Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I leave them with a sense of belonging and acceptance. It is important that when I work with children I  impact them in such a way that they are prideful of who they are in this world and willing to accept others for who they are. I want children to know that their differences are what makes them unique and exploring those who are different from them, can be a great learning experience.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to empower children to love who they are and to learn that no one person is better than the other. I would love to create a workshop for children where they can learn about themselves and share their differences with one another. Learning these lessons early in life is essential for our society to change in regards to issues of diversity.

I truly enjoyed this course, it left me feeling empowered, I learned so much about my own identity, and I have a greater respect for the differences we share in this society. I love learning about my colleague’s journey through self discovery, their childhoods, culture, and views on diversity. I Hope that everyone took something from this class that they can use personally and professionally.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

If I was working in a child care center and was told a child of a family from Russia would be emigrated into my program, in order to be culturally prepared for this family there are five ways that would help me to be more responsive to the needs of the child and their family. Being that the child is from Russia I would research the culture, religion, and traditions in Russia, as well as investigate how their school systems are set up. The second thing I would do is try to meet with the family to get more in depth back ground of the family’s culture and their beliefs. The third thing I would do is make sure that the family is involved with providing the classroom with things the child may be comfortable with from their own culture. The fourth thing I would do is encourage the child to embrace their own language and culture. Last but not least, I would allow myself to be open and honest towards the new child as well as the children who were in the center previously, by answering or addressing any questions or uncertainty the children may encounter about themselves and others

 As a professional it is important to research and learn about the children and families you work with, this would give professionals a better idea of the family’s country of origin. Letting families know that you have some knowledge of where they are from, will allow the family to have comfort in feeling accepted. Making efforts to meet with the family  prior to the child attending the program opens up dialect between the professional and the family so that they are able to express what they want for their child, questions from both sides could be answered, and you can go beyond the surface layers of the child and their family. Talking with a child and their family about things they could bring to the classroom that can represent who they are would allow the child to have things that they are familiarize with while exposing the other children to different cultures. Being open and honest with children when they are curious about the identity of themselves and others is important because this can lead to an opportunity to show that child that there are differences in themselves as well as others.

Boutte, G. (2008). Beyond the illusion of diversity: How early childhood teachers can promote social justice. Social Studies, 99(4), 165--173.https://class.waldenu.edu/bbcswebdav/institution/USW1/201340_04/MS_MECS/EDUC_6164/Week%207/Resources/Resources/embedded/Boutte2008.pdf

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I recently watch an episode of the television show” Good Times”. Good Times is a television show that was created in the 1970’s about a black family living in Chicago’s impoverished area. The 1970’s is a time where blacks were seen as an inferior race and was targets of oppression, racial bias, and prejudices. Thus, most of the episodes had some lesson on society institution, the isms, marginalization, culture, privileges, and family culture.

            There were many episodes that focus on these issues but one episode that I recently watch was Thelma a character who is the family only daughter is going to college for theater and dance. Thelma is very passionate about her career in theater and has written a play about a strong woman in her quest for a better life. The director of the theater department has found interest in Thelma’s play and wants to do a production. The theater director is a white male who sends his assistant to review and edit the play with Thelma.  As they are editing the play, the assistant often mentions that the director will like to omit or edit certain parts of the play. Most of the things he was omitting or editing were things pertaining to the black culture for example; he wanted the character’s name to change because it sounded like a black name and his audience would not identify with that name.

            As Thelma’s play began to lose its depth and meaning, she began to feel marginalization, bias, prejudice and discrimination. As a result, she told the assistant that she didn’t mind making changes to her play but she was not going to compromise the play to fit into the norm of society. She states “compromising can sometimes mean to surrender” and that although the woman in the play is black, the play is not about being black, it is about a woman who happens to be black. This statement really rings in my ears that sometimes society forgets the underlining meaning of things and makes a person’s race, sexual orientation, gender, etc more of an issue rather than viewing things for what they truly are. One of the things that would have to change to turn incidents like this from happening, is society’s mind set would have to change. This view of what is considered to being the norm would have to change. The norms in society, results in issues of prejudice and oppression.