A hope I have when working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to understand the real life experience of the families and children I want to teach.
One goal I would like to set for childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to increase awareness of workplace diversity, but also to develop and enhance skills among early childhood professionals to help us communicate more profoundly in the future. Differences in race, sexual orientation, education and work experience can cause tremendous damage. Although diversity training cannot all together change individuals’ beliefs, it has the ability to increase awareness, impart knowledge and educate educators further on how to accept differences among fellow employees.
I have enjoyed my time here and I appreciate having had the opportunity to work with all of you. Thank you for the support, guidance, and encouragement each one of you has given me. I am looking forward to this new challenge we are getting ready to embark on, as they say the journey continues, I will see you on the other side. Until then be blessed.
Tree of love
This was a gift given to me on my last day of student teaching in Leesburg, Ga by the students and my master teacher in May of 2010. I treasure this gift because it reminds me of the passion and the ambition they felt for me.
Saturday, August 20, 2011
Friday, August 12, 2011
Welcoming Families From Around the World
Barbados
Capital: Bridgetown
Population: 279,254 (since July 2005)
Location: Caribbean, island in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela
Become aware of my own cultural background.
Think about it in terms of my family values, beliefs, customs, and culture and how it has influence my attitude and behavior. Understanding my own culture is important because of the tendency to regard my own cultural group as the center of everything and the standard to which all others are compared.
Become convinced that just because someone else’s customs and beliefs are different from mine, that there are no right or wrong cultural beliefs.
All beliefs and customs can be correct in the culture in which it occurs.
Establish personalized contact with individuals and their families.
Most people would like to believe that they are a “name, not a number.” Contacting a person or calling their telephone shows that you care than a letter or a form found in a mailbox.
Learn more about the people that I serve.
Gaining and accessing information from community supports, such as churches and ethnic organizations is a great way to start building and maintaining a cultural network.
Accommodate the needs of individuals and their families.
I will always keep in mind work schedules, transportation needs, religious or cultural holidays and child care arrangements when scheduling meetings, visits, etc to meet the needs of the family.
The culture in which a person lives impacts their attitudes, thoughts, feelings and actions, whether they have a developmental disability or not. Being able to bridge the gap between our own cultural background and the cultural background of the people we serve will: strengthen, support, and facilitate our role in assisting people as they plan their preferred future. There are many benefits in being culturally responsive. Among the benefits is the ability to:
Foster more understanding of the person and how the person operates, feels, and the ways in which they live their life, let people know they are thought of as individuals, as human beings,
Effectively communicate culturally sensitive choices and their consequences and be aware of many possibilities and respond appropriately.
The sum of these positive benefits is the ability to be responsive to the needs of individuals and their families as they make choices and plans, which often are based on a framework influenced by their cultural background.
Capital: Bridgetown
Population: 279,254 (since July 2005)
Location: Caribbean, island in the North Atlantic Ocean, northeast of Venezuela
Become aware of my own cultural background.
Think about it in terms of my family values, beliefs, customs, and culture and how it has influence my attitude and behavior. Understanding my own culture is important because of the tendency to regard my own cultural group as the center of everything and the standard to which all others are compared.
Become convinced that just because someone else’s customs and beliefs are different from mine, that there are no right or wrong cultural beliefs.
All beliefs and customs can be correct in the culture in which it occurs.
Establish personalized contact with individuals and their families.
Most people would like to believe that they are a “name, not a number.” Contacting a person or calling their telephone shows that you care than a letter or a form found in a mailbox.
Learn more about the people that I serve.
Gaining and accessing information from community supports, such as churches and ethnic organizations is a great way to start building and maintaining a cultural network.
Accommodate the needs of individuals and their families.
I will always keep in mind work schedules, transportation needs, religious or cultural holidays and child care arrangements when scheduling meetings, visits, etc to meet the needs of the family.
The culture in which a person lives impacts their attitudes, thoughts, feelings and actions, whether they have a developmental disability or not. Being able to bridge the gap between our own cultural background and the cultural background of the people we serve will: strengthen, support, and facilitate our role in assisting people as they plan their preferred future. There are many benefits in being culturally responsive. Among the benefits is the ability to:
Foster more understanding of the person and how the person operates, feels, and the ways in which they live their life, let people know they are thought of as individuals, as human beings,
Effectively communicate culturally sensitive choices and their consequences and be aware of many possibilities and respond appropriately.
The sum of these positive benefits is the ability to be responsive to the needs of individuals and their families as they make choices and plans, which often are based on a framework influenced by their cultural background.
Saturday, August 6, 2011
Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
An example of microaggression, I dealt with when I was a child, was the fact that I was singled out. I had a friend, who I thought was my friend, but actually wasn’t. When it came to the two of us laughing and talking everything was fine, until she started hanging out with her other friends and completely forgot about me. While being in her presence, her friends would laugh at me, call me names and pick on me and all she would do is laugh. At times I defended myself, by talking about them in front of them as well as finding ways to make them angry as well as her. Once her friends started disappearing, she re-entered the stage of being my friend. Being called poor, trashy, dirty, calling my mom names, because she wore a wig hurt me. As time progressed, I ignored their comments as well as the girl who I thought was my friend that never was. The next school year, became better for me. They realized that I was a person, who cared less about what they thought. It took a while for me to understand, that they pick on people who are less than them (their lifestyle) but not better than them. Sure we moved into a better house, with better clothes, and my attitude was the same, except I ignored them completely, I made myself stronger.
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