Blog Assignment: Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

     Culture/Diversity

When I began my journey of asking people about their definitions of culture and diversity I decided that I would ask a couple co workers and a male friend of mind. One person is Hispanic another African American and the last is an African American Male.

 When I asked my coworker whom is Hispanic her Definition of Culture she replied, “ Values that come from your own family, because each family comes from their own culture. When I asked her about Diversity she replied, “Diversity is when you are different from other people.

When I asked my Coworker is a Female African American woman what her definition of culture is she replied, “Culture is the beliefs or characteristics of a particular group. When I asked her what her definition of Diversity is she replied, “It is being different.”

When I asked my male friend his definition of Culture he replied, “Culture is the combination of the environment you were brought up in and the people you were surrounded by. He explained that Diversity is, “anything that separates people from race, to religion, to social status.

After looking at each person response to their definition of what culture is they all say something about it being related to their own particular families and their environment. After reviewing each person’s definition of Diversity they explain it as being different from other people, but my male friends answer was closet to mind. After everything that I have learned so far this week It seems as if though the answer for the questions are just being looked at from the surface instead of including all people and different categories this is what is being omitted from all of the answers. I learned that culture is respecting diversity and culture of all families.

Since hearing about others people definition of culture it has made me realize how much people do not understand the true important of knowing and understanding what diversity and culture is. Yes I did share some of the same thoughts about culture and diversity and my friends did, but I now understand how important it is for us to respect those cultures of others in order to maintain a welcoming and trust worthy environment

My Family Culture

My Family Culture:

Imagine the following:

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.

 If I were to be faced with something this traumatic happening in my life I would choose to take the following items: a pair of drum sticks, a bible and a Photo album of my family and friends. I would choose these three items because I feel these would be the ones to help me to move on and keep living. The reason I would take a pair of drum sticks is because I am a drummer and I love music. Having my drum stick could help make money in what ever country that I am in. One thing about music is that it is everywhere. I could take anything pots, pans, plastic bottles and make music out of them. To make money I could sing and play whatever creation of a drum set  I come up with. This Could possible allow me to get off my feet. The next thing I said I would take would be a Bible. I was raised in the church and I have learned that God does not put more on you than you can bear. The bible would serve as my sense of spirituality, but having the word will help me to calm me down and to keep me strong through whatever I may be going through. The bible would be what would give me a piece of mind. The final thing that I would take would be a photo album. I would take the album with pictures of my friend and family to help me remember what life was like. It would help me to remember the happy times that I had with the ones that I loved. The picture would be the only thing that would let people know who my family and friends are and where I come from. This would kind of be what would serve as my family history. Being able to have pictures would give me that sense of home and a reason to keep living. If upon arrival I was told that I could only keep one item out of the three that I brought, I think that I would choose the Bible. Having the Bible would keep me on the straight and narrow. The Bible would allow me to keep my faith and to never give up. Even if I am separated from my family I would use the bible to seek understanding and to keep the faith. Even if something were to happen to my family I know that I would get to see them all again in the afterlife. The Bible would help me keep my faith, stay strong, and help see me through all situations.

 Doing this exercise help to realize that culture is deeper than just my own beliefs. I have learned that culture is everywhere around you and you just have to learn to embrace it. Having these scenarios helped to realize how much of my family culture and values are instilled in me.  My family has always taught me that regardless of what you are going through you always keep God first. When thinking about this scenario it made me realize why it is so important to try to understand the different cultures inside of the classroom. You never know how how that person that is not from your culture feels and if you are every put into this situation you would you would end up in a welcoming environment. Understanding culture and diversity will allow you to look at things in a different perspective and learn how to respect and connect with other people. 

Blog Assignment: When I Think of Research...

When I think of Research.......

When I began this journey in this course I thought I had some good prior knowledge, but come to find out there was a lot more that I need to learn.  I hvae gained a lot of Vidal information from taking this course. I learned about the different types of research, I learned what to look for instead of reading everything and trying to figure out what the research is about. I gained a lot of new vocabulary that helped me now to understand the language of research better.

Since I have learned about the research process I am able to relax more when I do research. I am able to go through an article and look for key information that will lead me to the main focus of the research and if what I am reading is legitimate or an appropriate resource. It is a lot easier to manage.

When it comes to planning, designing and conducting research I have learned a lot. The fact that I was able to learn how to do research or do background on the information that I wanted to study it made it easier to weave out the good from the bad resources. Once I had done that it was like the planning for the project was easier. I was bale to go through my topic and formulate what areas I wanted to focus instead of having just a broad topic. It allowed me to take a broad topic think about it, change somethings, add something even change my whole outlook before actually going into and conducting the research. All of these steps presented research to me as being not as complicated as I was making it; i just needed to learn how to better organize information that I was finding and my thoought process as well.

When conducting research I ran into the problem of understanding which type of research best fitted my research question and topic. After going back and review I now think that I should uses a mixed method approach because o f the way I will be obtain my information when conducting  my research (interview, anecdotal notes, direct and indirect observation etc..) I just had a hard time trying to figure out from the text which method of research best fit my topic. To better understand the method that I felt would be best for my topic; it really took me going back and looking and all the comments from our professor and rereading about each design.

This course has allowed me to look at Early Childhood  Professional's as strong minded and talented individuals. There are a number of things that we do as professional and not even realize it. This course has allowed me to see EC professional as being a researcher everyday because when you think about it we are observing and taking notes on our students so that we are able to better assist them. We are so unappreciated for the work we do.

I want to take the time out and thank everyone that has left comments on my page and have given me links to help me better find research on my topic of strategies to use in the classroom to manage behaviors of children with Autism Spectrum Disorder. You all have been so supportive and such a big help through out this course. Thank You all so much, I really appreciate it.

Research Around the World

The Website I chose to review:
Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
                                                       http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
                                                             http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

ECDVU Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) Program

 

 The ECDVC is a program within the university The Early Childhood Development Virtual University.  This program addressing ECD capacity building and leadership development in Africa.  The program uses uses face-to-face and distributed learning methods including: residential seminars, web-based instruction, CD-Rom and print material support, and a 'community of learners' strategy within and among cohort countries. This program wants to improve on the  the quality of life for children and their families in Africa.

 Current Research Topic:

 Some of the current topic that are discussion across Africa are

•  Ghana-Development of an Integrated Early Childhood development training model 

  • Tanzania Building Community Leadership for Quality Sustainability in Madrasa Preschools
  •  Zambia-Assessing the quality of childcare
  • Nigeria-A Guide for Effective School and Parent Collaboration
  •  Tanzania-Improving Multisectoral Cooperation and Coordination in Support of Early Childhood Development Programs
  •  Leadership Skills Training for Administration and Parent Support Training for Caregivers
  •  Malawi-Assessment of Interaction and Stimulation in Single-Mother Low-Income Families 
  • Uganda- Professional Association in support of Child well Being.

  • Policies and Programs in support of childcare for working families

    •  Kenya: Assessing the Influence of Different Early Childhood Development Models On Pre-School Children’s School Readiness 
    • There are more topics that can be found on the website. 

• From exploring through this website it was interesting to find some of the same topics of research being discusses over there like it is in America. It was interesting to see that some of the issues that we are facing such as appropriate curriculum development, leadership skills training, parent involvement and cooperation. It is amazing to seed how some of the same issues carryout across the world. One interesting thing that I found was that this organization is connected to the world bank. I think that it is great that this program allows for  people to get there education on line and then go out and begin work in their own countries within Africa. Not only is this program in Africa it is spread out across the world as far as Canada. This program is striving to better educate people able the importance of Early Childhood education.

Research that benefits Children and Fasmilies---Uplifting Stories

Option 2:
Imagine that you possess the means and the knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field. Imagine further that you are not restricted by the reality of the present. Imagine that your study will make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and/or their families. What topic would you choose? What can you imagine the positive contribution(s) would be?


If I were to Imagine that I was a researcher I would choose the topic of  the effects of parent involvment in their child's education. The positive Contribution that I could imagine would be first the understanding of Eduction in general. The parents would gain the knowledge about why education is so important. Parents will learn that getting an education is the key to not just a child's future, but to everyone's future. Having parents being involved in their child's education will allow first for them to feel comfortable in place that there child is going to school. They will learn that by them being involved it will make the child feel more confident about how they are doing in school; it helps the have positive outcomes in education as the continue through the years, Having involvement from the parents shows the child that they care. Involment also helps with forming positive relations between parents, families and friends. Parents would gain understanding that by being involved in their child's education would prepare them to better assist their child at home with school work. parents would also learn how their involvement could have a positive impact on the development of their child. Through this research parents would have better knowledge about how and why involvement in their child's education is important. If this were to happen I believe that the number of parents being involved in their child's education would increase tremendously. There would also be more volunteering and participation in other school functions from the parents and children as well.

Your Personal Research Journey

My Chosen Topic:
After looking over my Journey thus far as a first year teacher, I decided that I wanted to conduct research in area that am currently having some issues with in my classroom right now. I decided that my topic would be on Managing behaviors of children with Autism.
I really would like to learn more about this topic because I want to be able to help children like this control their behavior and if I am able to aquire more knowledge about it this will also allow me to be able to improve on my classroom management skills. I want to learn more strategies that I can use to help control the different types of behaviors that I am experiencing with children that have Autism. 
I want to learn how to better manage behaviors that are repetitive and attentive. Classmates if you know of any great resources about dealing with behavior of children with Autism please leave me a comment with the site. I would so greatly appreciate it. I am open to taking any advise that you may have to offer.
 Working on the chart is teaching me how to better understand the language that is being used in some of the websites that I have started viewing, It is also helping to better analyze my thoughts in regard to the research that I am trying to conduct.