PROFESSIONAL HOPES AND GOALS

Hopes......

We live now in a global village and we are in one single family. It’s our responsibility to bring friendship and love from all different places around the world and to live together in peace."

------Jackie Chan, Chinese Actor, Philanthropist

Goals…….

My goal for the early childhood field related to diversity is to create an early childhood environment that represents a variety of cultures. Also, my goal is to train early childhood professionals on the importance of being an anti-bias teacher. The training will give them the knowledge of culture sensitivity and the understanding of social identities in children and families.

 

Thank You......

 

Colleagues......

Colleagues, what can I say?  Thank each of you for your class participation, your sharing and caring spirits.  I wish each of you many blessings.  Let us remember the children and families on how you would like to be treated.......  BEST WISHES!!

Dr. Tuthill,

Your patience and understanding is a virtue.  Thank you for being you.  Your guidance and participation within our discussions and on line chats were encouraging.  I needed the support of a caring instructor. 

WELCOMING FAMILIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

I would prepare to welcome a child and family from Liberia.  I have never worked with a child or family from this part of the world.  Therefore, I would prepare by:

1.    RESEARCHING THE COUNTRY

2.    RESEARCHING THE DIFFERENT LANGUAGES

3.   LEARNING ABOUT THE CULTURE AS WELL AS TRADITIONS 

4.    LEARNING ABOUT THEIR ACIENT MUSIC AND INSTRUMENTS

5.    LEARNING ABOUT THE CULTURE FOOD

 

 

 

I believe that preparing to work with a  family from another country will allow me to establish strategies for communicating effectively as well as understanding the cultural background, values, and beliefs of the family in which will enable me to establish a productive relationship with the child as well as the family.

THE PERSONAL SIDE OF BIAS, PREJUDICE, AND OPPRESSION

I have definitely experience this topic with a cousin but fortunately not to the extent of breaking her down; unfortunately this is not everyone’s case. Bias, prejudice and oppression can damage people to the extent of causing severe depression, low self-esteem and even committing suicide.

I have a cousin that moved from California when we were younger. She has this distinct accent as well as biracial. Her mom was white and her dad is black which is my uncle. The kids was teased her about being a half monkey. It use to bother her really bad, but she got over it.

There is this one movie Dream Girls that clearly shows that to me a famous artist you should must have the looks, talent comes in second. This is the case of  Effie whites played by Jennifer Hudson, an extremely talented young woman but unfortunately doesn’t have the looks; therefore she doesn’t get the role of the lead singer of the group.  Deena Jones played by Beyonce Knowles a stunning, beautiful, young talented woman, got the role of lead singer. Why? Because she not only had the talent but most important she had the looks, this is the way it was and continues to be in the music industry. Looks over talent equals fame. Fair? Not at all!

PRACTICING AWARENESS OF MICROAGGRESSION

As an African-American woman, I’ve always had to prove myself as an educated person. I learn that people still judge you on their own biases and stereotypes. First I was judged for being from the South when I would go visit cousins from the northern states, they would say comments jokingly, but it wasn’t funny to me. A most recent example of microaggression is in my current profession. I’m a Teacher for an early childhood program  Head Start where I’m surrounded with colleagues of the dominant culture. Our program serves a variety of families, but the majority is African-American families. I was developing a newsletter on summer safety for children where I was addressing the need for sunscreen outsides. As the program director at the time was a Caucasian woman reviewed the newsletter she comments, “Black people do not use sunscreen.” As African American woman, I was appalled! I immediately corrected her in an intelligent and proper matter. She felt assume and embarrassed, and I felt disrespected and offended. I looked at her differently for that point. This experience taught me that many people are judged on their own biases and stereotypes.   I’ve vowed to treat everyone the same regardless of whom they were.