Welcoming Families From Around the World

If I had to welcome in a new family into my classroom program, I would want to make sure that they feel welcomed and comfortable. I would want them to have the sense that we care about them and their child and that I am trying to to learn more about their cultural background.

The country that my Family would be coming from is Haiti:

 Hatti is a country that staggering poverty, unemployment, and social and economic inequities. It is also a country where women and children are prone to violence

(IRC, 2013). I think that it is important that seek out information such as religion and political standpoints in order to better prepare myself for the type of approach that I would need to take when meeting the family.  In order to prepare myself to be culturally responsive to this family I would fist try to find out what language do that speak; I would try to learn a few words to show that I am trying to make them feel comfortable such as, hello, how are you?, Goodbye. In order to make my environment welcoming I would find some books, pictures and possible toys that would be familiar to the child and and their family. I think it would be defiantly important for me to ask questions that would help me to understand the family structure. I would ask questions to learn about their favorite types of food, holidays that may or may not celebrate and learn about their music and traditional style of dress.

I believe learning some information about the country and then asking questions to the family would allow me to better understand them as a family. I think this would allow for an open line of communication. By making them feel comfortable from the beginning and show them that I care about them and their child it would allow for a very open relationship.

 

these would be some of the books that I would share with my class to inform them about the country of Haiti and to learn about their culture and it inform them of recent current events.

I would add traditional dress into my home-living center.

Traditional toy "Kendama Ball"

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

One personal experiences I would like to share actually happened on the last day of 2012. Myself and a friend were leaving from a bar, nether of us had anything alcoholic to drink. We went just to spend time with some friends. As we got in our cars and were leaving we noticed that a  black car was following us. After a few minutes has passed by the car ended up being a police officer. He put on his lights and pulled us over. My friend was driving so when he came to the window he was like I'm pulling you for not making a complete stop at the stop sign. Then as my friend was talking to the officer and was like No I made a complete stop because there were cars coming. At this time another cop comes along and is shinning a light all through the car. Both cops were white. The cop that was talking to my friend was like I smell alcohol on your breath. At that time we both were like we weren't even drinking. The cop told us to be quite and were lying. The next think I know the cops pull both of us out the car very violently, throws us up against the car and cuffs us. Then they searched our car for no reason. Once they did not find anything in the car they ran both our license and still nothing. Then they gave us both breathalyzers test. They let me go but would not let my friend go. They tried to say she blew way over the drinking limit. So I said to the cop sir we were not drinking that's not possible. He told me to shut up Nigger and mind your business. The ended up taking my friend down to the police station I followed behind. When they take her to the back the ended up letting her go. She told me that the cops boss gave her the test again and it blew zero because she had not been drinking. The boss took the tester from the cop that brought her in and come to find out the thing was broken and the cop new it. The cop proceeds to say I want to make the last arrest of 2012 and the first arrest of 2013. In my mind I was like really this is some BS.  

In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?
 This oppression/biases of race and being pulled over just because of the color of our skin just made it a know fact that prejudice is alive and because of the color of our skin we were considered to have done something bad or was doing something bad. It shoots down the whole consideration of equity. Because we were black and driving a nice car an assumption was made that we must be up to not good.

 What feelings did this incident bring up for you?
This incident brought up a lot of different feeling and emotions. I Really gained the mentality of that you can trust no cop. It gives you the image that the cops are just as bad as any criminal.  First feeling we both felt when getting pulled over is scared. We live in an area where racism is very strongly alive. We were taught that if we get pulled by cops in this city to just remain calm and try to come at peace with the office. As the incident went on I felt confusion because I knew we had not been drinking. Then I felt Angry and discriminated against. I felt belittled epically when I was drug out the car for not reason. Once getting to the station and learning what I had learned I was really angry and felt like we were pulled just because the cop was trying to impress his boss.


What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

 To turn this incident into greater equity it would take a lot of work. I say this because it would have to start at home because prejudice is taught. Next law enforcement needs to better inform their employees about Social justice, Equity, Prejudice and Diversity. I feel if a Cop is expected of doing these acts or have committed theses acts then drastic measures should be taken. Screening of employees should be taken into place when the job is offered. In order for their to be grater equity there has to be a way to better inform people about culture and diversity. Although this will be a great task cause hatted and biases are mainly taught.

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Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions happens when  insulting or  depriving messages, usually unintentional,  are communicated verbally,  creating feelings of uncertainty, inferiority or marginalization.Microaggression can effect a person both positively and negatively and they can cover a broad range of topics from, race, culture, age gender etc...

Due to inclement weather this week I have not been out of the house. The experience I will share with you happened about a week ago during one of my staff meetings. We were in a workshop for beginning teachers. As an icebreaker we had to introduce ourselves to one another, tell what grade-level we were and what college we attended. After we did that we continued to talk about classroom management and what information we had obtained from our perspective colleges. Most of the teachers in the room had went to East Carolina University which is a very popular college in North Carolina. I on the other hand had attended Elizabeth City State University which is a Historically Black college in North Carolina. The director of the meeting was talking where we obtained our degrees from and she made a statement along the lines of this, "well most of us went to an ivy league college where we were taught different strategies for managing classroom management while others of us went to a Unknown low performing school which probably did not have the accurate resources to provide a substantial education. At that point I felt some type of way about her statement because she had basically said going to an HBCU (historically black college) meant that I did not receive a quality education. The director had made a statement that I think was to be intentional and she degraded a race at the sometime.  The reaction in the room were mixed meaning that others had picked up on the statement as well.

After being the target of the microaggression, I came to the realization that  prejudice is still alive, and that discrimination and /or stereotypes of other people are real. I have learned the importance of understating a persons race and ethical background is important. You never know how your comments can affect someone. Microagression can happen to anyone and it would make things a lot better if people would think before they speak. 

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.