Professional Hopes and Goals

My hope for families of diverse cultures and backgrounds is that when they join our educational system that they feel welcome, and that their needs be met.  I want those of different cultures to be able to express their cultures in our classrooms for other children to learn from them. I want these families to feel like they are no different from anyone else. My professional goal is to continue to educate teachers and other individuals about diversity and creating equity in the classrooms. As this course comes to an end I want to thank my colleagues for sharing their experiences and knowledge with me. This has been one of the best courses I have taken here at Walden. Good Luck to you all in your future endeavors.

Welcoming Families Around The World

The family enrolling in my center would be from Singapore.
To prepare for this family I would research some cultures and traditions of the people from Singapore. I would also makes sure the classroom reflects cultural diversity by placing diverse pictures, and books around the room. I would also look at our menu options in order to be prepared to offer the family a list of options that we can provide for their child.  I would inform the staff that we are having a family from Singapore joining the center, and prepare that child's teacher by sharing the information I would found about Singaporeans culture.  I would also ensure the classroom looks welcoming by making sure the colors around the room are bright.  By being proactive and preparing for this family I hope that the family will see that we value them as part of our center.  Also that we respect their culture and their beliefs enough to make changes in the menu and other areas to accommodate to their needs.  For the center and staff  I would hope that being prepared for a family shows the pride we take in the profession and how we want to meet the needs of children and families.

Personal Side of bias, prejudice, and oppresion

In my personal life I have experienced biases or prejudices. When I was in high school we had new coaches come to our school. One day I was in the hallway and the coach who was an African American female and told me it was good that i was on the cheerleading team, because I was the only black girl on the team. The statement really upset me because in someway she meant to be a good statement but for me it was why shouldn't I be on the team. Though I did not like the comment I continued to cheer on the team, and members of the team became my best friends. In this situation the coach could have taken the time to get to know me better personally and see that I was not the type of person who felt uncomfortable on the team but actually liked to be in a diverse crowd.

Microaggression

I can remember observing an occasion that classifies as a microaggression.  I witnessed a director speaking with a parent who was fluent in spanish and spoke very little English. The parent was speaking little a mix of English and Spanish, the director was saying I do not understand with clear frustration.  The parent had a look of defeat and confusion with trying to explain. The parent walked away from the conversation.  As I watched this situation I felt bad for the parent because she clearly felt degraded for not being able to speak English as well.  The director had power over her in this situation. This is a clear example of bias and discrimination. The director feels that because this is America the parent should be fluent in English.  Discrimination is very evident in our everyday life.

Perspective on Culture and Diversity

After asking several individuals in my life what is their definition of culture and diversity I learned that every one has their own opinion for each of these words.  I also learned that many people really do not know exactly how to separate the two.  One of my friends said that culture is traditions, beliefs and vales passed down generation to generation. Which is some of what we have been learning in this class.    Others see diversity just as differences among individuals, which is true but really their culture is what makes them different.  This assignment really helped me see how unaware others are of what culture and diversity are.  Though people have a general idea, when asked it makes you look at the things you see in your life as cultural or not.  My awareness for determining differences in others as well as knowing what part of my culture that I feel should be carried on to the next generation.

MY FAMILY CULTURE

1. Picture frame from my house that has several pictures that were taken over time with my family members in it.

2.  Representation of my sorority family

3. Bible

Family photos to represent memories of family events, an item of my sorority as a remembrance of my sisterhood family and my bible to represent my beliefs and faith of the family. I would not want to part with any of the items if someone told be I had to choose, they are all of equal importance to me.  But by studying diversity I have learned that taking away all material items from a family does not change or take away from your culture. Individuals make the family, the roles they play, the traditions that are built and the characteristics the family possesses.  The important aspect would be to keep all of these traditions, beliefs and characteristics no matter what country we would be sent to.

Final International Contacts Blog

With any experiences there is consequences; with this assignment the consequences where learning information about other countries but not having the time to do in depth research on some of the discoveries I made, knowing that in some countries early childhood education is almost non existent, and discovering programs that could be helpful in our country that we do not have.


My goal for the future is to stay informed as a country, though we in the United States need more development in the field of Early Childhood education.  Continue to support other countries by supporting organizations that are involved already in providing assistance to other countries.