Professional Hopes and Goals

• One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds: One hope that I have for working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that the school I work for takes a proactive approach to acknowledge diversity. I hope that my children and families will know that all diversity/cultures are welcome in my classroom and there will never be any bullying! I hope to create lesson plans that incorporate diversity in the classroom but that allow children to work together in many different groups. I hope to be the best teacher I can be and make my students and families feel welcome, safe, secure, and comfortable around me and in my classroom.
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• One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice: One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is: To increase the participation and involvement of the parents and the community.
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• A brief note of thanks to your colleagues: I just want to take a moment to say thank you to those that have been loyal readers of my blog posts. I look forward to each of your comments and I truly appreciate you taking the time out of your day to read MINE! It means a lot!
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Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

The name of “your” family’s country of origin: CHINA

At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family: 

1.) Be very welcoming and warm. Be accepting, making the family feel comfortable, showing them around the classroom and communicating with them in the best way I know how. 

2.) Create and integrate lesson plans and curriculum that will allow the students to learn about diversity/culture/other countries. Prepare assignments for the students that will let them know how there are many different types of people in the world and each one should be loved.

3.) Recognize my own biases and fix those!

4.) Become aware and knowledgeable about the family and their background/culture.

5.) Form study groups where I will be able to read culturally responsive literature that reflects the identities of the students in the classroom.

A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family: I hope that these preparations will benefit both me and the families. I feel it is important to show the families that they are welcome into the classroom no matter what their culture is or where they are from. My classroom will be very accepting of all cultures! I also feel it's important for teachers to have lesson plans and assignments based on culture and allowing children to work in groups and show off assignments. Every teacher must recognize their own biases and get those fixed so they can truly be non-biased in the classroom and accept everyone for who they are. All of these things would be helpful for me and the Chinese family. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

1.) What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

I think we have all been a victim of experiencing bias/prejudice at least once in our lifetime! I have been the victim and I have been the one to judge. A memory I have of an incident where I personally experienced bias/prejudice was when an ex of mine told me that I couldn't drive because I was a woman! Another example would be:
In America, women were not allowed to vote until the early part of the 20th century.

 

2.) In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

This specific bias/prejudiced in that incident diminished equality because it took away from my self esteem and put a label on all women and their ability to not be able to drive due to their sex. The example of women not being allowed to vote takes away from women's freedom.

3.) What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

This incident brought up feelings of sadness, confusion, and betrayal for me.

 4.) What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity the best thing to do is to just prove people wrong. There are a lot of women drivers who are good at driving. Men should think more positively about women!

 
 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

An example of micro-aggression that I detected this week was: I went to the hospital to have Gallbladder surgery. When I arrived I got registered and prepped for surgery. I was brought back into a private room and there was a female physician wearing a stethoscope. My husband was in the room with me and told me to ask the nurse any questions I may have before going into surgery. He told me not to be scared to ask questions. He automatically assumed she was a nurse. The hidden message in this micro aggression is: Women are less capable of men. Women should not have decision making roles. When I observed this micro-aggression I felt bad even though it wasn't me that did it. I felt bad for the physician that we were not fully aware of her job title. I felt guilty like we should not be so judgmental. We were wrong in the assumption that she was a nurse when she was a physician. 

My observation experiences this week affect my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudiced and stereotypes on people. It really was a clarification that everyone judges people, even if we don't realize it or mean it, we all do it. It's natural and it happens. I think there is a huge difference in judging others to be harsh and cruel and judging without others knowing you're judging and keeping your thoughts to yourself. From now on I truly want to take a few steps back before opening my mouth and stop being judgmental. I want to stop assuming and ask more questions!

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked to at least three friends of mine who were willing participants on providing their insight on what their definitions of culture and diversity are. 

          Priscilla- Culture: way of life of a given group of people including their customs and traditions. Diversity: a mix of different cultures, races, education, etc. in a group of people.

     Amber- Culture to me is what makes each particular culture group different, their beliefs, behaviors, attitudes, customs, languages, symbols, ceremonies, rituals, knowledge and practices that are distinctive to their specific group. Diversity to me is accepting and respecting that each individual is unique, and recognizing our individual differences.  For example race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socioeconomic status, age, physical abilities and disabilities, religious beliefs or no religious beliefs, or other ideologies in a safe , positive, and nurturing environment. 

          Tasha- Culture defines a persons home (or place they grew up). It is about a specific location in which certain beliefs or traditions are practiced on a regular basis. It includes: foods, clothing, laws... etc.  Certain culture implemented into a child, bring up a child of diversity. Diversity expresses ones own inner belief adjusted to once own experience in life. Usually, we follow the traditions of our  culture and we  make it our own. We may not like something we grew up practicing, such as religion, so we may make changes in how we practice that.  To me that is diversity, what one takes away from their cultural experience and edits to make it their own. Culture creates diversity and diversity creates ones own personality and character. 

• 1.) Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples? 
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• Every aspect of diversity that I have studied in this course was included in the answers I received. Some examples:  Culture being different groups of people, people having several different characteristics, the way people live their life (Lifestyle) and diversity being that everyone in the world is different yet should be accepted and respected. 
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• 2.) Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?
•  I don't feel that any aspects of culture or diversity were omitted in anyway, shape or form. I think the above answers were worded perfectly and every aspect of culture and diversity is mentioned.
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• 3.)  In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?
• Thinking of other people's definitions of culture is just confirmation for me that I fully understand what culture and diversity are. It has made me realize that not everyone's definition of culture and diversity are the same, everyone has a different meaning. I can take what I have learned in class and from the people above and apply it to my everyday life and even as a professional.
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Blog: My Family Culture

If major catastrophe hit and completely devastated the infrastructure of my country and I had to move to a completely different country and bring three things with me (Excluding my family/children and strictly just three material items) I would bring: 

1.) A HUGE photo album of all my friends/family/children.

2.) An unlimited supply of paper, pens, and postage stamps so I could write to my friends and family; keep in touch with loved ones.

3.) My digital camera so I could capture beautiful places in the different countries that I’ve never been and even capture run-down places so when I visit America and visit my friends and family I can show them where I’ve been!

I would explain to others that each of these items means a great deal to me and I’d let them know why. I cherish my photo albums because inside are wonderful memories of me, my family, my friends, my children. They are memories that I always want to be reminded of and never want to forget.

Everyone that truly knows me knows that I have a significant passion for writing/pen paling so that would explain my interest in bringing paper, pen, and postage stamps with me. If I wasn’t able to write, I’d lose a huge part of who I am as an individual. I never want that part of me to be taken away. It has helped shape me into the person I am today.

My digital camera holds significant meaning to me because I have such an immense passion for photography. I love capturing photos of my family and children and even nature. There is something special about taking pictures that I just love!

My feelings, upon arrival, if I was told that I could only keep one personal item and give up the other two items would make me completely heartbroken. To be moving to a different country, somewhere I’ve never been and having to move away from my family would be tough enough; that in itself is devastating news. Having to choose between the three items after being told what I’d have to give up and do to move forward after this devastation would truly be challenging.

As a result of this exercise I did gain some insight about myself, my family culture and cultural differences in general. By doing this exercise it made me realize how important some material things can be but more importantly how family and friends are. If I was forced to move away from everyone I loved and cared about it would destroy me. Even just the thought of losing my loved ones or being far away from them is heart wrenching for me. I don’t even like to think about it. It makes me want to re-evaluate what I feel is important and not take those I love for granted. I am a realist and I know that anything can happen at any time. I really do like to count my blessings every single day! This exercise made me realize that everyone is different and there are many people in the world who have a different culture/language/religion, etc. than I do. With that being said, I’m proud to be me! I’m proud to be a Caucasian who lives in the United States but at the same time I know how to accept and respect people of different cultures, languages, religions, lifestyles, etc.

When I Think of Research...

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

 

I have gained a lot of insights about research from taking this course. Some of the things I have learned are: The Research Process & the steps to take in order to begin research, I can narrow down general research topics to related subtopics, I can identify and define specific terms and concepts regarding research, I can explore and share information about the early childhood field, and I can create a simulated research study online along with other things too!

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?  

Research to me was always "Very easy" and complex. Now I know there is a whole lot more to research then I ever realized. It's definitely complicated and not as easy as I thought it would be. There are many steps needed to be taken in order to research that I was never aware of before.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?  

I've learned that planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood is very time consuming. It is also a lot of information to take it and absorb. One of the main things that stood out to me in this course was the difficult definitions and terms that were difficult to understand. Understanding research and everything that comes with it is not as simple as I thought.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them? 

The biggest challenge for me was understanding a lot of what was said in the textbook and trying to understand and comprehend definitions to terms that were listed in the textbook. I did my best in reading the material and trying to make a list of definitions on index cards to memorize the definitions. This tended to help quite a bit.

 

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

Early childhood professionals do not have an easy job/career. There is a lot more to the early childhood field than we know before going into these types of courses. It's so important for teachers and professionals to stay up to par on things on in the field and one of the best ways to keep yourself updated is to research and read articles.