Winter 2016 Childhood Explorer

ChildhoodExplorer

Winter 2016

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Childhood Explorer (ISSN 2377-2883) is published quarterly by the Association for Childhood Education International, 1200 18th St., N.W., Suite 700, Washington, DC 20036

Articles published in Childhood Explorer represent the views of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions taken by the Association for Childhood Education International.

Copyright © 2016 by the Association for Childhood Education International. No permission is needed to reproduce materials for education purposes.

ACEI HEADQUARTERS STAFF:Diane P. Whitehead, Executive DirectorMichelle Allen, Director of OperationsAnne Watson Bauer, Editor/Director of PublicationsDeborah Jordan Kravitz, Production EditorYvette Murphy, Director of Advocacy and OutreachKarin Rosenberg, Global Advocacy Coordinator

Photography/Illustration Credits:cover photo: Honey Cloverz/shutterstock.comp. 4: gary yim/shutterstock.compp. 6-10: One More Generation/Jim Riesp. 11: ELEPHOTOS/shutterstock.comp. 13: iQoncept/shutterstock.compp. 14-18: Beto Pêgo / Promundopp. 19-21: Subha Mohapatrap. 23: Monkey Business Images/shutterstock.compp. 26-29: Plan4theLand

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ChildhoodExplorer

Winter 2016 Vol. 3, No. 1

Exploring the Lives of Children WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International

Contents

5 Resilience

6 One More Generation: Youth Making a Difference and Saving the World

11 Building Relationships With Roma Minority Parents in Međimurje County, Croatia

14 From Fathers to Fathers: The Story of Fatherhood and Caregiving in a Rio de Janeiro Community

19 Two Stories From Ralla Bella: Shaping Early Childhood in an Indian Preschool

22 Living Literacy: Giving a Voice to Immigrant Children in a Diverse Community

26 Environmental Education: “Eco-Kids” Project in Iran

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ResilienceChildren around the world face adversity in their day-to-day lives. The hardships they experience can be extreme. It is estimated, for example, that 65 million school-age children globally are directly affected by emergencies and protracted crises, such as natural disasters and war. Others experience more personal trauma, such as health issues, the loss of a parent, or an unstable home life.

This adversity can have significant effects on children’s development. Stress manifests physically as increases to heart rate, blood pressure, and stress hormones such as cortisol. When children experience these stress responses within an environment that offers various protections, the physiological effects can be mediated and children will develop healthy stress response systems. However, if the stress response is extreme and long-lasting, and mediating factors are unavailable to the child, the result can have cognitive, physical, and emotional repercussions that negatively affect the course of a child’s life.

Reducing these negative effects is essential to the progress and prosperity of any society. Unfortunately, children do not respond with equivalent levels of resilience in the face of adversity. Understanding why some children are more resilient than others can lead to development of policies and programs that support resiliency and therefore help more children reach their full potential.

Research has identified some keys to fostering resiliency in children:

• A stable, caring, and respectful relationship with at least one adult. Such relationships provide a buffer from stressful circumstances as well as a model for adaptive behavior during adversity and prosocial behavior in general. Caring relationships provide children with a sense of belonging that can counter the negative emotions triggered by adversity.

• High expectations focusing on strengths and assets. High expectations convey optimism, hope, and confidence in students, and recognize their capacity to succeed. Children gain experience with “manageable stress” as they work toward expectations within their ability level, thus promoting a sense of self-efficacy as they overcome obstacles and experience mastery.

• Stabilizing routines and practices. If children who are experiencing adversity can rely on some consistent routines and practices, they gain a sense of security and perceived control even in otherwise disruptive and precarious circumstances.

• Age-appropriate, health-promoting activities. Regular physical exercise, stress-reduction practices, and programs that actively build executive function and self-regulation skills can help children cope with, adapt to, and even prevent adversity in their lives.

• Tapping into faith and cultural traditions. The comfort, optimism, and sense of belonging to be found through faith and cultural tradition also serve to create a mediating, buffering environment during times of adversity.

For more reading: http://developingchild.harvard.edu/science/key-concepts/resilience/

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One More Generation:Youth Making a

Difference and Saving the World

By Carter RiesOne More Generation

Carter and Olivia

visiting their

adopted cheetahs in South

Africa

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Back in 2009, when I was 8 and Olivia was 7, our aunt was visiting South Africa and came across a rescue sanctuary, where they had many cheetahs and even African wild dogs. She decided to adopt two cheetahs in our names. My cheetah’s name is Diputsu (it means Dave in Africanz) and Olivia’s cheetah’s name is Tlala (it means Queen or Princess). When our aunt got home, she gave us our certificates and we loved it. But Olivia wondered why cheetahs needed to be adopted. My dad responded that if there weren’t sanctuaries, there might not be cheetahs when we have kids. She was so upset she started to cry. My dad tried to calm her down and told her that one day she could start a company to save endangered species like the cheetah. Being only 7 at the time, she thought my dad had said we could start a company soon.

Olivia and I both got excited about the idea; for the next few days, we kept bugging him about starting this company. When he kept saying we could start it when we got older, we started thinking he was pushing us off. Finally, he said that if we could study different endangered species for 14 days straight without having him remind us to do so,

we could start the company right then. For the next two weeks, we researched all the species that were considered endangered and wrote down facts. By the tenth day, my mom pulled my dad to the side and said she was noticing that every time we learned a new fact about a different species we would say, “oh my gosh” (OMG). She said that when we started to think of names for the company, we had to incorporate those letters. On the 14th day of study, we sat down and came up with different company names until we finally thought of “One More Generation.”

After we started the company, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill of 2010 happened and someone told my mom to turn

on CNN to see what was happening. We had just gotten home from school and went to see what she was watching. When we saw the images of the seabirds and sea turtles being pulled out of the water caked in oil, we knew we had to do something. We looked up at our dad and asked what we were going to do about this problem. The next day, he researched organizations that were helping out with the spill

My name is Carter Ries and my sister Olivia and I created a non-profit organization, One More Generation (OMG), to raise awareness among youth that they can make a difference. We travel the world and help save endangered species and we also educate others about plastic pollution and how it is harming our environment and us. I am going to briefly tell you about how we started and what you can do to help. If you want to get involved in any way, please visit our website at onemoregeneration.org.

OMG founders when they started the company

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and asked them if they needed any supplies. They gave us a laundry list of supplies, which we collected by going door to door asking people if they would donate. We even asked churches and Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts groups for supplies. After four months of hard work, on Olivia’s 8th birthday, we drove 11 and a half hours to the Gulf of Mexico and delivered the supplies to the Marine Mammal and Sea Turtle Rescue Center. They had 146 sea turtles, 6 sharks, 1 dolphin, and countless birds that were all sickened from ingesting oil. While we were there, we learned a cool fact about sea turtles and oil. If a sea turtle swallows oil, the best way to get the oil out of its stomach is to use a syringe to put mayonnaise down its throat. Mayonnaise bonds with the oil; the sea turtles don’t like the mayonnaise and throw it up, along with the oil.

On our last day there, a professor from Berkeley, California, congratulated us on all of our hard work, but then asked us what we were doing about the environment. I looked up at my dad knowing that he would have the answer, but he didn’t. She asked us where we wanted her to put all the sea turtles when they were healthy again. My dad

said we should put them back in the ocean, of course, and the oil has to be gone someday. She said that, yes, the oil would be gone someday, but oil is not the problem—plastic pollution is. She was totally right. We returned home and studied the issue of plastic pollution for the next 5 months and talked about how we as a family could make a difference.

After training ourselves to reduce the amount of plastic we used, we decided to educate other kids our age about this so they can make a difference, too. We explained to our dad that if we could make saying no to plastic a habit for us, we thought we should be able to do so for other students. We sat down with two teachers and a retired principal to create a weeklong curriculum to give students resources to start making a difference. On the first day, we teach about plastic bottles and how many average adults are using each year; then, we give each student a reusable stainless steel water bottle. The next day, we teach about plastic bags and give the students reusable cloth shopping bags they could decorate themselves. Each day is a new learning experience.

Delivering animal rescue supplies during the oil spill

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On the last day, Friday, we get all the kids to make an art sculpture out of plastic trash they brought from home each day. This gets the parents of the students and even the community involved in learning about plastic pollution. The program is available across the United States, and we have even introduced it into the United Kingdom, Australia, and South Africa as well.

Speaking of South Africa, we traveled there in 2011 to visit the cheetahs we adopted and delivered a big check to the founder of the Ann Van Dyk Cheetah Centre. But while we were there, we realized that cheetahs weren’t the only species threatened. We learned that the rhinos were also in danger of becoming extinct. In places like Vietnam and China, rhino horn is being used to make traditional medicines and people believe that rhino horn can cure certain illnesses, although the horn is only keratin—the same material as your hair and fingernails. When we came back from South Africa, we educated ourselves more about the issue of rhino poaching and decided to launch a Rhino Letter Writing Campaign. Through this campaign, schools around the world would write letters to the president of South Africa pleading with him to stop the killing. We wanted to collect 1,000 letters over a one-year time period and deliver them to the Minister of Environmental Affairs in South Africa. By the end of the year, we hadn’t even collected over half of the letters, so we decided to run it for another year. By the time we traveled to South Africa again, we had collected over 10,000 letters from kids all around the

Teaching others about plastic pollution

Deliveringa check tohelp with cheetah rescue efforts

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world. We delivered these messages from youth to the Minister. To continue our efforts to save the species, we partnered with the U.S. Embassy in Hanoi, Vietnam, on an education outreach program designed to target the youth of Vietnam. We recently came back from a visit to Vietnam, where we worked with many schools to raise awareness about the plight of these species. We have launched a new campaign regarding deforestation and saving orangutans. We learned about the threat to this magnificent species and are currently working with orangutan experts about ways we can help. Please visit our website and write a letter about orangutans to the President of Indonesia, Joko Widodo, asking him to stop allowing the palm oil plantation and logging industries to cut down the forests where orangutans live. We are trying to collect over 10,000

letters, even 100,000 letters, by October 2016. We can’t wait to see letters and drawings from youth around the world. We are currently working with the UN’s GRASP program (Great Ape Survival Project) and hope to be hand delivering all the letters we collect from around the world at their meeting in Jakarta in 2016. You can send letters to: OMG, P.O. Box 143627, Fayetteville GA, 30214.

Olivia and I have a special message for all the youth of the world. You can make a difference. Just start with one thing—maybe pick up a piece of trash when you see it or even stop eating meat one day of the week and reduce your carbon footprint. You can adopt an endangered species, like Olivia and I did. One small, simple act can have a big impact on the lives of your generation and even generations to come. Just remember, “Anyone can make a difference. If we can, you can, too.”

Handing over 10,000 letters to

the South African government

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Building Relationships With Roma Minority Parents in

Međimurje County, CroatiaBy Adrijana Visnjic Jevtic,

University of Zagreband Martina Brezovec Jurinec,

Primary School Orehovica

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At age 6, all children in Croatia start primary school. For Roma children, that can be a challenge. The educational language is Croatian, and very few Roma children speak Croatian fluently. These language issues contribute to many Roma children dropping out of school early. Less than 50% finish primary school and go on to secondary school. Of those who start secondary education, half drop out. Without formal education, they experience difficulty finding jobs when they reach adulthood.

Education professionals and the government in Međimurje County are trying to find a solution to this problem through early childhood education. In the 2013/14 academic year, 289 Roma children attended preschool classes. It is hoped that those children will have a better educational start, and thus will be less likely to drop out of school early.

However, the most important partners in children education are parents. Studies point to the importance of teacher-parent collaboration for children’s social and academic success, especially in intervention programs for minority children. There is a need to build satisfying relationships between teachers and parents. The parent’s role in the school can be seen in three different ways – parents as partners, parents as consumers, and parents as problems. Teachers are responsible for nurturing partnerships and overcoming the attitude of seeing parents as problems.

The example below from one preschool serving the Roma community shows us a way to improve the partnership, involving parents and helping children.

Building Partnerships With Parents

At the beginning of every preschool year, we organize parent-teacher conferences. We put out a written notice. Since some of the parents cannot read or write, we contact every parent personally to ensure they all are informed about the conference. At the first conference, parents are usually passive and silent. It is the preschool teacher’s task to create a pleasant, relaxed atmosphere and to encourage the parents to communicate. The parent-teacher conference is organized into several parts. First, the teacher provides parents with general information and gets to know the parents and children. The largest part of the conference is dedicated to games for parents and children in order to create a positive atmosphere. This also gives the children the opportunity to explore their future classroom and manipulate the materials and toys in the activity centers. While the children are playing, parents are encouraged to ask questions, and share their opinions and fears. However, few parents communicate with the preschool teacher at this point. Most of them remain silent and simply listen to the preschool teacher. Some parents have difficulty speaking in Croatian, and are afraid of saying the wrong thing.

Once school has started, we help build relationships with the families by organizing a walk with the children around their neighborhood. The children proudly show us their homes and invite family and friends to meet their preschool teacher. While walking around the neighborhood, the parents are very kind and communicative; they will invite the children and the

The county of Međimurje, Croatia, has a large Roma population. Although official numbers say 5% of the county’s citizens are Roma, the reality is likely closer to 10%. The Roma community is poor, not well educated, and has little opportunity to become successfully engaged citizens. Roma children are growing up in an inadequate, deprived environment.

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preschool teacher in for a soda. The initial discomfort with the preschool teacher, as the representative of the preschool, disappears at this moment.

We also organize parent workshops as joint gatherings once a week. At the workshops, we try to support parents and provide them with opportunities to expand their knowledge about their children’s skills and developmental opportunities. To encourage parents to keep coming to these joint planned meetings, we also organize more informal gatherings. In this vein, we organized a parent field trip around Međimurje to visit the social-historic landmarks of our region, played sports, and had a picnic with barbecue, sodas, and cakes.

In order to further improve our relationship with families, we invited the parents to a “Movie Night” at the school. We showed a comedy about two single parents and their parenting experiences, and served canapé sandwiches, popcorn, sodas, and coffee. The movie highlighted parental qualities, commitments, and aspirations, and portrayed a way to achieve closeness and love, while being a high-quality, model parent. After the movie, parents were involved in a joint reflection in which we encouraged them to rethink the situations portrayed in the movie in relation to their real-life situations.

As we conducted parent workshops, we noticed the parents reacting positively to this kind of socializing. As time passed, parents recognized the importance of and need for the workshops. They became empowered, realizing they have certain knowledge and skills necessary for helping their children. The workshops encouraged parents to find their own various sources of knowledge and skills. They realized their children could learn from their experiences and that they could have a

positive impact on their children’s learning. The parents were no longer passive observers during workshops; they were no longer uncomfortable or insecure, but were actively engaged in offered activities, suggesting their own ideas and sharing experiences. They recognized their own capacities and competencies they could use to educate children and help them develop and learn, regardless of their own educational level. These workshops helped us gain the parents’ trust. They were more interested in working with us and were motivated about coming to the preschool regularly. Most important, parents did activities with their children at home, turned in homework assignments, and shared feedback on their children’s reactions and activities.

At first, the parents seemed suspicious about the activities in the workshops. They reluctantly participated in what they considered to be “child’s play,” which they thought was useless. Ultimately, however, their reactions and evaluations indicate that those parts of the workshops, along with the organized games, became their favorite aspects. They all opened up and actively participated. The exchange of experiences grew from a brief sharing of information about the activities conducted at home to a friendly seeking for advice and solutions for everyday life situations. The parents now cherish a partnership with the school, based on professionalism and mutual trust, that benefits their children.

This is a positive example of cooperation between parents and preschool. However, some parents do not come to the parent-teacher conferences and refuse to participate in parent workshops. Parents whose children have significant difficulties in language and socialization skills, who live in very poor financial and social circumstances, and who practice socially unacceptable forms of behavior are the most likely to be disinterested in this kind of cooperation.

Preschool teachers must not forget their responsibility to engage parents and must keep trying to include all parents, no matter how difficult it may be. The benefits for children of parent-preschool teacher cooperation are immeasurable!

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From Fathers to Fathers: The Story of Fatherhood and Caregiving in aRio de Janeiro Community

By Letícia Serafim and Mohara Valle,

Promundo

Better maternal and child health outcomes, greater cognitive development, the prevention of domestic violence, and the promotion of gender equality—all in addition to improved health and well-being for men. These are just some of the positive effects of men’s equitable involvement in the care and upbringing of their children, according to the first-ever State of the World’s Fathers report,1 which was released in June 2015 by the MenCare Campaign and co-coordinated globally by Promundo.

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The inequitable division of unpaid domestic and care work around the world, however, continues to pose a major barrier to men’s full involvement at home and its corresponding benefits for individuals, families, and societies. According to the report, while women today make up 40% of the formal global workforce and 50% of the world’s food producers, men’s unpaid caregiving has not changed correspondingly. Globally, women continue to spend between two to 10 times longer caring for a child (or older person) than men do.

For some fathers in Rio de Janeiro’s Vila Joaniza community, however, this is no longer the case. Cleber Leonardo Ramos is one man who is defying the norm. He is father to 8-month-old Isabela and stepfather to 14-year-old Victoria and 4-year-old Livian, who are the daughters of his wife, Lilian Daniela Correa. Cleber simply considers himself to be the father of three girls. Ever since he married Lilian, he has shared the child care and domestic work equally with her.

Cleber was also one of the participants in a series of father-training workshops on parenting and caregiving conducted by Promundo in partnership with the Stella Maris Daycare Center in 2014. These workshops brought together parents of children attending the daycare center to address issues such as fathers’ involvement in maternal, newborn, and child health; the equitable division of child care and domestic work between fathers and mothers; and the prevention of corporal and humiliating punishments. The workshops were based on the methodology of Program P: A Manual for Engaging Men in Fatherhood, Caregiving, and Maternal and Child Health,2 which was developed by Promundo, CulturaSalud, and REDMAS.

The initiative proved to be transformative for many participants, as father Widson Rosa Silva testified:

“I started to participate in the workshops and change came fast. I started to care for [my son] in a new way, to give him more affection and to spend more time with him. Before, I did not take care of him. I thought [my job] was only to work, to put food on the table. But no, he needed more. Today I am a new person; since I started treating him like this, I’ve seen how my son has changed. Today he hugs me and tells me that he loves me all the time.”—Widson Rosa Silva, father of 5-year-old Isaac

Bringing together fathers like Cleber, who were already actively participating at home, and fathers like Widson, who gradually changed their perspective about the importance of being involved, the workshops proved to be a safe space for men to exchange positive experiences related to their roles as fathers and caregivers.

Motivated by their exchange of experiences, the group of fathers felt the need to bring these messages about men’s role in caregiving to the broader community.

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Together with Promundo staff, the fathers and mothers participating in the workshops mobilized to bring what they had learned to the Assis Valente Family Clinic, calling for the clinic to take action to involve men in both self-care and maternal, newborn, and child health.

Participants also announced to the Residents Association of Vila Joaniza the adaptation and launch of the Você é meu pai (“You are my father”) campaign,3 with posters that highlighted the experiences of gender-equitable and non-violent parents from within the community. The campaign was launched in October 2014, reaching approximately 10,250 people through the Assis Valente Family Clinic and the Stella Maris Daycare Center.

Guilherme Costa, Director of the Assis Valente Family Clinic, says community mobilization and campaigns is the right path to take:

“Public participation, in general, is one of the pillars of our health care system. So, when we see that the community itself is interested in motivating health providers to [promote men’s engagement], I think we’re headed in the right direction. [Right now], we see a low rate of participation by men in their partners’ prenatal visits. We hope that through this project, or perhaps through some of the workshops that we conduct with this group or the work that we are carrying out, we can begin to change that.”—Guilherme Costa, Director of the Assis Valente Family Clinic

In fact, one of the primary focuses of the community’s mobilization efforts was prenatal care, since men’s participation in prenatal visits can serve as an important gateway to their future involvement in health and caregiving. According to the International Men and Gender Equality Survey (IMAGES),4 men raised by

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positively involved fathers tend to have more gender-equitable attitudes as adults.

For Cleber, this speaks to the positive impact that the campaign has had on the community:

“The campaign launch was successful and very well-received by the community. It was nice to see people who are curious and interested in the subject. I think we’re starting to truly mobilize this community—and it is this type of transformation that I like to see.”—Cleber Leonardo Ramos, father of three daughters

The example of Vila Joaniza illustrates a key strategy for engaging men in unpaid care work, and thereby helping to reduce inequalities between men and women in the home and in the workplace. Integrated programs that combine group education with community

outreach, mobilization, and media campaigns are extremely effective in changing behavior,5 showing how comprehensive local and national initiatives make it possible to move from individual change, such as Cleber’s and Widson’s, to cultural transformation.

Notes:1 State of the World’s Fathers is the world’s first report to provide an exploration of men’s contributions to parenting and caregiving worldwide. To learn more, visit www.sowf.men-care.org2 Program P: A Manual for Engaging Men in Fatherhood, Caregiving, and Maternal and Child Health was developed for use by health workers, social activists, nonprofit organizations (NGOs), educators, and other individuals and institutions pursuing the idea of “men as caregivers” as a starting point for improving family well-being and

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achieving gender equality. It identifies best practices in engaging men in maternal and child health, caregiving, and preventing violence against women and children. Learn more at http://www.promundoglobal.org/program-p 3 Created by Promundo, the Você é meu pai (“You are my father”) campaign promotes the active participation of fathers in the daily care of their children, the equitable distribution of unpaid care and domestic work, and men’s involvement in caring for their own health and their

family’s health. To learn more about the campaign (in Portuguese), visit http://homenscuidam.org.br/atuacoes/campanha-voce-e-meu-pai/4 Data available at http://www.promundoglobal.org/images5 This and other evidence of change from interventions for men can be found at http://promundoglobal.org/resources/engaging-men-and-boys-in-changing-gender-based-inequity-in-health-evidence-from-programme-interventions/

The Promundo Vision

We envision a world where all people work to create a nonviolent, caring, and gender-equitable future for themselves and for their children.

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Making Learning a Joyride

By Iman Dastidar Father of Shivanshi Ghosh Dastidar

The day before my child’s birth, I prayed to God for a daughter. God took this rare opportunity to impress me and shower me with all the happiness in life in the form of my beautiful baby daughter, Shivanshi.

The joyful journey with her has continued, and she is now 5 years old. But the story would be incomplete without mention of a priceless episode in our lives—the preschool education our daughter experienced at Ralla Bella Preschool in Visakhapatnam, India.

When Shivanshi turned 2, we began looking for a preschool for her with the right qualifications. The school had to be neat and hygienic, clear and honest in communication with us, concentrate more on personality and confidence development rather than purely academics, give freedom of expression to children to help them overcome mental barriers, develop extra-curricular activities at equal pace, develop logical thinking and related skills, and meet a host of many more not-so-common demands. We didn’t and still don’t want our child to be first in her class, but we do want her to be one of the best human beings.

One school met our requirements. When we walked into Ralla Bella Preschool, the principal, Mrs. Subha Dalai, was a perfect match with us. We were overwhelmed by

Two Stories From Ralla Bella:Shaping Early Childhood in an Indian Preschool

Ralla Bella Preschool, in Visakhapatnam, India, the brainchild of Mrs. Subha Dalai, provides a balance of indoor and outdoor activities, through an internationally approved Montessori based-curriculum. The following two stories, submitted by Subha Mohapatra, provide insight into parents’ perspectives about the value to children and their families of a quality preschool experience.

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Haiti

her thoughtful approach to imparting education. Over the next three years, we saw remarkable changes in our daughter as she grew in ways we had wished for but were not confident of getting: clear thought process, verbal clarity, expression, logical conclusions, flawless etiquette, confidence, firm honesty, fearlessness, audacity, and many more treasured qualitie. These qualities were the gift of Ralla Bella to our family. The very fact that most of the students don’t cry but are eager to go to school shows the worth of Ralla Bella. It is deplorable that the worth of most schools in India and their students are calculated primarily on the basis of final exam scores, which essentially depends on how much a child can memorize. Ralla Bella clearly stands apart from other schools in India by taking such care in personality development for its students.

But you might wonder whether my daughter was behind in academics. She was actually a mark ahead of most of her friends from other schools. She enjoyed her studies rather than being required to simply memorize. “Learning while doing” is truly practiced at Ralla Bella. Field activities and connection with nature and surroundings are related with the academics at some point. The students don’t need to

memorize, but can simply enjoy their learning experiences and thus will be better able to enjoy the experiences that await them in the future. For us, life may be tough at times, but Ralla Bella prepares our children for an education that will help her succeed. Ralla Bella has reflected the beauty of our daughter to us and helped us realize her potential in terms of interests and strengths and identified areas requiring further development.

Ralla Bella has also educated us about parenting. Continuous feedback was always encouraged and we were thus able to take part in mutual enrichment, as the bonds between school and parents strengthened. We all felt that being at Ralla Bella was as good as being at home, with the ideal conditions for a child’s holistic development. On weekends, my daughter eagerly waited for Monday to come so that she could go to school.

We have moved to another city, which makes our parental and schooling job more difficult. We don’t know if we will find another Ralla Bella, but we will always treasure what Shivanshi gained from Ralla Bella, which she will carry with her for the rest of her life. Ralla Bella made true the motto that “Teaching is a Social and Responsible Service and Not a Mere Profession. [Schools] Make the Pillars for the Future of a Nation.”

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Development of a Young Mind

By Vesavila PrasadDevelopmental Professional

School is an important vehicle for socialization and should be a safe zone for learning. It plays a vital role in shaping individuals, helping to define who they will be for the rest of their lives.

My son Satyadeep, 6 years old, is smart, intelligent, and handsome. He is a very active child and a quick learner. He is talkative, inquisitive, and keeps himself busy exploring new things. Engaging him can be challenging, both at home and in school. He is independent, confident, and loves to learn on his own. He loves dancing and cartoons.

He recently completed LKG (lower kindergarten, 3-4 years old) at Ralla Bella International Play School, in Visakhapatnam, India. Before entering Ralla Bella, however, his demeanor at school was quite different. He had been enrolled in a different school in the city, where he had completed LKG and progressed to UKG (upper kindergarten, 4-5 years old), but he struggled there.

His teacher was strict, presenting a stern face and wielding a long stick. Satyadeep found her to be quite frightening. She often made him stand and pushed him to do his work, both class work and home work. His teacher used to often scold, punish, and even beat him. Quite often, he felt ashamed and embarrassed before his classmates. Satyadeep became reluctant to go to the school and slowly became more and more rebellious. He started showing various signs of being tense and anxious.

When he was persuaded to attend the school, he sometimes avoided lunch and sometimes threw up food he was forced to eat. He began to avoid sitting in the class. He became almost a recluse. When the situation was explained to the school principal, he warned the teacher but the problems persisted. As time progressed, the very

sight of the teacher would frighten Satyadeep and he would cry hysterically when he saw her. By September 2014, he had lost weight and energy. He stopped going to school and stopped interacting with people.

I took him to Ralla Bella in November 2014. He liked the school grounds and we peeped inside the school. As we had a short conversation with the principal, Mrs. Subha Dalai, Satyadeep slowly started to overcome his inhibitions and showed interest in joining school. He has spent many joyous moments in the school since then.

Since Satyadeep’s learning ability and performance had been compromised at his previous school, the staff at Ralla Bella assessed his current abilities and he was admitted into LKG again. The next day was even more enjoyable and Satyadeep eventually began chattering about school and how he enjoyed it. He lost his inhibitions and even participated in the Children’s Day event at the school.

Satyadeep’s present teacher says that he is a happy learner and the most confident speaker. This fills my heart with joy. We are lucky to have our child in this school. The school is affordable and the teachers communicate well and understand children. I am proud that my child Satyadeep has again become active and is called a smart kid by the teachers of his school. He keeps saying how much he likes his teachers and the school.

Thanks to Ralla Bella International Play School, especially Mrs. Subha Dalai and her team. This school proved and believed the saying that “every child is unique.”

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While the importance of establishing this network of community is accepted in the field, the challenge lies in practical implementation. This article introduces a method of building networks of human connection from a foundation of a democratic and socially just pedagogical model for aesthetic education. The classroom described here, situated in the Bronx, New York, includes children who have come from many parts of the world.

Living LiteracyLiving literacy stretches the definition of literacy to “include the ways in which . . . people write and read their lives” (Neilsen, 1989, p. 2). Inherent in this notion of living literacy is embodied literacy, a type of corporeal knowing that allows learners to integrate reading and writing

in a profound way. It is a recognition of the “powerful interchange between young people’s experiences in the world and what they read. . . . The cycle of experience and reading—a cycle of life to text and text to life—is at the heart of literacy and learning” (Washor, Mojkowski, & Foster, 2009, p. 521). This approach requires researchers to investigate the lives of individuals, including their social context, to develop an effective pedagogy for literacy development.

The following activities are structured to build a culture of caring among a diverse group of students. While many different pedagogical theories are incorporated into this unit, Baines and Kunkel’s (2000, 2003) philosophy of establishing a writing environment that nurtures human connection provides the foundation.

Living Literacy: Giving a Voice to Immigrant Children in a

Diverse CommunityBy Jeanne M. Peloso

Lehman College, CUNY, Bronx, NY

Establishing a nurturing academic environment that fosters democratic and socially just relationships between

the school, family, and surrounding community is essential to the educational success of immigrant children.

These relationships establish the foundation for all learning throughout the course of the school year. By establishing a network of support, we

can foster the social, emotional, and cognitive growth of all students, and particularly those who have recently immigrated.

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Step One: Read The CircuitStudents begin by reading The Circuit (1999) by Francisco Jimenez, which describes the migration of a family from Mexico to the United States from a child’s point of view. The family traverses California searching for their next harvesting job. The vivid narrative portrays the profound impact of the migratory life on the development of a child.

The Circuit can be used to introduce older elementary students to the living literacy of the author. The child narrator voices his own journey, giving testimony to where he comes from and where he currently resides. It is a moving portrayal of one child’s struggle to build a home place within a transitory life.

Step Two: What Is the Color of My Skin?Borrowing an activity from the Teaching Tolerance Project (1997), students trace their hands on mural paper. On a separate piece of paper, using Colors Like Me® paint, students mix colors to match their individual skin tones.

After painting their traced hands, students discuss the similarities and differences they notice. Rather than finding black or white, the students see that the hands are all shades of brown.

The discussion extends to imagine Jimenez’s hand color and an exploration of his culture and ethnicity. The students explore the impact of culture and ethnicity on human development, using examples from the book and their own life stories. The discussion allows students to explore culture and ethnicity through Jimenez’s experience and also share the impact on their developing life story.

Step Three: Create a Map In a social studies component, students place different push pins on a large world map to designate different locations on the globe that have meaning in their life story. Red push pins could indicate where a student was born, blue push pins indicate locations a student has lived along his/her journey, yellow push pins indicate

24 Childhood Explorer

where a student currently lives. Students also included push pins to trace Jimenez’s life.

Using the completed map, students explore the importance of home in a global society and the impact of geographic location. Jimenez’s story provides a foundation for a discussion of a migrant life and its implications on the idea of home. The students imagine what home means to people from different parts of the globe. They also explore the idea of home for themselves through a variety of questions, such as: Where is home? What languages are spoken at home? Who lives at home?

Step Four: Hometown PoemStudents create an artistic representation of their hometown or a place on the globe that they associate with the word “home.” An artistic representation may be created using a variety of mediums: paint, markers, crayon, collage, etc.

This artistic activity helps children access the emotions required to complete the poetry writing exercise. Baines and Kunkel (2000) advocate using “off-beat strategies, competitive games, interdisciplinary hooks, art and multimedia, and indirect approaches to teaching some of the difficult lessons of writing” (p. xii).

After discussing their artistic representations, students write a poem using “Performance Art Poetry” (Baines, 2000, p. 33). Students remain in writing groups for the creation and editing process of their poems. Using writing prompts, they write poems about what they consider to be their hometown. Students have free choice in their poem format. Rough drafts are developed through peer critiquing and peer revision in the writing groups and two class periods are devoted to the formation of these drafts.

Hometown Poem StructurePlace where you grew up and a verb (2 words)The landscape (4 words)Smell or taste of your hometown (6 words)Music, song, or sounds that remind you of your

hometown (8 words)

Kind of people who live there (10 words)An important event in your life (12 words)An important event in your life (12 words – you can

repeat the above line or write a new one)A dream or nightmare (10 words)An influential person (8 words)The specific advice or truth someone once gave you

(perhaps you heard it from the person mentioned above). Try to write out their advice specifically, then delete the quotation marks (6 words)

The weather (4 words)

The following is a poem from a 6th-grade student:

Dominican RepublicDR beautyMountains, dirt roads, beachesSancocho smell from my abuelita’s kitchenMerengue, Salves, Palo, Merenrap, beat, beat in airPeople who are still asleep in many ways, walking

slowlyMoved away from everyone we knew, watching my

mama cry leaving homeTrying not to cry as I walked into NYC school, First

DayMy dreams filled with beautiful DR landscapes or NYC

nightmaresThe first NYC teacher who said Como Esta?Don’t eat if you can’t pronounceIt rains often, actuallyDR beauty

Step Five: Poetry Reading and Bread CelebrationAs a final celebration, students organize a poetry reading. Experience indicates that the praise students receive after a public reading has a profound impact (Baines & Kunkel, 2003). This activity can include the surrounding community. A nighttime poetry reading allows different members of the community to attend the performance.

To enhance the celebration, each student shares a sample of bread they associate with their culture or ethnicity of origin. Students are asked to tell the story of their bread:

Winter 2016 25

name of the bread, ingredients in the bread, process of bread preparation, and how the bread is served. This activity incorporates elements of the science curriculum as students explain agricultural practice, chemical change, and food production.

The students are also encouraged to share any memories regarding the importance of bread in their life story. In the Bronx, this is an easy request, as a multitude of cultures and ethnicities are present in most classrooms. Also, many multinational bakeries can be found in the immediate neighborhood.

The bread activity can be a powerful demonstration that one food, with a common set of ingredients, can find a variety of expressions globally. This is a profound model for the children to demonstrate that one species, with a common set of “ingredients,” can also find a variety of expressions globally. This point is also reinforced by the “What Is the Color of My Skin?” activity.

Ultimately, the poems are published in books that are added to the elementary school library and the local community libraries. Each student brings home a copy of the book signed by each poet in the class.

Final ThoughtsBy validating the living literacy of students, teachers enable all children to develop their own voice. Immigrant children take pride in telling their life stories and begin to build human connections as they hear others’ stories. The life-to-text and text-to-life cycle (Washor, Mojkowski, & Foster, 2009) is embodied and literacy instruction has new meaning for the students.

To establish a culture of caring in a diverse classroom, it is important to allow all children to be part of the educational process because “[t]he vision of community that the classroom provides can color a child’s ideas and expectations about equity, cooperation and citizenship for a lifetime” (Teaching Tolerance Project, p. v). As children develop the skills to tell their own story, they make meaning of their own developmental journeys and integrate this understanding into their life narratives.

These skills provide a foundation for individuals to know the world and “learn to be at home in the worlds they choose” (Neilsen, 1989, p. 123). Doing so within the community of the classroom builds a connection among individuals within the context of a literacy class and creates a culture of caring that embraces diversity.

ResourcesColorations® Colors Like Me® paint can be purchased at Discount School Supply. www.discountschoolsupply.com/Product/ProductDetail.aspx?Product=3677

Starting Small: Teaching Children Tolerance Kit can be ordered for free from Teaching Tolerance Project. www.tolerance.org/sites/default/files/general/tt_materials_order_form.pdf

ReferencesBaines, L. (2000). Performance art poetry. In L. Baines & A.

J. Kunkel (Eds.), Going Bohemian: Activities that engage adolescents in the art of writing well (pp. 33-35). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Baines, L., & Kunkel, A. J. (Eds.). (2000). Going Bohemian: Activities that engage adolescents in the art of writing well. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

Baines, L., & Kunkel, A. J. (2003). Teaching adolescents to write: The unsubtle art of naked teaching. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.

Jimenez, F. (1999). The circuit. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Books for Children.

Levine, D. (2009). Building classroom communities: Strategies for developing a culture of caring. Bloomington, IN: Solution Tree.

Neilsen, L. (1989). Literacy and living: The literate lives of three adults. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Neilsen, L. (1998). Knowing her place: Research literacies and feminist occasions. San Francisco, CA: Caddo Gap Press.

Teaching Tolerance Project. (1997). Starting small: Teaching tolerance in preschool the early grades. Montgomery, AL: Southern Poverty Law Center.

Washor, E., Mojkowski, C. & Foster, D. (2009). Living literacy: A cycle of life to text and text to life. Phi Delta Kappan, 90(70), 521-523.

26 Childhood Explorer

Environmental Education: “Eco-Kids” Project in Iran

By Asefeh PishroEnvironment Expert and Volunteer

Plan4theLand, Tehran, IRAN

Plan4theLand is a non-governmental organization (NGO) working to promote conservation of wildlife and biodiversity in Iran. Eco-Kids is Plan4theLand’s environmental education program for children

and youth. Environmental education is new in Iran, and so we are exploring innovative and creative educational approaches as we encourage children to

work cooperatively for environmental conservation. The Eco-Kids program is now in most of the urban regions of Iran. The children, parents, and educators have

expressed great enthusiasm for the program.

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In Iran, support is building for green schools and nature schools, and information about the environment has been added to course books. Despite difficulties and limitations, my colleagues and I in Plan4theLand will continue the Eco-Kids program, collaborating with volunteers and pursuing innovative ideas to encourage environmental awareness and stewardship.

Children and the EnvironmentChildhood is an important stage of life in terms of physical and mental growth, and thus is an appropriate time to cultivate a respect for the environment and a dedication to sustainability. Children have spectacular learning power, and they can have a significant impact on the future. The environment plays an important role in children’s and adolescents’ life experiences. If children are prepared to consider environmental issues and the

consequences of urban development, they can ultimately help cities resolve their environmental problems. Children who are sensitive to their urban environment will be more likely to become creative change agents for the cities when they become adults.

Programs that involve children in nature conservation help them understand the importance of responsibility and respectful interactions with the environment. Children are inherently curious about their surroundings and naturally consider themselves as part of their environment. They readily express great compassion when considering the dangers affecting the natural world. If environmental education is provided to children between 6 and 12 years old, they will be more likely to behave responsibly toward nature and understand their own responsibility for protecting the environment.

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Environmental Education and Children’s Cooperative ActivitiesChild’s rights movements stress a child’s right to education and to a sustainable environment for a secure future. Environmental education supports the growth of a child as a conscientious citizen, shaping beliefs and providing skills for innovation that will support conservation and sustainability. Children react differently to the natural environment and an urban environment. Thus, learning about nature is particularly important for children living in urban environments.

Global movements are stressing the importance of children volunteering and being involved in cooperative activities. Such activities are ideal ways to protect the environment from harm due to increasing urbanization. Adolescents, in particular, like to be called on to cooperate and help with decision-making about environmental affairs in their city.

The Eco-Kids program implements environmental clubs that emphasize children’s cooperation and decision-mak-ing regarding environmental affairs through multigen-erational, national, and global citizenship efforts.

Eco-Kids Program by Plan4theLand Plan4theLand began environmental education through the Eco-Kids Program in 2014. By 2015, 64 schools and 9,823 students had received environmental education from 479 instructors.

The program, for 7- to 12-year-olds, addresses many environmental subjects, such as conservation of wildlife, biodiversity, waste and recycling, energy consumption, clean energy, etc. Educational games have been developed about these topics to increase children’s enjoyment of the lessons. Plan4theLand collaborates with other NGOs to design these educational games. The children have learned about environment issues

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through puzzles, origami, dominoes, bowling, memory cards, films, painting, crafts, books, face painting, music performances, etc. The children enter an “environmental educational tunnel”; as they pass through, they play the games and participate in the activities, while learning about various environmental concepts and issues.

The origami activity, for example, helps familiarize children with the wildlife of Iran, especially endangered species, including: Persian leopard, Asian black bear, bottlenose dolphin, flamingo, whales, and the hawksbill and green sea turtles. In another activity, children learn about waste recycling by throwing balls with labels that define different kinds of waste into separated buckets. During the face-painting activity, various animals are painted on the children’s faces while they receive information about the animals’ habitats, food, etc. After they complete the program, the children receive a certificate and become a member of an Eco-Kids club.

Goals and Scopes of Eco-Kids Program1. Consider how consumption patterns affect the

environment 2. Create networks between educated students who are

interested in environmental conservation3. Promote environmental conservation as a social

responsibility4. Build sensitivity and increase knowledge about the

environment5. Recognize the value of nature conservation by

children and adolescents

6. Change the approach of teaching children and adolescents about environmental issues

7. Develop a sustainable, cooperative network through environmental conferences and ecotourism trips.

Feedback and Effects of the Eco-Kids ProgramWhen I talk with the children about endangered species in Iran, I can see their compassion and enthusiasm for conservation reflected on their faces. When I say we are going to talk about an environmental issue, such as energy consumption, wildlife, waste and recycling, they share their observations and experiences and analyze the circumstances from their own perspectives. Sometimes, they criticize adults’ behavior regarding energy consumption, recycling, or treatment of animals. I have read The Giving Tree (by Shel Silverstein) with the children and I can see regret and sorrow on their faces as they consider the destruction of trees and nature. We talk with the children about lost and destroyed environments, and listen to their suggestions for restoring nature. When I return to schools where we have presented the program, the students remember the environmental issues very well.

The Eco-Kids program is evolving day-to-day through the efforts of volunteers. Although we know about limitations and difficulties of such cooperative work, we are determined to reach our goal of conserving the environment through environmental education and cooperative activities with children.

www.plan4land.org

ChildhoodExplorer

The Association for Childhood Education International, a nonprofit dedicated to promoting the optimal education and development of children, is proud to be offering this new publication that focuses specifically on the experience of

childhood around the world. Childhood Explorer is an online vehicle for sharing informative and inspirational stories about childhood and about projects and campaigns

that provide quality education, care, and support to children and youth in diverse communities and circumstances.

We invite you to submit short, 1- to 3-page, articles for consideration. We are seeking narrative, conversational articles that stay focused on a personal story of childhood, while connected to a global issue concerning childhood and children’s education.

Visit http://www.acei.org/childhood-explorer for more information and to download guidelines and samples.

Topics of interest are:

Daily life of a child in a particular geographic location/culture/socioeconomic situation/life circumstance

NGO initiatives to support children’s well-being and education

Programs/approaches and how they work through real-life application

Global trends in education

Global trends affecting childhood

For more information about this publication,contact [email protected]

Exploring the Landscape of Childhood WorldwideAssociation for Childhood Education International