Examining Code of Ethics.

COLLAPSE

Parent Post

Interconnections that have come together for me during this course would be the following:

1.     The field has created ethics guidelines professionals in their interactions with children, families, colleagues, policy makers, and the public in general.

2.     Create and become part of a community of caring learners and professionals.

3.     Share our individual wisdom with each other.

Since I have been in this field since 1988, I knew that there was an ethics guideline for our profession to follow, but until week 7 I guess I never realized there was so many guidelines to be followed. I did not realize how it is a step by step foundation to our field. I knew that they were there due to being in the field so long, I was just amazed how many there of the ethics there were and how many and how they were  broke down and made plain and simple and not any room for error. Plain simple and to the point. I feel that when a new employee begins that they should be made to read over the ethic guidelines. I know that in my undergrad classes we discussed a few of these but again I was just amazed how many guidelines.

The next interconnection that came alive for me would be; to create and become part of a community of caring learners and professionals. This was somewhat common sense to me but I guess I would have to say that the term “ becoming part of a community of caring learners and professionals” now has a different meaning to me. I would have to say that now I feel like I belong to a community, not only my own community, but a Walden community. I now feel l have a connection with my colleagues and will be able to contact them if need be in the future. We can all learn and grow from one another.

The last interconnection that has come alive for me during this course would be share our individual wisdom with each other. Again, I feel that I knew networking was important prior to starting Walden and this course; but now I am beginning to realize how important sharing our individual wisdom with each other is. Each person is unique and has special qualities and learning to share this will be a great asset for everyone. I also have enjoyed learning from our colleagues that are from other counties. Their experiences are very different from our experiences.

            Each of these interconnections will contribute to my professional growth and personal growth, through the guidelines I will grow to my fullest potential. Once I grow and begin to implement the guidelines I will begin to become a caring learner, as well as a professional, who will teach these guidelines to my colleagues. And last but not least I will share my knowledge and wisdom with my future colleagues.  

Professional Ethics

 One of the ideals that I chose was from the Excerpt: NAEYC, (2004). NAEYC advocacy toolkit (page 5) spoke of “Responsibility to co –workers.” The section spoke of behavior of a co-worker, and “that we shall first let that person know of our concern in a way that shows respect for personal dignity and for the diversity to be found among staff members, and then attempt to resolve the matter in a confidential manner.” The reason this code of ethics is meaningful to me is because in my current place of employment there was a person that was hired that was not showing any personal dignity to their job. This person chose to say things about families both after home visits as well as after phone calls. I spoke with this person on several occasions explaining that there was a lack of respect. This person continued to be very disrespectful as well as degrading toward the families and even co-workers. I felt that I needed to follow the chain of command and took my concerns to the director of our program. The director had a talk with this person and within days they resigned their position. I feel that knowing how to handle this situation helped me out. My co –workers looked to me for guidance and directions. I was glad I could assist in this situation.

The second ideal that I chose was again from the Excerpt: NAEYC, (2004). NAEYC advocacy toolkit (page 2), “to be familiar with the knowledge base of early childhood care and education and to stay informed through continuing education and training.” I chose this code of ethics because it is our foundation for everything we do. Staff must understand the basics to build on them to be able to teach families and children. The knowledge I gained in Early Childhood care and education was in my undergrad studies. I know the program that employs me will hire only persons with a degree in Human Services, Early Childhood, and/ or Child Development. The town I live in currently has three colleges, two of which have very good Early Childhood programs. Lots of students’ complete practicums at our center and them later hire on as full time employees.

The third ideal I chose was from, “The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics.”  “We shall engage in ongoing and systematic reflective inquiry and self-assessment for the purpose of continuous improvement of professional performance and services to young children with disabilities and their families.” I again feel the program where I am employed does a great job of ongoing self-assessments. The program is always continuing to look for improvements of the program. This is done through self- assessments as well as professional assessments each employee completes several times a year. We complete professional development goals yearly and question our families on improvement of the program.

Upon completing this paper I do not in any way want it to sound like the program I work for is perfect, by no means is this the case, but I was amazed at all the areas that the supervisors strive for and achieve in the program. There is always room for future growth and development and I am sure that will continue but right now they seem to have a pretty good handle on things. I feel like that is why I want to continue working for such a great program.

REFERENCES:

Excerpt: NAEYC. (2004). NAEYC advocacy toolkit. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/policy/toolkit.pdf

·         Article: The Division for Early Childhood. (2000, August). Code of ethics. Retrieved May 26, 2010, from
http://www.dec-sped.org/

Course Resources :

 Early Childhood Development Coalition 
http://www.earlychildhoodswi.org/ResourcesForEducators.html
Thiswebsite is for the purpose to provide opportunities for families and communities to help get the child prepared for school and be successful. Early Childhood Development Coalition (ECDC), 
There is a place on this site where parents can sign up and receive books free of charge to read to their not yet in Kindergarten; encouraging the parent to be the first teacher. 



"Free the child's potential, and you will transform him into the world."
- Maria Montessori

"If you think education is expensive, try ignorance!"
- Andy McIntyre

Anonymous"Children are great imitators. So give them something great to imitate." 

Dr. Seuss, author"A person's a person no matter how small." 
http://www.webmd.com/family-pregnancy is another good reliable website; It has a section for Family and Pregnancy; Raising Fit Kids and Health and Parenting. There is a lot of good reliable information on this site. 

Helpful children/family websites full of information for our school website :

• National Association for the Education of Young Children
  http://www.naeyc.org/
• The Division for Early Childhood
  http://www.dec-sped.org/
• Zero to Three: National Center for Infants, Toddlers, and Families
  http://www.zerotothree.org/
• WESTED
  http://www.wested.org/cs/we/print/docs/we/home.htm
• Harvard Education Letter
  http://www.hepg.org/hel/topic/85
• FPG Child Development Institute
  http://www.fpg.unc.edu/
• Administration for Children and Families Headstart's National Research Conference
  http://www.acf.hhs.gov/programs/opre/hsrc/
• HighScope
  http://www.highscope.org/
• Children's Defense Fund
  http://www.childrensdefense.org/
• Center for Child Care Workforce
  http://www.ccw.org/
• Council for Exceptional Children
  http://www.cec.sped.org/
• Institute for Women's Policy Research
  http://www.iwpr.org/
• National Center for Research on Early Childhood Education
  http://www.ncrece.org/wordpress/
• National Child Care Association
  http://www.nccanet.org/
• National Institute for Early Education Research
  http://nieer.org/
• Pre[K]Now
  http://www.pewstates.org/projects/pre-k-now-328067
• Voices for America's Children
  http://www.voices.org/
• The Erikson Institute
  http://www.erikson.edu/

quotes for media segment week 2

Quote for the MultiMedia Segment Week 2

“I always wanted to be a teacher. . . I have a built in passion to make a real contribution in the world  I wanted to fix all the injustices that existed in the world and I wanted to do this as a teacher.”                Louise Derman-Sparks



We as educators in the early childhood field have the opportunity to shape a young child's life."
 Sandy Escobido

Working in the early childhood field I believe whole heartedly that we do shape each and every child's life ! This is an awesome gift to be given.