One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to increase my ability to empower others to identify and accept diversity. Another hope that I have is to understand the depth of diversity. Human diversity begins at conception, when egg and sperm unite, the sex of the new life is determined, and the embryo begins to interact in unique ways with a unique prenatal environment. One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to is to increase my ability to recognize micro aggressions and to avoid them in my communication with others. I have learned so much throughout this course and I have truly gained a better understanding of how deep diversity is. I would like to thank my classmates and professor for sharing their experiences, advice, and suggestions on all of these important topics. I feel all professionals working in the early childhood field should have a deeper understanding of diversity to decrease bias, discrimination, prejudice, etc. This was a wonderful class and I enjoyed being apart of it.
Author Archives: shaylamitchell
Welcoming Families From Around the World
The country my “new family” is coming from is Morocco. I know absolutely nothing about this country, other than the fact that it is a country in Africa. One of the first things I would do to prepare for a family who is coming from Morocco is to research the country and find out about the countries customs, beliefs, traditions, language of origin, culture, and education. These would be aspects I would love to learn more about prior to the family coming into the center. Once they arrived, I would of course ask the parent/parents these questions to know specifically what their culture does, rather than generalize. A second way I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive is to inform the staff and children of the new family coming to our center. I would educate them as much as possible so they are not unfamiliar with the new culture and allow them to ask any questions they had. A fourth way I would prepare myself to be culturally responsive is by planning a “Getting to Know You” meeting with the family and make any modifications to food menu’s, classroom curriculum, etc. The final way I would prepare myself is getting my staff enrolled into diversity trainings so they learn to embrace and implement diversity into my child care center.
I hope that all of these preparations will benefit myself and the family by increasing self-awareness of level of intercultural sensitivity for each individual. I would hope also that these preparations would help serve as a teaching point to assist with a way to avoid cultural differences by denying the existence of differences, by using defenses against difference, or by minimizing the importance of difference.
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
A memory I have when I experienced prejudice happened a few years ago. I went out to eat with one of my best friend’s and some of our co-workers to a restaurant across the river. We were the only two minorities in the group, but we never saw this coming. We were seated promptly and when it was time to place our drink orders, everyone at the table had their order taken except for my best friend and I. We thought it was a little odd considering we had all sat down together. We figured she was going to the back to get the others and would come back out and get our drink orders. Well she went to the back and grabbed the rest of the table’s drinks, but not once did she ask us what we wanted. In a professional manner, my best friend questioned her as to why she had not taken our drink orders. She gave a “b.s.” excuse that she didn’t think we were ready to order yet because we were still looking over the menu. She got our drink orders and brought them to us 10 minutes later. When she came back to get our food order, she had a nasty attitude and so we all decided not to stay. On the way out, our group expressed our discontent to the manager on duty and told him we would never return. The manger was just as nasty as she was and it frustrated me to not react unprofessionally.
This incident diminished equity in that my best friend and I were treated unfairly in comparison to our co-workers all because we were minorities. The object of equity is to be equal and fair. In this case, we were not treated fairly, and as a result left the restaurant unsatisfied. I never thought that racism still existed as much, but boy was I wrong. It has been 3 years, and I have not gone back to that restaurant. I also discourage anyone I know who may be talking about going there and I explain to them what happened. I would never wish that type of treatment on my worst enemy. I felt betrayed, infuriated, pissed, sad, embarrassed, disrespected and disgusted all at the same time. I had a whirlwind of emotions stirring inside of me, so naturally when I got home I cried a little and then I got over it. This was definitely my first experience of blatant prejudice that involved me and I hope I never have to experience that again. The people within the restaurant would need to change and be more accepting of other races being served in their restaurant in order for this incident to be turned into an opportunity for greater equity.
Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions
After completing this week’s discussion board post and talking with my family and friends, I have been bothered by a micro-aggression that I believe was completely intentional. Here is the scenario:
Susan, who is white, attends a staff party at the day care where she works. She is looking for one of her coworkers, Denise. The two women like each other a lot and often attend social events together. Susan spots Denise with a group of other employees who, like Denise, are black. They are talking animatedly, laughing, and apparently having a really good time. Susan waves and Denise leaves the group to join her. Susan sighs and exclaims: “Gee, Denise, why do you people always have to be so loud? Can’t you just calm down like the rest of us?”
I feel as though the micro-aggression was completely intentional and directed specifically at the African American race. If the group of individuals had been a mix of race, would Susan have made that comment? She felt that she needed to belittle Denise and her race based on the fact that she is part of a dominant race. She felt that Denise and her friends needed to be more like the dominant race, rather than loud like she alleges. It is one thing to be loud and talking or having an argument, but to be laughing and having a good time during a staff party, it was the right context and setting to be loud. I would have cut off all ties with Susan after that comment and would o longer associate with her and her ignorance in order to avoid further disagreements.
I felt like it was me being offended rather than it being a simple scenario. I don’t like it when people, especially white people, try to belittle or make African Americans feel less than at any time. White people are just as loud as Black people, so I would have made a big deal over that comment made by Susan. My observation of this scenario affected my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes of people by making me more aware of micro-aggressions and making myself be more professional in handling these situations. When I was younger, I probably would have responded to this scenario very emotionally and would have wanted to fight. Now, I would use my education and skills to stop individuals from talking.
Perspectives on Diversity and Culture
I was able to interview 3 people who have a significant amount of cultural differences than me. These individuals consisted of my husband, my co-worker, and a client that I serve at my second job. I will include the results from the interview with my husband in this post. My husband and I have some significant cultural differences. For one, our genders are different as he is a male and I am a female. Our religion before we became Husband and Wife were different. My husband attended Church of God In Christ as a child and I attended Episcopal churches. We also have a 2 years age difference, and some physical differences. My husband suffered a back injury to his lower back last year and is unable to work. I have no medical issues that I know of and am physically able to do anything.
When I asked my husband his definition of culture he responded that culture to him is broken down into different religions, races, foods individuals partake, language, where they come from. He also said it is more than what the eye can see. When I asked him what diversity meant to him, he stated that diversity is a set of differences that make up an individual or group of people. He also stated that diversity is both internal and external, meaning that some diversity is not visible to the human eye. Our families have and accept diversity on a daily basis. We have some family members who are mixed with black and white, Italian, Puerto Rican, and we all celebrate something different. We appreciate the diversity because it is what makes our family so unique.
The aspects of culture and diversity that I discussed in this report and are similar to what I learned in the text are everyone has a different definition to what culture and diversity are. There is no right or wrong answer, but the foundation of these definitions are that each individual will have a different culture or diversity that they will identify with. I was unable to find any aspect that was omitted. Thinking about other people’s definition of culture and diversity have influenced my own thinking because I appreciate that even though my definition and others definition are not identical, we all seek on common goal and that is to embrace and be more accepting of individual differences.
My Family Culture
If I were ever involved in a catastrophic event where my family was to be evacuated to a country that was completely different than mine, and I could only choose 3 items to take along with me I would take; my laptop, my family photo album, and a weekender bag of BBQ Middleswarth chips.
My laptop carries a lot of valuable information on it, and my husband is somewhat of a computer genius. I would explain to anyone who inquired why I brought this is to be able to communicate effectively no matter where I am. I would use the computer to learn more about my new culture and find out ways my family and I can adjust and become more comfortable in our new surroundings. I could also learn the native language spoken, if not English, and teach my family how to speak the language so it does not become a barrier. My family photo album is an item I hold near and dear to me. Ii contains pictures of my family who have passed away as well and lasting memories of good times we shared with them while they were alive. I would keep this album as a reminder of the good times and allow it to motivate me to keep pushing forward no matter where my family is evacuated to. I love to look back at all the fun times captured in a single moment. It helps me through tough times and I can foresee this working even in a new part of the world. The weekender bag of BBQ Middleswarth chips is a necessity of mine only because these chips are very limited to the Northern States in the US, so I know that in a foreign country there may not be any. I enjoy eating these chips as an adult and I was introduced to them as a young girl. My daughter loves these chips as well to pass on the tradition of eating these chips would mean more to me than anything.
I would feel devastated to find out that I could only keep one personal item. I would see if there was a way to give an item to my daughter and to my husband as their personal item, that way we could keep all three since they all have meaning to us. If there was no other way around this protocol, I would probably give up the chips and the laptop. I couldn’t fathom not having pieces of my family that I could look forward to seeing every day.
An insight I have gained about myself is how materialistic I truly am. This was difficult to sit down and think of only three things I could bring with me. I thought I had a lot of precious items in my home, but after sitting down and thinking about what has meaning, these are the only three things that if anything ever happened I would always bring with me.
When I Think of Research…
- What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?
The insights I have gained about research from taking this course is how to appropriately design and implement a research design in my research simulation. I learned the breakdown of the most important parts in the research design as well as what should all be included in the research design.
- In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
The ways my ideas have changed in the nature of doing research are by knowing how to coordinate appropriately a research design that will allow more reliability and validity. I also never knew there was so much detailed information available as to how to collect data, formulate a research design, and implement the design into the research.
- What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?
I learned how to meticulously plan, design, and conduct research appropriately specifically for the early childhood field just based on the knowledge I received from the course. I also learned how important all of these steps are in determining how valid and reliable the research will be.
- What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?
Some challenges I encountered were determining independent and dependent variables within my specific research simulation, creating a research question, and developing a hypothesis. I did my homework and research on these challenges and was able to successfully develop a research question, hypothesis, and dependent and independent variables.
- What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?
My perceptions of an early childhood professional have not really been modified as a result of this course. I perceive that all professionals perform to the best of their abilities and at their own pace. I hope that all professionals are professional at all times and abide by the code of ethics at all times.
Research Around the World- Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA)
- What are some of the current international research topics? Some of the current international research topics on this website are: The Development of an Integrated Early Childhood Development Urban Model Training Program for Informal Minders and Community Volunteers in Ghana, Building Community Leadership for Quality Sustainability in Madrasa Preschools: The Case of Madrasa Preschools Post Graduation Support, Pilot Study of the Adaptation of an Established Measure to Assess the Quality of Child Services in a Selected Orphanage in Zambia: The Inclusive Quality Assessment (IQA) Tool, and Assessment of the Caring Practices in Two Motherless Babies’ Homes in Abia State, Nigeria and the Development and Delivery of a Nutrition Training Program to the Staff of These Homes to Improve Nutrition of Children in Their Care.
- What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website? Some new insights I gained from exploring the international website are that it is dedicated to improving the quality of life for children and their families in Africa. The program seeks to accomplish this through working, on a sustained basis, with ECD leaders from across the continent. The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) is an innovative and multifaceted approach to addressing ECD capacity building and leadership development in Africa. The ECDVU is supported by a range of international, regional and local organizations, including the employers of participants.
- What other noteworthy information did you find on this website? Other noteworthy information I found on this website is an objective of the ECDVU program is to increase information available regarding the status of ECD in Africa. One way to address this objective has been to make available on-line the work of ECDVU participants. The initial course (CYC 541) required each country team to produce an ECD Country Report identifying the current status of children, families and women’s issues in the country which are then reproduced on this website.
Research that Benefits Children and Families- Option 1
Because I have always had a strong passion for working with children and adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorders, I chose to research some of the positive effects of detecting Autism in children. I found an article that lists how a practitioner can detect Autism when working with children. Van Tongerloo, Bor, and Lagro-Janssen (2012) indicate in their article that it takes considerable time before Autism Spectrum Disorders are diagnosed. Children with ASD were often presented as crybabies and often showed feeding problems. Depression in the parents of children with ASD was remarkably prevalent.
Classic autism is currently detected at about three years of age (van Tongerloo, Bor, and Langro-Janssen, 2012). Asperger’s syndrome and PDD-NOS tend to be diagnosed later with a mean age of, respectively 7.2 and 3.9-year-old. Early intervention is the best response to ASD: the earlier treatment is started, the more favorable treatment outcomes are. The younger the child, the better the opportunities are to move the young child toward a more typical developmental trajectory because of plasticity of the young brain. I’m a firm believer in early intervention, in which support and services are given to children, from birth to age five, with developmental delays and disabilities. Early Intervention builds upon the natural learning opportunities that occur within the daily routines of a child and their family.
Reference:
Van Tongerloo, M., Bor, H., and Lagro-Janssen, A. (2012). Detecting Autism Spectrum Disorders in the General Practitioner’s
Practice. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders, 42(8), 1531-1538.
Cognitive Development
The topic I chose to focus my research simulation on was cognitive development. I have always had a huge fascination with how children preceive the world vs how adults perceive the world and so this topic truly elaborates more on this idea. I was inspired by Jean Piaget’s work in my undergraduate studies, so much so that I wanted to utilize this as a research topic and expand further on the information. I often times find myself conducting observations with my 5 year old daugther and the children I work with to see where their cognitive development levels are and if they are developmentally on track. During my undergraduate studies, I was required to conduct observations in the classroom setting in 4 diferent centers to see how cognitive development varied amongst age groups and populations of children.
There was a very common theme among the infants and young toddlers, and that was they were all, with the exception of a few, operating within the sensorimotor stage. During this stage an infant’s knowledge of the world is limited to his or her sensory perceptions and motor activities. Behaviors are limited to simple motor responses caused by sensory stimuli. As the hildren get older, they move through the other stages fairly quickly. My 5 year old should be operating in the preoperational stage, which states that a child learns to use language. During this stage, children do not yet understand concrete logic, cannot mentally manipulate information and are unable to take the point of view of other people. She is actually functioning within the concrete operational stage, which states that children gain a better understanding of mental operations. Children begin thinking logically about concrete events, but have difficulty understanding abstract or hypothetical concepts.
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