Professional Hopes and Goals

The Perspectives of Diversity and Equity course gave me a difference perspective on equity, culture, diversity, and social justice. One thing I learn is that as an early childhood professional I need to cater for diversity in this field because each child represents the diversity in the classroom. One hope that I have when working with diverse children and families is to leave a positive impact on their life. When working with families and children that are culturally diverse we need to understand them as an individual as well as encourage independence throughout their transition into their new environment. I remember when I came to the United States, I had one teacher that used her own free time to help me learn English and today those time that I spend with her pay off throughout my education experience. I know how important it is to help someone achieve their goal; therefore I want our experience together to be as effective as well as be in a respectful manner with a positive atmosphere. One goal I have for the early childhood field is to understand diversity within the early childhood education environment because as a professional in the field we have a responsibility to stay knowledgeable in the areas that matter. We face so many challenges that question our ability as a professional; however when we make a child feel that they matter, we are helping them grow with confidence throughout adulthood. Overall as a professional in this field I will keep an open-mind in all cultural diversity background so that I can provide effective services that will impact their life in a positive way.

I would like to say thank you to all my colleagues for helping enhance my knowledge in equity, diversity, and social justice. I had a great time learning from each one of you throughout the past eight weeks on areas that will help me excel as a professional in this field. I enjoy reading all your posted and your feedbacks on my post as well. I wish you all the best on your career path and good luck in your journey.  

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country of origin I choose is Somalia. Somalia is one of many countries in Africa where they had no working government between Jan. 1991 and Aug. 2000. In fact Somalia people were reinstating a new transitional president in 2004. Somalia located in the Horn of Africa, lies along the Gulf of Aden and the Indian Ocean. Somalia culture is very different from the United States culture therefore is very important that I prepare my classroom for the arrival of the child as well as increase my knowledge regarding their culture so that they can feel welcomed and accepted.

The way I will prepare myself to be more culturally responsive toward the new child and the family is as followed:

1)      I will research the language, custom, traditions, and the history

2)      I will put up picture around the room so that the child will feel that he or she belongs.

3)      I will invite the parent and the child to attend school event where many cultures are displayed in a positive way.  

4)      I will create a list of common words and phrases used in Somalia for me to use when communicating with the child as well as for the teachers and staff to use with the child and their families so that we can provide an effective communication with the child and the parents.

5)      I will ask the families how they prefer to communicate with the center as well as if they can come by the center to volunteer to teach some of their culture and tradition to the staff and the children.

My goal is to help the child and the family to have a successful transition into the new environment. Many immigrants come to this country with no resources and usually fall into the low-income status. Therefore I hope I can be beneficial to them by providing the family resources and help to have their child become an early educator so that they can continue and build a successful life style.  In fact just by understanding each other’s cultural background we both can benefit through effective communication as well as building relationship for a better outcome.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The social media is full with prejudice, bias, and oppression. For example in the Foster television show, Kelly experience bias against her because she is a foster child and went to a youth detention center and was therefore the first person people asks about selling drug in her school. Sometime I think it is human nature to pass judgment without knowing the whole story. Another recent incident of prejudice was the Treyvon Martin trial. I had a hard time following the case because I felt that it is unfair for the parents of Treyvon Martin. They did not get justice for their son’s murder. However we are living in a country that promote freedom and fairness to all, and at the same time we are putting everyone into categories or groups. Treyvon Martin was black; therefore bad things can happen to him without any consequences. I believe that many of us are living with implicit bias where we are saying I am not races, prejudice, or bias when we are in our mind. In many cases when we try to hide our true feeling it still comes out unexpected. That is what happened with Treyvon Martin trail.

 The diminish equity in the foster group is that they are a family and they will stick together. The TV show shows how one group of people stays together even though others will judge them because they are a gay couple with children. They have an open relationship with their children so that they can be comfortable with being how they are as an individual. The felling I have in this subject is that we will face many challenges when we are different from one another because we do not like anything that is not like us. If someone has different religion believes we past judgment. The incident leads me to believe that Mr. Zimmerman should go to jail as well as be more open minded when dealing with diverse group of people. I try not to feel angry or sad about the Treyvon Martin trail; but I know if it was one of my family members I would feel very angry. The way we can change these incidents is to be positive equity and not have racism, prejudice, or bias thinking during the interaction. Overall I have learned a lot on how Bias, Prejudice, racism, and so forth play a big part in the society.