Professional Hopes and Goals

Soon I will be working for a Head Start program in a highly diverse area and I could not be more excited to use the knowledge gained from this course, Dr. Parrish, and my colleagues. The hope that I have and what I will strive for is to make an effective impact on the lives of children and their families. I want to make a difference, a positive impact on their lives. At the end of the day I want to be rewarded with the fact that I helped someone. I gain more myself when I know that I have empowered someone else to go beyond what they expected they could do. When someone else feels proud or accomplished because I helped show them the way is an awesome feeling. The best part is this does not need to be a grand gesture. Even the small steps and accomplishments are meaningful to me. 

One of my job duties in my new position is training, mentoring, and assessing the teachers in the early childhood program. A goal that I would have for my teachers would be to take the time to continue their education about diversity, how it affects children, what roles they play in equity and social justice, and ultimate how they can be a positive role model to their children and families. I will be observing their classrooms and helping them find new ways to address diversity. I have stated in previous discussions that I feel fear is a large component to why society fails at properly addressing these issues. I will address the topic of fear with my teachers and families. I will find out what their concerns are and where they need assistance. 

This course has been especially helpful to me in this phase of my life. Out of all of my time at Walden these past 8 weeks I have had the most help from Dr. Parrish and my colleagues. When I had a question I had immediate responses. I felt as if my colleagues were genuinely concerned and willing to help me. I cannot thank you all enough for all that you have done for me this past 8 weeks. I am in awe of your support and encouragement. I can only hope that in the future I will be able to repay all that you have done for me.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Working in a child care center you need to know the children on an individual basis in order to properly care for and educate them. Recently, we have been notified that we will be receiving a new child into our program that has come from the country of Uganda. In order to prepare myself and other educational staff to be culturally responsive towards the child and their family we need to research and learn new things about their culture and where they come from. Here is a list of 5 ways that we will prepare to be culturally responsive.

1. I will research the country extensively and learn about their culture and any religious beliefs that they might follow.

2. I will send the family a packet with regard to information about the program and it will also contain a questionnaire for the family to fill out so that we can get to know a little bit about them prior to attendance. One of the more important questions in the questionnaire will be posed as this….What do you feel is most important for us to know about you?

3. I will look into any communication barriers. If there are any barriers I will research the language, look for an interpreter, and also find any other reasonable means of communication that we can utilize.

4. I will reevaluate the classroom or child care setting. Does my classroom display cultural diversity and do I need to add new cultural material that helps the new student feel comfortable?

5. After learning what I can about the culture I would set up a meeting with the family in the child care setting and in their home before the attendance of the program would occur. This is the foundation to the relationship which is vital to the growth and development of the child.

These preparations would benefit all parties concerned. Educators will be prepared to effective care for and educate the new child and the family will also have a foundation of a growing relationship with the educators. It is important to have a strong relationship with families to support one another through the educational process. These preparations will also show the family how much we care about our position in the child’s life. They will see that it matters to us how the child is being cared for and if the family is comfortable with the new environment. Last, building this relationship will create a foundation of trust so that the family feels comfortable enough to rely on us in times of difficulties. You always want to be able to have a close bond with the families of the children you are working with. You are a team and should work together as such.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppressio

I know that it might seem that I am sticking with the same topic when it comes to prejudice but whenever I think about it and how it affects my life or my family’s life this is where it happens. As I have explained to you before my husband is in recovery. Even though my husband is in recovery he and his family have consequences of his past repeatedly. He lost his license due to a DUI a couple years ago but was granted driving privileges. I still do not understand the concept but the general idea is that he can drive to and from work and to any AA related program including meetings, counseling, etc..

Last Friday I was in line at Walmart and my husband called me in a state of panic. He had gotten pulled over. Immediately I was guilty of passing judgment on him by asking what he did wrong, when in fact he had done nothing wrong. In fact the police officer who pulled him over was clearly in the wrong and if I had gotten to the scene soon enough I would have pointed this out. My husband was driving to a meeting and was a little bit early because a fellow friend asked him to come early and talk with him. He was on the side roads very near where the meeting was to be held and an officer was following him. The officer who had nothing better to do that night pulled him over strictly because he ran his plates and saw what was on his record. Along with pulling him over in front of the building where the meeting was about to be held, the officer also called in 3 more officers to come to the scene. It was beyond a waste of resources.

The bottom line is he was pulled over with no just cause, there were no laws being broken the officer just wanted to pull him over based on his driving record. This is completely illegal. My husband showed his proof of insurance and his proof of driving privileges and the officer stated that he was luck because he was about to arrest him and tow his car.

My feelings about this were beyond frustrated for so many reasons. To start off there was no real reason to pull my husband over. The next reason why I was frustrated;  how is it that we can put on his record the fact that he has a driving offense but not that he is in fact allowed to drive? And to top it off, if my husband did not keep multiple copies of this document and he was without it that day, it would have cost our family hundreds of dollars to fix and for what?

The only change that needs to happen here is for the officers of this town to legally pull over people who are actually breaking the law. I do not in any way take driving under the influence lightly. However, I do not feel that he should be pulled over whenever they feel like it just because it is on his driving record. I do not feel someone should be pulled over for the color of their skin or because the police just do not like how they looked at them that day. This is unjust practice and is neglecting the correction of those who are actually breaking the law.

Awareness of Microaggressions...Do you know when you are the aggressor?

In my reflective journal I have shared some personal information about how a family member of mine is a recovering alcoholic. Most people would read that line and wonder why I would bring this up and how does it relate to our course. My answer to those questions will amaze some of you and not surprise others.

When you think about an alcoholic or an addict you think about a dirty man living under a bridge who probably has done some very bad things in his life. You are most likely scared of this person if you ever come across them on an empty road. This is the stigma that society has placed upon those that suffer from the disease of addiction. I will continue to use the word addiction even when referring to alcoholism because alcoholism is an addiction as well.

Recently, I was put in a position while watching one of my son’s baseball games. A parent that I have become friends with commented about one of the others parents in attendance who had obviously decided to bring an alcoholic drink to the game. This parent filled up a traveled size coffee mug and had beverages in their car that they frequently refilled. The baseball game was for boys youth ages 9-10. The parent that I have become friends with started to talk about the other parent who was drinking and making several assumptions about this person. The first assumption was that the drinking parent was uneducated. The next assumption was that this person could be categorized in a lower socioeconomic status. I will go on to say that she also assumed that the person was a bad parent, even a bad person overall.

Normally, I do not share much information with someone unless I am feeling closer to them, trust them. However in this situation I had to share information to help them understand the meaning of addiction as a disease. I asked her what she thought about myself and my family. She replied that she thought we were your normal everyday middle class family. She was right, although she was very wrong at the same time.

My husband is working on finishing his Phd in Education, and is the director of curriculum, instruction and assessment for a large school system. My husband is a recovering alcoholic. He is educated, has a wife, four children, two cars, and lives a normal functioning lifestyle. You see the friend that I was talking about was offending me, although she did not mean to in any way. The stigma that surrounds this disease causes people to feel uncomfortable with those that are afflicted with the disease. I have to tell you that the parent that I explained this in utter shock when I told her my story. She apologized for her assumptions and asked me a lot of questions about the disease.

When we do not know people on an intimate level we can inadvertently cause them pain by speaking prejudice from ignorance of the subject matter. Even when we might feel that our opinions or beliefs are what is right, we must learn to bite our tongue and respect others. This woman had no idea that I had lived the life that I did and how the disease affected our family. She hurt my feelings without intention and would not have had a clue if I did not tell her. Everyone, I do not care who we are, is guilty of speaking discrimination and prejudice to someone without intent.

The lesson is to think before you speak and to be informed about what you want to say about someone. I have learned to think twice before voicing my opinion, I have learned to ask questions, and I have learned that maybe someone who looks to be struggling might need my help instead of my judgment. That parent that had the mug of alcohol at their son’s baseball game could have need someone to help them. Yes they might just be making what I believe to be a poor choice or maybe they just needed some resources to get help.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment I thought it would be fun to ask my children what they though culture and diversity were. I started with my 14 year old. When I asked her what her definition of culture was she responded stating that it was the way people lived and interact with their religion and country. When I asked her to explain to me what diversity was she did not know. She is about to go into 9^th grade so I feel that she should know the definition of culture and diversity. I explained what culture and diversity were along with the difference between surface and deep culture was.

My son who is 9 years old came home from school and I thought I would speak to him about this as well. I was curious to see where he was in this subject. He did not know the definition of either of these terms. I teach my children how to love and respect others no matter their race, gender, appearance, disability, or ability. I am proud to say they have displayed this respect in ways that teachers have praised them and I have been communicated with about the events. It was harder to explain to my son the definitions of these two terms. It seemed to delve too deep for his comprehension levels. However, he understood that people have different beliefs, dress different, eat different foods, and wear different clothing. When it came to understanding deep culture that concept was too complex for him.

I skipped asking my husband because he was too up to date with this area. So I called up my parents and asked what they thought. They named mainly the surface cultures as well such as dress, food, and celebrated holidays. The two deep culture aspects they named were religion and language. When I asked them about the definition of diversity they simply stated the act of being different. We discussed in detail about culture and diversity. I explained to them how culture is who we are starting with how we were raised and the environment we were raised in. I have to say they were less than impressed. I am assuming that they just wanted to hold onto their definition and leave it at that.  

After talking to the younger generation and then the older generation I realized that the topic is not discussed often enough outside the realm of educational classes. The society as a whole does not have a solid definition of either term. If this is true how can society respect something that they do not understand?  I have said it before that education is the main component in a battle against ignorance because ignorance is the root of conflict. We need to share our knowledge of culture and diversity with our communities and express the importance of respect whether we agree with their beliefs or not.