Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have for children and families that I work with is that they are treated with the respect that they deserve and feel that they are part of an inclusive environment.   I hope that the professionals that work with them look first at their strengths and utilize them in their early childhood program.  One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that each professional participate in diversity training.  My program currently has a large amount of diverse candidates and we have not been trained on how to relate and partner with these families.  The expectation is that we partner with them, but we have not been given the proper training to do so.

I would like to thank everyone in the class for their blogs.  I have learned a great deal from reading your blogs each week and commenting.  I wish you well in all of your endeavors.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice – a hospital,  a child care center, a social  service agency.  You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon.  You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family.  Luckily you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface fact about their country of origin.  The country is Africa.

1)      I would first find out about Africa’s language, which is Arabic, Swahili and Hausa.  I would find out which language my African family speaks and try and learn some greetings in that language such as hello, how are you, nice to meet you.

2)       I would try and locate artifacts or jewelry from this country.  African culture has always placed emphasis on personal appearance and jewelry has remained an important personal accessory.  I would display the jewelry or artifact in the classroom so the child has a sense of his/her culture.

3)      I would read up on the latest current events in that country so that I might have something to discuss with them upon meeting.  This will also show the family that I am interested in them.

4)      I would prepare a form with the help of a translator asking questions about the child and family to find out what goals and beliefs the family holds regarding their child.

5)      I would find out about the family’s customs and holidays so that we might incorporate into our class activities.

I think preparation to meet this family will help make everyone comfortable.  The family will get a sense of caring when I greet them in their own language and am able to discuss current events of their country with them.  Preparing a questionnaire sends a message to the family that we are interested in their child and want to make her learning experience productive and successful.

Reference:

Wikipedia (n.d.) Culture of Africa retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/culture_of_Africa

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

I can think of an incident when I was substitute teaching at a small center here in Georgia there was a young girl that was Hispanic in the one year old classroom.  She was the only Hispanic in the class of eight.  Her family spoke both Spanish and English but they mostly spoke to the child in Spanish.  The teachers were both English speaking.  The teachers identified her as not progressing because she did not talk like the other children.  The reason the young girl did not talk was because she was mainly used to being spoken to in Spanish and did not know any English.

In what ways did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

Because the teachers did not speak Spanish this child was being excluded in the classroom.  The material and resources in the classroom did not depict her culture nor support her Spanish language.

What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

I felt sorry for the young girl because she was not being supported nor was she benefiting from the program because the center did not support diversity or the families that they serviced.

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

It is the teachers responsibility to provide an all-inclusive environment for the children and families that are being serviced.  The teachers should have taken the time to learn a little Spanish to help draw the child into the program.  Materials and resources should depict the young girls culture and background in the classroom.  Partnering with the family would have helped bring about solutions for this young girls progress in the program.