To the Future

   My goals are simple and I would like to start by welcoming people from other countries, or even our own, especially if they do not know how to speak the local language of where they chose to live, they can become frustrated and do not even want to try. Students can suffer when their parents do not speak the language of the school. This sometimes intimidates the parent and they are not involved in their child’s school experience. Without the skills to communicate with each other, understanding diminishes between the parent and the teacher. We as educators must create a welcoming environment for parents, students and accommodate the entire family. We should want all to be involved in the education process.

   Teachers need to acquire the knowledge, skills and dispositions needed to educate our diverse learners. There is a lot of resistance coming from the educators addressing issues like race and racism in their courses and even throughout the school (Cochran-Smith, 2004). Our children with diverse, cultural backgrounds will continue to not be served until our schools knowledge the need for culturally educated teachers. We all must be willing to value and celebrate diversity in developing curriculum and classroom practices. I think ways we can help diverse learners is to take a constructivist view of learning and remember all students are capable of learning.

   I would also like to that Pamela for being and excellent communicating and understanding instructor and all my colleagues for their patience excepting all my late papers. Through the course of this class it has been a difficult time and challenging time and I thank everyone involved for helping me to think and learn. I wish everyone the best in the future and i hope all of your goals happen!

References

Cochran-Smith, M. (2004). Walking the road: Race, diversity, and social justice in       

   Teacher education. New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

Welcoming a New Immigrant Family

   Our center has just been notified that we are going to get a new family in the community with a three year old little girl that will be attending our center. They are from Germany and they will arrive in a month. We like to create a welcoming environment so it’s time to do some research and homework to prepare for their arrival. We first start our research by reading learning key points about Germany. We do this buy reading books and research on the internet. What we would like to learn about is their belief system and culture. Also language and what type of foods are relevant in Germany. Sharing food is always a good way to get in touch with their interests. Language is also important and by learning key words in their language this will open the door for communication. We also will prepare the classroom to include many things on the wall and toys that represent Germany if we do not already have these items included in the classroom. We would also incorporate activities and lesson plans so we can all learn about Germany. All of these things would contribute awareness to the immigrant family that we do care about them and we want to make them feel welcome.

An Immigrant Family

My daughter attends high school with an immigrant girl from Russia. Her name is Tatiana and she and her family moved here, Western Kentucky, three years ago. The reason they moved her was because her father got a job with one of the local chemical companies. Tatiana’s family consists of a mother a father, and her. Tatiana and her father speak English, her mother does not. Tatiana states that her mother has a difficult time communicating in the community and stays home most of the time. Tatiana and her father speak English enough to communicate with others, but sometimes find it difficult when people use “slang” or certain phrases they are unaware of. They take everything literally, Tatiana said one of her friends said, “Let’s bounce”, and she thought why are we going to bounce? Her friend had to explain to her it meant something different, “let’s leave”. The two things mean totally different thins to Tatiana and this is hard for her to understand.

     Language can be a barrier and this is way I would like to learn how to communicate with people that do not speak the same language as I. I feel bad for Tatiana’s mother, who does not want to leave the house alone because she is not comfortable communicating in the community. I want to learn other ways to communicate, other than language to help everyone involved feel comfortable about the unknown. I don’t want anyone to feel like an outcast and become isolated.

     When people from other countries, or even our own, do not know how to speak the local language of where they chose to live, they can become frustrated and do not even want to try. Students can suffer when their parents do not speak the language of the school. This sometimes intimidates the parent and they are not involved in their child’s school experience. Without the skills to communicate with each other, understanding diminishes between the parent and the teacher. We as educators must create a welcoming environment for parents, students and accommodate the entire family. We should want all to be involved in the education process.

     The reality of Tatiana’s mother not being able to communicate with other people in the community has had many lasting effects on her. Tatiana stated that her mother does not like to leave the house because of the lack of understanding English and the communities’ lack of wanting to try and understand her. Sometimes we treat people different when they are not the same as us and we need to educate all families we come into contact with, not just the people who speak a language other than English, but teach everyone to embrace our differences. The community has let Tatiana’s mother down because of their lack of understanding culture, and differences. This can have lasting effects on Tatiana’s family because they cannot build a support group in the community. In Tatiana’s situation we have all failed her, the school and the community. This brings me to the reason why I need to learn ways to communicate with others that do not speak English. We do not necessarily need to learn the entire language, but find ways to communicate nonverbally too would be a start.

Practicing Awareness of Microagressions

     I have experienced microagressions on many occasions. One that stands out in my mind is when I was working for a paper company in California. I had fifteen years previous experience at another paper company so I knew what I was doing going into a new position for another paper company. I had been working at the new company for approximately two years and we just received a new district manager who was supposed to come in and “Clean house”. This man was the biggest male chauvinist I had ever encountered in my life and to this day, twenty-five years later, I have never met someone like him. He was very condescending when he talked down to me and one incident during a meeting, he patted the back of my hand as he told me everything would be okay. Not long after, I quit my job and it was an excellent career with excellent benefits. To this day I am mad at myself for letting him do that to me. I gave him the power over me because I did not stand up for myself. Life goes on and we all learn from situations and the experience has made me a better person.

    I let this man make me feel as if I were worth zero and had nothing to offer the company I was employee with at the time. Looking back at this situation I think he did this to me because I had more experience that he did. I really feel this man was threatened by experience and the only way he could deal with his emotions was to degrade me and make me feel bad. I look at all of these moments as a learning experience. I would never make a human feel bad because of what is lacking in my own life. This type of person who does this is called a bully, plain and simple.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked three people a couple of questions on culture. The people I asked to help me out with these questions were made up of a gay person, a religious person and a person from Pakistan. The following are the answers I received and not in order, see if you can chose who answered what?

What is your definition of culture?

Person #1-Culture is where you come from and how you live.

Person #2-Culture is heritage, beliefs and values.

Person#3-Culture starts in your immediate household; it is ethics, religion and your own perspective on the world.

What is diversity?

Person #1-Diversity is learning about different people other than you and embracing and celebrating the differences. A good place to start is sharing ones own culture with others and having them share back.

Person#2-Diversity I believe is someone that understands that people are different from us.

Person#3-Diversity is accepting everyone for who they are and not judging because they are different.

      We live in a diverse world and education is the key to open our young student’s minds. I found an article in a past course while attending Walden University, the article was, American early childhood education: preventing or perpetuating inequity, it is stated that the most important determinant for children is the quality of the faculty who work with the young children (Kagan, 2009). Qualified teachers are an essential component to all preschool programs. Children who are educated by teachers with higher educations in related fields of child development are more sociable, exhibit better language, and perform at a higher level on cognitive tasks than children who are not (Bowman, Donovan, & Burns, 2001). Quality education not only takes qualified teachers, it also takes much needed funds to support the programs. With all of these ingredients we can learn to share and embrace all cultures and teach them to our young learners.

   In the article American early childhood education: preventing or perpetuating inequity, it also sates six other inequities in early childhood education:

1. Inequity well before the starting gate-Children’s home environment can influence a child at conception. Family dynamics has a big influence on a child before they start school.
2. Inequity in who attends preschool-It is quit opposite for children in preschool and in public schools. Children’s access to preschool can depend on race, education, mother’s race, socioeconomic status of parents, English proficiency, and geographic location.
3. Inequity in state preschool investments-Early child education comes from a variety of funding state, federal, and parents’ contribution. There are many discrepancies in the amounts expended on early childhood education.
4. Inequity in quality-It does not matter what state a child lives in, studies have proven most preschool programs are either mediocre or poor in quality.
5. Inequity in the infrastructure that supports early childhood education-Policy makers are always looking for quick gains on investments and are more likely to support direct services for children which show visible constituents, than an amorphous infrastructure.
6. Inequity or merely differences-There are a number of inconsistent approaches to preschool from state to state and what we need to do is research if these inconsistencies are harmful or do they provide flexibility and flexibility for the parents and children (Kagan, 2009).

     Culture is a big part of our everyday lives and can have a strong influence on the way we think as human beings, however, I believe when there is a successful, effective and quality early childhood development program the ingredients include a quality staff, appropriate learning environment, culturally appropriate curriculum, consistent schedules and parent involvement. All of these components’ are important when trying to create an effective quality early childhood development program because this recipe includes the child, family, classroom, school and community.

References

Bowman, Barbara T.; Donovan, M. Suzanne; & Burns, M. Susan (Eds.). (2001). Eager to learn: Educating our preschoolers. Washington, DC: National Academy Press. ED 447 963

Kagan, S. L. (2009). American early childhood education: Preventing or perpetuating inequity? (Equity Matters: Research Review No. 3). Retrieved from Campaign for Educational Equity website: http://www.equitycampaign.org/i/a/document/9833_EquityMatters_Kagan_Final.pdf

Three Things I “Bug Out” With

If there was a major catastrophe and my family was forced to “bug out”, and I could only take three thing that would continue my families culture it would take a lot of thing ahead of time. I guess now would be a good time to start and figure out just what I would take. I have many items in my house I have collected over the years that has belonged to family members and friends that could represent many feelings, culture, emotions, memories and the list goes on. What I would take on my journey is the following:

1. Photo Album-This item would be the item I would not give up. Photo albums tell a whole family history, where it started and where it ended, and the journey along the way. I will refer to the old saying, “A picture tells a thousand words”.
2. Quilt-I have a quilt that my aunt’s mother has sewn for me, by hand, no machine involved. This lady was only related to me by marriage, but nonetheless a bug part of our family’s history. I came from a family that made many of our own items and all the ladies would sew. My Grandmother and Mother sewed most of my clothes growing up. They would send all the scraps to “Granny Great”. Granny great would make these hand sewn quilts out of the remnants and pass on the quilts to family members. I will never forget when I received my quilt, I was only eight, but I still have the quilt and I am fifty years of age. I proudly display the quilt on my wall. This quilt has many memories because most of the scraps used for the making were remnants of clothing I had worn as a child. The quilt represents many of my childhood memories and brings to mind many stories that go along with the memories.
3. Sketch Book-I would narrow my sketch books down to just one to take on my journey because my sketch books tell stories of how my family evolved into the family we are. There are many pictures that tell portray my family as well as poems and stories. I guess you could say my sketch book is a type of diary.

  

   Taking only three items would be a big decision, but a necessary one. It is a good time to start thinking about such a big decision because the time might come and it would be a good idea to have these items in a special place just in case something were to happen.

My Final Post for Walden University 6163

   During the eight week course I have taken through Walden University, EDUC 6163: Building Research Competencies, I have learned a great deal. The most important think I have learned is that I have much more to learn about research. I have retained the basics elements of a research plan and in the future I hope to grow on this knowledge. There are many things to consider when starting a research project and following it through to the outcome. Before I conduct any type of research there are many things to consider first. Does my research include any of the following?

Informed consent with adults

Informed consent with children

Deception of participants

Confidentiality concerns

Risk/benefit considerations

Cultural concerns

Research with indigenous participants

   In research the participants should be limited to a specific ethnic group. So I will have to take into consideration cultural concerns. I will not treat minority groups as objects; I will treat them as subjects (Naughton, Rolfe, & Blatchford, 2010). I will take into consideration the different background, culture, family structure, social economic status, and behaviors of the diverse families that will be participating in the research. The research will be discussed to the families in the language they will understand. As a researcher I must embrace the differences of the diverse families and will not impose or compare my thoughts and beliefs.

   I am learning the many aspects of research and how important is to consider the many different elements it takes and steps that must be made before the research even takes place. All of the above are just one part of the research process among many more that I will need to study and learn before any type of research can take place.