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 display a great respect for them and their culture. I want to be accepting of the differences that they bring with them. I hope that we can learn from each other and build a relationship based on trust and acceptance. I truly believe that it is okay to agree to disagree. In my profession I encounter different personalities, attitudes and cultures everyday. I have learned what subjects are safe to talk about and the ones that are not.

One goal that I would like for each early childhood facility to reach is to allow for enough money in their budgets to get the materials that are needed for the classrooms. When children and families come into our classrooms they should see materials such as books and posters that are familiar to them. They need something that they can relate too so they feel a part of the program. I would hope that the agency has an interpreter available that can help the teachers to communicate with the children and families. The agency that I work for does not have enough interpreters available to go into the different centers. As a teacher I have to rely on google to help me translate the materials in their language. There are so many different cultures that are represented in early childhood programs that at least one interpreter for each ethnic group is necessary.

I would like to thank my colleagues for all the feedback that they gave me throughout my journey in this course. I have obtained many ideas and strategies from the blogs and the discussion board that I think will be useful in my classroom as well as working with the staff. All of the issues that I read about have helped me to recognize when people are sincere and when others are not. I hope that we all have learned from each other and take what we have learned throughout this course and use it in our career choices and also in our lives outside of our jobs. I wish you all the best of luck as you continue with your educational journey and careers. I hope that our paths cross again.

 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country that I chose as my family homeland is Burma. I chose Burma because it is a country that I am not familiar with, yet we have a family that is from Burma enrolled in our child care program.

In order to prepare myself for the family:

• I will research the country and it’s culture. It is important that I familiarize myself with their religious beliefs in order not to offend them.
• I will try to have an interpreter in place if there is one needed. I will also have information available in their language. If possible I will learn key words or phrases to help communicate with the child in the classroom.
• It is important that I gather information about their country both past and present. I will know as much about their history and present state as a country as I can.
• Before the family arrives I will meet with the family advocate/social worker to get information about the family. I will ask questions about how they arrived in our country and what specific reasons or situation brought them here. I want to know if they have other family members already living here.  I will also want to know if they are working or are receiving assistance in order to know how I can be of service to them outside teaching their children.
• I will find books about their country and have them present in the class so that the child and their family can have something that is familiar to them. I have often been fascinated with the Burmese Python. If communication is established I will show an interest in finding out more information about the snake.

I think that if I show some knowledge about their country and an interest in wanting to know more it will make the transition easy for the family. Having things present in the center that they can relate to will also help them become more comfortable with us. The child in my agency is a girl, but the family has cut all of her hair off. Often times the children and other adults think that she is a boy. I have not asked them if it is a part of their culture. She does not speak English, but she has warmed up to the other children. Her teacher is doing well at establishing a rapport with the family. She has asked them to bring pictures of the family and any artifacts that they might have to school.

 

My Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I cannot believe how this course is really making me remember things that happened years ago. I don’t know if these were things that had such an effect on me that I blocked it out of my mind. This week it was very easy for me to think about a time when bias and prejudice was a part of my life.

In 1997, I was working in a retail store and I met a man who later became the father of my children. At that time, I had pictured what I wanted my kids father to look like. I wanted him to look like me with light-skin and curly hair. Well, the man who walked into my store was the opposite. He was a medium-built, milk chocolate man (like a milky way) with a northern accent, but from the south.

After we had been dating for a few weeks, he asked me to meet his parents. I did without any hesitation because he was nice, well-mannered and respectful so I figured his parents couldn’t be anything less. When I got their I met his mother and she was very sweet. Then daddy came…OMG! He took one look at me and said, “Son you got you a Yellow One this time.” I could feel my face getting red from embarrassment and anger. His mother apologized for him. My friend went in the back and I could hear his daddy tell him that he was in for something now because those red-bone women are wild, bossy, and like to fight. That’s how our relationship began, but as I got to know him and his parents better I found that his dad was a good person. He spoke what was on his mind and I got use to that.
We were together for 10 years and over those years I proved that his daddy’s thoughts on light-skinned women were WRONG. I even mentioned this to his father a few years later. He didn’t even remember saying it. All of my young years I had to deal with issues of my skin color. I wasn’t going to let it interfere and be a factor in my adult life.

I had to be the bigger person and not let his comments affect how I felt about his son. After I mentioned what he had said years later he said, “Well if I said it I didn’t mean anything by it. You are a good one.” I said a good what? He said, “A good one for not cursing me out all those years because I know I have made you mad more than one time.” Yes he had. He only made that comment one time and I later found out that the other two women that he had been in a relationship with are dark-skinned. Sometimes we have to be mindful and think before we speak. Some of us allow our mouths to move faster than our brain and that can cause a problem.