Displays of Great Communication

 

The first person I think about when it comes to displaying great communication is my good friend and co-worker. (I will call her Toni) When I first met Toni I just got hired onto the before and after school program as an assistant. Toni immediately displayed many characteristics of an active person. She was always smiling and having friendly conversations with children and their families. I also observed her personal interactions with children and saw how every child that attended the program responded with an excitement to see Ms. Toni as she walked into the room. I was drawn to her immediately and subconsciously followed her throughout the program. I liked how excited her facial expressions were when a child would come up to her to show her a project they completed. What really caught my attention is how silly she would be with the children and how easily she handled defiant and sometimes difficult children. A few days later I discovered that Toni is a military wife, mother and owned a home business. I also found out that she had been working at the program as well as having a second job at the school as a recess monitor off and on for 5 years. She then welcomed me into her home and I met her two beautiful girls and husband. I saw her prepare dinner for her family and then jump on the computer to maintain her home business. Toni then invited me to watch her host and set up a booth at an event to support military spouses. I watched her invite clients with her friendly character, eye contact and subtle promoting ability. She was always available when customers needed her and I even accompanied her when she would personally deliver her product to customers. I found all her positive characteristics as an effective tool (In my opinion everything she did to help children and families either at home, school and personal life had a personal meaning) I saw quality with her relationships and I thought to myself “WOW” how does she do it? To make a long story short throughout the time I spent working with her and getting to be close friends. I felt Toni set a high standard for multitasking women and encouraged me to model some of her behaviors and communication skills. I admit when Toni moved to a different location I tried following a bit in her footsteps and they were BIG shoes to fill. I filled some areas but not others.  

One Hope When Considering Children and Families (By Ms. Jay)

Throughout this course I believe I learned several perspectives on diversity equity and social justice. When I start to consider early childhood education, the community, children and families I hope and envision a world not only accepting differences between people and children but also recognizing the fact that discrimination, prejudices and other forms of micro-aggressions exist.  I hope that as an educational professional I can begin to teach (or advocate) for social justice not just inside the classroom but also with co-workers and people I interact with daily (in the community.) I know I may not have all the answers but I most certainly will continue to learn and be excited about diversity, different cultures and reflect on my progress in order to improve personally and professionally. The number one goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is to see the field change for good. And by change I mean change perspectives, change attitudes, change teaching methods, change activities, change professionally, change personally, in order to celebrate diversity, equity until finally eliminating discrimination and any form of micro-aggressions happening around the world. So that our children, the next generation can live, learn, work and play peacefully.  I know this goal can take many years to accomplish, but I believe we can do it!

I want to take some time out to say thank you! To all my colleagues that participated in sharing their comments, insights, and personal stories with me including blog and discussion posts. I greatly appreciate them and they helped me personally and professionally. To professor Ferrari, Thank you for all the hard work (with comments towards course work) in helping my understandings throughout this class. I wish all my colleagues the best as we continue our educational journey.

A warm welcome to a child and family from Turkey (Ms. Jay)

As a caregiver working at a child development center I imagine having the responsibility (and being the point of contact) of preparing to welcome a new child and family from Turkey into an early childhood development center. With first, having feelings of nervousness and excitement at the same time. The best way I would prepare for this family (and considering what I learned from this course) involves creating a “Supporting Families Checklist” and on the other hand a personal culturally responsive checklist.”

(Please read through my checklist and share some of your thoughts.)

Key Ways	Supporting Families Checklist (How am I Supporting Immigrant Families?)	Personally Culturally Responsive (How am I being culturally responsive?)
1)      Research	Considering proper greetings as a way of establishing respect	Familiarize myself with the culture and language of Turkey
2)      Learn	Learning some familiar or basic Turkish Language is a way of establishing common communication supporting both parties whether in a form of letters (in writing) or a translator  One example maybe a translated packet on the parents sharing the child and family “likes” and “dislikes” traditions, values, beliefs etc.	As I learn the language and establish a common form of communication between myself, the child and family members in the form of having a program translator, (translated documents)in a form of writing or  translating coming directly from the child I’m attempting to bring a warm and welcoming environment for both the child as well as the parent/guardian.
3)      Consider	The history of immigrant families and views of other professionals to provide families to adjust to new culture	As I consider by Derman-Sparks,L.,& Edwards, J.O. (2010) "the history of immigrant families and the views of others as well as challenges with other professionals, I can understand the views of immigrant families and provide “enough time for children and families to adjust to unfamiliar cultures and lifestyles” (p.74) as well as my personal adjustment to the child and program structure
4)      Apply	By applying these (Key Ways) within the program I support the family with hopes of maintaining respect and common courtesy within both cultures.	By applying each (key ways) method within the program and socially interacting with the child and family maintaining a positive relationship.
5)      Evaluate	By consistently responding to the child and family along with communication and observation I can support the family by asking them to share their concerns/goals for their child attending the program. Then consider their views and also evaluate/ alter activities so the needs of the child/family are met.	By constantly asking for feedback from the family, I’m able to evaluate my progress as a caregiver and keep record of the events and share my experience with other professionals.

(Overall I struggled with this post because I felt many of the key ways to support immigrant families blended together.)

   The three ways I hoped my methods benefited the family from Turkey was that our porgram established a warm, welcome, safe and comfortable environment for the child.  That the interactions between the caregivers, other staff members and the family were positive. And I hoped the family felt that our program helped them gain as well as built trust, and mutual respect for both parties. I also hoped the program supported their needs in regards to feeling their cultural values, beliefs etc. were important and valued despite differences.

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National  Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Having to Witness Personal Biases (Ms. Jay)

I remember watching several films about diverse people and many aspects of “Living-isms” Such as Racism, sexism and classism. Some films with stereotypes were made to make people laugh (commedians) and others to grasp different perspectives of diverse people with life changing events involving interracial relationships, and relationships between men and women in general. Each film helped me realize stereotypes exist in society and how people react to them. However, one film that touched me recently was called “Skin”

 

 This story is about a young girl growing up with white parents. I didn't read the synopsis of the story I just put the movie on and watched it. When I saw the child, my first thought was ok, not a problem she was adopted but I was mistaken. Sandra (the young girl) was born with a slightly darker skin color than her parents.  On the outside of her identity society classified her as a “black child” The film shows her struggling with her identity and where she fits in society. I will include video of the movie trailer because it explains her life story better.

Please watch the trailer

Surprisingly The film was also based on a true story. Towards the end of the movie there are clips of the real Sandra. (I will not spoil the film for anyone who has not seen it)

 After watching the film ( contributing to this assignment) I believe it diminishes equity because people were not accepting of the fact that the child belonged and was born into a family. Society was looking at skin color instead of the child and considering the child's emotions and responses to society. Throughout the film I felt emotions of pain for her and relating to some similar experiences she had for example people staring at her because she looked different and feeling awkward ( of not knowing how to respond) to different situations.

 I believe watching the film will help professionals and adults and parents realize “some of the experiences children have growing up.”  I want to envision ( As I learned through this film about racism stereotypes) turning future learning opportunities with children of diverse backgrounds and families as equals as much as possible. Bringing  a sense that we are all human beings first. ( Men and women) (children are all children first)  and the thought of respecting differences is key for a better society. I keep in mind children learn about their identity and about society really early in life.

I recommend this movie (If you have time to watch it) to any adult, colleague looking for better understanding of racism and microagression, Although the rating is PG-13 I strongly suggest to stick to the rating as far as ages of children and encouraging parents to watch the movie along with their teens and discuss situations. Below is a link to another video of a short behind the scenes look at the actors discussing the concept of the movie.

Reference/link

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0964586/

Microagressions (By Ms. Jay)

I remember recently experiencing some unintentional forms of Microagression relating to “brief everyday psychological dilemmas associated with the class of racial realities as well as perceived minimal harm of unintentional, invisible nature of microagressions” (Laureate Education, Inc.2011).  Last Saturday July 14, 2012 I participated in a “Craft Show” A craft show is an event in which people set up tables with merchandise they make by hand and sell to customers. (I don’t make any crafts with my hands but I sell purses as an independent consultant for an at home business.) Some familiar at home businesses you may know about are (Mary Kay and Avon)

Living in North Dakota, in a small city, where the population is about 800 people. The people all around me looked white. I arrived early setting up my table /booth full of my wonderful products and as I looked around and smiled at other vendors and they didn’t smile back I began to feel uncomfortable. Not only did I get a vibe that these people were not friendly but as I looked around again, I noticed I was the only “dark” person there. (I’m part African American and part Asian) I have no problems working with diverse people (My home town Las Vegas Nevada where people from all over the world live work and learn.)

 Internally, I felt in order to make my business grow I have to “get my name out there” so to speak and sell my bags.  I proceeded to set up my booth quietly and calmly. I enjoy selling my bags to co-workers and friends because I know my relationship with them is based on my positive attitude, character and friendly nature as a person. They also relate and know me as part of the military community. I associate well with the military community and I’m very comfortable sharing information about my business with them. I stood there along with other women around me selling their products and realized how the other booths proceeded to stare at me. I realized only two women that were setting up their booths were kind and showed interested in my products.   I looked around some more and recognized a military member also a parent (her child attended our before and after school program) selling her products. I went over and talked to her and became comfortable because we related to each other as part of the military community.  I stood next to her and talked to her a majority of the time before the craft show began. 

During the show, I kindly greeted every customer approaching my booth but still felt like an outcast I watched and observe people walk by my booth without even acknowledging I was there. I also felt other vendors were greeting customers around me (getting their attention before I could even greet them and sold their products to them.) I know I was not the only purse vendor at the show and felt like we were in competition. I decided to be friendly and make the best of my day while being there and got up to walk around and see what products other vendors had. I love purses anyway and decided to try and make conversations with these two young women vendors also selling purses by asking them how long they have sold purses and how much some of them were.  I was not pleased with their service and tone with me. They talked in a mono tone voice and were very assertive in talking about their products. I felt like they wanted me to step away from their booth.

For six hours I watched people walk by my booth, and tell me they had their own purse consultant they buy from, purchase other merchandise from other vendor’s booths, then walk out.  Earlier in the day one person came up to my booth and said “Good Luck!” I kindly smiled and said “Thank you” but internally I was feeling out of place and wasn’t getting much business anyway.  Out of the entire day I only received 3 orders. I told myself it was better than no orders at all.

It’s not fun being the target of micro aggressions even though the comments and gestures were not intentionally meant to harm me or was it? Later, I called my friend and co-worker (I will call her Ms. Tammy) who is also African American and has her own independent business (6 years) selling wickless candles and told her about my first craft show. She said, “You know I’m proud of you, it’s not easy being of minority and selling products up here.” She said, “I know you probably wanted to pack up your stuff and leave but I’m proud that you stood your ground and didn’t let those people push you out.”   

Overall, with the knowledge of microagressions from this course plus reflecting back on this experience helped me learn that some people are unaware of differences within people and may not know how to react to them. (Those who seem like strangers)  My other conclusion leads me to believe people are aware of differences between other people but are “stuck” to their views until at some point in their lives; they experience a form of microagression or speak to someone who is not afraid of addressing the issue directly.

Here is a picture of my booth.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2011). [Video web cast]: Microaggressions in Everyday Life In Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_1341778_1%26url%3D

Defining culture and diversity from other perspectives (Ms. Jay)

I decided to discuss diversity and culture with three different people a co-worker, acquaintance, and husband. I will provide their definitions plus insights I gained from reflecting on their perspectives.

 The first person I spoke to is an acquaintance he is visiting my workplace as a military family life advocate consultant and the term we use is “M-Flac” their job is to council and listen to individuals of family members and children that may have difficulty with a parent being deployed or other life issues and concerns. Our “M-Flac” provides emotional and social support to these military families. J. Scott defined culture as a “collective psyche or essence of an area or a region, a neighborhood or a state” he shared with me a little bit of his background and his experience growing up in a school where he was under minded and profiled because of the place he grew up. Keeping in mind J. Scott was born in 1949 and the times of accepting different cultures were different from some views today, I learned his father earned a doctorate degree at a well-known Christian college and how his mother also graduated from college with a high grade point average. He explained frustrations of being placed in the lowest level of classes in grade school but proved to be one of the smartest students. His definition of diversity is an “interaction between two or more cultures and their representatives.  J. Scott shared with me within his high school years (growing up as a “white”) individual in southern Tennessee where a majority of his classmates pushed him away because he “talked different” and viewed “black” people as no different from him and the only people that welcomed him were “black people.” As J. Scott shared his experience with me I gained a little understanding of his identity and remain grateful for the present time of knowing some people living in the world stay open to differences in people.

            The second person I discussed diversity and culture with is a good friend and co-worker. T. Myles defined culture as “How each of us live and how we all come from different backgrounds.” She explained just because (she is African American) “me and you are different shades of black doesn’t mean we are both black and the same I know we grew up with different cultures and the way you were raised is different from the way I was raised” She defined diversity as “when you have two different races come together.” she continues to say that “diversity and culture definitions are almost alike”   Just yesterday our program celebrated “Diversity Day” and the children created a dance to this song. Each colored a flag from a different country, dressed up in the countries costumes and danced together to “Wavin Flag”

I don’t have video but their dance almost brought me to tears because like my friend said and we agreed “it’s nice to see children from different cultures come together as one”  Her definition encouraged me to understand that even though we may be different on the outside children still find time to dance, eat and play together.

Last but not least my husband. J. Cortez His definition of culture is when we look at “different races of people and how their daily lives are and how different cultures interact with each other” his example is that every culture is different “let’s say when it comes to food.” He mentions his favorite dinner dishes from the Filipino culture and compares it to say the American dinner. His definition of diversity includes how “people’s imagination is different and how they handle situations differently he explains people are independent and express themselves differently. From his definition I agree with his thoughts on how people express themselves and handle situations with different methods.

Some aspects of culture which I studied during this course are seeing past the “surface” of culture and often get to know people to completely understand and respect their views and perspectives. I think the one perspective within culture and diversity which has been set aside or talked about is looking at their culture and pulling out certain characteristics they want to celebrate more than other aspects.

I included a video from youtube of the song our children danced to. As I listen to the words I find diversity within children make sense. Enjoy!

A simulated Journey (Ms. Jay)

With any devastating event like a major flooding of the entire country happening in the area and resulted to traveling to a country different from my own and I could only take three things with me only related to my families culture I would take a family photo, a journal and the Holy Bible.  I feel that there are too many items within my home that represent my family's culture values and beliefs so I narrowed down the items to these three.

The first item on my list would be my family photo. In this particular picture even though it was taken years ago I remember it as the last family photo with my Mom Dad Sister and Brother. The picture is a snap shot of my culture and with it brings past memories. As I look at each person in the picture I can remember certain happy family events as well as traditions and struggles. I figure my memories are what I have to preserve my family culture; which brings me to the next item, a small to medium journal.  Even though I don’t know  where I’m going or what I’ll be doing hopefully I would have time to write down my thoughts and experiences in the journal. I want to almost guarantee with any culture reading and writing is an important skill to have. If in any occasion reading and writing is not allowed I probably wouldn’t survive or be in trouble all the time. The journal represents my family’s culture by writing down anything that pertains to my family (a history book) written full of my family tree, recipes I remember cooking writing down my own culture’s beliefs, values and traditions.

The last item on my list would be the holy bible. (New Living Translation) If anything I know there is one advice I remember my mom telling me with traveling or moving out of the house it was her saying something like “if any disaster happens to you or your house like a fire, and you can take only one thing with you make sure you grab your bible because faith and prayer in God will help you in times of need.” From her advice I understand that material possessions are a little easier to replace than my life. And from personal previous experiences I really only had faith and prayer to see me through rough times. This greatly relates to my beliefs and values in my way of life.

If upon arrival I could only take one item with me it would be my bible and to be honest (I would hide the wallet size family picture in the bible or within my change of clothes). I have faith that wherever I end up I would find a way to write down my experiences and create my own journal using different types of paper and a writing instrument. I know if I really couldn’t bring but one item it would be the Bible cause then all I would have are the memories. As a result of this exercise I feel a little more humbled and greatly appreciate the present things and events going on in my life.

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