competent communication

I work as a Pre-K teacher at a small Christian school that goes up to the 6^th grade.  The 5^th grade teacher is the head teacher of the center and has been for the past five years. She is the most effective communicator with parents and teachers that I know. If any teacher has a problem and approaches her with it she is mutual on all sides and keeps everything private. She keeps drama out of her life. I remember one time I was so mad because my check was short and she was able to calm me down with a few words and a smile. She makes the parents feel like they could come to her for anything. I wish I could communicate with the other teachers the way she does. For example if we are mad at something it shows, if she is mad about anything she smiles and nods her head in acceptance. I can’t do that if I don’t agree with something my nonverbal communication behavior shows very negatively.  

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse background is their need not be judged. I have many reasons and examples of how often people from a diverse background get judged before anyone gets to know them. It can affect the child in many ways, like mess with their self-esteem and their communication skills. As a child moving from the islands at a young age I can remember my first day riding a bus and a little girl said don’t talk to her because you would not understand her. Now I have never seen or talked to this girl before, but because she heard my mother speak, she assumed I had a strong accent like her. As adults we do the same thing, a lot of times, not realizing it. We should be quick to love and slow to love.  

 

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to the issue of diversity, equity, and social justice is to become active in different cultures around the world. A regular child care facility is only concerned with what happens in that particular center, and nowhere else. For example, a chat line could be incorporated when different teachers, directors, and parents can communicate via internet about different aspects of the early childhood field. It can serve to be a learning experience.

 

I would like to take this time to thank all my colleagues and professor for taking time out to comment and add to all blog. I have learned so much over the last 8 weeks that this was the best class I have attended at Walden. So much new information was gained and I was able to grow as a person from it. Thank you again for this great journey and I hope everyone reaches their goal in life, whatever direction it may be.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

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.

·         Costa Rica is the family’s origin.

 

       Five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

·         I will first look up the country and learn as much as I could from the internet.

·         I would also go to the library and find a book that could be passed around to the different teachers in the center so that they are aware of their culture.

·         Any traditional snacks that may be eaten a lot in Costa Rica, I will purchase and hand it out on the child’s first day of school.

·         Since the language is different, Spanish, I would learn the basic words like hello, nice to meet you, your child is in good hands, have a nice day, etc.

·         I would take a look at their education system like the statistics, overall layout, ranks, etc.

All of the preparations will benefit not only me, but also the family. I will do so much research like searching the internet, scamming through books about the customs and lifestyles of their culture, and looking into their education system I will be prepared mentally as well as physically for the student. I could only imagine how it would feel as a parent to bring your child to a center that speaks a different language and is the dominant culture. I would practice saying some statements in their native language so that it would put them at ease a little bit. My mother always said that food is the way to anyone’s heart. The snack would just let the family and the child know that we can incorporate any culture into the school.

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

               I can think back to an incident that occurred at my job about four years ago. It was around the time Obama was running for presidency, before he got elected. The pastor and the director made it clear that they were republican, but never those they were against the democrat because he was African American. All of the employees at the jobs had different views, but kept it to themselves to climate any bias or argument. It was a week before the elections and the director heard two of the employees talking about how strong of a speaker Obama was, and he went off. She got so loud talking about why is it being discussed in the workplace, he is not getting elected, he’s a liar, and went on and on about how bad he was. She walked around to every employee and told us if we discuss the presidential race we will get fired.

            To put icing on the cake, the day after Obama got elected, she was more pissed. One of the African American teachers had the students color a printout with his face on it to add to the wall of presidents. The director went to her room and demanded that she took it off the wall and throw it away, without any explanation at all. When the teacher asked her why, she fired her. Her reason was she was disrespectful to her. It was so many ways it diminish equity. The main reason it did was because this whole incident would have been eliminated if he was not African American.

            So many feeling went through my head when I say the even unfold. I just sat there and thought that no matter how many years past so people only see color. Because we know the whole issue was the color. Just the other day one of the church member (I work there but do not go to church there) said that the pastor talked about how Obama is not for Christianity. And now the members are all mad about it, but they didn’t take the time to research it to see if they were correct. The pastor is a very influential person and using that to his adventure.

            So many things could be changed to turn this incident into a greater equity. For one, I firmly believe that politics should be left out of a place of employment and the church. Everyone is entitled to have their own views and should not have to get discouraged or mad because someone else is trying to force their beliefs I on them.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 

I work at a Christian Daycare, and have been employed there for over the last five years. I am an African American and most of the employees are of the same race, but the administrators are Caucasian and church members. The administrator places all the children with behavior problems in my classroom and then explains to me that she would get fewer complaints if they are with me. She said the other teacher appearance alone might get her complained on. The other teacher is darker skinned, and has other challenges based on her appearance. I felt like it was unfair because it is a lot for me, and if she felt so strongly against the other teacher she should pull her aside and discuss it with her.

Over this week’s reading I have realized that there are a lot of hidden messages that could be misinterrpertated very easily. In the example above the director shouldn’t have discussed her feelings about the other teacher to me, not everyone has the same views when it comes to their appearance. An example of a stereotype that I have experienced is that all light skin individuals are stuck up. I have had people walk away from me, because they didn’t know how I was going to respond. We as individuals need to stop judging people and take the time to get to know them.

Through all the observation experiences this week many parents look at daycare as just a daycare and not as a learning entity. Quality education is what we need to expand the minds of the new generation. The way all the children with behavior issues were assigned to my class was unfair and should be divided into all the classes.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked to three individuals about various questions as it relates to diversity and culture. The individuals were:

·         My aunt who is a 48 year old, African American female, who lives in Memphis.

·         A co-worker who is 20 years old and of Spanish decent.

·         My husband who is a manager who has a number of individuals under his supervision.

 

Their definition of culture

·         Aunt: The background of someone.

·         Co-worker: The background and foundation of a person.

·         Husband: The way a person was raised and the beliefs they abide by.

 

Their definition of diversity

·         Aunt: The mixture of people of different races in a close environment.

·         Co-worker: The combination of various cultures that comes together to form a finished product.

·         Husband: Individuals from African American, Hispanic, Caucasian, and etc. that gain information from each other.

There are some aspects of culture and diversity that was studied in this course that was included in the answers from the various individuals. All of the individuals I spoke to have similar definitions of culture and diversity. All of them were simple and not expanded much on. The word culture refers to how particular groups of people live (Sparks and Edwards, 2010) during this course I have come to understand that this topic includes much more than just race and gender but also includes language, social status, religion, and even the individual sexual orientation.

 

No aspects have been omitted, because the course has offered so much information on culture and diversity.

 Other individual’s definition of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics in one main way. When individuals think about culture and diversity, what comes to mind is people’s background. It is so much more that applies to this topic, but many of us define it by what society say.  It includes the language we speak, the religion we practice, and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Sparks and Edwards, 2010).

 

Reference:

Sparks L. &Edwards J. (2010).Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourself. Washington, DC.

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:

·         Photo Album with pictures of my children growing up and family in general.

·         The Bible so that I can read and study the word.

·         A laptop so important documents could be saved.

       How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you:

·         A photo album compiled with numerous pictures of my family. I would want to remember my children as they are were growing up.

·          I would take the Bible as the second item because I am a strong believer in my faith. The religion might be different, but that don’t mean I have to change mine.

• A laptop would be third items that I took because all my important documents could be saved in the word document. I do understand that it is a possibility that we would never be able to return, but information like marriage license, birth certificates, social security information, and etc. should be kept.
 
 

If I could only keep one item I would keep the Bible and give up the photo album and computer. The Bible can’t be replaced because that is our study guide for our existent. The photo book would be missed but the children would be present with me so I have to keep the memories just that. The laptop is also important but hopefully the information wouldn’t be needed or the new country would provide us with new documentation.

        

It took time for me to consider the three items that I would take with me because I take everything for granted now that I am older. As a child I grew up in Trinidad and nothing was taken for granted because the culture was different. I got spoiled as I got older. My family is Christians and that would never change whether or not I leave an environment.