Reflecting on Learning

From this course, I have learned about the issues that children and their families might face, about the Four Core Goals of Anti-bias Education, and about some practical strategies that anti-bias early childhood teachers could adopt to counter those issues, and so on. All of what I've learned from this course arouses my most passionate hope to create a caring, non-bias learning environment for children by positively interacting with children, building positive relationships with and among families, setting up the classroom full of materials that honor diversity both within and beyond children's own identity groups, and planning anti-bias curriculum for children. I hope that through this environment children could develop to their full potential, that families could feel supported and assured that their children are physically and emotionally safe at school, and that my career in early childhood field is fulfilled. 

Hereby, I would like to thank Dr. Kien for her careful check on all of my assignments and her insightful comments that broadens my views and knowledge. I would like to thank all my colleagues for posting their insights and comments that show me diverse perspectives. Thank you for providing me with such an rich chapter of my journey in early childhood field.

Impacts on Early Emotional Development

The region I would like to choose is East Asia and Pacific because it is where China is located and I would like to learn more information about children in China and around China. When I look into this region, I found that the challenges that children are confronting are mainly child maltreatment, violence against children, poverty, lack of education, abuse, natural disasters such as earthquake, and so on, which have a negative impact on children's physical, intellectual, social and emotional development.

For example, due to poverty in rural China, Panpan's mother left her when she was one year old; Panpan's father has to work far away to make a living; Panpan lives with her grandparents, who are busy in the field and have no time as well as don't know how to educate her (Liu, 2014). The absence of Panpan's parents in her early childhood has a negative impact on Panpan's emotional development, making her think that she is not loved, cared and important, which affects her self-esteem, self worth, and her personal and social identities. The lack of education cuts down her chances to learn how to interact and communicate with her peers, how to react to problems regarding social and emotional development, how to aquire from her peers and teachers skills that she could not learn from home, and so on. However, thanks to Child Welfare Directors Project, problems due to poverty like Panpan are being eased.

Child maltreatment, such as the neglect of children with disabilities is one of the main challenges that children in East Asia and Pacific face. However, through looking into the website, I found out there are some successful strategies that promotes the emotional development as well as overall development of children with disabilities. For example, due to the partnership between UNICEF and Manchester United, children with intellectual disabilities in Thailand have opportunities to watch a football match, which has been shown to have a positive impact on their overall physical and emotional development as well as helping to improve their communication and social skills (UNICEF, 2013).

If issues regarding the overall development of children with and without abilities are highly paid attention to by government and society, there is always a way out for children who need supports in different kinds of area. As early childhood teachers, what we can do is to be prepared with knowledge, to contribute what we have to children's development, and to make a positive social change, even a small one.

Reference:

UNICEF. (2013). UNITED for UNICEF helps to inspire children with intellectual disabilities in Thailand. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/eapro/media_21164.html

Liu, Yang. (2014). In rural China, an innovative solution to reaching to vulnerable children. Retrieved from http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/china_73613.html.

The Sexualization of Early Childhood

In recent society, children are exposed to the surroundings full of sex and sexuality. They are bombarded with messages of sexualization at young ages but have not yet the ability to understand them and even get frightened (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). Based on the introduction of "So Sexy So Soon", though children are not old enough to understand the meaning of sex and sexuality, they are curious about them starting from a very young age. Due to their curiosity, if parents and teachers, especially early childhood teachers, could deliver to children age-appropriate information about sex and sexuality with honesty, children would develop a healthy understanding of gender, sexuality, and relationships (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009). When reading the topic of the sexualization of early childhood, I feel it urged that it is very vital for early childhood educators with whom children spend most of their time to provide children with an environment where they can healthily "shape their gender identity, sexual attitudes, and values, and their capacity for relationships, for love and connection, that they take into adulthood" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p.2).

Observing carefully, we can find that children are highly exposed to a sexualized environment which not only early childhood educators but the whole society, especially the commercial circle, should be responsible for protecting children from. Examples of children in this sexualized environment can be seen everywhere. For example, in the subway, there are lots of ads that promote cosmetic surgery to beautify the features and body parts of female so that the beautified female would be attractive and successful in her life, which emphasizes the importance of physical appearance-- "a narrow definition of femininity and sexuality" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p.2). Another example that I find in my workplace is that when we look for some video materials related to our curriculum in YouTube, some ads would pop out and we cannot skip those ads that are full of sexualized messages which unexpectedly impact on children's gender development. As well, when walking on the streets or in the malls, we can hear some songs full of sex and violence that is not age appropriate.

As stated, "As children struggle to understand what they see and hear, they learn lessons that can frighten and confuse them. These lessons can seriously harm their ability to grow up to have healthy attitudes about themselves and their bodies and to have caring relationships in which sex is an important part" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p.4). As early childhood professionals, we should be alert about what books, songs, and videos can be provided for developmental and age-appropriate purpose. We should collaborate with parents to protect children from a sexualized environment at home. As for the environment outside home and school, when children are unexpectedly exposed to sexualized messages, parents should give them guidelines and make positive clarification about those messages.

The study of the sexualization of early childhood makes me become more aware of the sexualized messages that children might meet with and pay attention to what kinds of curriculum materials that I could provide for children. As well, we should provide more opportunities for children to develop as whole people and lay "the very foundation necessary for children to actualize their full potential and to value and respect themselves and others" (Levin & Kilbourne, 2009, p.6).

Reference:

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

According to Urie Bronfenbrenner, children should be viewed within the complex systems of their changing environment, such as family, extended family, school, friends, organization, government, and culture, which significantly affect children’s social, emotional, and cognitive development and the forming of social identities (Arndt & McGuire-Schwartz, 2008). From the complex systems, children learn about their own and others’ personal and social identities through both overt and covert messages, including some “-isms”, such as racism, gender stereotyping and sexism, classism, ableism, ageism and so on (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). 

As for me, the most obvious “-isms” that I have experienced and been experienced are sexism and racism. Sexism is prevalent in the environment where I grew up. People stereotypically thinks that men are stronger than women in any aspect; that they should be provided with better conditions to grow and develop so that they could take more responsibility for and contribute more to their family; that women should give up some chances and take care more of the family; and so on. For example, I have been spending more time pursuing my career as a teacher in an international school; relatively, I have spent less time considering my marriage, which worries my families who think that the better future for women is to have a good marriage rather than to have a good career. This is gender stereotyping and sexism. After learning about human diversity, “-isms” and anti-bias education, I pay more attention to the issues related to gender and sexism since I have experienced what impact this -ism has brought to me. Affected by sexism, I feel my gender identity is devalued and unrecognized, which has a negative impact on my emotional and social development. I felt less confident when collaborating with men, or emotionally hurt when compared with men. My personal experience of sexism makes me realize that I should be on my guard against what children, parents and teachers communicate and interact, to see if sexism exists in their messages in a overt or covert way. If so, I would use an anti-bias approach to address this issue, such as using a persona dolls, reading books without gender stereotyping words, thoughts and illustrations, or some follow-up activities to let children find out both girls and boys are equitable.

Racism exists mostly in my workplace, which actually is conveyed unnoticeably by other international teachers with good intentions. For example, in order for children to learn English better, some teachers would stress more on speaking English rather than their home languages, which makes children’s home culture invisible and shows bias toward their languages. One experience that I had regarding racism is when I had lunch with another teacher from other country. She commented that how come Chinese people can eat fish with bones. Her facial expression and words made me feel discomfort and biased. Several experiences that I had were related to Chinese food and culture. This kind of experiences make me think that each person and each culture has its own way, that what we should do is to recognize those differences, value them and respect them, instead of bringing in stereotyping thoughts and attitudes, which I gain from learning these courses related to diversity. Therefore, when working with families and children, I would observe how children and families interact with each other; I would find ways to gain some information about their beliefs, values and home culture; I would pay attention to my words to avoid stereotyping; I would listen to what children want to convey to check if there is racism hidden in their words.

As stated, “it is essential to becoming effective anti-biased educators that we examine each aspect of who we are in order to understand fully how our identities influence how we relate to people. Understanding these dynamics in your life will strengthen your awareness of, sensitivity to, and empathy for the personal and social identity development of children and families you serve” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.23).

References:

 

Arndt, J. S., & McGuire-Schwartz, M. (2008). Early childhood school success: Recognizing families as integral partners. Childhood Education, 84(5), 281. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database: http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://proquest.umi.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/pqdweb?did=1507312931&sid=2&Fmt=3&clientId=70192&RQT=309&VName=PQD

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).