Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when working with diverse families is that I can assist every family in having an enjoyable and productive learning experience in my school. 

One goal that I have for diverse families is to become a strong advocate for families. This goal will help me improve the quality of the early childhood learning experience.  I also want to ensure that there is equity and fairness for all families in early childhood education.

I would like thank all of my colleagues for their support and comments on this blog. I have enjoyed working with all of you.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

I have just received a new child from Slovakia.
In order to prepare to work with the child, I will first research the country and learn about its government, traditions, and customs.  I will also research the language of the country and ways to communicate with the child and the family.  Developing cultural comptency about the family is important in order to estabish relationships with the family.  I will further work with the family to learn ways to include the child's culture in the classroom.  The flag to the right is the flag for Slovakia.  As a result, I can have the child write a report about her country and to provide me with her life experiences.  This is very important for me to establish a relationship with the child and to further understand the child's cultural traditions. This will also help other students in the class become more culturally aware of diversity and the child's home country.  Lastly, I want to learn about Slovakian holidays and the family's religion.  This will help me understand how the child interacts with others and what days the child may observe special holidays.

Using the information that I gather from research, I will develop a communication strategy for the family.  This will also help me to understand the needs of the child in the classroom.  Overall, I hope that this experience will help build a strong parent-teacher relationship with the family and make the class room more productive and engaging for the child.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As an African American woman, I have experienced oppression and bias growing up in Mississippi.  As a result, I understand how the lack of equity in society has a negative effect on groups and individuals.  When I was only ten years old, I walked into a restaurant with my mother, and we were told that the restaurant was full so we had to leave.  We had been traveling to Tupelo and only stopped in the restaurant to grab a snack for the trip.  We did not know that the town we stopped in was predominately White and racist.  However, we soon learned that blacks were not welcomed in the restaurant.  This was during the 60s and these practices were common in some parts of Mississippi. 

When I saw five Caucasion people sitting in the restaurant with over ten tables empty, I knew right then that we should leave.  My mother politely thanked the owner and we left.  As we walked out of the restaurant, the owner came out and told us that we could find a meal around the corner.  He even explained that he did not want us to feel bad because this was how things worked around here.  This incident stuck in mind because it was the first time that I felt less than equal to others.  This was the first day that I realized that being black would be a challenge for me. 

Times have changed, and people are less open about oppression.  I knew then that people would have to change in order for the situations to change.  Thankfully, times are much better and I can eat whereever I please. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week's focus on microagressions truly made me look at how others interact in my workplace.  I have been the victim of microassaults and even microattacks throughout my life because of my race.  As a minority, I have been called names and I have been the recipient of racially biased remarks.  However, this week, I was shocked to have a microassault based on my age.  I was in the process of working with a colleague on a school project.  She asked if I could bake some cupcakes for the PTA meeting next week.  As I started to deny the request, my coworker stated that "she knows I can cook because women did all the cooking back in my day".  The coworker was very young and she implied that as an older woman, I had to spend my days cooking.  Even though I did cook for my family, I took this as an insult.  I perceived the message that younger women are more professional whereas older women are homemakers.  This shocked me because it was a harmless remark.  However, I was very insulted.  I denied the request to bake the cupcake and was quickly told by the coworker that she would just buy some.  Because of the course work, I realized why I was offended.  I was insulted, and I know that it was unintentional.  However, it was offensive and I did not like it.  Have any of you experienced similar situations?

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week, I asked friends and family how they defined and viewed diversity and culture.  One of the best definitions was provided by a male cousin who view culture as a shared set of beliefs and values among a group of people who support and create those values.  Culture is a part of our society and there are subcultures that form within the dominant culture.  As a result, people can have different views of culture.  My  cousin also stated that diversity is based on differences in society.  Diversity can include language, culture, race, and religion.  Therefore, I agree with the definition that diversity is based on the differences that exist in our society, and it is the basis of the American Melting Pot.

My Family Culture

My family culture is based on the values and the beliefs that we have established over time.
As a result I would take the following three items.

1. Bible:  The bible is essential to my culture and my religious beliefs.  This item would help to explain what I believe in and what has defined my life.

2.  African statue.  This item expresses the creativity of the African American culture.

3.  My grandmother's quilt.  These quilts would explain what the African American family means as as a unit.

If I could only keep one item, I would keep the bible. This is the most important item for me.

When I Think of Research...

When I think of research, I think about the goal of the research project.  Research is designed to provide solutions to problems and to provide answers to research questions.  Now that I look back at my research project, I have a clearer understanding of how to conduct research.  I find that it is necessary to choose the proper design to address the problem or question.  Since I chose to work with language development programs and the academic progress of Hispanic children, I decided to use a mixed method approach.  This approach is a "combination of the qualitative and quantitative methods of research" (MacNaughton, Rolfe, and Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).  This method allows researchers to present concrete and narrative data in the research project.

I have learned that there are many challenges in conducting a research project.  These challenges include ensuring validity, reducing bias, and being sensitive to participants.  As an early childhood education researcher, I have learned that it is important to address these issues directly and to carefully plan the research project to avoid these issues.  Furthermore, I have learned that action research is beneficial to early childhood education. 

When I think of Research...I think of solutions to issues and problems that affect early childhood education.

References

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.