Farewell All

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

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)

A brief note of thanks to your colleagues

This has been a fun and exciting course!  One hope that I have for working with children and families from different background is being able to have a better understanding of each of my families diverse backgrounds.  I know that this will be hard but I would like to become familiar with different backgrounds so that I can be more aware of how to teach to a different group of kids!

One goal for the early childhood field, is to have a set of standards that should be incorporated in the schools!  I think that this way teachers who are not familiar with teaching a diverse group of students will have somewhat of an idea of what to teach, although they will have to learn how to teach it.

I would like to thank all my colleagues for all the thoughts, and sharing your stories throughout this course. I wish you all the best!

Happy Learning,

Kayla

Welcoming a Family from Egypt!

The family that just arrived to my child care center is from Egypt.  I have always wanted to visit Egypt, and I am really excited about getting to learn more about my student and her family as well as their culture.  Considering that I know nothing about life in Egypt, nor the way of the people.  I composed a list of five ways that will help me to get to know my student and her family better.

1. I would send a family questionnaire home with the family before the child's first day of school asking about the culture and expectations of the family.
2. I would research school systems in Egypt to become more familiar with the type of schooling this child has already been exposed to.
3. I would include books about several different countries in the classroom including Egypt.
4. I would ask the parents to come in and sit in during a class session so they can become more familiar with the structure of her new school.
5. I would also ask her parents if they have any concerns or questions for me, and how would they recommend I include their child's culture in the classroom.  

I believe by showing the parents that I care about their input about their child's learning, will show that I value them and I would like to include them in their child's learning.  By asking them how to include their culture in the classroom will hopefully show that I do no want them to conform to the "norm" but rather accept and appreciate their family and their differences.  By communicating with the parents and the child about what they like and things they may dislike,  will help promote a caring and trustworthy relationship among us.

Social Profiling

One incident that I remember is when my friend and I were shopping at a boutique (typically on white people shop at).  As soon as we walked through the door, we were greeted by the owner.  As we continued to look around the store, she trailed us as if she was checking the items on the shelf.  She then continued to follow us and asked us several times if we need help looking for anything.  My friend responded to her, that there were other people in the store that may need her help because we are just browsing.  She then left, and sent a sales associate to follow us around the store.  In other words or less, we were social profiled.  Which bothered me greatly, we asked why she was following us, and she said that she was just giving us customer service.  However, we left without causing any problems.

This made me feel like black people cannot afford to shop in boutiques and that because we were browsing she “assumed” that we were trying to steal.  It makes me sad that I cannot go into a store and shop without being socially profiled.

I would ask the other customers in the store how that would make them feel if they were followed around the store.  I would then pull the owner to the side and discuss how I feel like what she did was completely inappropriate in I would point out the fact that she social profiled my friend and I.  I would also tell her that we were nice about the

situation, but if it were someone else they might’ve not been.

Microaggression

A microaggression that I experienced this week was while I was in my classroom.  I was running late Thursday morning due to my son being sick, and when I walked in, my TA said "O you must've been eating grits and didn't have time to finish them.  Omg that's so racist of me", she then proceeded with a chuckle.

I did not find this remark funny, and I was quickly aggravated by her remark to me.  She assumed because I am black that I eat grits.  I responded and told her yes it is racist, because I have never eaten grits a day in my life.  I was stereotyped by my race, and she made a comment that I am sure she did not mean in a negative way; but I took it negative.  This shows that we have to watch what we say to others, because unknowingly we can offend someone.

Culture and Diversity

Definition of culture:

Jay: Culture means to me the history of my family and my African-American decent.

Nicole: Culture is the beliefs and morals for a family.  It’s the things that one practice in his everyday life.

LaQuita: Culture is the type of foods we eat, the dances we do, the things that has been passed onto us by our previous family members.

Definition of diversity:

Jay: My definition of diversity is simply a multiple of races.

Nicole: I think diversity means a variety of cultures coming together to celebrate each other’s differences.

LaQuita: Diversity is the differences among a group of people.

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?

In the responses I received, a lot of things that I have studied were represented in the answers of the three people I asked.  All three had different definitions, but they all built off of one another.  I was able to see that one had the “tip of the iceberg” view and only thought of surface level aspects.  Whereas, another had a deeper understanding, and thought about the things that one does not recognize so easily.

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

Neither of the responses I received dealt with gender, sexuality, nor socioeconomic power.  I’m not sure if these people view these traits as a part of culture and diversity, or if they did not think that these things were also a part of culture and diversity.

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

After I reviewed the responses, I realized that before I started this program I too had a surface level of what diversity and culture meant.  I now have a deeper understanding, which in return is helping become more aware of the diversity and all the different cultures around me.

Catastrophic Event: EDUC 6164

In the case of an catastrophic event and an emergency evacuation, the three items that I would take with me are a picture of my mom and dad, a picture of the 12 disciples that was given to me by my mom when i moved out, and a family photo album.
I would bring the picture of my mom and dad, because I do not want to forget where I came from.  Considering that I would be going to a country that would be totally different than what I am accustomed to, this is very important to me.

I would bring the picture of the 12 disciples to represent, that no matter what struggles I am going through, I know that God will see me and my family through it all.

I would bring a family album.  I say this because I would want my son to know about his life and how we was raised prior to moving to a new country.  To have the moments of love captured in a photo, will allow our son to see that he was loved, and even through our current situation he would still see that he will be loved and cherished.

If I had to choose only one, I would choose a picture of my mom and dad.  As stated before, when I look at them I think about where I come from, and where I am going.  Looking at their picture in a sense would serve as a motivation to get through any situation.

I learned that my family do not have a certain family loom that has been passed down.  This made me realize that everything I was taught has stuck with me due through experience.  I would like to have had a family loom to show my son and my future children but I do not.  I am going to think on creating a family loom that can be passed down within my family.

Farewell All

This has been a course in which I learned a lot.  I can say that I learned how to be a more adequate researcher.  Before this class, I had trouble locating sources, as well as identifying proper topics to research.  Now, I feel as if I am capable to do both.

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

I have learned that research can be very helpful and understanding children.  Children are capable of being competent enough to participate in research studies.  When research is done properly with children, one may learn the opinions that a child may have.

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

I am no longer afraid to conduct research. I did not feel competent enough to conduct research prior to taking this class.  Now, I do feel like I have a good starting point and resources to conduct a research study of my choice.

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

I learned that when planning research, it is important to have a clear idea of what it he or she would like for the audience to g.  Also, to gain from the research study. Also, one must have a design in mind that he or she would like to use and to make sure that it matches up properly with the research study.

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

One of the main challenges I encountered, was narrowing my topic down.  I had a lot of information that I was trying to gain more knowledge about without having a clear general statement for my audience to understand from the beginning what I would like for them to gain from my study.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

After this course, I now see a childhood professional as one that is competent at researching and collecting data for himself or herself.  A professional is someone that is competent on several different levels of education.  Whether it is the classroom, or in this case conducting research.

This has been a very helpful course.

Happy Learnings