Entry 1

This is my first blog entry (ever!) and I am somewhat apprehensive about about the technology part of this assignment, but think it will be fun at the same time.

Throughout the last four weeks of readings for this course, I have had a lot of learning moments, most I have shared in my discussion postings.  I will use today's blog entry to share some of the opportunities I have had over the past week which have given me opportunities in urban education.

A short background...
Each Saturday, for the past three years, I have had the privilege of being at the Parramore Kidz Zone Baby Institute in downtown Orlando from 8:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m.  The Baby Institute is modeled off of the Harlem Children's Zone's Baby College. It is a parenting program whose mission it to teach parenting skills to parents in the Parramore Community (a predominantly black, urban community with a high poverty rate) and to increase school readiness skills for the children. I began this journey in Fall 2010 when I traveled with a group of professionals to Harlem to observe their Baby College.  From there, I developed curricula for the parent training and continue to serve as a consultant on the curriculum, training teachers, working with the parents while they are in the (9-week) session, and then continuing to connect with the families through Baby Institute Alumni activities.

This past Saturday, I was training a teacher to teach the parents in the Infant Group, so I modeled the class and the interactions, group discussions, etc. The topic of yesterday's class was developing secure attachments with their babies to ensure a sense of security throughout their development.  What I most appreciated with the parents (participants) was their level of acceptance of me--the only white person in the room--rather than discounting my teaching.
I believe one of the reasons I was given this sense of belonging is because I began the discussion by each person sharing their own memories and then talking about how our memories impacted our future relationships with our families. In remembering Dr. Johnson's approach to her high school students (the majority of the parents in my class are between 18-22 years old) and how she wove in her own "story," I think my sharing of my own memories helped us to connect with each other.

We also talked about our "hopes and dreams" and I noticed how carefully each parent listened to the other parents.  At the end of the class, one of the mothers asked me if I could help her to earn her GED so that she could move forward to start her own family restaurant--with her 5 children.  I am hoping this was a sign of trust that she could ask me and not feel judged.

I'd like to know more about the parents' everyday lives...if I were to continue teaching this class, that would be planned as one of the class icebreakers which we do each week.