Perspectives on Diversity and Equity (EDUC - 6164 - 2)

"Paint-Time"

~~ My Family Culture~~

My Blog Link:  http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/

Week 2 Assignment 3~Blog

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

"GrandSons"

• A description of the three items you would choose

If I was a refugee in a strange country with my family~ I would take these three items:

1.     Family Pictures

2.     Birth Certificates

3.     Social Security Cards

• How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you

1.     Family  Pictures:  Pictures would be of my immediate family and extended family such as my mother, father, grandmother, grandfather and my siblings and my grandchildren; all these items mean so much to me because this is my only blood line and maybe someday we will see each other if I had the pictures to remember all my family.

2.     Birth Certificates: This is the only way I can proof that I am a United States  citizen. My American citizenship would mean so much to me.  I will have these documents so that people can see when each member of my family was born and when I was born; who is my mother and father and where I was born.

3.     Social Security Cards: This is the only way I can also have proof that I am a United States citizen. I can prove that I worked in the United States and how much retirement I will receive. Also, this is the only document that matches my name to me.

Mother, Siblings and Me

• Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

{Pictures}- I would keep my pictures if I was told that I could only keep one personal item. Since, I am in a new country, I may not be working right away and verbally, I could tell the officials all the information on my birth certificates and give them my social security numbers. I would plead with the officials to keep everything because I have a non-verbal son with a health and mental condition and if we get separated, he would be unable to care or communicate to others.

• Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise?

I would not want to separate from my family, nor would I want to separate from my country of origin. I would plead to stay with my family even if it meant giving up the material things that came with me. I know this can happen like in China, Japan, Sri Lanka or Louisiana, and other countries that have experienced hardships, tragedies and unforeseen emergencies. In the end, if I had to assimilate, I would make the best of it by learning about my new culture and telling them about my life in the United States. 

My blog Link:

http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/                           Week 8 Final Blog Assignment

Daily Resource

  When I Think of Research... 

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course? 
I learned and gathered information on research designs, quantitative, qualitative and mixed research design methods, interviewing and observation techniques, case study, three different types of research designs, triangulation, what to look for when reading a research journal, narrowing the general research topic and subtopics, finding the research question and hypothesis, literature review of the topic, learning about Early Childhood research, The research Process; Research ethics and bias, variables, integrity and validity, children in research, consent and assent, key research words, MacNaughton (2010) states that in early childhood research, as in other areas of the social and behavioral sciences, there is rarely a single correct way of conducting any research project, it is a matter of options and choices and the researchers approach to the study. Research varies according to data and is open to constant change.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed? 
I find research, especially on children very complicated, exhausting, and nothing to take lightly,  but worth investigating to bring about advocacy and best practices for families and society as a whole. Suppose a researcher wanted to know more about children's social experiences, home environments, classroom environments or social behaviors; he/she would have to do experiments or research on children, families and their community.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn? 
According to MacNaughton (2010) research design is simply a matter of  planning. Due to time restrictions, I did not have a lot of time to plan. I desired to do a lot more literature review and planning. Yet, I had an idea of what I wanted to discuss, yet was it feasible? Design is a matter of options and choices and creatively translating a research idea. I wanted my research to be less experimental and more predictable with observations, with more understanding than explaining. What I did learn in doing research in early childhood was that a lot of observation is needed.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them? 
Some of my challenges were formulating a research question, hypothesis and final design.   I met some of my challenges and in some cases I do not feel I met some challenges. I formulated a question, created a hypothesis and drafted a final design. I was still divided on using quantitative, qualitative of mixed designs. Qualitative is the most desirable design for research with children because the researcher can do observational analysis.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?
Now, as in the past, I have a growing respect for the profession of early childhood. Some people think research on children is very simple, uncomplicated, and unwarranted, they are wrong. We must continue research on children, their parents and community in order to advocate for best practices to bring about good policy. 

A Special Thanks...

I wish to thank all my colleagues who helped me through this course in the discussions, assignments and blogs. You are a good team! I want to also, thank Professor Dartt, and congratulations on her new family addition~grandson and their family.

Blog Assignment: Research Around the World

Week 5 Assignment 2

Early Childhood Australia: This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based National Association Education of Young Children.
Resource: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

baby Australia

• What are some of the current international research topics?

Early Childhood Australia is a very interesting, extensive, intense website. This site speaks volumes for children in the international country of Australia. Some of the current research topics are found on the left side in blue that link to Early Childhood News. The articles are from 2002 to the present. One current article that I found interesting was: ‘Can we make our children smarter?’ On Sunday morning of May 6, 2012, the program 3Q aired on SKY asking this question.

            Follow this link to watch the video: http://bcove.me/211fnsf1

• What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

One surprising fact about this international early childhood site is that they have appealing  peer-reviewed academic journals.

Children in Australia

The Australasian Journal of Early Childhood (AJEC) is Australasia's foremost scholarly journal and the world's longest-running major journal within the early childhood field. It is published quarterly, and offers research-based articles that are designed to impart new information and encourage the critical exchange of ideas among early childhood practitioners, academics and students. One interesting article, The challenges of implementing primary arts education: what our teachers say by Alter, F. et.al, (2009) shares about the creative arts as a key learning area within the primary curriculum that is an essential component of every Australian primary school.

• What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

Noteworthy were the mission statement and a list of their values:

Our mission statement:
Early Childhood Australia will advocate ensuring quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to eight years.

Australia's National Flag

 Our values are:

• The rights of children
• Leadership, excellence and respect
• Courage, honesty and openness
• Collaboration and diversity
• Justice
• Social inclusion of children

My Blog Link: http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com
 

Option 2: Week 3

Topic:

Why Children Play?

Colorful Play

I want to research why children play and at what age do they develop play. Why is play so important to children? Why do parents think that too much play is not good for a child? These would be some of the important question that I would ask in research. 

Outdoor Play

I would create a huge play space for children. The age restriction would be: Ages three to eight. This play area would consist of indoor/outdoor play spaces. The play space would be age appropriate and have a special area for children with special needs. 

Large Areas

This research study would be a longitudinal experiment to give the parents an opportunity to observe and participate.  There would be informed consent as well as child assent. There would be graduate students to monitor and take notes and professional teachers taking notes too. 

Special Play

The positive contribution: Family understanding of the importance of play. Children will be safe and have fun while undergoing an important experiment. The Ethics Review Board will approve the experiment and go over the vital rules and responsibilities of all the participants.

Week 2 Assignment 2

~Blog Assignment: My Personal Research Journey~

Summer Fruit!

"Global Tag"

My blog Link:      http://www.nmcclain-nmcclain.blogspot.com/

The topic I chose is~ Alternative parenting: psycho-social implications in children raised by Gay and Lesbian couples.  I am interested in this topic because it is unique and seldom explored. With the “coming-out” of millions of women and men several decades ago, there has been a shift in parenting of children by Gay and Lesbian couples. Currently, the Obama Administration approves of Gay and Lesbian marriage. Some people are strictly homophobic and do not like the mention of same-sex couples, yet we cannot stop to think that one day we will be seeing more and more alternative parents coming into our child care centers. What will we do? What will we say? How will we react? Will we feel sorry for the parents or the child (ren)? 

Baby Mermaid

I chose this topic also, because I have a relative that is Gay/Lesbian and they have recently adopted a newborn infant. My personal experience is that this week has been very slow. I am not up to summer school. Yet, I must move on…I want to do more research on this topic and I think it is most beneficial to look at the references of the research articles that are of interest to you and the topic and go from there. I found one sight that had a host of bibliographical links to more interesting research on my topic.

I researched “alternative parenting” and “parenting styles” and found that “alternative parenting” can mean a host of structured parenting styles:

Blended parents

Foster/Adoptive Parents

Teen Pregnancy

Grand Parents

Yours, Mine, Ours ~ Parents
Single Parents

&

Gay/Lesbian Parents…and many other types of parents.

QUESTIONS:

Is this topic relevant to early childhood development?

Is this topic relevant to this class?

Search yourself~ could you be homophobic?

Do you have “alternative parents” in your program? What do you think of them? Specially, what do you think about same sex couples and those couples who are open about raising or adopting children?

In today’s society we have bi-racial couples and children, how do you feel about gay/Lesbian couples and their children or child, are there any differences in these alternative parents?

LINKS: