My Professional Hopes and Goals

As the end of the course draws near I have reflected on my educational experience in learning about diversity.

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I can make each family as comfortable as possible by integrating their culture into ours. Whether it be asking the parents to come in to volunteer time, or including their cultural dishes in a family potluck. In addition I would love to incorporate a cultural day at our school where all families come out and we celebrate together the diversity.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field as it relates to diversity, equity and social justice is to add a requirement to those educators teaching in the classroom or who come into contact with children to undergo a yearly training about diversity. I think this class has been such an eye opening experience for me and in turn beneficial to my students. I believe educators would benefit highly from taking a training that would provide them with tools on how to deal with diverse families and how to teach children about diversity.

As we all move on to our specializations I thank you all for the great discussions we have shared, the suggestions and feedback you provided and dialogue on diversity we have shared. I wish you all nothing but the best! Good Luck!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

If I were advised to assist a family from a country I knew nothing about I would be nervous but would definitely try to prepare myself.

The country I chose was Brazil. The five ways I would assist this family in transitioning to the U.S. includes:

1. I would do research on the country and the school system in Brazil and what their curriculum and schedule consists of.

2. I would try to be sure to have questions prepared to ask them about their child. I would have the questions prepared in their language (majority speak Portuguese) with a translator with me for reference.

3. I would incorporate their culture into our curriculum – highlighting holidays their country celebrates, music they listen to and books that are favorites of preschool children in Brazil.

4. I would look for toys to purchase online that are similar to those that are played with in a preschool class in Brazil.

5. I would request that the family get involved by perhaps volunteering time to get to know the staff and myself more.

I would really want the family and child to feel comfortable with me. I can only imagine how hard it would be to come to a new country and leave your child with someone who isn’t from your country and you aren’t very familiar with. I think it would be beneficial to all the students in the class and myself to learn about another country. An opportunity like this is rare. I think these preparations would benefit all of us.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As a junior in high school I spent a lot of time volunteering with children. I participated in Read for America and at my local Head Start program. I loved children so much it came as no surprise to my parents when I told them I wanted to be a teacher. My mom directed me to my school counselor to begin taking classes and participating in extra curricular activities which would provide a better experience for my new found passion. I remember my appointment with my school counselor like it was yesterday. I was really excited to go in and tell her the news. I told her I was interested in pursuing a career in education and in particular elementary education. My counselor began to explain to me and show me various charts highlighting salaries based upon majors in college. Of course education was pretty low on the list but not too bad. She then went on to ask my family history. We talked about how my mom and dad had not attended college but both earned a pretty good living in their own way. My counselor went on to tell me the likelihood of me making it to college was slim to none and if I made it in I wouldn’t graduate as no one in my family had ever done it so what made me so different. I felt horrible upon leaving my counselors office. Through our hour-long session she had pretty much killed my dreams of becoming a teacher and insisted I attend a local vocational school to become a nursing assistant…and that way I could still see children.

As a result, I began college as a pre-med psych major. Although I made it into college I did fail my first psych and pre-med science courses. I soon realized I needed to keep with the path I wanted and felt I was destined for. I went on to register as a Child Development major and graduated with a double degree in Child Development and Social Work with a minor in Pan African Studies.

When I think back on this incident it almost bring tears to my eyes as it really took something out of me. It made me look at education and college differently. I viewed college as such a hard task to accomplish and many times I wanted to give up. I felt so accomplished after completing school.

In order to change situations like this I believe it starts with the training of our school counselors and teachers. I’m not sure what was included with teacher in service days back in the 90’s while I was in school but I recall many similar situations of teachers making comments that were inappropriate or bias. I think if teachers and counselors were given proper training on how to answer these types of questions or concerns from students without showing a bias or insinuating certain things situations like this would not be as common.