Professional Hopes and Goals

            During this class I have learned many things that have helped me prepare for working with culturally diverse children and families along with being aware of any “isms” that may hinder every child from receiving a good education. My hope is that what I learned I will be able to put in practice and motivate others by my actions to reevaluate how they view cultural diverse students and their parents.

            One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to provide more training for all staff on cultural diversity and the importance of recognition and acceptance of someone different. With this training, I would hope to include training on parent/family relationships.

            From the very beginning, the interaction from my colleagues was very enlightening and provided me with the inspiration and information that helped me gain a better understanding of the lessons. Their insight provided me an opportunity to examine my work and my thoughts.

Week 7: Welcoming Families From Around the World

My setting for this scenario would be a child care center. My family that I would be servicing would be from Australia. The first thing I would do is research information through the internet and other sources about the family life structure of Australians. This would help me to better understand how to communicate and partnership with the parents. Next I would check my educational tools and visual aides to ensure that the material would include content  material that the new student and parents could relate to from their own culture. I would also check to make sure that the meals provided include items that the child could and  would eat  that is familiar to the new  student and the parents. I would ensure that all staff know of the new family coming on board and provide them with any pertinent cultural information that would be beneficial during the transition. And lastly, I would inquire as to why they choose to attend school here as opposed to Australia. This information would be beneficial in helping me to understand their sensitivities, expectations, and possible fears about coming to a new institution in a different country than their own.
As I take these steps in an effort understand the new family that will be a part of the center, I will learn how to effectively communicate with the child and parents. It also will help me sharpen my teaching skills by integrating what I learn with what I am already doing.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

    

I remember thinking about some of the things that I saw in the work place that made me aware of how bias and prejudice still exist in a few people. In our area, there are an increasing number of Spanish speaking families settling here. As a result, there is an increase in the number Spanish speaking families that we service at Head Start. Unfortunately some staff members continue to make unnecessary remarks about the parents, children, and culture of those families. An example would be a teacher saying; “When are they ever going to learn English”. Some say it so frequently that I truly don’t believe they think it is wrong to feel and speak that way about diverse cultures. As I began to hear such comments, I began to feel a little bit upset at the fact that such a comment was made like that by classroom professionals who will be working both with the children and with the parent.

            I believe that more must be done by management/administration to ensure that staff receive ongoing cultural diversity training that allows them to better understand the families and cultures of people that will be serviced in that region. An open line of communication should be established between the families and the schools. At a meeting not too long ago, a suggestion was made by one of the Latino family members that at the next parent meeting, instead of having a translator to work with the parents, that they conduct the whole meeting in Spanish and the non Spanish speaking families use headsets and a receivers to understand what was being said through interpretation.  When tried, it was a success because it allowed many to experience how it felt to try and understand through translation.

      

Week 4 Microaggression

There is an old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me” that I heard growing up and was told that is the something I need to remember when people say thing about me. As I grew older, I realized that sometimes psychological hurts may be more damaging than a physical wounds that eventually heal. The topic of microaggressions is a very important one to have because feelings of uncertainty, inferiority or marginalization are so easily experienced but hardly identified and discussed. Not too long ago I, who am Black, was talking with a coworker, who is White, when another White coworker came over to discuss an activity that was occurring over the weekend. The coworker that joined us began to speak about a golf tournament that was on Saturday and asked the other coworker if he played golf, to which he replied no. At that point he invited him to join his team and it would be fun. At no time did he ask me if I played golf or if I wanted to be on his team. At that time I took it as he implied that Blacks don’t play golf. I think what bothered me more was that the coworker I was talking with before the other one came over chose not to invite me in the conversation but rather acted as though I didn’t exist during that time. I expressed my thoughts on the matter and he said “I am quite sure he didn’t mean anything by it he probably thought you wouldn’t be interested”. So to him it wasn’t perceived as a bias view or action because he was involved in the discussion, not left out.

As professionals in the Early Childhood field, we have to be careful not to practice inclusion when it comes to the children or families. We should not assume someone won’t want to participate in a conversation or event because of their culture, gender, or appearance. I would have appreciated the opportunity to accept or decline the invitation to play golf for myself rather than to have that decision made for me by someone else.

 

 

 

 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 

            The three people I interviewees were  a Black middle aged, female from the south, a bi-racial 13 year old female from the south, and a middle age male from the North.  Upon interviewing the three as to the questions on perspectives on diversity and culture, the answers were very similar and generic. Each defined culture as pertaining to the outward differences such as traditions, race, religion, dress, and language. One expanded their definition to include the traits and lifestyle of how a person lives according to what they were taught by their parents and their parent’s parents. It was interesting to see that their definitions were predictable according to how a lot of people define culture.

            On the question of diversity, each was not sure what the difference between culture and diversity meant. I explained a brief definition of diversity as it pertained to the differences in how an individual believes and their actions within their culture in a dominant culture. After that, they had a clearer insight as to how they could answer. Again all three responses referred to things such as language, education level, economic level, living status, community association, and how they dressed. Their answers seemed to be similar in the nature as each identified the differences in reference to their own culture.  

            Overall the interviews helped me appreciate my current understanding of culture that we have learned in this class thus far. Their answers reminded me of my thoughts and concepts on culture and diversity were before this class. I noticed that their answers were based upon surface cultural observations as opposed to personal interactions or cultural understanding.

 

 

 

 

      

My Family Culture

If my fate was to be evacuated to an unknown country and not knowing how long I would be there, I would probably bring three items; a Bible, camera, and writing pad/notebook. The Bible represents my spiritual and moral convictions that I use everyday to improve the quality of my life and those around me. The camera would be used to help me remember images of my family culture and take pictures of the new life. The writing pad/notebook would be used as a journal to record my thoughts and new events that occur.

If I was limited to one item, it would be a very difficult choice but it would have to be the Bible. I would use it  to keep my faith built up by reading and remembering that you can keep your faith and belief even if everyone around you thinks differently and knowing that God can change any situation.

Some insights that I learned would be to always value and try and maintain my cultural values no matter where I am. I realize the importance of prioritizing what things are important to me and my family to maintain the true meaning of life. Also the importance of maintaining and valuing my culture in an unknown place with an unknown culture, at the same time realizing that I would have to try and  learn to understand a different culture and adapt to that system.

 

 

 

 

Early Childhood Education

One of the most exciting things to be involved in is Early Childhood Education. The concept of working with children at an early development stage in their lives is a wonderful privilege. The opportunities that Head Start offers parents on how to be the primary and best educator for their child is amazing. One of the things that I really enjoy is seeing the children interact with each other and how many of our inhibitions are not present in their friendships. I think we can learn just as much from working with children as we can teach them.