Week 8 Blog

This course has made me reflect a lot about my plans for the future and on those that I hope to come in contact with. For the most part, I hope to become someone who is more collaborative in my efforts to serve the families of "all" students regardless of their color or background. I hope to somehow include the parents in daily activities that involve the child so that the parent, teacher and student can interact on a one-on-one level. Not only that, but I am grateful that I got a chance to work with a group of students/professionals who were able to share insight into the discussions and the blogs. I appreciate you all and I hope to work with you again.

Week 7 Blog

After visiting the unicef page, I decided to bring my focus to Afghanistan. Afghanistan is a country that is war torn and education hasn't been a main concern for some of the people there. At one point, girls were expected to get an education and many of them are required to adhere to a group of rigid rules and laws passed down by the parents through the government. Because of this, there really isn't much for the female population to look forward to. Unicef has made advancements to help in the area of education as shown in the following: "Programmes provide women between the ages of 15-24 with basic reading, writing and numeracy skills, as well as vital information on health, nutrition, hygiene and sanitation that can benefit their wellbeing and that of their children and families. With one of the lowest literacy rates in the world, particularly among women, many people in Afghanistan lack access to critical information. Literacy courses empower women to actively participate in the social sphere, providing opportunities for them to gather together, share experiences and build self-confidence and esteem. This year, 72,500 women are acquiring literacy skills at 2900 literacy centres in 34 Provinces." I am sure that emotionally the children will be scarred, if nothing is done to insure that they have a chance in society, and they may also go through some sore of identity crisis, but unicef and other organizations are working to counteract the problem of education. Personally, my heart goes out to these families and to the female population because I can't even fathom what they are going through. I empathize with them in their time of need. Professionally, I sometimes wonder, if I am prepared to teach a child from such a diverse country. Not only that, as a professional, I know that I would make every necessary attempt to make the child comfortable. The website opened my mind to things and allowed me to see from a different perspective--the child's perspective.

Week 6 Blog Activity

My reaction to the article that deals sexualization of early childhood didn't surprise or shock me based on the fact that sex is everywhere you look. The television and magazine ads are filled with pictures of young girls and teens wearing provocative clothes which leave nothing to the imagination. It has me to the point where I began to question the intent of the ads. I have had more of a professional experience with sexualization, rather than a personal one because I grew up in a home where the adults made the rules and the children followed them. The adults made the decision as to what we wore and how we wore it; the children didn't make money to buy clothes; therefore, they didn't have a say-so in the process of buying clothes. Professionally, I see girls on a regular basis who choose to wear provocative clothing and frequently hang out in places where they have already been established as adult places. Not only are they dressing like adults, they are hanging out with people who are almost twice their age. These children are growing up too fast and this could be dangerous to them physically and emotionally. For the most part, a pedophile or a sex offender could take advantage of them and the long term effect of this could be that the child doesn't trust adults or it could leave them blaming themselves whereas they never get over this idea that someone has taken advantage of them. As educators, I believe that we ought to form an alliance with the parents so that we may help them talk openly with the children. I think that we should keep parents inform on what the children are doing at school. We could also make sure that we are not guilty of showing provocative images or allowing our children to have access to particular magazines and books.

Week 5 Blog Activity

As an educator, we take on various areas of responsibility;there, it is imperative that our mindset and psychological well-being are not in shambles. In my personal life, I have had to deal with a few bouts of racism. It hasn't hindered me to the point where it has caused me to be biased towards people of different races. I try to interact with everybody regardless of their nationality. I will admit that although I haven't been affected by my experience with racism, I do recognize that it could have caused problems with my job. My job requires me to be objective, but if I allow racism to consume me, then I can't honestly say that I could be objective in the classroom. Racism may cause a teacher (anyone) to mistreat children of different races. Many of the racist people in society have been brainwashed into thinking that some people aren't deserving of respect but the reality is everyone deserves respect. It doesn't matter what color or nationality they are. I also believe that emotionally, I wouldn't be able to connect with my students on a personal level. This would be a problem because we have to get to know our students in order to be able to teach them.