Professional Hopes and Goals

                                      

          One hope that I have after taking this course, when working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, is that I can make them feel safe and comfortable in my classroom. Every student is unique and special to me as an early childhood educator and I want every scholar to understand that. I also want them to feel included, whether that is during instruction, activities, celebrations, or anything else that arises within and outside the classroom. This begins with teaching my students about diversity and how they all have their own self-identity. It explains why even twins raised side-by-side live completely different lives with different goals and aspirations. It is also my hope that the families I serve know how much their child is valued and how accepting our classroom is for them. This includes being culturally aware of each of my students and addressing any matters that arise while simultaneously teaching my scholars the importance of recognizing differences, but celebrating them also.

         My goal for the early childhood field related to diversity, equity, and social justice is to ensure every child knows their unique worth. They all have their own quirks and special traits that are apart of diversity and that equity must be constantly fought for, even at a young age. When the earlier generations know and understand equity, they may be the change for the future regarding social justice. It begins with just one voice, even if that begins as the educator's voice teaching the students about diversity and the importance of recognizing and celebrating it.

          I would like to thank my colleagues for diving into the assignments so thoroughly and allowing for interesting and important discussions. Reading each one of your discussions, blogs, and comments really gave me a new understanding each week with the course material. While it is important to understand what we are learning ourselves, it is perhaps more important to understand how others take it in and apply it to their own lives. It has been a pleasure getting to know my cyber-class and I look forward to what each of our futures' hold.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Tanzania is a country that has always fascinated me, yet I never have done much research about it. In this scenario, working as an early childhood educator, I believe that if a child who emigrated from Tanzania entered my classroom, I would take many steps necessary to ensure they and their family felt welcomed. The five steps I would take are:

1. Creating a "Get to Know Me" sheet that I obtain from all my scholars at the beginning of the year. I believe this is important as I want to know about the child themselves, not just their place of origin. I want to know their favorite color, favorite animal, what foods they like and dislike, and so on. I believe this shows that every child is special and unique and by highlighting these qualities, I am able to connect with my students on a deeper level.

2. The second step would be to set up a conference with the family so that I can meet them in person and establish the best source of communication based on what works for them. I want the family to feel comfortable reaching out with anything and everything they need, especially with their child transitioning not just schools, but countries as well.

3. The third step would be to find out any information pertinent to the child's well-being while they are in school. This includes any limitations (can they participate in classroom parties, etc...) in order to make sure cultural standards are still observed and to find alternate means for situations that the family does not want their student a part of. Or even the knowledge of religious and/or cultural holidays that we can factor into our ADA.

4. The fourth step would be to make sure the child feels safe within the classroom, especially if they were transferring in after the year had already started. Usually, when I have a new student, I find them a 'buddy' in which they shadow and have the chance to bond with someone from the get-go. I understand language barriers may be an issue so by the child following and watching their buddy throughout the day, they may be able to develop a visual representation of what our day-to-day activities look like.

5. The fifth step would be communication with the family once again. I am a regular picture taker within my classroom and upload pictures on our class website so that parents see how their child's day is going. I believe with my family's case, a picture of their student learning and surrounded by new friends would be a comfort in the stress of moving to a different country and ultimately a different culture.

It would be my hope that both the family and the scholar would feel happy and safe within my classroom and that the line of communication would be strong with myself and the family.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Perhaps my most well known example of oppression is also one of my earliest memories. My mother joined the Air Force when I was two years old. While I do not remember much during her time in Basics nor do I remember much about the initial first two years of her service, I recall a specific time while we were en route to a new state, a new home, and a new school as part of the traditional military relocation lifestyle. I remember my mother and father quietly discussing amongst themselves in the front of the car while I entertained myself in the backseat, counting the number of cacti that flew by on our way to Arizona. My parents were discussing how my mother had not received a promotional rank after the command leader said my mother could not receive any type of promotion like it due to the liability of placing a woman in that position. This came at a time where my mother had found out she was pregnant with my brother and it seemed that her "liability" was her pregnancy. It turns out, no woman had ever worked in the position my mother had been after, more than likely due to this oppressive way of thinking from the commanders.

Even though I was young at the time during this ordeal, I still remember feeling furious that my hard-working, brilliant mother did not receive something she had worked so hard for because she was a girl. This situation has always stuck with me, in anything I do or try to achieve, just to prove people like my mom's commanders wrong. A woman can do and be anything they wish, regardless of what makes them unique as a female. However, it is disheartening to see that this is the case for so many women in the workforce and within society; being told "no" or "it will never happen" simply because of genderism. This act of oppression is also a bias against women and prejudice that states women are not capable of everything a man can do. While society likes to label women who think this way as feminists, it is a simple act of being a strong human being with the knowledge that equity is needed and should be acknowledged.