Week 2

I watched the television show “How to get away with murder” I can tell the lady is the teacher or professor because she is at the head of the classroom pointing at students or calling their names. I am assuming based on how she makes eye contact with individuals. From the facial expression it looks as if the professor is intimidating her students. She has a frown as she speaks while I all the students. The student’s facial expression show fear or discomfort. After watching the show for about 10 minutes on mute I turned the volume on.  The women was a college profess teaching law. She was very directed and aggressive. When she ask the class a question they were trick questions. If the student answered the question correctly the professor had a follow up question leaving the student feeling uneasy. The professor also has a few interns which are her students as well. In the classroom she asked a question the male student answered correctly but she gave him two hours to prove his theory.   Body language and facial expressions in this television show gives an detailed interpretation of how the charterers communicate. If this was a different television show with a family I may have not been able to interrupt their communication in such short period of time. Facial expressions and body language speaks on how well you communicate as well as how well the information is received.

Week 1

As I reflect on my mother communication skills I would agree she effectively communicates. She delivers detailed information, she always makes eye contact with person/people she is talking too. My mother always reiterates what she previously said, she also ask does everyone understand. As a child my siblings and myself use to joke that my mother was secretly a teacher because the way she talked to us. Whenever I am with my mother I always ask her to give directions or explain things to others on my behalf to ensure others comprehend. I want to model her attention to detail as she communicates. She watches the audience’s facial expressions, this tells her who is listening, who is confused and who understands. My mother also keeps a smile as she talks. I was expressing to my mother the frustration I have when I communicate with my nine year old daughter, she responded it takes great patience’s to communicate effectively. She also stated it took her years to learn how to effectively communicate by her job being overseeing a dozen employees these skills are mandatory. I personally believe communication is the key to a successful relationship.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My country of origin is North America, it has been said my ancestor are from Africa. My great grandmother was born and raised Louisiana and my grandmother was born in Ohio. They brought a southern culture to the Midwest. By working in the child care center engaging children of different ethnicities it is always a challenge at first until you learn their culture. Thailand is a country I am unfamiliar with its culture. To prepare myself for the three children beginning the program from Thailand I will first remind myself to have an open mind. I have to be receptive of any differences I am not already accustomed too. Secondly I was conduct research myself attempt to learn what is considered the “norm” for the people of Thailand. I would need to be aware of the native language, religion, specific practices or rituals. Prior to the children starting the program I would meet with the parent attempt to learn their family structure, some of their personal social identities. Lastly after the children start the program I will gain continue to remind myself to be open minded, avoid stereotypes and ensure that is a language barriers exist have multilingual communications. The children of Thailand will be migrating to another country with a different culture. The American culture will dominate over their culture, this may cause some difficulty with the family. My focus will be to acknowledge their culture to make a comfortable transition and to foster healthy learning environment.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression.

The incident that recently happened in Ferguson, Missouri stirred up much controversy in the world. I was on Facebook about a week after the incident occurred one of my Facebook friend posted his opinion of the incident asking for input. I was used to continuously hearing about the Ferguson shooting, many people expressing their disgrace in regard to this incident. This particular status caught my attention because he stated “we blacks protest it is called rioting but when the whites protest it is called positive protesting” I am on the fence with the black and white racism, I believe it is embroidered. The reason that statues caught my attention is due to a broadcast on CNN reiterating the same theory. I felt that my personal feeling towards the matter were hurtful to my peers. Then it seems as though this type of incident is reoccurring in the United States with zero regard to any change for the future. My emotions were constantly up and down. Recently another shooting occurred in Missouri same scenario I became the bitter citizen feeling black and white racism is still in effect with no validity to an African American life. Black is a color, white is a color. Caucasian is an ethnicity African American is an ethnicity 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Tuesday I was in Wal-Mart with my 1 year old son and my 9 year old daughter. As we passed the bikes my son start to fuss because he wanted to ride the bike through the store. I picked him up and proceed to go in the other direction he screamed for about 2 minutes then was quiet. When we reached the household items there was a Asian couple asking a Caucasian worker for help locating a specific item. The Asian couple proceeded to leave the Caucasian worker mumbled “we need to hire they people to help them”. This is an example of microinvalidation and microinsult. I understand the frustration on both parties’ behalf the worker unable to fully understand the customer’s request. And the customer inability to receive the help requested. The worker left the customer powerless with his comments also exhibiting his frustration communicating with the customer. This type of microaggression occurs every day. Although the Asian couple did not hear the worker comments I did. I felt the worker was very unprofessional to make such a rude comment. The worker did not consider the everyday struggle the Asian couple encounters trying to adapt to the American culture and speak English. I actually reported the worker for his comment as if I was the Asian couple I would appreciate someone defending my diversity and understanding the challenge language barriers produce.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Person 1:  I believe diversity is different... We all are not the same but we can get along and come to a common ground

Culture would be background... The way you were raised and or taught to do things.. Whether it's race, community, or dependence. It also brings about how you handle situations, eating, raising families etc...

Person 2:  Culture is a mindset/state of being. Diversity is political driven propaganda, to manipulate a culture..

Person 3: Culture is a group of people who share similar qualities such as religion, language, social habits. Diversity in culture is basically understanding while people may come from the same social demographic the differences in age, race, economic status, educational level, life experiences make each individual unique. How boring would life be if we all had the same thoughts and did the same thing as everyone else day in and day out!

As I reflected on the answers I received from others I realized each person interprets culture and diversity differently. In week 1 culture was defined as the way one perceives the world. Person two acknowledge in terms of deep culture beyond the surface covering ethnicity language relations food and much more. Person one defined diversity in political terms we have not addresses thus far. After receiving many different responses on how to define culture and diversity. I choose two answers specifically, one I felt parallel my own personal definition and the other answer that varied the furthest from my personal definition. The responses validated the difference in each person perception of culture and diversity.

My Family Culture

In  the event I have no choice but to choose only three items dear to my heart representing my families culture I would choose my photo album because it has pictures of all my family members over the years at our celebrations. I would take a small bronze elephant statue because it represents the backbone of our family and lastly I would take a medium sized cast iron skillet. My family is a cooking family every time we have a gathering food is the center. The cast iron skillet is the one cooking dish I need to cook multiple dishes. If I have to limit my three items down to one I would choose the photo album, I can replace an cast iron skillet and a bronze elephant but the photos are memorizes I will cherish for eternity. Photos are irreplaceable, the hold the most value a represent my family culture.