Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a childcare center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

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

For this assignment, I would like to imagine that my child and their family are from Egypt and that I am welcoming the family in to my classroom.

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

1. I would contact the family and ask them a few questions about some of their values, beliefs, hopes and dreams for their child and their family.
2. I would plan activities and lessons that encourage the family to share special artifacts, family photos, language, literature, music, and food that have deep personal meaning to the family. 
3. I would introduce the family to classroom prior to their first day by having the children meet by Skype and including a short introduction of the family in our class news letter. 
4. I would increase the about of times that I check in with the family ensuring that they feel comfortable and address any issues that may have come up, immediately. 
5. I would talk to the children about whom to make new friends and explain ways to make people feel welcomed. 

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

My goal is to create a classroom environment that embraces the family’s culture and not their implied surface culture based off what see from the media. I want my current students to understand and build a connection with the child and their family before they arrive which is why I think having a couple of meeting via Skype would be a great way for the students to start preparing themselves for our new family. I want the family to feel that they are apart of the school and the classroom so providing them with opportunities to be apart of the learning process lets them know that they are valuable contributors to our learning community. Checking in with the family, frequently, will let them know that they have an alley to confide in and that they are supported. They will be able to address any issues that may make them feel powerless, marginalized, or discriminated against.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

One of the hurtful experiences I had was when I was in the ninth grade and we where meeting with our college and career counselors for the first time, during this meeting we where separated by race. They had all the Blacks and Latinos go to career counselors and had all the White and Asian students go to the college counselors. They told us that we will not be able to go to college and that we had to select a vocational career track instead of selecting a college or university to attend. I was placed on a cosmetology track. I was completely disappointed because I had always dreamed of going to an university just like my dad who was a graduate of North Carolina A&T. My father had always instilled in me that I was to go to college and the thought of not fulfilling my father one request was not an option. So I decided to ask them if I could go over to see the college counselors but they told me that I would not be able to get into college. From that very moment I give up, I stop trying to learn and I even stop going to school. I missed over 20 days of school and skipped countless classes. I had no real desire or hope it was all killed and destroyed on that day.

It wasn’t until I had a life-altering event and suffered a brain injury and lost some of my memory and had to be place in a restrictive special needs program but it was there that I received hope. There was a special needs teacher who really believed in me he worked with me one-on-one all year and he taught me everything from the ground up and gave me a good foundation to stand on. The next school year, I moved to Maryland from New Jersey and according to my transcript I was labeled as a ninth grader but I was supposed to be in the eleventh grade. So the school decided to test me and see what grade to put me in. I scored college level in every subject except English. I was able to continue onto my right grade and from that moment I knew I had a chance to change my life. I did very well and graduated on time and finish college.

Looking back at this moment, I realized that I was a victim of discrimination. I was refused the same opportunities as my White and Asian peers. This was a form of institutionalized oppression and I was been marginalized based on my race. At that moment, I was not being afforded a fair and appropriate education; it was unjust and unfair treatment. I felt so powerless and gave up on my dreams of becoming a college graduate. If it wasn’t for a few good teachers along the way that believed in me when I didn’t have the power to believe in myself I would not be here today. This experience made me aspire to become a teacher so that I can be a ray of hope for the next child who feels hopeless and lost in despair.

The only regret I have is that I wish I could have become an advocate for all the other students at that school that day. Maybe I could have written a letter or petition for change in the way the school handle their career and college readiness program. I’m sure that I was not the only person that felt powerless that day and they may not have had the opportunity to over come the mental effects the discrimination we experienced that day and I did nothing to help them. If I could do anything to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity it would have been to just do something.

  

A microaggression can be a verbal, behavioral, environmental, conscience or unconscious insulting message that inflicts severe psychological stress and harm; it reflects views of inferiority, superiority, inclusion and exclusion (Laureate Education, 2011). This week I was challenged with the task of providing an example of at least one microaggression that I have witnessed. I decided to make a conscience effort to pay close attention to all communication that was happening around me so that I can pick up on any microagressive behaviors. I was able to witness several situations where someone was using a mircoaggression unintentionally. 

I was shocked by the microaggressive behavior shown by one of my colleagues who came to visit my classroom. One of my lead peer trainers trains me to provide professional development to my colleagues. We were selecting a date for my next professional development so that she could come and observe me. When I gave her the date and the time, she said, "We should make this 30 minutes earlier because you know we are training 'our people' so we need to schedule an earlier time." She was referring to fact that we are both African American and majority of the staff are African American and are stereotypically always late. The form of microaggression that was witnessed was mircoinsult because she unintentionally used a stereotype to commonly generalize a group of people. What was interesting about this to me was the fact that she was being racist against herself. I was immediately offended, but did not address how I felt because I did not know how to approach the situation. I was shocked that someone that I admire and look up to for professional guidance would use such a term and plan a professional development training based off a stereotype. I do not feel that she meant to offend anyone, but unfortunately I was offended and disappointed by her actions. I was more disappointed with myself because I froze and did not know how to respond in a way that would not make endanger my career.         

Based on this observation, I realized that within a particular social identity that prejudice, discrimination, and stereotypes of people can manifest. It is sad to think that another Black person will use stereotypes to judge other black people, but this example is a clear indicator that it can happen. This experience has left me with a lot of questions like: Why didn't I say something? What could I have said? Would I have been considered being too sensitive or overly aggressive? How would this impact my professional career? I know at that very moment I was left powerless and could not express how that comment made me feel. This was an interesting experience, one that I would not have recognize until this class. This was an eye-opening experience that helped to make me more consciously aware of microaggressions that exist . 

Reference 

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this blog entry I was challenged to ask three people to define culture and diversity and analyze their responses. The three people I chose are De'Ana who just finished her Master's degree in Business Administration and works for a major contracting company in Washington, DC. I also selected my husband, McKenna, to get a male perspective on culture and diversity. He is an electrician he works for his uncles residential wiring business in the DMV area. Finally, I asked Michele who was a former co-worker of mine who works in the early childhood field as a educator. 

I asked each of them the following questions: How do you define culture? How do you define diversity?

Here are their responses: 
De'Ana- Culture is the establishment of a person or a group who share a similar background, beliefs, behaviors, and goals. Diversity is differences that are broad and eclectic. 

McKenna- Culture is the belief, teachings, and understandings of a particular group of people within a community or unit that has been past down over time. Diversity is the differences with in each person's culture. 

Michele- Culture guides the things you decide to do, your rituals and effect you behavior. Diversity is the differences in people and things. 


My reflection:
I discovered the all three people I asked to define culture and diversity found it difficult to answer. These two questions made them think deeply and analyze their perspectives on the two topics. As, they would try and answer the questions other people who were around them felt compelled to responded as well and it sparked quite a debate among people. 

Some aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied during this course are included in the answers I received. For example, when defining culture all of them said that culture is includes you beliefs and behaviors and is establish by a group of people. When defining diversity that all agreed that it has to do with differences. 

Some aspects of culture and diversity were omitted. Some of the things that were omitted when defining culture was that it includes every single aspect of your life. "It is the way we eat, sleep, talk, play, care for the sick, relate to one another, think about work, arrange our kitchens, and remember our dead" (Derman-Sparks, 2010) (pg. 55). One of the things that were omitted when defining diversity was that diversity is what makes us unique and is an important part of self identity formation (Laureate Education, 2011). 

Think about the way other people define diversity and culture has influenced my professional development by helping to see how complex it is to understand and define them. I think that there has been a lack of education that has been provided on the topic and thus adults struggle with understanding it's true meaning on larger scale and look beyond aspects like race, religion, and gender. As, an early childhood professional I believe it our responsibility to introduce concepts of culture and diversity into our curriculum to help build understanding and knowledge about culture and diversity to young children. So that when they grow up they become adults who have develop strong self identity and respect the culture, diversity, and identity of others.  


References 

Derman-Sparks, L. & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-Bias Education. Washington, DC. National Association fo the Education of Young Children

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Family cultures: Dynamic interactions [Video file].
Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

My Family Culture

Imagine this...

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.

Now think about this:

A description of the three items you would choose

If there was a major catastrophic event that caused my family and I to be relocated to another country and I only could bring three items; the three items I would bring are my wedding ring, my bible, and my cell phone. I selected these items because each one is significant to me and will help me share my social identity with others in my new country. My wedding ring is important to me because it symbolizes the everlasting and unconditional love I feel for my husband. My bible is important to me because I rely on it to help me get through some most difficult times in my life and of there is a devastating event I know I will need it to help me get through. My cell phone is important for many different reasons. First, it will help me stay connected to other loves one who may have survived and were sent to a different country from me. I will also be connected to the Internet and have access to social media websites such as Facebook, which is what I tend use a photo album. 

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

To describe what my rings means to me, I would use the cell phone I brought to show my wedding picture off of Facebook and they can see when we exchanged rings and I can find out how to say love in their language so that hopefully they will be able to make a connection that my ring is a symbol of my marriage. Next, if I have to explain my bible it would I would find out what if they had a religious affiliation and if they do I would see if they would try making connections to my own. Finally, my cell would be easy to show what it means to me because I can demonstrate it features, call people, and show pictures. 

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.

It would not be too hard get ride of two more items because I do not believe in being too attach to material items. I would keep my bible because it is a staple in my life and would guide my family and I through such hardship. 

This was an interesting challenge because it was hard for me to find things that I have a strong emotional attachment to. I discovered that I am not materialistic and do not make emotional connections with objects but rather people. I would have a hard time being away from family members outside my immediate family and friends. I never knew how much I utlize Facebook to illustrate all the important aspects of my life. I do not know how I would be able to effectively communicate all the things that I value and hold dear to my heart. This was an activity that I will be thinking about for a long time. 

How would you respond?

When I Think of Research...

First, I would like to thank each one of my colleagues who have provided their thoughtful and helpful posts on my blog and the blogs of others. We have truly formed collaborative team that support and challenge each other.

When I think about research, I think about how it has helped to shape our understanding of the human species. Research helps us explain common phenomenon and makes connections (Mac Naughton, 2010). Through the course of this class, I have developed an understanding for the research design process and was able to practice these step through the completion of my research simulation. The process requires researchers to considered their research topic through redefining their question, deciding if the research requires a hypotheses, selecting a research method, designing the research, reviewing it to ensure that all ethical considerations have been met, conducting the research, analyze and review (Mac Naughton, 2010). This was important for me to understand so that when I read research I will have a basic understanding of the process the researchers had to take to conduct the study.

Before taking this class I was unclear on how to conduct research or why it was even done. Now I understand that conducting research is a very natural process that we as humans do everyday without even thinking about it. I was able to reflect back on my experiences as a teacher and identify where I have conducted research unknowingly. Know I can continue to use this natural form of research in my classroom but know I can analyze the data collected with more purpose. This will help develop curriculum, plan activities, and individual academic plans for my students.  

Some of the challenges I faced during this course, was understanding the terminology in the text, Doing Early Childhood Research, to over come this I had to use other articles and information from website to help me understand the meaning of a few words. I even reached out to Dr. Carol Todd who helped me address several misconnections I had developed. Taking these steps help me to build understanding of very complex topics.

Reference

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010).  Equity and research

Design.  Doing early childhood research (2nd ed.) (Pp. 177-191). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

The website that I decided to explore was the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php) because I was able to find a lot of research papers on current topic and issues concerning early childhood development in Sub-Saharan Africa. Some of the research topics include integrated early childhood development, community resources, parental involvement, quality programing, and policy and programming. The website have research articles that were published in different parts of Africa ranging from places like Ghana, Malawi, Nigeria, and Zambia to name a few. 

One of the most surprising research articles I discovered was about the impact father have on the early childhood programs in Nigeria. "In an article titled “Community Mobilization for Sustainable Living", Hua and Johnson (1996) reported that very few fathers participate in most of the Early Childhood Development (ECD) programs being implemented in Nigeria" (Hua, 2004) (pg.1). In the article they discovered that there were several factors that contributed to reason why father participation rates were low in early childhood programs such as gender roles and cultural expectations.  The research article revealed that father participation in early childhood programs is linked to early childhood development performance.

Another thing that captured my attention was the Generative Curriculum Approach which is an initiative adopted by the ECDVU which includes: focus-leaner approach, an ecological approach, a capacity building approach, co-constructive approach, multicultural approach, cohort approach, and a historical approach (http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/generative.php). I found that the concepts in the Generative Curriculum Approach have many similar qualities to issues and trends in the United States. Some of the tends include child-centered curriculum, parent partnership, corporate investment, collaboration, and government reform.

Check out the video to get an inside view of some of the challenges that the ECDVU has to address in the area of early childhood development.