Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this weeks blog assignment, I am to imagine the following scenario: You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice...a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. I receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you 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 origins. 

I will assume that my new family will be coming from Japan.

At least five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

1. I will conduct a Google search of the family country of origin. This is for me to get a better  understanding of the background of their culture, their foods, music, traditions, and family orientation. This will help me to become familiar with some of the expectations of this culture. 
2. Upon meeting this family for the first time, I will be very welcoming by making them feel accepting, and comfortable in coming to a new environment. I will have information available for them concerning our school, which will include the staff, and the curriculum.
3. I will have a family available that is from the  same country as they are. This will help in making the family not feel not as uncomfortable as they would if their was no one else that could relate to. After work we would all meet up to tour the town, and get familiar with some of the shopping centers, and other attractions.
4. I will try hard to learn some of the language in order to communicate effectively with the family. I will let them know that I am glad and happy to have them as part of our country for a little while.
5. I will plan a event for other parents and their families to meet and greet this family. Welcoming families is a big part of being diversity. This event will be a big and huge event in order to prepare for other families who may enter our country; making them feel that they are a part of our society will have a big impact. They will feel very welcome.

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

I hope these preparations will benefit both me and the family by me preparing and gathering information and showing them in many ways that I am glad to meet them, and that they are very welcome in our country and our school setting. I hope that they will feel that any time they enter my classroom they will not experience any biases, prejudice, and will not be discriminated against. They will know they are valued, and accepted. My gesture of having another family from their culture will show them that I care about their well-beings and their child's well-being. All of these things will be helpful to me as well as the family from Japan.

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

A memory of an incident that I experienced bias, prejudice, and oppression happen about 4 years ago when I worked in pre-kindergarten. During this time president Obama was running for election. This made a lot of people mad, sad, and just racist's. This is what happen: We had to always sign in on the sign-in sheet on a counter in the office. There was sheet that had all of the republican candidates listed, and the message written on it was these are the people you need to vote for. It did not just stop there, one kindergarten teacher was so upset about president Obama running that her daily functioning was off target. She stopped speaking, she treated all blacks with disrespect, including the children in her class. This was really a bad time for her, and she did not try to hide how she felt.

The specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression diminish equity by: one letting the incident of the paper of who to vote for be put on the sign-in-counter. This was the responsibility of the secretary to remove it once it happen, but she just brushed it off. Two, the teacher that showed her racism should have been spoken to by the supervisor, since everyone knew how she felt. She was very verbal, saying things like we have to do something, we can't let this happen, just right out disrespectful. This incident brought up for me that racism is still here, maybe not in a greater form, but some people will never change, it is not because they don not know how, some just refuse to like or get to know other's of different races. I feel that we both should have to make  changes: the kindergarten  teacher in her negative feelings about black's ,and myself for maybe not understanding her feelings and what she may have experienced to bring out these negative feelings. I can recall at the beginning of this class when viewing the web video, Playing for Change: "War/no more trouble, the ending said we just need peace, and this is what we all need in order to live together in society.

Reference
Playing for change: "War/No More Trouble" ( Laureate Education Inc,2011). Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fgWFxFg7-GU&feature=BF&list=ML4oVf-d DwKA-bV3PQwJ5xcpVdi7B-TPk&index=3

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One example of a microaggression which happen that I detected happen on Tuesday night during one of our Women of Grace Ministry meetings. At the end of each meeting we have two ladies that will do the departing prayer for the night. This one lady who did the prayer seems to always be unhappy and mean every time we meet. So, to make a long story short; we all stood up and gathered hand. She began to pray. During one of her statements she said " Lord I just ask you to let our "boys be boys". This really made me sad. One of the ladies in our ministry once told me a story about her son experiencing a situation. So I know if I felt bad, so did she. I was automatically tuned out from her prayer. Some people just need to watch what they say, whether it is intentional or unintentionally.

I observation experience this week has taught me a lot. For one thing don not judge anybody. Two learn not to label or give stereotypes to anyone. And three, try not to form any bias or prejudice against anybody. My motto is treat others the way we want to be treated. Believing in this I feel will help in making our lives easier in learning to get along and work together.    

                        Perspectives on Diversity and Culture


This weeks blog assignment asked us to call, write to , or talk to at least three friends, family members, acquaintances, and/or colleagues. Include at least one person who believe in some ways culturally different from you ( a different gender, race, class, religion, abilities, age, etc.).

Friend- White- American Female 

What is your definition of culture? I think culture has to do with traditions based on one's beliefs and morals.

What is your definition of diversity? Diversity are beliefs and traditions that may be a little different or add to our culture. Like we have an "American" culture, which is the basic foundation. Diversity creates uniqueness but all have basic beliefs....... these are my thoughts.

Family Member- African -American Female

What is your definition of Culture? Culture is more focused on your roots and where you come from. For example, we as African American's are a culture. People within a culture tend to believe in the same things and practice pretty much the same practices.

What is your definition of diversity? Diversity, in my opinion is how we are all different. There are so many different cultures/ races in the world today, but we all remain different. Whether it's our religious beliefs of food eaten, clothes worn, etc., it's all about differences. This is where the two words cultural diversity comes together. We learn of differences within particular groups/races when we speak of cultural diversity.

Colleague- African-American Special Education teacher

What is your definition of Culture? Culture is a groups way of life. Culture would be characteristics and the way a group speak of people, their religion, morals and thinking.

What is your definition of diversity? Diversity is being different.

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

When early childhood educators think about culture, they think about the surface things that are easy to see, taste, and define ( Derman-Sparks& Edwards, 2010). The aspects that we have studied over the last three weeks that were include in most of the answers were traditions, beliefs, and the food we eat. But I have learned that culture is more than the color of your skin, but also what is referred to as "deep culture", which includes tradition, beliefs, values we use in our families. 

Which aspects have been omitted- and what are some examples of such omission.

Over the last three weeks our readings and the video segments discussed many aspects of culture, for example, family culture, surface culture, social identity, power within cultures. All answers were basically how they perceive culture and diversity to mean to them. There was no mention as to help children to understand that there are differences in people from different cultures as well as their are some similarities.

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

I have learned and absorb so much knowledge and information about culture and diversity over these three weeks of this course. I am quite sure I will learn more information that as an professional in the field of early childhood the knowledge that I obtain concerning different cultures in which people belong, and diversity will help me in the classroom with all of my students who have different backgrounds other than mine.

Reference
Course media: Culture and Diversity (2011). Laureate Inc.
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young
     children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.

My Family Culture

Black American families have so many values, beliefs and ways of doing things within their culture. Most families within this culture are so close that if a major catastrophe was to take over the country, I am sure that this would be very devastating for me especially of having to leave my family members.  On top of having to leave my family, I am told that I could only take one change of clothing, and three items that I hold dear and that represent my family culture.  It would be so hard just to choose three items, but they would be My family album which contains all of the happy times together, My Bible, which will help me to keep my faith, and a blanket, which means so much to me.

                  A description of the three items I would choose

The first item, my family album. In black families there is a strong family and kinship bond. We also have a very supportive system in which we try to help each other through the good and bad times in life. Taking this item with me will help in maintaining this support through this terrible ordeal . My bible which I hold so dear and it is the one piece of reliable source that I feel will help me to get through  the times of missing my family. The last item is a red and green blanket that was given to me. The smell of my family will help in keeping me with that special touch and feeling that they are there with me in spirit, but not in body.

            How would I explain to others what each of these items mean to me.

  I would explain that these items are very special to me, because  having these items will help to make it through these times of being away from my family. The family album will keep my memory intact of those who are so dear and mean so much to me. It would represent an amazing testament of  my family history from generation to generation. The things we did together, our behaviors, our beliefs, and our values  that were part of our culture is represented ( Louise Dermman-Sparks,2011). 

My Bible, which  contains all births and dates of special events. We have a strong religious orientation, and we also as a culture believe that our faith is what keeps us strong through hard and trying times. 

My green and red blanket, is a very special piece. It has been in my family for 20 years. It was given to me by a special friend. Every member of my family has in some sort of way used it to cover themselves when they visit. This blanket is a security piece for me, to keep me warm and familiar with all of my family, through the smell and touch of having it with me.

My feelings if, upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one personal item and give up the other two items.

WOW! This would have a very devastating effect. But I also have to keep in mind of others feelings as well. I would have to keep those items that I leave behind as part of memory and still find a way to keep them near and dear to my heart. But, I would have to keep my Bible. As I stated black families as a part of tradition, and beliefs, have a strong religious orientation.  Also my Bible contains a lot of memories that are written down from special events and happy times. I feel this would help me to stay strong until I can get back to my family.

Any insights, I gained about my self, my family culture, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise

In different cultures different groups hold on to different things because of their cultural backgrounds. This exercise has been some what of an eye opener for me, What if this really happens in society? How can I deal with this type of situation? We have to be aware of and respect for differences in others as well as a respect for their cultures; having a understanding of their values, beliefs, traditions, norms is an important component of this understanding. However, when it comes to who we are as a family and how we define family there are many forms in each culture,  family members are bound by ties of blood, marriage, adoption, or by any sexually expressive relationship (Harris, 2008). They may live together or not, the important point is when that bond is broken by any means, it will leave a profound effect.

Resources
Laureate Education (2011). " Family Cultures: Dynamic Interactions"

Harris, S.R. ( 2008). What is Family Diversity? Objective and Interpretive 
     Approaches. Journal of Family Issues. Retrieved from http://jfi.sagepub.com/

                   

                  When I Think of Research

                                  Research papers are best when they focus
                                  on a narrow topic, such as a certain aspect of
                                   the life cycle of a specific type of fish......


     Research is a process and researchers need to go through various steps if we want our research to be ethical, meaningful, and informative. Research is a tool and researchers learning to use those tools will be able to answer the questions or question they set out to address, in order to inform others of what they have found.

    Grieshaber (2010) in her article, Equity and research design in my opinion gives the term research great meaning. She states that research is systematic investigation of a topic or issue that is culturally specific and which seeks information and or solutions (2010).

My ideas  about the nature of doing research are:

Before taking this course I never thought or envisioned doing research of any kind. I never thought that it would entail so much information to be collected or to follow so many steps.  But since taking this course I have came to the understanding that any one can do research studies. I think research on children is very beneficial to the early childhood field. As a researcher we just have to keep in mind all the reasons why we are studying children and how our study will help improve circumstances for the children we are investigating. As Mac Naughton, 2010, states individuals affected by research can do research, and should do research. However, researchers must consider that knowledgeable information that can benefit society at large.

When planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood I have learned a great  amount of information. Ethics was what really interested me most. The risk equation involved, the greater the benefits to be gained from research, the greater the more risks are acceptable, and the greater the risks the more questions asked.

The challenges I encountered when I first starting my research process were; I was very undecided about my specific topic, and conducting the literature review. I went back and forth, before I finally decided on the topic of Culture.

 In week seven, searching for the literature to support my hypothesis was very tiresome, and time consuming, and very frustrating, but I think the reward for all the work will be rewarding in the end. I will be able to do research by following all of the necessary steps. Some of the literature was hard for me to understand, and I did not understand whether it would fit my research questions or better yet my topic of interest. But, if I did not gain any thing else, I  realized that I can do research.

Some of my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of taking this course are:

This course allows for critical reflections due to my own experiences when conducting research, as well as the opportunity to share in the critical reflections of the participants under study. As a early childhood professional my self, I understand that my views are totally different from what I believed, meaning that what I know now about research today as compared to what I did not know before taking this class will benefit me greatly. Taking stock of where we are today and what the future holds is a reflection of how important research is in order to gain a better understanding of different phenomenon's. We now can see things with a new insight and vision.

 To all my professional colleagues, I thank you for helping me on this research journey, by sharing your ideas, insights, and thoughts in our discussions. Thanks for your support and encouragement, I can say we are all on our way to doing great research involving our children and their families.

Resource:
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.

Blog Assignment: Research Around the World

Early Childhood Australia: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Some of the current international topics I found on this website:
Belonging, Being and Becoming
School readiness and children's transitions
Child health and childhood obesity
Sustainability, global warming and climate change.

This website was so informational. It contain so much I did not know where to start. I especially liked their mission statement:

Mission Statement: Early childhood Australia will advocate to ensure quality, social justice and equity in all issues relating to the education and care of children from birth to 8 years.

There were so many ideas I gained . There is a section that provides what's new on the Early childhood Australia website. This provides month by month news for every month. You can receive a free newsletter on the latest topic in education. As early childhood subscribers you can join their mailing list, which I think I will and also sign up for the free e-newsletter.

Other noteworthy information I found was:
The NAEYC position statement, there is an open access and web directory which we can use. Three is a featured product section which is a book titled; The Little Red Yellow Black book, this book can be purchased on line.

This website I will adding to my resource list for future reference. I hope for others in my class to visit this website there is so much research information available for our use. I think information and learning to research and gain information from around the world will help me to research for information for my research project, just by providing me with the knowledge that there is so much out there.