Professional Hopes and Goals

     
          In my work with children and families I have developed a hope that we all become united in our diversity. We are all diverse but we must unite so that we can learn to grow as one group of people celebrating differences as well as similarities. 

            One goal that I would like to set for the field of early childhood and those who work with children is that we accept others for who they are. As teachers we are supposed to set the example and we start by allowing children to be themselves and working to let those children shine through their individuality. 

        

           I would also like to thank everyone who has worked with me this past 8 weeks. I have enjoyed reading your blogs and your feedback to my blogs. This has been a true learning experience and I look forward to seeing some of you in the next 8 weeks. 

Families from around the world

            As EC specialists we come into contact with children of different cultures and backgrounds every day. Helping those children and their families to feel welcome is one of the most important parts of our job. When a teacher doesn’t know anything about a family or culture it important that he/she takes the time to learn about that culture, not just so they can interact with the family, but so they can incorporate things from that culture in their classroom so that the family can feel welcome and accepted.

            For the purposes of this assignment I chose to write about working in a child care center with a family from Vietnam. I have never studied Vietnam before and after some recent research I realize that our country and the country of Vietnam are extremely different. The first thing I would do to help myself get acquainted with the family is to research the country that the family came from and the culture of that country. I would then learn some key words of the language the family speaks so that I can communicate with them when I meet them. I would incorporate some pictures of the country and ask for some pictures of the family to help the child acclimate to their new surroundings while still feeling comfortable with who they are and where they come from. I would also add some books to the classroom library that represented that country. And finally I would invite the family to come in and read some of their nursery rhymes and children’s stories to the class in their native tongue and invite an interpreter to help the other children to understand the story.

            In making these preparations I hope to not only help the other family feel comfortable with their new home but to help me feel comfortable in my role as caregiver to these children. By researching their country and learning how to communicate in their native language I am showing them that I do care about them and where they come from instead of just expecting them to conform to American ways. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

           Growing up in my house I unfortunately witnessed prejudice on a daily basis. My father was an extremely prejudice man and it affected my home all the time. I was not allowed to have African American friends and was forbidden to date anyone of color. I was often angered at these rules, I could not understand what made my family different than one of a different color and would argue this point with my father and grandfather. One incident that specifically stands out to me is a moment when I had a friend hanging out on the front steps with me. He was a black boy of about 13 and we were just sitting around talking when my father came home from work. He went ballistic, yelling at the boy to get away from his daughter and calling him all kinds of derogatory names. The boy was devastated and embarrassed and could not get off my steps fast enough. My father made that boy feel like he was smaller than an ant and took all of his power away from him. The boy’s confidence and self-esteem suffered a great deal from that incident and I am sure others of a similar nature. We lived in a low income area where Caucasians and African Americans argued all the time.

            Even after 25 years this incident is still burned into my brain. Before that time I had heard negative talk but had never been a first-hand witness to prejudice (especially in my own family) The hate that I saw in my father’s eyes was astonishing and is broke my heart. I was angry with my father but the young boy’s pain was obvious and it broke my heart. That moment changed my life because I knew that I would never allow my words and actions to make another human being feel that way about themselves. I do not see away for this incident to ever have been changed. Idealistically my father would learn to accept other human beings regardless of race or color but that still has not happened and at the age of 63 I do not see that happening in his life. It has taken him several years but he has finally accepted that his grandchildren are Hispanic but they are the only human beings that he will love and accept regardless of their race and he has said as much to me on more than one occasion.