One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that they will be able to feel comfortable and respected being who they are, not what society wants or expects them to be.
One goal I would like to set for the early childhood filed related to diversity, equity, and social justice is that all children and families will have equal opportunities to live, learn, and work in a society that accepts them for who they are and will not make judgments based on race, culture, sexuality, gender, etc.
This has been an amazing course. You all have certainly educated me through your thoughtful discussions and posts. All of our perspectives about diversity and equity and the new information gathered will be a great benefit to the children and families we work with or may work with in the future. Good luck in future courses.
Amanda
Friday, August 17, 2012
Friday, August 10, 2012
Welcoming families from Around the World
Before this course, I really did not understand how important knowing about a person's country of origin was. So, I could probably pick any country because I never took a tremendous amount of time to truly prepare myself to be culturally responsive. Let's pick Haiti for this assignment.
To prepare myself and my classroom to be culturally responsive, I would research as much information as possible about the country. Learning the language fluently would be impossible in such a short amount of time, but learning a few common words and phrases would be beneficial and most likely make the family feel welcomed. Scheduling a home visit with the family before the child started in the classroom would also help to gain knowledge about the family, their culture, and their child. Observing how the family interacts with one another and the child, as well as continuing to observe the child in the classroom would help to gain a lot of information about how the family functions, what they find important, their interests, and the child's temperament. Talking with other colleagues may help to gain information about the country and/or ways to help the child and family be successful. And lastly, bringing as much of the child's culture into the classroom, along with every other child's culture.
These preparations would help build positive communications between the child and their family. A bit of trust and comfort may come from the home visit as well as the effort put into learning a few common words/phrases in their language. Bringing the child's culture into the classroom and helping all children understand their own culture and that of others will help to build a positive self-identity. For myself, the preparation and continued observations will build my knowledge of diversity and continued learning.
To prepare myself and my classroom to be culturally responsive, I would research as much information as possible about the country. Learning the language fluently would be impossible in such a short amount of time, but learning a few common words and phrases would be beneficial and most likely make the family feel welcomed. Scheduling a home visit with the family before the child started in the classroom would also help to gain knowledge about the family, their culture, and their child. Observing how the family interacts with one another and the child, as well as continuing to observe the child in the classroom would help to gain a lot of information about how the family functions, what they find important, their interests, and the child's temperament. Talking with other colleagues may help to gain information about the country and/or ways to help the child and family be successful. And lastly, bringing as much of the child's culture into the classroom, along with every other child's culture.
These preparations would help build positive communications between the child and their family. A bit of trust and comfort may come from the home visit as well as the effort put into learning a few common words/phrases in their language. Bringing the child's culture into the classroom and helping all children understand their own culture and that of others will help to build a positive self-identity. For myself, the preparation and continued observations will build my knowledge of diversity and continued learning.
Sunday, August 5, 2012
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
A recent example of bias that I came across was in a book my son is reading for Middle School. As the family was sitting around the table eating dinner the daughter asked her father how many square feet in an acre. And later in the conversation then asked her mother for a stamp, an envelope, and a piece of paper. As dinnertime continued, the mother made the comment, "Speaking of gender issues, why did you ask your father about the number of square feet in a n acre? Why not your mother?" The daughter replied, "I thought acres was men's stuff". After asking for the stamp, envelope, and a piece of paper, her mother replied, "Ask your father, he's the stamp, envelope, and paper person". The girl threw her hands up and said, "I give up. I'll never figure out this gender business". Although these statements were made in a joking manner, it goes to show that even young children have learned bias/gender behaviors.
This type of bias diminishes that equity for men and women are not seen as equal in our society. That often times men's roles and women's roles are based on traditions beliefs and values. In this example, the female is the one considered to take care of the "writing" aspect and the male is the math expert.
Feelings that this example had for me at first was a feeling of Wow! There are books out there for children that actually do provide teachable moments based on gender bias. I then had the feeling of understanding how our children do learn such bias from those around them and how it is our responsibility as adults, like the mother in the story, to use teachable moments with young children to help eliminate gender bias and encourage children to be involved in interactions opposite than what society expects.
Who would have to change? Society as a whole. Employers would have to revisit who they hire for what jobs. Families would have to explore the daily duties of mother and father, toys and activities that boy and girls engage in. Religions would have to take a look at their beliefs of what men are put on this earth to do as well as women. And people need to be more educated on the impact that biases have on society as a whole.
Spinelli, J. (1996). Crash. New York, NY: First Scholastic printing.
This type of bias diminishes that equity for men and women are not seen as equal in our society. That often times men's roles and women's roles are based on traditions beliefs and values. In this example, the female is the one considered to take care of the "writing" aspect and the male is the math expert.
Feelings that this example had for me at first was a feeling of Wow! There are books out there for children that actually do provide teachable moments based on gender bias. I then had the feeling of understanding how our children do learn such bias from those around them and how it is our responsibility as adults, like the mother in the story, to use teachable moments with young children to help eliminate gender bias and encourage children to be involved in interactions opposite than what society expects.
Who would have to change? Society as a whole. Employers would have to revisit who they hire for what jobs. Families would have to explore the daily duties of mother and father, toys and activities that boy and girls engage in. Religions would have to take a look at their beliefs of what men are put on this earth to do as well as women. And people need to be more educated on the impact that biases have on society as a whole.
Spinelli, J. (1996). Crash. New York, NY: First Scholastic printing.
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