Verbal and Nonverbal Communication

I chose to watch an old tv show Martin.  I haven't watched Martin in years.  That used to be one of my favorite sitcoms.  I felt like watching this episode with no sound was going to be alot harder than I thought.  While watching this show on mute I was able to pick up on some of the characters nonverbal cues.  In this particular episode, Martin appears to be upset because someone broke into his apartment and stole some items.   When Gina comes home he is trying to explain to her what happened. The assumptions I made with the volume off were correct.  Martin was very upset because he found out that one of his neighbors had broken into his house.  I have come to realize that it is possible to communicate with nonverbal cues.  However, I feel like it's much easier to communicate verbally.  A lot of times people misinterpret nonverbal cues the wrong way. 

Competent Communication

My husband demonstrates competent communication on a consistent basis.  He is a talker by nature.  He gets that honestly from his dad.  He is a Social Worker so he does a lot of talking every day.  He gives advice to families on a daily basis. I had the opportunity to sit in on a session he had with a family.  He is professional at all times. He uses eye contact, and he asks questions to clarify information he doesn’t understand.  He is able to put his thoughts into words in a very clear and concise manner. He also keeps a straight face no matter how sensitive the information is.  I would like to model some of my own communication behaviors after him because I need to learn how to control my face when talking to someone.  My facial expression tells how I am feeling at all times.  It’s hard for me to hide how I am feeling about a certain situation.  If I don’t like something or don’t agree with it, my facial expression will let you know immediately. While taking this class about communication, I am going to work harder on my nonverbal communication.

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

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I am pretty sure I have experienced microaggressions throughout my life.  However, I can vividly recall the experiences with my daughter better.  There is one particular incident that I can recall when my oldest daughter was about 2 years old.  My husband and I were in Belk, and we were having a conversation with my daughter like we always do.  An older Caucasian woman kept following us and staring at us.  She made us feel weird because we couldn’t figure out why she was staring at us.  After about 5-10 minutes of staring at us, she came over to us said that she noticed my daughter spoke so well and that she was so nicely dressed.  This lady really looked and sounded very shock that an African American child could speak and dress so well. She didn’t say it, but her facial expression and wording said it all.  My husband and I told her we wouldn’t have it any other way.  We told her that we never talked “baby” talk with her, and we have always used correct English with her. We advised her that we make sure she is well dressed where ever we go.  This is one thing both of our parents taught us. When you go out you are representing yourself and your parents and don’t go anywhere looking a mess.  My mom always said even if you have on jeans and a t-shirt make sure your hair is combed whenever you go out because you never know who you may run into.  My husband and I get comments like those all the time with both of our daughters.  I guess society plays a major part in how African American children are viewed as always speaking “slang” or not being dressed appropriately.  In today’s society it’s sad to see that people still see race as being a factor when it comes to a person’s speech, intelligence or the way they dress. As I reflect on this week’s information on microaggressions, I feel we must work together as a society to eliminate stereotypes such as these.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

The conversations I had this week on culture and diversity were very interesting.  I spoke with two of my friends who were males and one female.  Each ones perspective on diversity and culture was similar because they seem to only think of what’s on the surface.  I explained to them that culture goes way beyond the surface, and with “deep” culture we can find out a lot more about a person. They all seemed to think culture and diversity was one in the same.  Their definitions of culture were mostly what you see on the outward appearance.  They believe that culture is a person’s traditions, beliefs, attire, food, language, and religion. They believe diversity is what makes a person different. Diversity can be several things, but it’s is what makes us understand why we are all different. The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course helps me understand what makes us who we are.  Culture is basically what makes a person who they are.  Diversity on the other hand is how we look at people.  Diversity helps us better understand that we are all raised differently.  However, it makes us learn to be open to learning about different cultures and the way things are done.  This exercise helped put some things in perspective on culture and diversity.