Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have in working with children and families is that my classroom will be a safe place for them and they will feel accepted by me. I hope that not only will they learn from me but I will learn from them and about them.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that everyone in this field should take some sort of anti-bias course and refresher courses throughout their career. In so doing we would all be more aware of diversity and equitable practices.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for sharing their stories, encouragement, comments and advice. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

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.
In order to complete this assignment, first choose a country you know nothing about as this family’s country of origin.


My family’s country of origin is the Czech Republic.


I would be prepare myself to be culturally responsive by:


Reading up on the Czech Republic, finding out things like the national language, dish and traditions that most Czechs practice.


I would find out the family’s traditions and see if I could celebrate any of those traditions in my classroom.


I would learn the students names properly and the names of their family members.


I would put up things around the classroom that reflect aspects of the Czech culture.


I would also like to contact some Czechs in my area and see if they have any suggestions regarding how I can make the new student feel more welcome.


Hopefully these preparations will help me to learn things beyond the surface culture and help me to be responsive to the student and his or her family and help them to feel accepted and welcomed.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Recently I was watching a show in which a deaf girl experienced `prejudice because of her deafness. Some children her age were mocking her by asking some stereotypical “deaf questions” and making fun of the way she spoke. By making fun of her the other children made the girl feel like an outsider, like she was not one of them and not on equal footing with them. This incident made me feel very sympathetic towards the girl and annoyed and disappointed in the other children. My first thought was “children can be so mean sometimes.” In order to turn this incident into one of greater equity the other children would have to make a real effort to know the girl and not just give in to deaf stereotypes. It might help for them to remember that people no matter their condition have feelings that can be hurt. The children would have to stop making fun of her and truly get to know her. In this way both parties could get to know each other and the girl could probably dispel some of the stereotypes that they harbored.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

An example of a microaggression that I remember occurred at work. In my office the dominant culture is the American culture. Though I lived there for some time it is not my home country. I said a word and a co-worker informed me that my pronunciation was wrong and he told me the “right pronunciation.” I then proceeded to ask him what made his pronunciation more right than mine. After he made his statement I felt like he was looking down on my culture and assuming that because I am not American he knows better and knows how the word should be pronounced.



My observation experiences helped me to see that discrimination happens more often than I realized. Sometimes the offender does not realize what he or she is implying by what he or she says. At times the stereotypes that society holds about certain groups of people can become embedded in us and we do not realize it is there until something significant happens. I think we should be proactive, examine ourselves and try to find out our biases and prejudices and not wait for something to happen that will cause them to surface.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Definition 1
Diversity- a multitude of cultures combined

Culture- the upbringing of an individual


Definition 2

Culture is a reflection of your environment. Past, present and future. Differs from where you were born, how you were raised, and what you believe in. Culture is what makes us unique but similar at the same time.

Diversity is differences within a culture or subgroup. Diversity can be traced back to biology and ensures a differentiated population. Diversity—culturally, politically, and personal—gives rise to a multicultural and rich environment. No diversity, no growth.


Definition 3
Culture- has to do with where you are from, your origin, what you are accustomed to, born seeing around you, or things that are told to you.

Diversity- difference, different things you are exposed to that have to do with others who are not of your culture to which you can either adapt or not.

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?

The aspects of culture that I have studied in this course that were included in the answers were: it has to do with where you are from; it is a reflection of your environment; it includes what you are born seeing around you and the upbringing of an individual. The aspects of diversity that were included in the answers that I received were: difference, a multitude of cultures combined and differences within a culture or subgroup.

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?
The aspects of culture that has been omitted are: many parts of it are unconscious (Laureate Education, 2011), such as our values, and it “refers to how particular groups of people live” (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010, p.55). For example culture includes “the way we eat, sleep, talk and care for the sick” (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010, p.55). The aspects of diversity that were omitted were that it could be viewed in an objective and interpretive manner in relation to family relationships (Harris, 2008). That is, looking at differences in family relationships and the different ways that meaning can be ascribed to different relationships. For example someone may consider his family to be his girlfriend who he lives with and their cat. Another person may not consider this to be a family.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?
Thinking about other people’s definitions has made me realize that there was diversity in the responses I received and that even if a group of people belong to the same culture diversity can still exist among them. The responses also made me think that culture is somewhat in the eyes of the beholder. Culture may mean different things to different people.


References:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Harris, S. R. (2008). What is family diversity? Objective and interpretive approaches. Journal of Family Issues, 29(11), 1407–1417.

Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SAGE Premier 2010 database.




Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

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.


A description of the three items you would choose.
I would choose my bible, it is pocket-sized and filled with highlighted passages; a photo album with pictures of my friends and family and a necklace that my mother gave me.


How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you.
My bible is very important to me, it is the word of God and I have had it for many years. Through reading it I have developed a closer relationship with God. The photo album would help me to remember specific people and events that occurred in my life and be thankful for the time I spent with them. My necklace would serve as a constant reminder of my mother, it would be of sentimental value to me.


Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you.
If this were the case I would be very sad but I would keep my bible and give up the rest.


Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise.

I am very sentimental, things mean more to me if they were given to me by a friend or family member. In my family culture we see the need to own certain things but we do not place a particularly high value on things. Individuals and families are so diverse that perhaps nobody would choose the exact three same things.

When I Think of Research...

From taking this course I have realized that research is very detail-oriented and takes a lot of planning.  There are a lot of ethical considerations that should be made (Mac Naughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).  The mixed method approach involves qualitative and quantitative methods (Johnson, Onwuegbuzie, & Turner, 2007).  It is very important to narrow down your topic and be specific in what you are researching (Mac Naughton et al., 2010).

My ideas about the nature of doing research has changed.  I used to associate research with always being in a library and or a lab for hours.  Though this is sometimes the case, it is not always so.  Observations in natural settings can be a part of research, so too can interviews, questionnaires and surveys.  There are other ways to obtain background information for research than just reading things in a library or online.  I have also realized that research is not static as I once thought it to be but it can be very dynamic.

In early childhood during the planning stages of a research it is important to consider ethical issues and have an ethical committee review your research outline.  Even though parents may consent to their child participating in a study, the child’s consent should be obtained too.  Planning is time consuming but it is important if you want to carry out a successful research.  Research should be designed and conducted in  a way that avoids bias as much as possible and that allows participants to express themselves in a way that they feel comfortable.  This is especially true for children who may need to express themselves in different ways to fully articulate their ideas.  As a researcher one needs to remain open-minded and flexible while designing and conducting research, in case a particular method is not working and you need to switch to something else.  The participants may bring certain issues to light which may enhance the research and or take it in a slightly different direction than originally planned.   

I encountered challenges in the way I worded my research question and in understanding some of the material concerning research.  In order to overcome these challenges I was more specific in my research question and I defined concepts, included in the research question, as they pertained to my research.  To gain a better understanding of the material I read it more than once and also read outside sources.

Through this course I have realized that many early childhood professionals are researchers in their own rights.  Many “experiment” with different methods of teaching to see which will be most beneficial to their students.  Many teachers observe their students in different situations and use these observations to implement strategies that help their students to improve.

Reference:

Johnson, R. B., Onwuegbuzie, A.J., & Turner, L. A. (2007). Toward a definition of mixed methods research. Journal of Mixed Methods Research, 1(2), 112–133. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SAGE Premier 2010 database.

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