One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to continue to work towards Level 6 in surpassing my discomforts and biases. I plan to conduct my Parent's Night workshops on a quarterly, consistent basis to create unity within the early childhood field. There needs to be a hand in hand partnership between parents and the early childhood professionals in order to ensure that we respect diversity, equity, and social justices of all people. "The more passion you have about the need of for creating a world of justice and peace for children, the more you will be able to make it a priority in your work (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
I would like to thank all of my colleagues for sharing their knowledge and experiences with me! This course has indeed caused each of us to dig deep into our inner souls and come to terms with our discomforts and biases. I hope to experience more of your knowledge from the next course if we are together. Good luck on your future endeavors!
References
Derman-Sparks, L. &
Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and
ourselves. Washington, DC: National
Association for the Education of Young
Children (NAEYC)
Theresa we have indeed come a long way together. I have learned so much from your contributions throughout our journey together. I think I need to make the quote you have included above my mantra, as this could apply to many different issues in one's life. Passion equals motivation, drive, commitment, dedication and excitement ... with passion one can accomplish much. I look forward to seeing you in our next course. Wishing you strength, good health and lots of energy.
ReplyDeleteI absolutely love your hope…. ‘’I hope that one day each and everyone of can put our differences aside and realize that we are all of the human race, regardless of our sexual orientation, color of our skin, socioeconomic status, and religious background’’. I could not have said it better. I believe that is great hope that can become reality. We as early childhood professional can expose children to various cultures that will ultimately better our ever changing society because children are our future. Social changes begin with young children. In addition, by exposing children to various cultures during early development we can attempt to counterbalance any biases that may contribute to them treating people as if they are less than them.
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