"Modeling Competent Communication Skills"

I thought long and hard about a person I admire the most who demonstrates excellent communication, and that person is my Godfather. My Godfather is full of wisdom, faith, love, determination, and charisma. He is the man that keeps me on my toes. He is that person that when he speaks everyone listens. He has this demeanor about himself that stands out over any person he come in contact with, which make him an effective communicator. I would love to pick his brain, so I can get a glimpse of his wondrous wisdom. Being around my Godfather just makes me want to be more like him. I try to model myself after him at times, and friends are always coming to me for help. I even had a friend say, “It’s just something about you. You have this Orr about you.” I believe that Orr comes from my dad because now I am more confident when I speak, and people want to hear what I have to say. So, yes I would love to model some of my own communication behaviors after my Godfather because it makes me a better person. Because of him, I am more responsible, independent, wiser, and my faith is stronger in Christ.

Professional Hopes and Goals

I have enjoyed collaborating with you all to make this class one of the best class ever for me. I would like to thank you all for your blog posting, and the response to my blog postings. I wish you all the best in your future endeavors here at Walden University. Live Laugh Love!

 The hope that I have for children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is for them to be able to connect with their peers, so they can feel a sense of welcome and trust. I hope to take what I have learned from this class, and continue to challenge myself to do better so I can better serve the children and families in my program. I want to go beyond the “culture surface” of the children and their families, so I can prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards their needs. Hopefully, this will help me move closer to my goal to become an anti-bias teacher.

Another goal that I have set for myself related to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice in the early childhood field is to learn as much as I can about those issues, so I can find out the ways I can get involve so I can help children and their families. I want to become an advocate for young children and their families, so I can help those who can‘t help themselves. I want to run a private preschool, so I can help the low-income families who can’t afford the education they deserve. Dr. Derman-Sparks (Laureate, 2011) states we find these joys to be self evident that all children are created whole and endowed with extraordinary intelligence with dignity and wonder and worthy of respect; the embodiment of life, liberty, and happiness, every girl, and boy is entitled to love to dream and belong to a loving village and to pursue a life of purpose.

Reference

Laureate Inc. (2011). Diversity and equity work: Lessons learned (EDUC6164: Perspectives on Diversity and Equity ed.). MD: Walden University.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The name of my family’s country of origin is India. I choose this India as my country because I wanted to know more about it. After reading about India, I have come to an understanding of how I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards my new family. For instance, I will be sensitive to their needs because moving to a different country where people might not understand your culture must be hard. I will be patience when it comes to communication because we have to be able to communicate with one another. I will also make them feel welcome by encouraging them to get involve with their child’s education, as well as, asking them for their input about the classroom environment. I will try to include some of their holidays, so they can feel somewhat at home, and so the other children can experience something new. I have learned over the last couple of years working with children that they learn so much just by experiencing and exploring different things. I want my children to learn about diversity, and in order for me to teach them, I must educate myself by staying current on the new information about diversity. Therefore, I will learn all I can about my new family and where they come from, so I can prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards their needs.

I hope that my preparations will benefit both me and the new family by drawing us closer. I want them to understand that I am here for them, and I want them to be able to trust me because building a strong relationship with your family can go a long way. All I want to do is give them an environment, where they can feel welcomed and loved because leaving behind your home and love ones is hard enough.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

This year I have come to the realization that my administration staff is bias towards the four year old teachers. At the end of the school year before graduation, the four year old hall is responsible for giving the children a spirit week. While planning for the spirit week, the administration staff started changing the way we did spirit week. They didn’t want us to watch movies, have a cook out, or water slides like the three year old did last year. When we would ask them why they couldn’t do those things, they would say we were doing too much, and we had to change everything we had planned for them. Now, do you know how frustrating that is for a teacher who has to plan for graduation, end of the year field trips, graduation parties, and finish a NAEYC book? It was a massive headache, and they weren’t going to make it easy for us.

I tried my best to ignore the other teachers when they would talk about the administrative staff, and how bad they were treating us, but it was hard. I just couldn't figure out why they were so hard on us, and why they would let the three year old hall do whatever they wanted to for graduation. At the end of the year, I had a talk with the principal about how the year ended. She said the reason she was so hard on the four year old side was because she couldn’t trust the majority of them. She said besides me, and my co-teacher, she couldn’t trust the rest of the group. So, that’s why we couldn’t do what we wanted to do for spirit week. I don’t think that was fair because the three year old hall gets to do what they want, and the four year old has to go through hell before we can do anything. I am a skilful teacher, and I don’t think it’s fair that my children and I have to suffer because my principal don’t like the teachers on the four year old hall. As, a professional, I think she needs to reexamine herself, and how she runs her program because bias towards individual teachers is not professional at all. She is not giving everyone an equal opportunity, which what a person in her position is suppose to do. If I were her, I would take more classing on professionalism, and learn how to operate a center without bias or prejudice because she is not going to gain any respect from her employees if she continues. Although, I love my job, I believe my administration staff needs some work on their leadership.

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.