Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

A microaggression from my past that I remember is an example of micro insult.  It happened while I was in college working on my bachelors.  I had a friend that was from China; one day her and I went out to lunch at a fairly known restaurant.  When they waitress came to take our order, we asked her about one of the specials on the menu.  She looked at my friend and said to her "Well it has rice so you should like it!"  This comment simply implied that because she was a Chinese that anything with rice would be acceptable.  We were so shocked and appalled by the remark that we got up and left.

This experience made me realize how rude and ignorant people can be.  To stereotype someone based on ethnicity is so rude.  This made me take a hard look and examine myself as to not to stereotype or discriminate anyone for any reason.  Prejudism and discrimination are so hurtful, but unfortunately I don't think some people realize they are doing it. 

Perspectives on Culture and Diversity

For this assignment, I asked three of my family members for their definition of culture and diversity.

Culture

Mom:  Way of life’s instilments’ on us from decades ago.  Reflection of who we are and what we have become accustomed to.

Brother:  One’s way of life’s upbringing in religion.  It also includes different foods and social beliefs.

Dad:  Culture is a person’s way of life.

Diversity:

Mom:   Our reaction when there is a change in our culture.  How we can implement a substitution.

Brother:  The explanation that different cultures explain how and why of what they believe in.

Dad:  Being turned from a normal.  Adapting to a different type of lifestyle.

From these answers I noticed that my mom and brother both view culture with terms of food and upbringing.  As mom puts it, it is who we are.  It seems to me that culture is an easier concept for individuals to define.

I noticed that no one really mentioned social norms or body languages in either definition.  Language was also not mentioned.   Both my mom and brother struggled with this definition. 

As we have learned in this course, culture and diversity is very complex.  I think that they are so closely related that people have a difficult time differentiating between them. From this assignment, and viewing my family’s own perspective on diversity and culture, it has helped me to understand why I think and feel the way I do.  My family seems to understand the two and with my upbringing I have been taught to appreciate the differences.  We have never been a family to exclude individuals based on race, gender or sexuality.  My brother and I have been raised to treat all individuals with respect and dignity.

My Family Culture

If I had to leave and live in another country where the culture is totally different from mine, and I could only bring 3 items, they would be:
1)  My Bible
2)  A family cookbook
3) Photo Album
The Bible represents who I am.  It guides me in my daily life and helps me conquer my fears.
The family cookbook has recipes from many relatives that have been past on.  Many of these recipes are my comfort foods.
A photo album, helps me remember relatives from long ago, my friends who are no longer with me in this new land, and it has many special photos of special occassions that I do not want to forget.

If upon arrival, I could only keep one item, it would be my Bible.  I need this to guide me and keep me going spiritually.  As a family, we could gather around and read passages and enlighten each other. 

When I first thought about what I would take, I had a difficult time. I had to really evaluate myself and choose what are the 3 most important things to me. 

Research is not so Bad!

 During this course I have learned so much about research.  I think the most important insight I gained is how to recognize valid sites for information.  This is important for any research.  Prior to this class, I had never noticed key words before and just overlooked author credentials.  I now understand how these bits of information are important  and why they are important.

My ideas of the nature of doing research has changed in that now I know a main idea has to be continuously broken down to a more precise area of concentration.  Broad topics are very difficult to research and we need to identify the main idea that we want to investigate and know more about.   I think this has been the most challenging for me.  I feel that I have overcome this by really concentrating and looking deep into my research question to examine what it is I want to know.  With each bit of research I do, I fine tune my expectations even more.

When it comes to planning and designing research, I learned that you have to take it step by step.  Research is not something that can be rushed through.  It is very tedious and time consuming.  This is why it is important to break things down into small manageable projects.

I feel that this course has helped me to become better prepared to do research in the future as an early childhood professional.  I feel confident now that I will be able to be successful in research.

Research Around the World

I chose to look at Early Childhood Australia website.

On this website, I found the following current international research topics:

·         Everyday learning about responding to the emotional needs of children.

·         Research in practice series: Planning in the context of the EYLF: Powerful, practical and pedagogically sound.

The website allows you to view their newsletter. In the most current issue, there is an article titled Kids Haven’t  Changed; Kindergarten Has.  I thought this was interesting because as I have read in many other articles and newsletters, this issue is very hot even in the United States.  It was interesting to me to learn that this was an issue in other parts of the world.

Another article was about challenges in childcare.  This article discussed the decline in childcare workers due to low wages. 

 I found this site to be very informative. I really enjoyed learning about the research in practice series.  This is an easy to read resource, offering effective new approaches for challenging issues which arise in the care and education of young children.  This is a link that I want to explore more and possibly subscribe to.

Resource

Early Childhood Australia:  Retrieved at www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research That Benefits Children and Families

I found a very interesting article in regards to research on pesticides and cancer found in children.  In this research, parents of children with cancer were interviewed and asked the following three questions:

                1). If the household had ever been exterminated for pests that required the family to leave the residence for a period of time;

                2). If the yard had ever been treated with pesticides or herbicides to control insects and weeds; and

                3). Had they ever used hanging pest strips inside the home.

What was found is that homes exterminated were linked with children who had lymphoma type cancer but no other types.  The study did not prove a strong connection between extermination and brain cancer.

With the use of yard insecticides and herbicides, a strong but imprecise connection was found between them and soft sarcomas.  Certain pesticides are also likely to be related to non-Hodgkin’s disease in adults.  Certain insecticides such as Diazinon, was related to leukemia in men, but was not tied to leukemia in children.

The use of pest strips are strongly associated with not only leukemia but also brain tumors.

In this study, the following conclusions were made:  pest strips are associated with certain childhood cancers; and second, we need more study to determine specific duration times and more specific pesticides.

Reference:

Leiss, J. & Savitz, D. (1995).  Home pesticide use and childhood cancer: a case-control study.  American Journal of Public Health;  Feb, 1995;  85(2) p 249-252.   Retrieved from Proquest Central.

Research Journey

For the simulation project I have decided to focus on teaching methods used in  other cultures.We are living in a very diverse country now and I see so many cultures integrated in the classrooms.  As an educator, I feel that it is important that I am familiar with what children from other countries are use to in their education.  This will help me be more effective for them and also help them be more comfortable in a new setting and also help them become more successful learners.

From some of my previous experiences, I have learned that many cultures find it necessary to be in your face when speaking and if there is distance between you it is offensive.  Is this true in the classrooms also?  I want to find out.  Some articles I have ran across for various cultures states that students are encouraged to do all work in small/large groups to build social skills and problem solving.  Yet others encourage students to work independently to build their own knowledge and confidence.

I am very eager to get started on this research journey and share everything I learn with my classmates and colleagues.