~Professional Hopes and Goals~

One hope that I have when working with children and families from diverse backgrounds is that all teachers are prepared with the essential tools to make everyday learning a success. I want the children  to feel comfortable learning in an environment where they are accepted. I also hope that parent feel welcomed and know that we are there to assist them in all ways possible.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field that is related to diversity, social justice, and equity is to train all caregivers that are employed in my center on the importance of all three. The society is growing larger and larger each day. Luckily we are in a profession where people look up to us. If all teachers (caregivers) are trained on equity, and diversity, they may have a different outlook on people.

I hope that you all have enjoyed this experience as much as I have. It was great learning about the uniqueness of the people who make up our society.
Please take all that you have learned to improve on equity and social justice in you careers. I have enjoyed collaborating with you all and I wish you nothing but the best in all that you set forth to accomplish throughout your experience at Walden University and throughout life.

~Welcoming Families Around the World~

• The name of “my” family’s country of origin is Africa

I work at a child development center and the child's fist day is today. 

Five ways that l have  prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family is to:

1) Have books for the child to read that demonstrates their culture.

2) Have an employee there to assist me that is fluent in their language.

3) Have to read books and research websites that will provide me with more information about their family's culture.

4)Ask members of the same culture about specific things that they like and are interested in.

5) Have things provided that makes them feel welcoming and reminds them of their home land.

I hope by doing the above, both the child and his/her family will feel comfortable knowing that I value them and their culture. I want them to know that even though they are in an unfamiliar place, they can make it their home. 

~The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression~

Throughout this class, I often spoke about things that have happened to me. I am going to shift it around a little and discuss something that happened to someone that I know in regards to bias.

A young gentlemen who display feminine characters worked as a manager in a center. He is very nice, outgoing, and is eager to learn.  Other managers were treating him inappropriately and displayed micro-aggressions against him. That made it hard for him to be successful in the work place. The staff members that he is responsible for started to add in on the mumbling of how he is different. This caused serious damage to him emotionally. Later, I was informed that he tried to take his life.

After three weeks of medical treatment, he was reassigned to a different location.  He was judged incorrectly based on his characteristics and his self identity.

Equity was diminished because he was not given the same opportunities as others. He was looked down on because to some, he is different. He wears his clothes in a professional manner, his nails are clean and appealing to the eyes and he speaks with a soft voice. Is this a reason to believe that he is incapable of fulfilling the mission?

I was very empathetic for him. I could only imagine how he could have felt. This made me outraged that we as humans can be so cruel to one another not realizing that we all have differences.  I knew that something had to be done to recondition the situation.

Thankfully I was the one that he was reassigned to. I did verbalize that the individual that caused the problem should be spoken to. She needs to understand that we are should all be treated equally regardless of our differences.  If it happened once then chances it will happen again to someone else. People need to know that their actions and comments can be very abusive and hurt others. It can cause lifelong affects as well as deaths.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week we have been discussing microaggressions and learning how to become aware so there are no unintentional wound or scars created. After thinking back over this week, I can recall where microagression occurred this past weekend with my husband.

I was sitting at the park watching my daughter play with her friends. Several people from the neighborhood are sitting and discussing different things. My husband pulls up in his truck, playing music of his choice, all dressed and prepared to go fishing. Right behind him is his best friend Mike who is caucasian. Eric and Mike walks over to me and Eric tells me that he is going to spend the day fishing with Mike. He tells me if I need anything to call him or simply drive to the lake. They planned to hang out fishing overnight. I tell him okay and that my daughter and I will drop by to check on them or bring them things that they've left like always.

As my husband and Mike walk away, one of the my neighbors says, "Why does your husband hang with him. All they like like to do is white boy stuff. Your husband is getting turned out". I was very confused by the term white boy stuff. I never saw fishing as being of a particular race.

This made me feel outraged. Here are two people that enjoy doing things that they both like together and they are being criticized for that. Some people will never grow up. I become upset when people associate music to a particular race, when they associate hobbies to a particular race and etc.

I have learned from the readings that this is something that will probably never change. People at times do not intend to hurt you but they haven't taken the time to realize what they say may affect you as a human.

My plan is to educate all people that I associate around me. I printed the conversation from the resources and plan to discuss this with my Lead Teachers today during our Leads meeting. Teachers need to know how important this is.  When working with children and people, we do not want any person to feel like they are being a target. We know that it happens, even with the ones that you feel comfortable around.

This was such a great topic.

~Perspectives on Diversity and Culture~

 Durning the week, I contacted two friends and a family member. One friend is originally from Ghana, another is from Virginia and my family member (sister in law ) is from Cape Verde Island. After speaking with each of them, I learned several things. 

Friend from Ghana~ She defined culture as being everything that she and her family does on a daily basis. She went on and conversed about the food they eat, the clothes the wear and their religion. When I asked her to define diversity, she said that in her opinion, diversity was simple a collection of people's race, background, and ethnicity. 

Friend from Virginia ~ She defined culture as being a persons background. She identified culture and being a multitude of things that one is used to doing either with family and or friends. When I asked her to explain diversity, she said that it was hard for her to put into words but she feels as though diversity means the people and all their differences.

Friend from Cape Verde Island~ My sister in law first thought I was trying to be funny. She said that I should know what her culture was about because she explained it to us all of the time. I then asked her to share with me her definition of culture. She went on to say that culture is a dance, a song, and a way of living. Culture to her is a way of doing things which are passed down through generations. She said that diversity is everything that each person brings to society. Its ones very on identity and uniqueness.

All of the aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this class was identified by each of my friends. I can recall an individual on the media segment referencing culture to a looking glass. She said that culture is everything that we say and do. 

The main points in regards to diversity and culture were covered. After listening to others speak about culture and diversity, I was happy to consider myself their friends. Although I was not influenced by the things that were mentioned, I was proud to know that we all think along the same lines. We all respect each other and the people of the world. We know that the world is such a good place because we all add to the uniqueness. 

~My Family Culture~

Imagine the following:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

As I look back and contemplate over a few things that are important to me and my family, I quickly realize that I hold a lot of things about my culture and my family in my heart. However, I do have a cross that my grandmother made for me that I treasure. Once I began driving at the age of 16, she told me to always keep the cross with me. She explained that the cross will resemble Christ and that I should walk a Christian walk. My grandmother passes away December 2008. The cross is hanging in my car on the review mirror. This will definitely be the first item.

The second item would be a scrapbook that I created a few months ago. This scrapbook is titled, "All About Me". I have pictures of almost all of my family members and poems that I wrote during different times of my life. This will constantly remind me of my family and all of the good times that we shared.

The third item would be a necklace that my husband had made for us after he returned from Iraq. The necklace has a picture of my daughter, my husband, and I. This was the very first picture that we took as a family of three. Our baby was 6 months old and it was the very first time that he had ever seen or touched her.

If I arrived and was told that I could only carry one item along, I would insert the necklace and the cross in my scrapbook. I almost feel as though there is no way possible that I could intentionally leave two of the items behind. I mentioned earlier that I hold a lot of thing in my heart. However, being able to see and hold things rekindle the flames and makes life a little easier to hold on.

I have learned that family and family culture is a way of living. In my opinion, without my family and the things that we share, I have nothing. This has made it easier for me to ensure that all of the children that I serve always hold their family and their family culture with them. 

~When I Think Of Research~

Hello classmates,

While taking this course, I have learned so many important things about the research process and the different things that it takes to ensure that all aspects are covered ranging from finding a topic to ensuring tat all of the ethical factors are included and ensuring that equity and fairness in incorporated. 

Before taking this class, I thought that the nature of the research process was lengthy and too time consuming as well as being difficult. However, after the past eight weeks I have leaned that each step in the research process makes the next step easier. The process is not that difficult either.One of the challenges that I encountered in the research process was formulating the research question. I overcame the challenge by asking a question that was not too open ended and left room for much discussion and collaboration. 

After a near successful completion of this course I realize that childhood professionals have a lot of things to consider when working with children. The most important thing that I digested from this course is the simply fact that we want to ensure that each child is treated with dignity and respect. Ways that this can be done is by respecting their privacy, ensuring that there are certain things that has to be reported and there are certain things that has to be reported.We also have to ensure that equity is individualized based in the need of the child.

I can recall during week one, we were all nervous and excited at the same time. We were afraid of the word RESEARCH! I have to admit, this class has been a great experience for me and I think that we all proved that we can do all things. There is nothing too hard for us. We learned how to navigate the new system as well as tackle a class that a little challenging.

Thank you all for your support and great dialogues. I have learned so much through our communications. Non of this could have been possible without great classmates and a great teacher. I wish you all luck and many blessings in all that you set forward to do in the present and the future.