Week 8 posting: EDUC 6164

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

I hope to continue on my own personal journey of acceptance and anti-bias education to help foster these ideals and values among children and families.

One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

It is my hope that one day all children and families are treated with social justice and equity regardless of their social identities. I know that is a large hope, but if every early childhood educator cared enough to work towards this goal and we began teaching this from an early age and other educators continued through the education cycle that we would raise an accepting and tolerant society.


A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

I have truly enjoyed this class. I want to thank everyone for all their wonderful postings and ideas. These thoughts have challenged me to become more of a critical thinker.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

• The name of “your” family’s country of origin

I chose the country of Australia

• At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family

1. I will conduct research on this family though the Internet, books, and the encyclopedia. I will try to find a contact from this region or at least someone who has spent significant time in this region to gain more information.
3. I will set time aside to meet with their family to learn more about them and their traditions
4. I will find something to remind this child of home ad incorporate it into my classroom to help them adjust
5. I will introduce the children in my class to this culture before out new student enters so they too are more away.

A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family

I hope with these preprations that not only myself will gain a better understanding but the children in the classroom will as well to encourage the welcoming process. I also hope it will show the family to effort I am putting forward in prder to make them and their child comfotable in the transitionn to not only a new country but way of life.

6164

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

I work on a team of 6 people. 4 of us are located in Maryland while the other 2 are located in Illinois. One of the team members gets preferential treatment due to her experience.She gets More files then the rest of us and More opportunities. Sometimes some of us even loose the files we have been working and they get given to her. When I ask why the response i get is that she is the backbone of the team and most tenured. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

to me this is very hurtful because i have been working with my company for almost 2 years and I am fully capable of handling the work given to me. I feel unappreciated and slighted in a way and it affects my work. This issue has been discussed with higher management as well.

 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

I feel angry, hurt, taken advantage of, stressed out, and sad.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

the overall culture of the bossiness needs to change which will take a while but int eh mend time communication needs to be increased between offices. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

My boss at work just returned this week from his 2 week destination wedding/honeymoon in Hawaii. Upon his returning he mentioned to us that he would need t leave early the following day to attend a Rosh Hashanah celebration with his new wife. I then asked if his new wife was Jewish which he said yes. I let him know that I worked with a Jewish organization for 8 years and was familiar with a lot of the holidays and traditions and if he wanted to impress his new wife by having a background of the upcoming holiday i'd be happy to give him so information. Te following day let him know of what hebrew saying he could tell his wife to wish her  happy new year. The group joke and mocked the phrasing a little and I didn't really think much of it. After view this week's video on microaggression I realized that if someone in our general area actually was Jewish as well that could of been very hurtful to them. This week's video has definitely made me more aware of the things I say and do and how they could affect the feelings of others. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Responses from 3 different people

Culture= The practices that you follow based on influences from family and friends

Diversity= The differences people have with each other

Culture= The ethic and historical background of your family

Diversity= the ways in which people stand out from their surroundings

Culture= Is defined by the way we dress, the foods we eat, and the practices we engage in

Diversity= The qualities about someone that make them unique and an individual

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?

I agree with all the answers I received. I don't think they are all complete but I do think they are all components of culture and diversity.

I think interaction with with others and how to deal with different cultures and diversity would of been nice to hear about as well. 

It is always nice to listen to other perspectives from different people of different cultures on their ideas of culture and diversity, it is nice to be able to compare them with your own and decide how you feel about them in comparison.

Blog Assignment: 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.
Blog about all of the following:

• A description of the three items you would choose

family picture
blanket
cell phone/charger

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

Each of these items are very important to me.  I would take would be a family picture so I have a memory of all loved ones who were unable to come with me, my blanket that I've had since a child because it's soothing and comforting to me, and my cell phone/charger so i have access to videos and voices of my friends and family

• Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

I would be devastated. I don't know how I could choose between the 3 items, I guess if i had to my cell phone because it could capture all of them.

• Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise,

Well I have realized that modern technology is very important to me. There's a catastrophe event and my cell phone is one of my top priorities. As an experiment for myself I am going to try and see if I can go one whole day with out my cell phone.

EDUC 6163

• What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

Research can be very fun, yet complex. The fun part about research is being able to dive into a topic of interest and explore it, the challenging part is that you can not do it listlessly.

• In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

I have also looked at research as a pain, something that is a daunting task. But as I mentioned before it can actually be fun if you are interested in the topic. 

• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned how to be organized and structured when it comes to conducting research. There are many options on setting up a research design and it is important to explore all to see what will fit your needs the best

• What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

Challenges I encountered was finding appropriate study participants for my topic of choice for my simulation. I had a limited selection to choose form so the nest time I think I will do more research to find a larger group base to observe.