Welcoming Families From Around the World

My family’s country of origin is Chile.

The five ways in which I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the family is:

·         First I must learn about their dominant language.

·         Create an atmosphere in the classroom that will promote inclusiveness (i.e. post pictures of familiar things in different countries, have a day that we invite families in to share different cultural beliefs, foods etc.)

·         Learn about acceptable practices in the family’s home (i.e. How do they care for their children, what are acceptable eating practices)

·         If the family is not religious or does not have any religious beliefs I will ensure that the lesson include diversity so that when they are unable to participate in a religious celebration other activities will be planned in which they can participate

·         What is your country’s culture in regards to adult child interaction (i.e. is it okay for children to speak with an adult without being prompted, is eye contact acceptable are handshakes and hugs acceptable?)

These preparations will be if benefit because it will first show genuine interest to the family our willingness to learn about them and their cultural practices, it will encourage the students to make the young child feel accepted and it will also develop a strong relationship between the family, school and child which eventually will become a resource.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory of an incident that I witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression was recently with a parent or of our child care center.  This young lady works as a private duty nurse. She visits the homes of seniors that maybe home bound and need around the clock medical attention.  One day when going to work at a team meeting she discovered that her employer had fired all of the African American CNA’s but two of them and rehired all Caucasian’s.  In a staff meeting the supervisor stated that I have heard rumors that I am prejudice.  She started by opening the meeting with a statement that “I am not prejudice.”  While making this statement she was only looking at the two African American ladies in the room.  This was clearly prejudiced.

This specific prejudice in this incident diminishes equity because it clearly discriminated against a specific race.  This also caused the African American ladies to question their abilities to work in this capacity. And they felt threatened.  This sent a negative message and they both put in a two weeks notice to leave their jobs.

This incident made me feel slighted because there are so many prejudices against that occur some intentional and some unintentional against African Americans and females as well.  It also caused me to feel saddened for the young lady because she worked really hard and long hours in school and internships to receive her certificates to work in her chosen field only to experience prejudice in her first weeks of work in the first job after completing her training.

To turn this opportunity into an opportunity for greater equity the supervisor should have provided and explanation to her staff outside of the meeting that validated the African American girls as good workers in this field.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

On this week there was a little girl who attends our center.  She outwardly disobeyed her parent and was disciplined immediately. The staff shrugged their shoulders and made the assumption that the mother would still allow the child to participate in the activities regardless of the unacceptable behavior.  “You know that you people give in and the child is in charge.” During our Summer Program children participate in different field trips and art projects on the next week the children are scheduled to go to the Children’s Museum.  However, the mother called back later to check on the child and stated that “She will not be attending the field trip on next week.” 

This was a microinsult.  Because of the staff member’s experience with that culture they made the assumption that this parent would do the same.  That their children are verbally disciplined but there are no consequences.  When hearing the microaggression I wanted to apologize to the parent and correct the staff member for making such an accusation.

My observation really made me feel like I needed to do something.  Have training with my staff to inform them of what microaggression really are and to encourage them to be more careful when speaking with parents and children because we want them to feel included in our program and not to make statements that would make them feel otherwise.

PERSPECTIVES ON DIVERSITY AND CULTURE

What is culture?

Person #1: Where you come from.

Person #2:  Is your background.

Person #3: The place where you received your upbringing, the things that you do.

What is diversity?

Person #1: Different races.

Person #2: A place or group of people with different ethnic backgrounds.

Person #3: People that may be of the same group but have different ideals.

In reflecting on our reading culture does include ethnicity, reflects on the palce of origin and cultural background of the person’s ancestors (Derman – Sparks, p.56, 2010).

What has been omitted regarding culture the responses appear to be only surface culture and not deep culture.  In regards to diversity it appears that they only view diversity as different ethnic backgrounds.  From our readings diversity also includes how we conduct ourselves, sleeping arrangements in the home etc.

After hearing what others thought about diversity and culture I felt obligated to discuss with them what culture and diversity includes.  In my discussion with the three individuals they really thought their definitions that they had given were solid answers.

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).

MY FAMILY CULTURE

THREE ITEMS I WOULD TAKE:

1.      Holy Bible

2.      Photo Album

3.      Degree

EXPLANATION OF IMPORTANCE:

-          Holy Bible - I am a Christian and my family’s foundation is built on strong Christian values

-          Photo Album: We have a album that has pictures of my family interacting in different events such as weddings, graduations, family cookouts etc.

-          Degree: I obtained this degree on my own at age 40 while being a parent, wife, mother, working a full-time job.  This will make sure that I do not forget how persistent I am and the value of education.

FEELINGS:

If upon arrival I was asked to get rid of two of those items I would get rid of the photo album and degree.  I would be upset but the bible is my foundation.

INSIGHT:

This exercise caused me to really think about what is in important in my life.  In addition, it caused me to really reflect on how an immigrant would feel if there were brought into a culture different from their own.  I questioned “What could I do as an educator to help them feel included?”  “How would I be able to aid them in their transition to a different culture?”  “How could I be proactive and not bias?”

WHEN I THINK OF RESEARCH...

1. What insights have you gained about research from taking this course? After taking this course I have a greater understanding of what research entails.  There are so many components of research or things to consider when conducting research such as: what to look for when you are using electronic resources i.e. web to ensure that the researcher is valid, who your audience will be, how will your research be conducted, will the research require consent from a parent or guardian or child, how would you ensure that your research is valid.  These are just a few of things that I have learned from this course.
2. In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed? Well, initially I knew that research required a lot of planning, but I really had no idea of how much planning.
3. What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn? I learn that each of these components is very important to the success of the research.
4. What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them? Some of the challenges for me came from narrowing down the topic so that the research conducted would be specific.  The way that I corrected this challenge was actually changing the question several times and then seeking the help of the professor.
5. What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course? This course only validated for me how important the early childhood profession is to the education of young children.

RESEARCH AROUND THE WORLD

I viewed the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) website: http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

Some of the current international research topics that I found to be very interesting were:

1. Improving the Quality of Childcare Through Parenting Enrichment and Training of Trainers: The Eritrean Model by Abeba Habtom of Eritrea, Africa – This is really interesting because this topic demonstrates that in other countries there is a need to improve quality.  Here in Virginia our center participates in Virginia Star Quality Initiative which is a program that provides mentors to early childhood centers and family day homes that would like to improve the quality of care they provide to children and their families.  During our time in this program we have renovated our center, teachers have achieved their CDA (Child Development Associate) from the Council for Professional Recognition in Washington, DC and a few are enrolled in a Community College to achieve their Associates degree in the early childhood field.
2. Involving Fathers in Early Childhood Care and Development by Rosemary Hua of Nigeria, Africa  -  In my view when partnering or developing relationships with parents of preschool children the majority of the time it is the mother that develops and maintains the relationship.  It is very rare to see a male involved with preschool education.
3. Curriculum Development Using Community Resources by Wunesh Woldeselassie Bairu of Eritrea, Africa – This topic was also interesting because curriculums and how they are executed in education are so important.  As professionals learn more and more about young children opportunities are presented to improve current curriculums.

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website? Some of the information that was interesting is the fact that their studies are similar to the needs that are here in the United States: curriculum development, parent involvement and quality programs.

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website? The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) commitment is great.  “The ECDVU is committed to improving the quality of life for children and their families in Africa. The program seeks to accomplish this through working, on a sustained basis, with ECD leaders from across the continent” (ECDVU, 2007).

References

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) , 2007. Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/about.php