Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have for working with children and families is that I can make a difference for those I work with. That I can teach them and spread the knowledge I have. I want parents and their families to feel comfortable and that they are in an open environment that is interested in learning about how they are. I want those I work with to also make families feel this way.

One goal I have is that people gain awareness about diversity, equity and social justices, especially in the early childhood field. I do not think that everyone in the field are aware of how important being aware of diversity, equity, and social justices are in the field. We impact children so much and if we want to make a change we need to educate the young and be advocates for them. We need to educate our field so that we can guide children to the best of our abilities.

I would like to thank all my colleagues I have learned so much from all of you from sharing what you have learned and your personal stories. I learn from all of you. I wish you the best in your studies and hope to continuing having classes with you all and continuing to learn together!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Brunei is the country that my new family has emigrated from.

In order to be culturally responsive towards my new family I will:

-Learn about signs of respect that children are taught.

-Learn about if their are any family traditions and roles that are different then my own.

-I will learn about the language of the child and their family if it is different then English so that I can use some of the language around the classroom to keep the child’s culture alive. 

-I will learn about food from the country and if any kind of food goes against religious beliefs and if it is possible to incorporate anything new into the menus.

-I will learn about any Holidays of that country and use them as a way to educate the rest of the class about the new child’s culture.

I hope that these preparations will help the family feel more comfortable and accepted. I want them to feel wanted so that we can creates bonds with them and help their child to learn and grow, especially during the transition.   

I also would look forward from learning from this experience not only about a new country and a new culture but helping me to be more culturally diverse so that I can better educate others. I will take my knowledge from the experience and share it with others to help them to learn more.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

This week I attended a star service training. At my training were different people in different departments of Fleet and Family Services for the Department of the Navy and Air-force. One gentleman was talking about how he receives good service from Filipino. He continued by saying they will hold clothes for him as he shops and go above and beyond that he fills he needs to tip them. He said that they still think they need to serve everyone. Well this was taken many different ways by many different people in my class. 

This incident diminished equity because he was not seeing people as equals he was pointing out differences and talking as if he was better then a different race. He was also stereotyping a whole race because of the biases he had.

This incident made me feel uncomfortable and all I could think of was this class. I also had one of my employees from my center with me who is Filipino and I could tell she was mad because of the comment and that made me feel sympathy for her and that, that man’s comment should have never been said.

The man who spoke could have given the example without generalizing and putting down an entire race. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One form of Microaggression that I have witnessed was when two of my coworkers were discusses another coworker at work last week. 

Coworker 1: Ms. Tina told me I was gaining weight today.

Coworker 2: What? Why would she think that was ok to say?

Coworker 1: You know how those Philippine women think.

Coworker 2: I’m Philippine

Coworker 1: Well not you act like you are from here.

Coworker 2: I am from here.

Coworker 1: I’m sorry you know what I meant.

The conversation ended when coworker 2 knotted her head, smiled and turned around to work on her computer. 

When coworker 1 brought up the scenario at first I understood what she was talking about I had a similar situation with that coworker and agreed with coworker 2 when she said “What? Why would she think that was ok to say?” But once coworker number 1 brought up race I felt uncomfortable and just kept feeling more uncomfortable as the situation went on. I also felt really bad for coworker 2 because unintentionally coworker 1 used a microinvalidation about her culture and I could tell she felt hurt. 

This week, observing other I can see that discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people still exist. Dr. Sue said in the video that racism is was taking a new form and unfortunately I would have to agree with him. I see it through microinsults and microinvalidations.

Resources:

“Microaggressions in Everyday Life” 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

INTERVIEWS:

Jon:

Culture: “Culture is a persons ethnic history and background.”

Diversity: “Diversity is differences with an individual.”

Maggie:

Culture: “Culture is one’s way of life that characterizes people into a certain culture. Culture may be someone’s religion, beliefs, practices, or way of thinking.”

Diversity: “Diversity includes different beliefs, cultures, religions, ethnicities, or anything that makes people different from one another.”

Amos:

Culture: “Culture is the way different groups of people practice customs that dictate or govern their daily lives.”

Diversity: “Diversity is the differences that exist among human beings and they range from religion, color, cultural beliefs and practices, socio economic status, education and nationality.” 

Lani:

Culture: “Culture is how someone was raised. Their traditions, practices, beliefs, religion, and ways they handle situations.

Diversity: “Diversity is a combination of different cultural groups.”

Matthew:

Culture: “A person or peoples beliefs, traditions, and norms. Including language, religion, foods, laws, etc.

Diversity: “Being mixed with a lot of variety in one area or group.”

Stefanie:

Culture: “Culture is part of one’s identity. A person’s culture can be their peer group, religion, political view, customs, etc. Culture helps people identify where they fit into the world.”

Diversity: “Diversity is the array of differences amongst people, race, religion, age, etc.”

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?

Many of the people I interviewed definitions of culture go along with what I have learned in this class. Culture is complex and many elements make up a persons culture. Some of them also saw that diversity and culture go hand and hand.

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

Some of the people I interviewed saw diversity as mixture of races and or cultures. This has not been included in our class.

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

Interviewing others I see that the topics are difficult for people to answer and that some of them almost felt uncomfortable. I think these are important topics that need to be addressed. Culture and diversity are things to embrace. 

My Family Culture

My three items that I would bring with me to the new country would be:

1. Some form of music, hopefully I would have a plug in and would bring my ipod. I would tell others that music is not only relaxing and comforting to me but does remind me of my family. My older sisters and I have our certain songs that every time we hear them we call each other and sing them. When we are all together we sing and dance for fun. Its essential that I have some form of music to listen to. 
2. The second thing I would bring is a blanket that my great aunt made me. I take it everywhere with me and everyone in my family has one and mine is as special to me as the rest of my families ones are to them.
3. The third item would be a notebook. It would be a place to write my thoughts, sketch, etc. I come from a very artistic family. My sisters and I all draw and paint. Our parents house is only decorated with our artwork. I notebook would be a place for me to express myself and makes me think my family. 

If I was told I could only have one of my items I would be ok. I would select to bring my blanket. I can find other things to draw on and new forms of music in the country. 

This exercise has shown me that I am not very connect to any material things. It was difficult for me to come up with a list of three items. I do not have family heirlooms other then my blanket. I have moved around a lot in the passed six years that I have disconnected myself from items. Whats important to me is who I am with and how I spend my time. Its the things I do that trigger memories and are my traditions. 

When I Think of Research...

This class has greatly broadened my knowledge of research. I had a very brief understanding of what research was prior to this class and now I feel confident in my skills and abilities to become a beginner researcher. Terms were made clearer for me, I learned how to read a research study, and I now know the in’s and out’s of how to conduct research.

Prior to this class doing research for me was to look at others research and evaluating it, I had not really thought about conducting my own research or the steps I would take to do so.

This class has taught me where to begin when doing research, it has broken down a complex subject to a manageable task.

Some challenges I encountered were misunderstanding things when they were first presented to me (some of the terms and steps), using the book was a big help, along with the articles on variables and doing quantitative research. 

I have always thought of myself as an early childhood professional, this class however has helped me to grow as an early childhood professional and has helped me to relate to others and understand others better. This class has been very informative and helpful.