One of the most important things that I have learned over the past two years is that no matter where we are living in the world we are all facing the same problems in regards to early childhood. I feel that it is important for us to share our own knowledge with each other. I also felt that through the course of Perspectives on Diversity and Equity I learned a lot about myself. This course allowed me to open my eyes to how people may view me and how I view others. It is also gave me guidance in how to look at our programs and work with staff on the issues of diversity and equity and the importance of recognizing these issues in our programs. Advocacy also stands out to me as a general overall theme in all of the courses. I need to continue to use my voice and advocate for services.
It may not happen in the near future but one of my goals is to go and work overseas helping with the start up of an early chilhood program for preschoolers. I want to learn from other countries to see what they are doing in regards to early childhood.
The end of this chapter is coming to a close and I want to thank all of you for sharing in this journey with me. It has been a pleasure working with all of you over the past two years. You have all made the discussions richer and have helped me to expand my knowledge in the early childhood field. I went back through this blog, reading the different posts that I have done over this program and I found this on the very first post I made on this journey and it seems perfect to add it to my last post.
"Human relationships, and the effects of relationships on relationships, are the building blocks of healthy development" (Shonkoff & Phillips, 2000, p. 4)
If you would like to stay in touch or bounce ideas off of each other you can reach me by email at mjbesett@gmail.com.
I hope to meet some of you at graduation in January!