Learning is Fun and Educational

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is the hope that they will be treated equally. They will be treated with respect, that their differences are accepted, and they are able to see a reflection of them within the program.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is the requirement for continuous training on those subjects. The lack of training causes unintentional biases and prejudices, as well as missed opportunities for learning due to the lack of understanding others.

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts, feedback, and providing resources to deepen my understanding of diversity, equity, and social justice.

Scenario:

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.

The family’s county of origin is Barbados.

To prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family I would learn about their country and culture, examine my own biases and stereotypes, prepare the center for the new family by hanging important notices and welcome sign in family’s home language, ensure that the class the child will be in has material that represent them, and ensure I know how to pronounce their names correctly.

I would hope that these preparations make the family feel accepted and welcomed, that there is a connection between school and home, and for the child I hope it would strengthen his or her racial and ethnic identity. For me I hope the preparations would cancel all biases and stereotypes that I may have, to also be able to nurture the child’s needs, and set the tone to build a relationship and partnership with the parents.

One day I was talking to a past president of the synagogue board that the preschool I work for leases the facility from, he is also considered a friend of the preschool. We talked about the new school that was being built across the parking lot, the possibility of starting an after-school program, and how enrollment of school age children would help the program. I do not remember all the details, but he made a remark to the affect that the kids attending that school would not be from low-income families and we did not have to worry about them bringing that bad behavior to the preschool. His remarks diminished equity because he was not open to children from low-income families attending the preschool and the remark, he made was based on stereotypes. The incident made me angry and I responded to him that I have worked in centers in low-income areas as well as middle-income areas, and the children’s behavior were ten times better than the children that attend the preschool I currently work at. The preschool’s board and director would have to change to have greater equity. The preschool is so expensive, and they do not accept any children that receive subsidies.

My experience with micro-aggression was with a previous boss. I interview for a position as a center director at a center on probation. During the interview the boss told me about the previous director, a black woman. She told me how her attitude wasn’t the best and when she left the preschool, she took everything she created, paperwork, menus, schedules, etc. This left the owner in a bad situation causing her not to meet state minimum standards, resulting in the center getting put on probation. Her experience with that previous director made her make the remark that she wasn’t going to hire someone like the previous director because of how their relationship ended, meaning she wasn’t going to hire another black woman. Her experience with the previous director turned her into a stereotypical person, thinking all black women shared the previous director’s mannerism. My previous boss micro-aggression was intentional. I really didn’t think anything about her remark because I feel deep down people are racist in some manner.

In dealing with her, her demeanor was total opposite. In thinking about this situation I thought about one of  Dr. Sue’s social psychological  factors associated with micro-aggressions, well intentioned individuals who are unaware of their racial biases. My previous boss was intentional in what she said but I don’t think she realized what that kind of statement would mean to another black woman.

Culture and Diversity Defined

In picking out three people to define culture and diversity I chose a 33 year old African American woman, a 25 year old Hispanic woman, and a 19 year old African American woman. 

Culture- patterns or rituals of activities in a group or community
Diversity- different people of race, ethnicity, background, and genders —33 year old

Culture- a specific group of peoples traditions, customs, and beliefs, creates an unification of people. Diversity- including people from all different places, backgrounds, demographics, and mindset. —25 year old

Culture is the way a community of people carry themselves, languages, lifestyle,beliefs, and etc. It aways to generalize a group and also describe one. Diversity is when a various opinions out looks, cultures ethnics, genders or whatever it may be are gathered together, in order to gain better understanding to concepts or a better system. — 19 year old

In reflecting on each individuals answer they all touched on the aspect that culture was a group or community built on rituals, traditions, beliefs, lifestyles, and customs. All three women described diversity as people from different backgrounds, ethnicity, and genders but only two of them as being included as a group. 

I don’t feel anything was omitted from their definitions when you think about culture because they touch a little on surface and deep culture. As for diversity I feel the same way. It was defined as various group of people coming together for a better understanding to concepts or a better system. That is the importance of diversity and what I have taking away from this course these past three weeks. 

In thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity I noticed how different ages defined culture and diversity. With the 19 year old elaborating more on her definitions, which she seemed to have a better understanding of both. Nothing has changed for me in learning how others defined culture and diversity

If a major catastrophe occurred and I was only allowed to bring three items with me, I would chose my cell phone, photo album, and handgun. The cell phone because has pictures and videos of my family and friends in it. The photo album has pictures of my family and friends that are no longer with us as well as old pictures of living family members. Both the cell phone and photo album would help me remember my family that I may not ever see again and recall the happy times we shared. The handgun is to protect my family. Sometimes when a major catastrophe occurs people panic and panicking may lead to trying to steal from someone or other violent acts.

In the event that I could only choose one of the three items, I would most definitely choose the handgun because having to go to an unknown country the safety of family is the most important thing to me. 

What I gained from this exercise is my family culture is similar to those of others. We share the importance of family. In sharing this we (various cultures) do whatever they need to do to protect each other. 

Culture and Diversity Defined

In picking out three people to define culture and diversity I chose a 33 year old African American woman, a 25 year old Hispanic woman, and a 19 year old African American woman.

Culture- patterns or rituals of activities in a group or community
Diversity- different people of race, ethnicity, background, and genders —33 year old

Culture- a specific group of peoples traditions, customs, and beliefs, creates an unification of people. Diversity- including people from all different places, backgrounds, demographics, and mindset. —25 year old

Culture is the way a community of people carry themselves, languages, lifestyle,beliefs, and etc. It aways to generalize a group and also describe one. Diversity is when a various opinions out looks, cultures ethnics, genders or whatever it may be are gathered together, in order to gain better understanding to concepts or a better system. — 19 year old

In reflecting on each individuals answer they all touched on the aspect that culture was a group or community built on rituals, traditions, beliefs, lifestyles, and customs. All three women described diversity as people from different backgrounds, ethnicity, and genders but only two of them as being included as a group.

I don’t feel anything was omitted from their definitions when you think about culture because they touch a little on surface and deep culture. As for diversity I feel the same way. It was defined as various group of people coming together for a better understanding to concepts or a better system. That is the importance of diversity and what I have taking away from this course these past three weeks.

In thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity I noticed how different ages defined culture and diversity. With the 19 year old elaborating more on her definitions, which she seemed to have a better understanding of both. Nothing has changed for me in learning how others defined culture and diversity.

If a major catastrophe occurred and I was only allowed to bring three items with me, I would chose my cell phone, photo album, and handgun. The cell phone because has pictures and videos of my family and friends in it. The photo album has pictures of my family and friends that are no longer with us as well as old pictures of living family members. Both the cell phone and photo album would help me remember my family that I may not ever see again and recall the happy times we shared. The handgun is to protect my family. Sometimes when a major catastrophe occurs people panic and panicking may lead to trying to steal from someone or other violent acts.

In the event that I could only choose one of the three items, I would most definitely choose the handgun because having to go to an unknown country the safety of family is the most important thing to me.

What I gained from this exercise is my family culture is similar to those of others. We share the importance of family. In sharing this we (various cultures) do whatever they need to do to protect each other.

The simulation I chose is important to the field of early childhood because having well trained teachers is one of the factors of a quality program. In order to ensure teachers are being trained effectively we must distinguish the most effective training method and utilize it.

This simulation would benefit the teachers and administrators of early childhood programs. The teachers will benefit because they would receive proper training that will help them be successful in the classroom and administrators will be able to manage their centers more efficiently.

My perception of early childhood professionals haven’t been modified. Being that I have worked in this field for 15 years I know what these professionals face and have always held the upmost respect for them.

Thank you all for sharing your wisdom and experiences throughout this course. It was well received.

I chose to explore the Early Childhood Australia website. The Early Childhood Australia has a publication called Research in Practice Series and looking at the latest issue the current research topic was “Trauma-Aware Early Childhood Education and Care. The book provides strategies to help early childhood professionals address harm of trauma. It also examines the extent of complex childhood trauma in Australia, the effects of complex trauma, inter generational transmission of complex trauma, and the importance of maintaining the well being of educators.

I have gain another resource in exploring this website. I am also interested in their Research In Practice series publication because they have some interesting topics and I would like to see their take on ECE issues and trends and possible use some of their recommendations.

Some noteworthy information is they have some free professional learning courses that can provide a new perspective on things we have learned.