Ethics

For this week's assignment I had to review NAEYC's and DEC's Code of Ethics and select three that mean the most to me professionally.  The three I have selected are all from NAEYC's Code of Ethical Conduct.  The first is:

P-4.7—When we become aware of a practice or situation that endangers the health, safety, or well-being of children, we have an ethical responsibility to protect children or inform parents and/or others who can.


As professionals in the field of early childhood, this has to be true for all of us.  A child's safety is the most important thing and as advocates for the children we know or the "voice for the voiceless"(Renatta Cooper) we have to speak the truth despite how difficult it may be at times.


The second one I chose was:


I-3B.2—To do nothing that diminishes the reputation of the program in which we work unless it is violating laws and regulations designed to protect children or is violating the provisions of this Code.


I believe that while someone is working with children and families they need to set a good example and consider the fact that they are being watched by the families they are working with.  While they are personally observed, the center they work for is also represented by their behavior and this is a serious responsibility to consider.


Lastly:


P-1.1—Above all, we shall not harm children. We shall not participate in practices that are emotionally damaging, physically harmful, disrespectful, degrading, dangerous, exploitative, or intimidating to children.


This is a given for me and should be for all of us I believe.  Again, children are the most important.  We all need to comprehend the true weight of our roles in their lives.  

3 Additional Resources (My choices)

http://www.birth23.org/

http://www.preschooleducation.com/

http://www.preschoolprintables.com/filefolder/filefolder.shtml

I use these websites for ideas, help and basically as resources for my job.  I also use http://www.youtube.com/
for ideas for circle time songs and activities.  My favorite circle time song is from a random search on Youtube :)

Course Resources EDUC 6005

Part 1: Position Statements and Influential Practices

• NAEYC. (2009). Developmentally appropriate practice in early childhood programs serving children from birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/dap
  
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on child abuse prevention. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/ChildAbuseStand.pdf
  
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on school readiness. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/Readiness.pdf
  
• NAEYC. (2009). Where we stand on responding to linguistic and cultural diversity. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/diversity.pdf
  
• NAEYC. (2003). Early childhood curriculum, assessment, and program evaluation: Building an effective, accountable system in programs for children birth through age 8. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/pscape.pdf
  
• NAEYC. (2009, April). Early childhood inclusion: A summary. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/DEC_NAEYC_ECSummary_A.pdf
  
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families. (2010). Infant-toddler policy agenda. Retrieved May 26, 2010, fromhttp://www.zerotothree.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ter_pub_infanttodller
  
• FPG Child Development Institute. (2006, September). Evidence-based practice empowers early childhood professionals and families.(FPG Snapshot, No. 33). Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.fpg.unc.edu/~snapshots/snap33.pdf
  
  Note: The following article can be found in the Walden University Library databases.
  
• Turnbull, A., Zuna, N., Hong, J. Y., Hu, X., Kyzar, K., Obremski, S., et al.  (2010). Knowledge-to-action guides. Teaching Exceptional Children, 42(3), 42–53.
  Use the Academic Search Complete database, and search using the article's title. 

Part 2: Global Support for Children’s Rights and Well-Being

• Article: UNICEF (n.d.). Fact sheet: A summary of the rights under the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.unicef.org/crc/files/Rights_overview.pdf
   
• Websites:
• World Forum Foundation
  http://www.worldforumfoundation.org/wf/about.php
  This link connects you to the mission statement of this organization. Make sure to watch the video on this webpage 
  
• World Organization for Early Childhood Education
  http://www.omep-usnc.org/
  Read about OMEP’s mission. 
  
• Association for Childhood Education International
  http://acei.org/about/
  Click on “Mission/Vision” and “Guiding Principles and Beliefs” and read these statements. 

Note: Explore the resources in Parts 3 and 4 in preparation for this week’s Application assignment.

Part 3: Selected Early Childhood Organizations

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
  
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
  
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
  
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
  
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
  
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/main/about.cfm
  
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart’s National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
  
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
  
• Children’s Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
  
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
  
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org//AM/Template.cfm?Section=Home
  
• Institute for Women’s Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/index.cfm
  
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
  
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
  
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
  
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.preknow.org/
  
• Voices for America’s Children
  http://www.voices.org/
  
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/
     

Quotes for week 4

From week 2 discussion video:  Louise Derman-Sparks was talking about when she was starting in the ECE field and she was talking about her passion.  This happens to be a passion that I share with her:


“The Passion to make sure that all children were taught in environments and in ways that truly nurtured their ability to grow and to develop to their fullest ability."


I know that, when I open my own center some day, this will be true for it.


From this week:  Marcy Whitebook PH. D.:

 “For many years I have spoken about a professional development highway, with lots of onramps and rest stops for the early care and education workforce.  But a highway is so 20th century, too slow for our youngest children.  We need a high speed rail system to carry the current workforce forward and entice new travelers to the field.  We need to start planning the route, laying the rails and building the

cars today to ensure, by 2020, the U.S. has an ECE workforce, across all types

of settings and roles working directly with or on behalf of children, whose

members  are well-prepared, engaged in learning for the entire span of their careers, and well-rewarded."

I love this.  It seems the ECE field needs new passionate, well-trained people to help change the face of the field and I hope to be a big part of it!!

Childhood Web

Personal Childhood Web


When I think about my childhood (8th grade and younger) I would have to say there were only 3 influential people in my life for the most part.  Since this is for school I will describe them briefly and summarize the support they gave me. 


1 - Mother:  My mom was a single mom who worked hard to provide for her 3 girls the best she could.  She taught me a work ethic I have still today.  Having no Dad was hard on me but my mom taught me how to do all sorts of things that may have been considered a "husband's job".  She was a tough disciplinarian but I always knew she loved me.  


2 - Oldest Sister:  I was the youngest of 3 girls for 12 years (until my youngest sister was born) and the oldest sister of us three was very influential in my upbringing.  I liked the same music she did, wanted to babysit like she did, wanted to play sports and get strong like she was and eventually have a car like she did too.  She brought me to my first concert and gave me advice about boys.  She is seven years older than me so we never really fought, she was just cool and inspiring for me.  


3 - Older Sister:  This sister and I are only 18 months apart and we definitely fought as kids.  She was always bigger than me and even though we liked each other sometimes, we disliked each other more.  In elementary school we fought over nothing but in high school it went to clothes and the phone mostly.  I did know she loved me though because no one else could pick on me, only her, if you know what I mean.


Today, as an adult, I am blessed to be married into a rather large family who supports me with love and we spend many good times together.  Unfortunately my oldest sister and my mom live far from me and I only see then about once a year.  My other sister lives only about half an hour away from me and we see each other once or twice a week and talk 4 or 5 times a week on top of that.  I definitely consider her my best friend.  The times we have endured together cannot be put into words and the love and appreciation I have for her brings tears to my eyes.  It seems silly that we used to fight all the time.  I really wanted to not be her sister for a while when we were young.  Now it would be hard to live without her.

Favorite Children's Book

My favorite book this past year was "Caps For Sale" by Esphyr Slobodkina.  I do change some of the wording like the monkey noises from tsz tsz tsz to ooo ooo ooo.  But my class LOVES to act it out.  We have lots of fun with it!

A Week and a Half in to my Masters

A week and a half in to my Masters program and I am feeling pretty good about fitting everything in so far.  The idea of completing grad school has been on my heart for years but finally it is time to start.  Being a mom of three, my life is busy but I am believing I can learn how to manage my time and complete everything (hopefully).  The reason I want to get my masters is so I can feel qualified enough to become a director at a day care center or preschool program and eventually open my own center.  I truly love kids.  I love how they are all different from each other yet there are some fundamental similarities and ultimate truths about all kids.  Like their desire and need to be loved and accepted.

At the center where I work right now there is a student who is not easy to deal with.  He can hardly sit still, is not considerate of the other kids, runs everywhere (which is not good inside with lots of kids), often hurts the other kids because he is running or spinning our fidgeting.  He joined my class of 9 and he consumed most of my attention.  For the safety of the other kids, my first goal was just to teach him how to participate in a few songs and maybe sit still.  After working hard with him for a few weeks, he started to get it.  He began to love the songs with hand motions and even began sitting through a short book every once and a while.  I am so proud of the progress he has made!  He still has bad days here and there but sometimes this precious child who may be considered a hand full is actually sitting with the other kids and participating!  This boy has inspired me to not give up.  Even the most difficult children can make progress.  I hope to learn more techniques for dealing with challenging little ones.