Welcoming Families Around the World

The country I chose is Haiti for my family’s country of origin. Some ways I will prepare to be culturally responsive towards the family is to get to know them by asking questions about their country and child. One important thing is also make sure I know the proper pronunciation of the child’s name. I would incorporate things they tell me to include in the classroom setting so their child can feel welcomed in the class. Material about and from their home and things from their country would be placed throughout the class so not only I can learn things about Haiti but children in the classroom can also learn as well. Include pictures about diversity on walls in class will be helpful because the child will feel the sense of belonging. Always put something on my lesson plan that the child will be familiar with and that others can learn from. I would ask the family to bring some items from home that I could put in class and I would put books about Haiti and other countries around the class in different centers. These preparations would benefit not only me as the teacher but the child from Haiti and other students because we all can learn more diversity by seeing and talking about items included in class, lessons, and material.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I can recall a time I was online under a friends face book page. I was tagged in a post about all the killings happening where the police has killed black unarmed men. I was asked by this person to watch the video in which I told him, I couldn’t watch another video of a black man let alone any man being murdered by the police. So of course people started making comments not toward me just about how sad it was. I then told this person I’m praying for his family but watching those videos make me cry. Then this woman who I didn’t know at all said I was a  coward and need to be more black and stay woke. I never responded; she went on to say I’m a house “N-word”  because of my lighter complexion. I told her to have a blessed day, then she said people like me always look the other way in spite of things happening around me. Now this was another black woman making all these harsh comments, she was a darker complexion woman. For the life of me I always wondered why in the black community do some people compare skin complexions and think the lighter skinned people are better and darker complexion is less than. I read the last comment she wrote and I completely logged off. She said black sista you need to read slavery books right now because we’re headed that way because of black life people like you, people who look the other way when a injustice happen to yet another black man; it’s people like you that disgust me in every aspect of the black community, you will forever be on the side of the pig police who are killing our black men. I felt bad at first then I thought this lady is crazy for real, all this because I chose not to watch a video of someone being murdered. This same race prejudice brought up memories of when I was young and I had some cousins who were lighter skinned and some darker. I was in between which didn’t never make me a target of such harsh words. The cousins who were lighter always called the darker skinned cousins ugly and black when they got mad at one another.

I did inform that woman to have a blessed life and she need to pray to God she doesn’t continue to have that kind of attitude especially toward someone she doesn’t know at all, I told her I have the right to watch whatever I wanted to watch, it’s my choice if I want to watch a video of someone being killed. I told her there was no way I was going to watch someone lose their life and she could write that down in her black folks diary. I said you stay woke on more issues just not this particular issue.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

  

 

One evening our entire staff went to a local restaurant for dinner. I had already spoken to the Manager of the restaurant in advance so that we could reserve a table for 15 people. This manager was so nice, once we got there she was nice in person. It was a large group and we all had food and ordered drinks as well. A few of us ordered a desert to take with us. This restaurant was not a cheap place to eat either. No one in our group paid less than $25 plus gratuity was added since the group was over 8 people. We ate and enjoyed each others company for close to 2 hours it was an added bonus that the waitress was nice and sweet. We all noticed how every time we laughed and talked other people and waitress/waiters stared at us. I did notice along with others how cold it was and we asked several times for the heat to be turned on, the manger came and tried to fix it; they never tried to make us comfortable. It was in December and it was cold outside. The point of this whole story is that once  we left I received a phone call because I had given the manager my name and place where we worked when I called to make reservations. I was out shopping and was surprised she was calling me since we had just left. She told me that some people in the group hadn't paid their bills. I immediately was outraged because I had witnessed everyone pay for their food plus gratuity plus extra tips. I assured her that no one skipped out on a meal and she said yes, the waitress is missing a few of the tickets because they hadn't been paid. I told the manager to double/triple check  I would call to check and how stupid that would be since she had my number and place of employment for all of us. She said she understands but the tickets need to be paid. At this point I was furious, I told her to double check with the waitress and call me back as soon as possible. Then after speaking with her I called a co-worker to let her know what had just happened, she was upset too. My co-worker said that doesn't make any sense because they know where we work and have your name and number. It was taking so long for the manager to call me back so I called her back and she said "I'm sorry, we found the tickets they were stuck to other tickets." I then said so were you going to call me back to tell me this because I'm vey offended. The manager finally apologized and said she would mail me some coupons for 15 people, she asked for my address; needless to say I never received those coupons. Some months passed I went back with a co-worker and I asked for the manager and told her who I was and what happened; she said she had mailed those coupons already. While I was there she ended up giving me some coupons for free appetizers and of course when I went back to use them months later the restaurant was closed for good. This was a bad situation and I felt horrible to know someone thought me and some of my co-workers would skip out on a bill. The way this manager spoke to me I knew what it was all about, we were the wrong color. It happens every single day and it's sad.

 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I talked to some people about culture and diversity. Although all their answers were similar. I must admit one of their answers was funny to me about what is culture, I was told it’s when your family cook greens together for the Holidays every single year.  I spoke to a friend, a family member and an old co-worker. One of the answers for the definition of culture by an old co-worker was culture is how we live, things we do and have done for years within our family and communities. He explained that for generations families pass down many cultures including, religion, work ethic, food we eat or grow, our race and things that matter within our family. His answer to diversity was to be different, people are different shades, look and speak different and that’s what being diverse says in the world. The aspects of culture and diversity I have studied since being in this course are pretty much the same as the answers I received from the people I spoke with. An example a friend gave me about culture was clothing people wear and how some black people wear the head wraps with all the colors on them that is tied in a huge knot in the front. She said women wore those wraps back in slavery and it seems to be a trend now. She also said if we traveled to certain places that would be all we saw like in African villages, or even way down south because it’s a cultural thing. All the information I talked about with the three people came together. It made me think more about it and although their answers were pretty much the same they each added something about their own family culture. None of their responses influenced my way of thinking because what I know and believe was just like the things they shared with me.

My Family Culture

           The three items I would choose to take with me would be my grandmother’s mother wedding ring, a family bible and a picture of my parents in front of the old church we all attended before they built a new church in the early 1980’s.

My grandmother’s wedding ring was passed down generations and my grandmother, mother and myself wore the ring as something old on our wedding day. The ring was a simple dainty ring that had small diamonds on the band of it that was over 80 years old.

The bible is a family bible that has a family tree inside that dates back to the late 1800’s and because it has the family tree inside I would keep it as a reminder of who I am, where I came from and where my ancestors came from as well.

The last item is a picture of the church I attend with my parents standing in front of it, the church is a historical landmark now and can’t be torn down. Martin Luther King Jr. spoke in the church when he came to town for the civil rights movement. This picture also reminds me of my upbringing and how church played an important role in my life and my families life.

If I was told that I had to give up two items and keep one I would be devastated and heart- broken because of what all three items means to me and my family. The items have so much history behind them all it would be crushing to have to let any of them go. The ring was over 80 years old that my mother knew of but it could be much older than that. The family bible was in my family for generations and it has the family tree on the inside with all the names of my family members and their children, and children’s children names. The picture is filled with so many warm memories of my family and my childhood when I attended church every Sunday with my family. The picture shows me how it was apart of the civil rights movement. The church picture is a historical landmark that I will pass down to my children. If I was told I had to give up two things and could only take one that decision would be the hardest I would have to make in my life. I’m sure I would be jailed for being disobedient because I would pretend like I’m getting rid of two items but I would hide them in order to take them all. All three items is my culture and they are important because they represent my family culture. It includes the language we speak, the religion or spirituality we practice (or do not), and the clothing, housing, food, and rituals/holidays with which we feel most comfortable (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010).  Culture is how my family live and things we do like our ritual we went to church together on Sunday’s every week.  Most of the time, people do not even notice their culture, just as we do not notice that we live in a sea of air (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards, 2010).

  

Reference

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

 

When I Think of Research.......

During this 8 week course I have gained some knowledge that I will take with me on my future endeavors in Early Childhood education. I have gained more insight on what research is all about and how research helps. As the books states when you do anything for the first time it’s a challenge. My ideas have changed about research because of this class, at first I didn’t know much about research and now I understand better and why it’s done. Research is about uncovering and enabling the emergence of new understandings, insights and knowledge (MacNaughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010).

Lessons I’ve learned about planning, designing and conducting research is that before preparing to do a study you have to plan to see who the participants will be. Researchers have to consider confidentiality, privacy, cultural issues before the study begins. The best research will always involve close, ongoing collaboration between those who plan the research, those who carry it out, those who participate in it, and those for whom the results have an impact (MacNaughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). Researchers have to understand ethical issues that can arise while doing research. The participants have to be protected by researchers, and they must know what responsibilities they have as a researcher.

I encountered many challenges because I was very unfamiliar with terms used and didn’t know what to expect or where to begin. Once I started reading about research weekly and started doing charts I begin to develop a better understanding of research and the steps needed to take for a successful study. I also learned that in order to have quality research it requires knowledge, skills and experience. As a result of this class and gaining more insight on research my perceptions has changed because so much goes into research, having accurate research and what can be gained from good research if all areas are covered before starting a study.

I wish everyone the best on your journey of the Graduate program at Walden University. This class has been challenging because I wasn’t familiar with most of research terms. I want to say thank you to everyone for sharing so much knowledge in this class. I have read discussions and blog post and I have gained more knowledge about research.

 

Reference

 

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.

 

Rsearch Around The World

I chose the Early Childhood Australia website, some of the current research topics on the website are health and nutrition, practice and learning series for early childhood education in Australia.

Some surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood that I gained form exploring the international website about Australia: Early childhood in Australia has been around since 1938, it advocates to ensure quality, social justice, and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children between the ages of birth to eight years. Every young child is thriving and learning is the ECA’s vision. Australia future prosperity is linked to the collective investments that we make in all of our children’s development and the reason is when programs are improved; services that help children to be healthy and to receive a good education benefit everyone in the long run. The website has helpful information for parents like health and wellbeing info that consist of recipes, posters and safety tips.

I also found other information I found was interesting and that was the learning hub. I clicked on there to see what it was about and I saw it had educator’s resources some were free online courses while some have to be paid in order to take courses. The start early course tells how everyday behavior and attitudes shape a child’s relationship over their lifetime. ECA has a blog that is helpful as well and newsletters that have various information inside.