a way for these children to still receive an education is a challenge that China faces.
     If a child is orphaned due to a natural disaster, I cannot imagine that continuing on with their educational routine would be of the highest importance to them.  Although it would provide them with some sense of normalcy, it would be hard for them to focus on the educational goals in the classroom when they have lost so much.
     As a teacher, I cannot imagine what this child would be facing, but I would be there in any way that I could to help the child.  It would be difficult to lose your home and be concerned with school, but as a teacher, I may be able to help the family by helping the children maintain that routine while the adults sort things out in other areas.  From a personal level, I would want to do all that I could to help the family. 

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

     In response to the question, I think that our country is entirely too sexualized, but especially the younger generations.  As a mother, it is difficult to buy clothes for my child that are not skin tight, too short, or just plain not appropriate for a six year old.  Children today are not allowed to be children long if they want to be considered "cool" because all of the messages sent to them on a regular basis about what cool is and what it should look like.

     Children are constantly presented with pictures of beautiful girls who wear revealing clothing and who act in a provocative manner.  I do not allow my children, who are five and six, to watch anything other than SPROUT or PBS because of the images that the media 
 portrays as "cool".   Movies that are aimed at "tweens" tend to have sexual situations in them that encourage children to view sexual behavior as okay.

There is a child in my fourth grade class who I have had to watch because she comes to school dressed one way and comes into my classroom in something entirely different at least twice a week.  I called the mom and we discussed that her daughter said that the boys think she is a nerd so she had been taking her older sister's clothes and makeup trying to make the boys think that she was cool.  I could not help but think that when I was in fourth grade, I still thought that boys had cooties and that they were odd just because they were boys; I cannot remember trying to empress anyone at such a young age, but especially not with how I dressed. 

Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

     The -ism that I chose to focus on for this assignment is classism.  I live in a small town in Georgia and all of the schools are now Title I schools.  I grew up in this town and I have lived here most of my life as has my husband; we have chosen to raise our two children here and do not see it as a bad place to be. 
     I have had people that I have known most of my life who I have gone all of the way through school with ask me "what I can teach a child being from this sad little town and choosing to stay here?".  This bothered me because these same people have many children and are staying here while not trying to better themselves by going to college. 
     I believe that the consequence of any -ism that I was facing in my personal life would cause me to question the way that the parents and students thought of me.  It would make me feel unsure of myself to some degree, just as the comment I shared with you had done.  I would worry that the families shared the same ideas as the acquaintances that spoke about and that they questioned my ability to properly teach their children.