When thinking about working with diverse families and children, I want to be able to provide the best services possible to give them the best experiences possible for them.
I would like for all early childhood educators, directors, advocates and policy makers to understand the importance diversity plays on child development and understand how to provide services to diverse populations with these understandings in mind.
I want to thank all my colleagues for your input and comments and also encourage everyone to strive for their goals and continue to grow in your profession. Happy Holidays!!!
Saturday, December 17, 2011
Namibia
Namibia is a country located in Southwest Africa that borders the Atlantic Ocean. I will research the background of the country to learn more about their culture, language and their view on child development. I will get some personal background of the family to learn about their family. Meeting with the family to learn from them what they expect from our center. Learn the best ways of communicating with them, explain how our center operates, the mission of our agency, and their goals and expectations for their child while attending our center. Also encourage the family to share their culture and language with other children and families so that they can understand how to be a support for this family as well.
By following these preparations it will give me some insight as to what this family might expect, how to meet their needs and what challenges we may encounter in providing services for them. By letting the family know that we respect them and their culture, have open communication with them and want them to feel encouraged to participate in their child's education this will build a strong connection with the family and other families in the center.
By following these preparations it will give me some insight as to what this family might expect, how to meet their needs and what challenges we may encounter in providing services for them. By letting the family know that we respect them and their culture, have open communication with them and want them to feel encouraged to participate in their child's education this will build a strong connection with the family and other families in the center.
Sunday, December 11, 2011
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
The issues that I have faced with biases, have unfortunately come from people with similar social identities as mine. I thought that people would actually be happy to see me promoted to a better position, but it became clear that for many, it became a way to place blame and put things off on. It made me feel very uncomfortable and angry that a person would try to underhandedly go about putting things on me instead of just coming to me and explain how things were supposed to be done or how they needed things done to be effective. I could have respected that more than going behind my back to make themselves look better. My focus was on providing better quality services for the children and families that we serve, and reaching the population we were set up to serve. The other person's focus seemed to be on passing her work on to others and blaming others for issues she should have addressed.
These factors led to my current supervisor asking me to come over permanently to join her team at another site and the woman was later let go from that position. By her trying to justify the unfair ways in which she addressed issues, she was the one who ended up losing her job instead of making me look bad. I think that the way I handled myself and the fact that I had a supervisor who saw and heard what was going on in the background helped make the opportunity better for me.
These factors led to my current supervisor asking me to come over permanently to join her team at another site and the woman was later let go from that position. By her trying to justify the unfair ways in which she addressed issues, she was the one who ended up losing her job instead of making me look bad. I think that the way I handled myself and the fact that I had a supervisor who saw and heard what was going on in the background helped make the opportunity better for me.
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Microaggression
One example of microaggression that I remember is when my sister came home from school one day and said that her teacher stated that she was really intelligent for a black girl. My sister was very angry at this statement. I remember hearing her rant and rave about the comment and how backwards and ignorant it was. That was the first incidence that I can remember being exposed to racial undertones. This made me more aware of the people around me. I started to pay more attention to the way people said things and how their words impacted me. I wanted to better understand how people thought about others. I found myself becoming more uncomfortable around certain people than I had been before. In my mind, I connected what the one teacher said to every person of that race. It is something that is hard to get over, especially when you see signs of racial profiling, racial exclusion and stereotyping.
As I watched my family interact and enjoy each other's company this week, it struck me how my family comes together. No matter what we may say about each other, when there is a family event, there are no issues, no arguing, and no problems. This made me wonder where I get my perceptions on race and religion. I try not to stereotype people, but I do stereotype behavior.
As I watched my family interact and enjoy each other's company this week, it struck me how my family comes together. No matter what we may say about each other, when there is a family event, there are no issues, no arguing, and no problems. This made me wonder where I get my perceptions on race and religion. I try not to stereotype people, but I do stereotype behavior.
Sunday, November 20, 2011
Culture and Diversity
The individuals I spoke with were very different.
1. My friend a Muslim male from big city born in Trinidad. He defined culture as having refinement, customs, values and morals. He said that culture was a complete way of life. He stated that culture was also how that society elevated a woman and the status that she held.
2. My sister same small town background from southern state. My sister felt that culture was a group of people who have similar experiences, they enjoy the similar things. They could be grouped by life experiences, race, ethnicity, interests etc. She stated that an example would be tech kids. She stated that these children have nothing in common with her. Diversity is being able to see people differently, a mix of different cultures. Realizing the validity of other cultures and existing peacefully with other cultures.
3. My cousin a younger female born in southern state. Culture is more of how we think, feel, and what we believe. Culture is an unspoken common thread that helps to define who she is as a person and where she stands in society. Diversity is the way that other people classify you and your differences. Diversity is a way of dividing cultures into subcultures. It is a way for people to group others in terms they can understand.
When looking at everyone's definitions, it caused me to reflect on how I defined culture and diversity. My views of culture and diversity were expanded and I could see the relevance in everyone's definition. They touched on various aspects of how I viewed culture and diversity and helped me reshape what I felt diversity and culture were. I felt that the definitions covered a range of what is considered diversity and culture by others.
1. My friend a Muslim male from big city born in Trinidad. He defined culture as having refinement, customs, values and morals. He said that culture was a complete way of life. He stated that culture was also how that society elevated a woman and the status that she held.
2. My sister same small town background from southern state. My sister felt that culture was a group of people who have similar experiences, they enjoy the similar things. They could be grouped by life experiences, race, ethnicity, interests etc. She stated that an example would be tech kids. She stated that these children have nothing in common with her. Diversity is being able to see people differently, a mix of different cultures. Realizing the validity of other cultures and existing peacefully with other cultures.
3. My cousin a younger female born in southern state. Culture is more of how we think, feel, and what we believe. Culture is an unspoken common thread that helps to define who she is as a person and where she stands in society. Diversity is the way that other people classify you and your differences. Diversity is a way of dividing cultures into subcultures. It is a way for people to group others in terms they can understand.
When looking at everyone's definitions, it caused me to reflect on how I defined culture and diversity. My views of culture and diversity were expanded and I could see the relevance in everyone's definition. They touched on various aspects of how I viewed culture and diversity and helped me reshape what I felt diversity and culture were. I felt that the definitions covered a range of what is considered diversity and culture by others.
Sunday, November 13, 2011
My Family Culture
The three items I choose to take with me are my camera because there are pictures of my family on it and I can always make new memories with it. My cell phone so that I can call members of my family left behind and my ipod because music is very important to me and my family.
If I can only take one of these then it would have to be my camera. Pictures are very important to me and I want to always have a reminder of the people I love. It is also important that I am able to make new memories to stay encouraged that family is also with whom you make it!
Doing this assignment has made me see that I do not have things that I define as part of my culture. I believe that my culture is more in how I live, the values I have and the way I treat others. I found that it was hard to think of my culture in terms of things or items.
If I can only take one of these then it would have to be my camera. Pictures are very important to me and I want to always have a reminder of the people I love. It is also important that I am able to make new memories to stay encouraged that family is also with whom you make it!
Doing this assignment has made me see that I do not have things that I define as part of my culture. I believe that my culture is more in how I live, the values I have and the way I treat others. I found that it was hard to think of my culture in terms of things or items.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
When I Think of Research....
1. I have gained a considerable amount of knowledge and interest from taking this course. Learning about the many factors of ethics involved research, how children are involved and their rights, the different types of data collection, how to better plan and strive for equity in research design.
2. My ideas are changed in that I have more respect for what it takes to design, plan and perform research. There are many considerations to make when a researcher plans to conduct a study.
3. I learned that planning research is a very well thought out process. A person can't just say they have a question and want to find out why something is. They have to plan the participants, what kind of research they want to perform, qualitative or quantitative, the methods used to collect data. When conducting research, the guidelines of the research and how the research is carried out need to be considered as well.
4.Some of the challenges encountered were fully understanding some of the issues in research and how they applied to the type of study that I wanted to perform. It helped having colleagues point of view and explanations of how things made sense to them. the articles also helped to make sense of how issues in research.
5. How I can use research to better service the children and families in my care and to help me really understand the issues they face.
2. My ideas are changed in that I have more respect for what it takes to design, plan and perform research. There are many considerations to make when a researcher plans to conduct a study.
3. I learned that planning research is a very well thought out process. A person can't just say they have a question and want to find out why something is. They have to plan the participants, what kind of research they want to perform, qualitative or quantitative, the methods used to collect data. When conducting research, the guidelines of the research and how the research is carried out need to be considered as well.
4.Some of the challenges encountered were fully understanding some of the issues in research and how they applied to the type of study that I wanted to perform. It helped having colleagues point of view and explanations of how things made sense to them. the articles also helped to make sense of how issues in research.
5. How I can use research to better service the children and families in my care and to help me really understand the issues they face.
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