I cannot believe that we are at the end
of this journey and so close to completing our Master’s in Early Childhood
Studies! I have learned so much from all of
the wonderful people I have had the opportunity to interact with through these
courses-my colleagues and professors-I cannot thank you all enough. Your
support, knowledge, and resources have helped me take a step to pursue my
dreams and better myself both personally and professionally.
I have taken a lot from this program and with
the new resources, insights, and information that I have gained, I have three
deeply felt things that stick out in my mind:
1. The
importance of community. As early childhood professionals, we know the
importance of family and community; we want to use the community as a resource
and reflect it in our classrooms. However, I have learned that there is more to
community than just what immediately surrounds us. We are also part of the
community of early childhood professionals and advocates; it is important to
also respect this community, add to it, utilize it, and help it grow. We can
also be a part of a community of practice, or other individuals who share our commitment
and practice to the well-being of children and families. We are also a part of
the global community as well; we should have an awareness of what is happening
to children worldwide and our role in the global community. All of these communities are important and can provide us with valuable information and knowledge.
2. Biases
can be hidden...and overcome. Throughout this program, we were asked to do a lot of
self-reflection and learn about any biases that we held so that we could work to
overcome them. It was not easy to think of myself as a biased person because I have always considered myself to be very fair and open, but when I was able to honestly self-reflect I
really began to grow, both personally and professionally. I learned that having a bias is not necessarily a bad thing as long as you are willing to look within yourself and overcome it! Biases are not only
within ourselves, they are embedded into our society and so often we pass them onto
young children, sometimes unknowingly. If we take the time to self-reflect, to
analyze situations, curriculum, and materials that we are using, we can begin
to make a difference and work towards becoming anti-biased and creating a positive, welcoming environment in our community.
3.
Learning is life-long. Now that I have completed this Master’s program, I have learned
so much-and I have learned that there is so much more to learn! We can never
know everything and we must be willing to seek out new knowledge: from
research, from our colleagues and communities, and from the parents and
children we work with. There is so much out there to learn and so much that we
can do with the knowledge we gain. This program has provided me with valuable resources that I can use to make sure that I stay up to date on what is happening in the early childhood field and can work to expand my knowledge.
My
long-term goal is to work towards helping all the children in my community and
beyond reach their full developmental potential. This is a long-term goal
because it is ongoing and will require continuous reflection and adaptability
since the community and contexts which children live in are constantly changing. It may seem like a large goal, but I have already started taking baby steps in the right direction
Although
this program is ending, I hope to keep in touch with many of you and wish you
all the best of luck; I hope our paths will continue to cross! Thank you all and remember:
“The future belongs to those who believe in the beauty of their dreams” –Eleanor Roosevelt
