Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Dr. Sue defines Microaggressions as:

·         Brief everyday indignities

·         May be verbal, behavioral, or environmental

·         Are communicated intentionally or unintentionally

·         Contains an insulting message

·         Often causes severe psychological stress and harm

 All of which I believe happened to my brother in this scenario.

When my brother was only 17 years old, my mother and I brought him 2006 dodge magnum with rims to match the car. It was his graduation gift. Since we brought him that car, he has been harassed several times by police. One day when a police officer, pulled my brother over and asked him, “How did you get a car like this? Are you selling drugs?” My brother replied, “No! My mom and my sister brought it for me for a graduation gift. Several times after that my brother was pulled over by the same police officers for the same reason. It had gotten to the point that they were making me angry because I knew who had brought the car, and I knew my brother was a good kid. My mother and I went to the police station to talk to the captain about the incidents that was happening to my brother. After talking to the captain about the harassment it stopped, but the damage of racial profiling stayed with my brother. He said, “They made me feel like he wasn’t supposed to have a car like that because he was young and black.” He also said, “They made me feel like I wasn’t anybody.” I believe my brother suffers from a severe psychological stress because till, this day he doesn’t trust any police officers. Most people who have authority, abuses it by mistreating people, and that's not right. Police officers are supposed to protect and serve us, not to harass and cause severe psychological stress and harm.

After that incident, with my brother, I only trust police officers as far as I can throw them, and that’s not very far. I do know that there are some exceptional police officers out there because I have friends who are one, but I also know that there are some prejudice ones out there, as well. My perception the effects of decimation and prejudice cause severe damage to those who experiences it. Most people don’t forget when events like that happen to them. I know my brother won’t and neither will I.

Reference

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Microaggression in everyday life. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://sylvan.live.ecollege.com

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

My participants answers to their definition of Culture and Diversity:

Ms. Thompson

Culture to me is beliefs, values, and traditions. I look at culture as a part of my heritage. It is something that I cherish, and it is something that I will pass down to my children because they need to know where their ancestors originated.

Diversity is a group of people who are grouped together by their ethnic background, gender, and language.

Ms. Taylor

I believe culture to be a survival tool for all human beings. Culture is something that helps people to understand where they come from, and who they are as an individual.

Diversity to me is not limited to just a person race, gender, or nationality; it can be use to describe a person individuality which a can separate them from a specific group.

Mr. Jones

Culture is something that you acquire from your up bring which separates one group from another group. My culture defines who I am as person. My traditions, beliefs, values, and behavioral patterns all come from my cultural background.

Diversity describes a particular group of people. For instance, it can define a person by, the way they look, talk, or by their religion.

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received and what are some examples?

 Each answer that I have gained from my participants has included several aspects of culture and diversity. For instance, they all believe that culture defines a person. They believe culture is a part of a person heritage that has to be passed down from generation to generation, in order for their younger generation to understand where they came from.

Which aspects have been omitted and what are some examples of such omission?

I believe the participants omitted the fact that culture can be lost. For example, when families leave their native land, their younger generation begins to lose connection with their older generation because their belief systems begins to fade away once they are introduced to other cultures beliefs and values. Also, the lost of someone’s culture can cause a person to have behavioral and emotional issues because they are being taking away from the only thing they believe in and know.

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

I have learned that although, evey person has their own way of defining culture and diversity, they all have similar ideas of what they mean. For instance, after reading their answers, I figured out that their answers had a connection with one another. They all believed culture has something to do with their family heritage. Also, they believe that it is important to pass down their family’s tradition to their younger generation, so they would know where they ancestor’s came from.

My Family Culture

When I first read this week blog assignment, I thought it would be easy for me to choose three small items that I would take with me in an evacuation, but it wasn't. I had to think hard about what I would take with me because I never had the opportunity to do something like that. After many minutes of thinking long and hard about what I would take with me, I came up with these three small items, my bible, my wallet, and my grandmother’s red ruby diamond ring. The first item I chose was my bible; I chose that because his word will keep me grounded in any situation. The second item I chose was my wallet; I chose my wallet because it has all of my person information inside, as well as, photo’s of my friends and extended family members. The third item I chose was my grandmother’s red ruby diamond ring. I chose her ring because that was the first piece of jewelry she had ever given me. It may not be worth much, but it is priceless to me.

If, upon arrival, someone told me that I had to give up two of those items, I would give up the bible and the wallet. I chose those two items because my grandmother’s ring is priceless to me. For instance, I could find a bible anywhere, and I could reestablish myself anywhere I go, but I wouldn’t be able to get my grandmother’s ring back.

This week assignment was an eye opener for me because the majority of us live in the moment and not for tomorrow. At this point in my life, I can truthfully say that my grandmother’s ring would be the most valuable thing I would want with me because it reminds me of her and what she stands for. I believe my grandmother to be a true child of God who worships him even when things don’t go her way. She is my inspiration and I want nothing more but to be like her when I reach her age.

When I Think of Research...

During this course, I have learned that I do not want to do a research study because it’s too much stuff to learn and it’s all confusing to me. This class has taken me for a ride that I don’t ever want to take any more. I can say that I have learned a lot of new information from this class, but I don’t plan on doing an actual research study.

Planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood, takes a lot of time and patience. For instance, you have to decide what you want to do a research study on and you have to make sure that it is not personal. You have to design the research in a way that it is beneficial to the early childhood field, and you have to come up with questions, questionnaires, interview time, and observation time. Also, you have to conduct research in a professional manner, so the work that will be shown to other people will be accurate and valid. There is not enough time in my day to do anything like that.

There were some challenges that I encountered while working on my research stimulation. For instance, learning the material, doing my assignments right, trying to understand what my teacher wanted me to accomplish out of my assignments, and understanding this class period. I am not majoring in research; I’m an elementary school teacher, so give me a class about children, not about how to do a research study. Truthfully, I don’t think I accomplish any of my challenges, and I am not proud of that at all.

As a result of this course, my perceptions as an early childhood professional have not been modified because I don’t think I have learned what I am suppose to learn from this class. Honestly, I am glad that this class is over, and I can move on to my next adventure.

Thank all of you for your wonderful postings on my blog and discussion. I enjoyed reading your blogs and discussion posting. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors.

Research Around the World

While reading the Blog assignment for week 5, I have learned several things from the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) website. To further develop African ECD leadership capacity as a key strategy in support of child, family and community well-being and broader social and economic development is the ideal goal of the Early Childhood Virtual University.

As I looked further into the research conducted by the students in Sub-Saharan Africa, I noticed that the majority of their current international research topics talked about how they could improve the development of young children in Africa. For instance, they wanted to increase children’s safety, development, father interaction, staff training, and program quality.

The surprising insight that I learned by exploring this international early childhood website was the fact that they are struggling with the same issues as America. No matter where you are in this world if it involves young children than you will nine times out ten deal with the same issues as other countries. Also, I learned that they use the Inclusive Quality Act Tool to measure the quality of early childhood services just like we do in American. I did not know that tool was being used all over the world.

Reference

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Developed and maintained by the University of Victoria, Canada, this virtual university is the international gateway for early childhood research worldwide. Through the link below, you can access ECDVU’s Sub-Saharan Africa portal. The second link takes you to a list of current early childhood research conducted by students in Sub-Saharan Africa.
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

While reading articles about positive research, I came across this website http://childrenshospitalblog.org/stem-cell-research-a-fathers-story/ which talked about how stem cell research helped save a child’s life.

Andres Trevino is the father of Andy Trevino and he has a very personal take on the NIH’s recent stem cell guidelines. Here, he talks about his son Andy’s rare genetic condition, the daughter whose stem cells saved Andy’s life and the potential stem cells hold for curing other diseases (Children’s Hospital Boston, 2009).

Please take a look at this website, so you can see a positive example of research. Although, I am still undecided about research and its methods, I can say that this article has helped broaden my thoughts. I was happy to read about how the stem cell research was able to help save Andy’s life.

You can read the article at this website:
http://childrenshospitalblog.org/stem-cell-research-a-fathers-story/

Reference

Children’s Hospital Boston. (2009, July 7). Stem Cell Research: A Father's Story. [Blog message]. Retrieved March 16, 2012, from http://childrenshospitalblog.org/stem-cell-research-a-fathers-story/

My Personal Research Journey

I have chosen to do research on how to run a private Christian preschool. So far, I have been reading resources to inform on how to determine the difference between high-quality research and self-publish research. I can now tell the difference between the two. Those resources have become vital to my understanding of high-quality research. Another form of a method that has helped me in my growth to become a more confident user of research is the research chart. The research chart helps me to determine whether the articles or journals are published work of professionals. There are certain things that high-quality research article or journal should have, and this chart gives me things to look for, so I can determine if the article or journal is of high-quality. Although, I am starting to learn how to do my own research, and determine the difference between good and fake research, I am still a little scared.

So, if there is anything you guys could suggest that could help me with this process or this course? I would be glad to hear your feedback. This class is new to me, and if you have already done something like this in your previous course feel free to share your insight.

Here are some resources I found to help you understand research articles and journals:

Evaluating web pages. (2007). Duke University Library. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://library.duke.edu/services/instruction/libraryguide/evalwebpages.html

Locating and Evaluating Scholarly Articles. (2011). University of Maryland University College Library. Retrieved March 10, 2012, from http://www.umuc.edu/library/libhow/articles.cfm