Competent Communication

My sister Rae Ann demonstrates competent communication. She cares about others and her relationships with them. She understands that their perspective and needs are legitimate. She makes sure that the results of their communication are as satisfying as possible to all involved. She has the ability to view a situation from another person’s perspective and experience how that perspective feels. She shows a wide range of flexibility in attaining mutual goals. She has the skill of being adaptable to any situation or conversation that she is involved in. She encourages others to meet their goals without being pushy about it. I have and will continue to model spme of my own communication skills after her.  

 

Professional Hopes and Goals

Professional Hopes and Goals

 

One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds.

 

One hope that I have when it comes to working with children and families that comes from diverse backgrounds is that  I can learn about their culture and families so that I can help them to feel comfortable and secure leaving their children in my care. I also would like for them to feel able to talk to me when and if they need a little extra help with anything in their life.

 One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice.

 One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is that all early childhood professionals be required to take a diversity class and have ongoing training every few years, so that they can stay up to date on how to be diverse teachers and not fall back into old school ways of thinking about diverse families and so that they can continue to learn about all the different changes that are continuing to happen within families and cultures.

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

 I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their encouragement and support during our courses. It has been a great help knowing that I had that extra support. I wish all the best for all of you.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Welcoming Families From Around the World

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

 

Russia

 

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

 

1.     Learn about their beliefs on child development.

2.     Learn about the Russian culture and traditions.

3.     Learn about the foods that they eat.

4.     Learn basic words in their dialect so that I can communicate with the child and family.

5.     Place Russian language, clothing, dolls, foods and books around the center so that the family sees and knows that we value their involvement in the program.

 

        

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

 

I hope that these preparations will benefit me by giving me information that will help me to better understand the families culture and their traditions. They will also help me to make the center feel comfortable and safe for the family by including items from their culture and language. I hope that it will help the family to feel comfortable leaving their child in the center and know that their child will be taken care of. Also that the center is willing to go beyond the call of duty to help them and help their child in the adjustment of living in a new country.  

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

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?

 

I have experienced prejudice and bias many times during my life. As a child growing up I had people that refused to be my friend or shake my hand because it is burnt. When you’re a 10 year old and your peers refuse to play with you because your hand is different it hurts. I actually had peers call me “crispy”. The most hurtful experience I had with prejudice happen when my husband and I went for a time share seminar. We had taken a break and the man doing the presentation told his  female co-worker to “go get that fat black beach whale b***h.” After this weeks learning’s I now see that there were some oppression in there too.

 

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

 

It diminished equity by making me feel that my black race was not worthy of being there and that as a woman he had not only shown disrespect to me but all women. It made me feel that as a mixed race over weight female that I was not worthy of his time in presenting the information about the time share (which I had wanted to buy until he made those comments). I have never been to another presentation like that again; I try to avoid activity that is presented by males.

 

What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

 

This incident had me feeling like I was worthy less, a was a fat whale and that as a mixed female that I was seen as unworthy of owing property. I also had a major dislike for white males for many years after.

 

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

 

I believe that he and his female co-worker would both have to change in order for this to become an opportunity for greater equity. He needs to learn how to treat people equally regardless of their race, weight or gender. She needs to learn the same things because if he talks about me as a female like that he will talk negatively about her being a female.

 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The microaggression that I detected this week was sexual orientation microaggression. I am the Site Supervisor for a center that has four programs, two part-day classes, one LAUP class, one full-day and one city program. In my LAUP program I had one child that was picked up one and a half hour after her pick up time. We waited thirty minutes and started calling her emergency numbers, we left messages on the numbers that were working but a few of the numbers were out of service. About five minutes after she was picked up the father called. He told me “I need to come in there and teach you how to use the phone.” This was not the first time I had to deal with this father; he seems to have no respect for any of the female staff at the center. This really upset me and had me questioning this man’s up-brining. I don’t believe that his attitude towards females is that way with just the staff members because I have seen him interact with his wife in the same demeaning way. The next day I had the child’s teachers ask me could I be the middle person when it comes to dealing with the father because he made them feel like they were incompetent at their job because they didn’t continue to call him tell he answered.  

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Noelle:

Culture is what defines us as a race. It is a understanding of traditions and similarities we share with each other and that set us apart and define who we are. Culture is music, food, art, stories, and dance that tell the story of our people and our journey. Culture is who we are because it allows a person of a different race to understand our beliefs and feelings about the world, the economy, and our families. 

Diversity is our passion to stand out but also to stand tall. It often describes how we are classified or compared to one another because often times it is related to a specific area of cultures. Diversity to me is standing tall in your beliefs and in who you are no matter the stereotypes that surround your diverse culture. Diversity is also the ability of a group of individuals whom have different opinions , languages, religions, and skin colors coexist in one geographic location and live peacefully. We are diverse because we are different but by accepting our diversity and our individual challenges we are in some part all the same. 

Deysi:

Culture is my families traditions the woman takes care of the kids and home are husbands are the head of household. When you have parents that were born and raised in Mexico that is how you are raised and breed. In my house we celebrate the traditional Mexican holidays and the American ones. Culture is the music that I listen to, the food that I eat and the way that I raise my children.

Diversity is me having friends of different backgrounds, being able to eat foods and listen to music from other cultures and also exposing my children to the same things. Diversity is keeping my beliefs and honoring others and seeming that everyone is different.

Jenny:

My culture is my family. It is traditions we share with each other and define who we are. Culture is music, food, art, stories, and dance. Diversity is my family accepting that I like music and food that is not traditional to my race. Diversity is knowing that my best friends family accepts me even though I am not the same race as them

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?

Some aspects of culture that I have learned about so far in this course that I was talked about above are food, music, art and traditions.

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

Home language was omitted from the answers above. I have learned that home language is a very important part of a person’s culture.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

Culture means many different things to different people. I have had to take a look at my meaning of culture and I am working to redefine it to fit the person that I am today. I have also learned that it is very important to learn about the children you teach family culture so that you can be a better teacher for that child.
Part of my family and culture.

My Family Culture

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.

The three items that I would take to my new country would be; 1. My portable hard drive, my sons’ photo album and my parents ashes. I would explain that my portable hard drive holds all of my family pictures and scanned documents from my sons childhood, my sons photo album was chosen because it holds everything from the letter of verification of pregnancy to his crib card. It means the world to me because my son was born at 26 weeks and was not expect to live and if he did live I was told he would have medical problems. He is a blessing; he is now 12 years old and a very smart and healthy child. I would take my parents ashes because I was not raised with them and that is all I have left of them other than memories. If I was told I could only take one of these items, I would take the portable hard drive because it holds more memories from all of my family and friends. I have gained the insight that I value my pictures of my family and that taking pictures is a part of my families culture.