Professional Hopes and Goals

 

             When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds my hope is that all children and families are treated with respect and provided with an excellent and quality educational setting that is accepting to their needs. Let children and their families be treated based on their character and not overlooked because of their differences. As an educator I must vow that though I will not agree with many actions and beliefs of others I have made a commitment to provide students with high quality instruction that has been manufactured according to their individual needs.

My goal is to establish a commitment of excellence to all children and families regardless of their race, creed, color, religious background or other diverse characteristics. As a parent and  early  childhood  educator  it  is  my  belief that I not  discriminate and  devalue  what each family  has  to  offer. I must address their individual needs with the intent to teach and meet the needs of the whole child in my care.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for their continued support and words of encouragement. This was definitely an experience in which we all grew and learned about each other together. I wish all my peers the best as they continue to travel through this journey of growth and knowledge. I urge you all to continue to embrace healthy supportive relationships and continue to advocate for all children and their families.

 

              You must be the change you want to see in the world.-Mahatma Gandhi

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

 

My family is a family relocating from Bangladesh.

In preparation of providing an environment that is culturally responsive toward the family:

1.          I would find out about the families culture, background, their history and experiences of different groups from their country. This would help me to better understand the family and their culture.

 

2.          I would also assess my classroom and arrange it so that there are multiple diverse materials and visuals that connect with the child. Some of the materials would be toys, posters, games, dramatic play props, and multicultural books.

 

3.          It would also be important that I meet with the parents so that we can discuss their goals for their child and child’s interest. Meeting one on one with the parents would allow me another opportunity to learn more about them and the needs of their child.

 

4.          I would also develop and provide multiple instructional approaches that will help accommodate the students learning style.

 

 

5.          I also feel that it would be important that I integrate the family’s home language with the English language through song, stories, and classroom labeling. This will allow the child to feel more comfortable with the classroom setting.

 

Through these preparations I hope to provide a quality school experience that sets a strong foundation of good health, growth and success in education for the family’s child as well as other children within the classroom environment. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

             

 

 

            This story captivated me at such a young age. It depicts what so many young girls experience when they think of the image of beauty and what is pure. As a young girl I used this story as an inspiration of self-worth unlike the story which provides an example of self-oppression due to racal and skin complex.

            The memory that I have of an incident of oppression that has always stuck with me is actually from a book that I read in seventh grade.  The story the, Bluest Eye written by  Toni Morrison is a 1970’s novel about a young girl named Pecola who has an inferiority complex due to her skin and eye appearance.   The book focuses on racism, incest and child molestation. In the story the main character, Pecola is constantly told that she is ugly and has been instilled with the idea that whiteness is beautiful. In the book whiteness stands for beauty. Due to this Pecola who is of darker skin connects beauty with love and believes that if she had blue eyes all of the wrong in her life would go away and be replaced with love and affection. For Pecola she wishes is she had blue eyes she could see the world in a more beautiful positive light. The overall story compares blackness and whiteness as well as describes the negative impact that white cultural domination has on culture identity.

My description doesn’t really give the novel the justice that it deserves. I recommend that others read the story to get the full scope of what inspired me at such a young age.

 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 Awareness is the ability to perceive, feel, gain, become aware of and understand something that is occurring.

Often times we observe microagression , but are not aware that it is occurring.  Sometimes we initiate it and are not aware of doing so. What do we do in these situations? What don’t we do?

I encountered a situation which at the time I was not aware that it was defined as microinvalidation.

I recently held a conversation with a group of friends both male and female and males getting a pedicure and a manicure. Instantly some replied that’s gay if a man gets his feet and nails done, especially if another man is doing it and he adds polish to it.  

This to me is an example of homosexual men being marginalized as men who get there nails done. All homosexual  men don’t fall in that category. We must not assume that actions such as these are only limited to one group.

In this situation I explained that the polish, who does it does not matter. It is about having a choice and options of ways of grooming yourself- unisex ways of doing so. Is it not ok for a man to get his hair cut and washed by another man I asked; a practice that many partake in male and female, homosexual and heterosexual?

I think in situations like this one sometimes people act out of stupidity or lack of knowledge and fear of what it is that they don’t know.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

 From my conversations I believe that a person’s experiences highly impacts their meaning of culture and diversity.  Speaking with different individuals that I am close with about their meaning of diversity and culture was very interesting. All three gave a different level of meaning. For me when I think of diversity what comes to mind is multifaceted and various differences that are linked in some way or another. Culture for me is a person’s way of life.

 1^st Respondent-Mrs. Warner

Relationship-Friend

 Her background: Mortgage Loan Underwriter

 Diversity: A mixture of cultures, backgrounds, ethnicities, and demographics

Culture-morals and beliefs

2^nd Respondent-Mrs. Johnson

Relationship-Mother

Her Background- Social Worker

Diversity: A mixture of things that don’t resemble but still consist of a person being treated equally

Culture-Your Experiences

3^rd Respondent-Mrs. Guardio

Relationship-Teacher Assistant

Her Background –Mother and 1^st year teacher assistant

Mrs. Guardio provided an example of her experiences as it relates to culture and diversity.

She explained that her family loves to gather together for every occasion. She even showed pictures that represented the unity and the many gathers that her families have had. She went on to speak about her son who has Cerebral Palsy and how he is treated differently and the way  they are looked at. She explained that people part ways when they walk to a restaurant or a public place. She doesn’t like it, but she sticks her chest out nice and tall with pride to show them she is not ashamed. She and I spoke about the differences that people see in others can one day affect another.  She showed so much passion discussing her experiences. She also mentioned how difficult it had been for her to learn to speak English. Her husband taught her and made it an important part of his life to teacher. He would explain to her you have to Mi hija.  You have to learn how to speak and learn English.   

My Family Culture

The three items that I would take with me would be my bible, family photo album, and our family recipe book.

Our Christian faith and values hold my family together like glue. From as long as I could remember I would be in church from sun up to sun down on Sunday. On Saturday growing up I was required to be involved in the choir or a form of service offering my praises to the Lord. On Wednesday after school there was bible study. Continuously praising and worshipping God has helped model me into the one I am today.

On the first and third Sunday of every month my great grandmother would cook for our pastor. My great grandmother was said to be the best cook in town.  Gathering as a family and community is also essential to my soul. We would eat, listen to old stories and enjoy the company of one another. As a child I loved when the holidays came around and all of my family was together.

 

 The last item would be a photo album of my family. This album has captured many of the most memorable moments that we have encountered together. 

If I were told that I could only keep one item. It would be very difficult. The one item that I think I would keep would be the family cookbook. I feel that the recipes would allow me to reflect on the many celebrations, connections, and the unity that my family and I share. Thinking back on our family cookbook reminds me of my great grandmother who instilled so many strong  values within me.

My Research Experience

          

I am proud to say that this course has come to an end. I did not allow the difficult research jargon to scare me away; even though at times that is what I wanted to do.  Before I began this course I had an understanding of the impact that it has on the field of early childhood as well as many other professional domains. Research is a great tool that helps us answer important questions about early childhood by gaining understanding, insights, and knowledge.  How to complete the process was my hurdle. Not until I began to learn more week by week did I understand the processes that were involved in compiling and completing research. One of the chapters that provided me with great insight on completing research was chapter seven, design issues.  It discussed the process of planning and designing research. Research design was defined as a set of procedures developed to guide an entire study, from formulating research questions to disseminating results (Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. 2010).    During this phase of research a researcher clarifies, refines and identifies their specific topic. The researcher then moves forward with selecting design options, such as experimental, quasi-experimental and non- experimental. During the design process it is important to address the dimensions of time, considerations of retrospective and prospective approaches; those will participate, sampling options, and data collection options. Research design is very essential to completing a successful research study. The research design process was the most difficult for me. There were great difficulty in refining my topic and generate questions that would provide a quality research that would be beneficial to others. To overcome this challenge it required me to do a little studying and investigating resources that helped me narrow my topic down and formulate a research that I discovered would be research able and benefit others.

Reference

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill