Week 8 : Maraming Salamat Po sa Inyong Lahat (Thank you very much to all of you)

As an educator we always plan ahead and think about the things we can do to help our children learn things about themselves and things around them.  This course has given us a the importance of anti-bias setting and the implementation of programs that promotes equity and diversity no matter who you are or where you came from. It has given us tools or strategies to use to create an anti-bias setting and programs that will help children speak up for themselves, be proud of who they are and do something to eliminate stereotype or biases.  For us it is all about our families and our children which is a very good thing, then I stopped and started asking myself, what else is there to write about the lessons learned from this course? As I reflect upon the things we do for others, something came up and thought about myself as an educator. I remember that I should do something about myself first before I can help others. It is true that we have to know ourselves better, understand our own responses to children and families I worked with.  I need to learn about my own biases and make some changes on the way I perceived families and children. I have to be open minded and learn how to respect and accept other cultures that are different than mine and only then that I can create an anti-bias education.  It also takes a lot of passion and commitment to create it.

Now that this course is about to end, I am hoping that we continue to reflect on the things we do for our children and families and it is my strong hope that we do not forget what we learned here on this course. Giving our families and children an opportunity to share who they are and work together  for the benefit of our children. I hope we continue to seek learning about ourselves as well as about the children and families we serve and learn how to deal with them in many different settings.

I would like to thank you all for your contribution in making this course very educating and interesting. Your discussion post and remarks or comments on our discussion board and blogs inspired me to keep on going and finished this course with you. I am really grateful to have met you and the bonds we share is like friendship in reality-supporting each other and working together even if we do not see each other  in actuality. I wish you all good luck and hope you will have a happy holidays to come.

To Tammy, thank you too for all your responses to our discussion board and your positive comments on our grade book. Your encouraging remarks made a lot of difference. You also kept us from going and going until the end of this course. I wish you good luck and hope you continue to inspire more educators to pursue their quest for higher education.

To all of you, Maraming Salamat Po (Thank you very much)!