Professional Hopes and Goals

As I think about working with children and families that come from diverse
backgrounds, I hope to bring awareness to different cultures.  All children and families need to understand and learn about different cultures.  This will help make all children well rounded, and they will appreciate different cultures more.

The goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to change our mindsets.  There are a lot of people in the field who do not understand how social identities and microaggressions play a major part in how we feel about people.  I want everyone to become more cognizant of what they say and do.  This will help eliminate some of the stereotypes and biases that we face today.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for the encouragement and thoughtful posts each week.  This course has truly opened my eyes to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice. I learned several new insights that make me look at issues differently. I would also like to thank Dr. D for really pushing me to think outside the box.  I have never heard of the term microaggression, but it truly makes me think before I speak.  I really enjoyed this class, and I learned a lot.  I wish everyone much success in their future courses.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My family’s country of origin is Seychelles.  Seychelles is a small country in Africa. As I prepare to be culturally responsive towards this family there are some things I need to do to make this transition as easy as possible.  I do not know anything about Seychelles so right away I will have to do some research.  I feel like knowing where the family is from is important because it will help me understand their culture.

As I explore things that will make the child feel welcome in my classroom, I would find out specific things about her country.  I would find out the colors and symbols of her country.  I would also find pictures of places that she may be familiar with. I would decorate the classroom with these items to make her feel at ease.  I need to find out the primary language spoken in this country.  I would try to have a translator available when the child and her family arrive at the school to welcome them in their native language.  I would also like to learn a few basic words in order to communicate with the family.  It will be a good idea to learn how they greet each other in their culture.  I think this is important because I don’t want to offend anyone.  I would try to learn about their religious beliefs. This will be beneficial because I need to know if there are any holidays that they would not feel comfortable celebrating.  I hope that the representation of the country in my classroom will make my student and her family feel welcomed.  I hope this lets her know that we respect her culture, and that we are open to diversity. We are excited to have her and learn about her country.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory of an incident where I witnessed prejudice and oppression was from one of my favorite movies The Color Purple. The Color Purple was movie based on a the lives of  southern African American women.  The main character Celie is a poor, uneducated women who was beaten and raped by her father. Celie experienced oppression by telling Sophia’s husband to beat her.  Her thinking was a reflection of how she was beaten by Mister. Sophia which is another one of the main characters experienced racisim and oppression.  She was asked by the mayor’s wife if she wanted to work as her maid. Sophia felt offended by that question and ended up in an altercation with the mayor.  She ended up in jail for 12 years.  “Racism as an issue is seen in how Sofia was imprisoned and violently beaten for rejecting the mayor's wife's "offer" to be her maid (where the offer in itself was a reflection of racism)”. This movie dealt with some issues that are still prevalent today.  However, it helped shed some light on the various equity issues that women face.  This movie made me realize how far women have come.  We have a lot of rights that we didn’t have.  We play major roles in society now.  We even have a women running for president.  It’s good to reflect on how far we have come.

Reference

Walker, A. (1982), The Color Purple, retrieved from http://www.colorpurple.com