Professional Hopes and Goals

    During the first course in this program, I helped to establish and become part of a learning community.  As the course progressed, I and my colleagues have been studying together and supporting each other's goals with regard to taking on and mastering the challenges of this MS Early Childhood Studies program.  As I prepare to move on to my final course before the specializations, I am thinking about my orations with regard to diversity, equity, and social justice, the different ways in which my colleagues have supported me, how I supported them, and what I wish for my colleagues as they continue on their professional path. 
    One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to continue to establish collaborative, flexible, committed, relationships.    Family is central to the life of every child (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  It is through this earliest relationship that children come to view themselves and others and find their place in the world (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  Thus, developing a flexible attitude will allow me to build and sustain open lines of communication and an understanding of families and children I serve everyday, and to be able to continuously offer culturally relevant and responsive environments to both.
   One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to develop conferences or workshops for new comers to the early childhood field in order to share the value and importance of anti-bias education. Often it has been my experience that many new comers to the EC field lack experience in working with families and children from diverse backgrounds.  So, providing an open forum to converse and hear the experiences of seasoned professionals will provide them an understanding of how to address, celebrate, empower, and meet the diverse needs of children and families they will serve. Therefore, when we participate in the larger activism work of creating a more just society and world for all children not only do we help change the world but also we deepen other people's understanding of the unique needs of young children and their families  (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).
    Before I go, I would like to take a moment to thank my colleagues, bloggers, and professor for such an inspiring, insightful, enriching 8 weeks.  I have learned a lot about myself, diversity, equity, and social justices through self reflection and in reading my colleagues stories.  Thank you to my professor for the challenging questions and for pushing us all to a deeper level of learning and understanding.  The last 8 weeks have been a pleasure. As I move forward in the EC field, I feel confident about the information and knowledge I have gained  about diversity, equity, and social justices and for that I thank all of you!
Emily~