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.

When I Think of Research...

Over the past 8 weeks I learned the in depth process professionals endure to complete research studies in the early childhood education field.  I would consider myself an investigator versus a researcher. I am now knowledgeable of how to actually read and comprehend research studies. I still struggle with distinguishing the difference between independent and dependent variables. I refer back to the definition of dependent variables “a variable can be thought of as something that is subject to variation. In research, that which changes as a result of some influence (Lepuschitz, J.K. 2011)”.  I can clearly identify the extraneous variables in any research simulation, as they will influence the results of the study by affecting the main focus. I believe after taking this course I believe I will be able to develop a research design.

 

References:

 Lepuschitz, J.K. (2011). Introduction to variables. Laureate Education Inc., Baltimore, MD.

Research Around the World

The most current research published by the Early Childhood Australia a voice for young children referenced building partnerships with professionals. The importance of building relationships with professionals beyond the education sector, these partnerships will not only benefit the child but the family as well. It has been identified children lack accessibility to head start and/or pre-school programs do to the parents are unaware of the resources available to them. If partnerships existed between the education sectors, the health sector and community sector this awareness or lack thereof can begin to decline. The community for starters will be able to make parents aware of programs that may be beneficial to their family, as well as inform the parents of resources available whether financial or educational. The lack of accessibility is a trending issue in the early childhood education field currently.

The insight I gained from this web resource is other countries understand the importance of building partnerships. The early childhood education field is the same globally

 

References:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/