Professional Hopes and Goals

One of my hopes in working with children and families of other diversities is to make them feel welcomed and appreciated.  I think that it is important that we make children feel accepted wherever they go.  I plan on doing this by interacting with my colleagues to gain insights about cultures I may not be familiar with and to find ways to include these families into our learning environment.

A goal I have is to teach children that we are not all the same, but that being different is okay.  I think that we need to start with our youngest children first and teach them about different cultures.  For me, learning about the "ism's" during the course, demonstrates a lack of education on other diversities.  By educating youngsters, we may be able to make a difference in years to come where we won't have any or at least minimal prejudices and biases.

To all my colleagues I want to say thank you for all your correspondences and opinions.  I have learned so much from each one of you.  I look forward to having more courses with you in the future.  Good luck with all your endeavors!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country origin for my family is Romania.

The five ways I will prepare for my family are:

1.        I will research their Romania and learn all I can about the culture.

2.       I will talk with colleagues and try to find out any information they may have about Romania.

3.       If the family’s language is different from English, I will have a translator help me write a welcoming letter to the family.

4.       Through my research, I will devise a lesson on the culture of Romania and invite the family to share their culture with the class.

5.       I will develop a list of organization contacts for the family to make the transition to the United States easier for them.

I feel that with these steps, I will make the family feel welcomed to their new home.  I think the most important message I can send to the family is that I respect their culture and am willing to accommodate their needs.  The language barrier will be the most important aspect to overcome, and I know there are wonderful websites/programs that are available for translations.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

A moment that I remember of witnessing bias, prejudice or oppression is one that I heard about from my cousin.  It involved my cousin and uncle who both have their pilot licenses and live in Arizona.  They were both very prejudice of anyone outside the white race.  One day while flying, they spotted a group of Native Americans; so they decided to fly extremely low around them.  They did this several times, causing the Native Americans to be ducking.  Upon the fourth pass by, my cousin realized that the group was gathered for a funeral.  My uncle and cousin felt bad afterwards, and left them alone.

This act diminished equity in that all cultures have the right to mourn or show respect for the deceased.  With the ceremony being interrupted by the plane flying low, it was disrespectful to the living and also the deceased.

When my cousin told me about this I became so enraged.  I was ashamed to consider them my family.  I was also upset because our heritage includes Native American.  Our great grandmother was full blooded Cherokee.  This act was a disgrace to our family. 

My uncle and cousin since this act have changed their ways.  They have turned their lives around and appreciate that every person has the right to live their lives as fit.  I am no longer embarrassed to go out with them because I know that there will be no bias remarks made.   This incident was a total eye opener especially for my cousin.  Considering he was in his 20’s when this happened and is now approaching 50, it shows that people can change and sometimes it may take a while.

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.