1. Realizing that as educators we are more alike than different and that when we are vulnerable and honest with one another, we can truly appreciate that others have the same hopes, dreams and struggles that we have in our day to day interactions with children and families.
2. Learning never stops. I have knowledge about this field that has come from my education and my experience, however, looking at this field through another person's eyes opened my eyes to different ideas of raising the bar in my community for quality education and interactions with families. It was easy to talk with Karen and one of my favorite aspects of this course.
3. A realization that I need to know more about policies and how they are created and implemented. Karen was very knowledgeable about Early Childhood policies in Canada and her specific community and that caused me to have a desire to learn more about this in the U.S.
One goal that I can recommend for our field is to collaborate more within our communities with other educators and across borders. With Facebook and other social media, we have an opportunity that has not been afforded so easily before. There are a ton of Facebook groups that include educators from other countries, with different beliefs and outlooks. If we can step outside of our comfort zones long enough to hear, really hear, what other educator's have to say, we might just learn something new! It is time we get involved and learn!
I wish you all well!
Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI love your whole post! You are right about everything you wrote. I am so glad you had a successful experience with your international contact. I have to say that I love Canada and feel the U.S could learn a lot from them. I think you will make a great advocate for the field! I hope to have more classes with you in the future! Best of luck to you!!
Rachael,
ReplyDeleteI definitely agree with you and that I myself have learned so much from the conversations that I had with my international conversation partner. This has allowed me to become so much more aware of issues in the early childhood field that not only affect children but educators as well. You are right when you stated: “It is time we get involved and learn!”
This course has allowed me to see how easy it is to learn from other educators from other parts of the world and that there are so many different ways in which we can learn more from other educators like you have mentioned through: “Facebook and other social media”.
Thank you for always sharing detailed posts and wishing you all of the best!
Thanks ladies! I wish you well as well!
ReplyDeleteRachael
Hi Rachel, I am glad that you were able to reach our to an international contact person. I wished that it was me. I will keep on trying to reach the contact that I have chosen to talk to. Thank you for sharing and good luck with your next class.
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