Professional Hopes and Goals

According to Louise Derman- Sparks from the multimedia segment “Diversity and equity work: Lessons learned”, "the passion comes from the vision" (Laureate, 2011).  My hope is that educators will use this passion needed to help bring about change with issues related to diversity when dealing with children and families from diverse backgrounds.  Having a vision for change I hope will one day provide an opportunity where everyone experiences equality and joy for being themselves. 

My goal for the early childhood field is that information and trainings will be made available related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice in order to implement change in this area.  As a trainer at my early childhood facility, I can assist in providing training to encourage understanding on beliefs, biases, personal experiences or educating in areas of the unknown.

Thank you to my colleagues in this diversity class for sharing insight in this area.  I hope that you have a great summer and I wish you all good luck in the completion of your degree.

 

Reference

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Diversity and equity work: Lessons learned [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Welcoming Families from Around the World

 

Working at a child care center when we receive new children entering our program, it is important to make the child and family feel welcomed.  If we were to receive a new student who was from Korea it would be important to try to learn about the family’s home country.  As the classroom teacher I know nothing about Korea or the culture.  I feel that it would be important to try to gain knowledge in order to ensure the transition into the program was inviting and welcoming.    

To prepare for the family’s arrival I would first try to gather information about Korea such as traditions, climate, food, etc.  For example people in Korea contribute their success to the three types of spirits: gi, heung, and jeong ("Imagine Your Korea Visit Korea", n.d.).   According to "Imagine Your Korea Visit Korea" (n.d.), “These days Korean cuisine is characterized by a wide variety of meat and fish dishes along with wild greens and vegetables” (para 9).  Second it is important to learn about who was the primary care giver of the child.  Korean families used to consist of several generations living together.  However, this has since changed to where more married couples are beginning to leave their extended families to start their own homes ("Imagine Your Korea Visit Korea", n.d.).  It is important to know if the child was taken care of by family members or attended a previous child care.  Third, it is important to find out information about the home language and how to support the child in the classroom.  It is also important to ask the family for some simple phrases that are used at home as well as research Korea’s Native language.  Fourth it is important to ensure the environment is inviting and welcoming to the child and family.  This will be accomplished by bringing in materials that represent Korean culture such as books, pictures, toys and music.  Lastly it will be important to find out if the program has access to an interpreter who speaks Korean.  This will be important for conferences, assisting with paper work, keeping the family informed of events in the program. 

 

 

The ultimate goal of utilizing resources and finding out about the Korean culture is to ensure the child and family has a smooth transition into the program.  These supports will also support the teachers who interact with the child and family by ensuring they fell they can meet the family’s needs.

 

Reference

Imagine your Korea visit Korea. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://english.visitkorea.or.kr/enu/AK/AK_EN_1_4_9.jsp

The personal side of bias, prejudice and oppression

When reflecting on a past experience with bias, prejudice and or oppression I think of the time when I was pregnant.  When my husband and I decided to have our first child it was the year of my college graduation.  I was three months pregnant when I graduated college.  Normally this would not be a big deal, however, I did not change my maiden name.  I decided to keep my maiden name after I graduated to ensure that all of my information was correct.  When I went to my doctor’s appointment I remember the doctor asking me if I had a boyfriend and I said no I’m married.  The doctor assumed that I was an unwed soon to be mother.  I had decided before I went to the doctor’s that I would change my name in time for my son’s birth.  After this appointment I was in a hurry to change my name.  I felt that others would think of me as a women with a “baby daddy” I did not want people to think of me this way.  I felt bad that this was a quick assumptions of people when the mother’s name did not match the males. 

After reading about “my social identities portrait” I realized that being married with a traditional family consisting of two parents with their biological children was considered a norm with advantages in the society (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).  This was taught to me by my parents growing up.  My parent’s had my sister and me as teenagers and married each other when we were three months old.  The odds were stacked against them but they have been married ever since.    My parent’s stressed the importance of being married when deciding to have children.  This is why I knew that it was important to change my name before my son was born.  I did not want people to think I was a single mother.    

Understanding my own bias with this issue has helped me to change my point of view with married or unmarried women having babies.  I had to change my view of thinking that a family with unmarried parents had less equity than my own.  Admittedly, before I became a mother I would make the same assumptions as my doctor when I taught in the public school if the child and mother did not have the same last names.  Since then I have learned that it is more important to get to know the family based on who is in the family instead of my own personal beliefs.