Competent Communicator

I have an aunt that is a metro council member for district five in the state of Louisiana. Ronnie Edwards has served her district faithfully for the past five years. She listens to her fellow citizens that make up the district where she serves. Ronnie Edwards hold community forums monthly, visit churches, schools and businesses to hear the voice of the people.  She is a very effective communicator.

Ronnie Edwards exhibits behaviors of being a verbal and non-verbal communicator. Advantages serves her well when communicating with a diverse audience. She adjust to the needs of others while effectively getting to a good result. Ronnie Edwards believes that mutal respect is a key element of a conversation

I would like to model some of my own behaviors after my aunt. In every community and council meeting she is complimented of how well she relates to others and how productive she is throughout her district. Every event held is for the betterment of the people throughout district five. She is invited to attend and speak at other functions that are held outside of her district to support uniting citizens of the Greater Baton Rouge area. Ronnie Edwards is a good listener as well as an effective community with all who comes in contact with her.

Professional Hopes and Goals

During the Perspectives Diversity and Equity course I have gained new and helpful insights pertaining to diversity, social identities, microagressors, isms, equity, and social justices. One hope that I have when working with children and their families from diverse backgrounds is that they will be treated equally by everyone. Every individual should be afforded the same opportunities as others.

One goal that I would like to see enforced in the early childhood field regarding diversity, equity, and social justice is that every child and their families would receive the same fair and equal treatment at all times. As an early childhood professional I would not let bias views, discrimination, race, ethnicity or religion hinder my ability to create a nurturing and environment successful outcomes for all children and their families.

I would like to thank my colleagues for the feedback they have provided me with during the Perspectives Diversity and Equity course. I appreciate the insight and ideas you have shared during this period. My wish for you as a colleague is to fulfill your desires in life on your professional journey.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

I chose Paraguay as my family’s country of origin. I have never heard of this particular country before. Our nation is made up of many cultures and diversities.  Ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards the Paraguay family is to first recognize my own culture so I will be able to understand my family’s culture.  Then I would take steps to examine my attitudes toward people different than me. Next, I would gather information about Paraguay family’s culture, values, beliefs and traditions to be able to communicate with the family to find out more. I would implement strategies to bring rich cultural content into my classroom and teachings to expand their knowledge also incorporate their interest.  Finally, I would help children and families develop their own culturally sensitive skills to be successful in our diverse and global world.

I hope that the family from Paraguay and I would benefit by gaining a better understanding of cultures, values beliefs and traditions. This knowledge would provide an opportunity to further develop my internal biases and inform my relationship with others while helping the family to develop their own skills to be success in our nation.

 

References

Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. NAEYC: Washington, DC

Miranda, E. (2010). Going global in Arlington, Virginia. Journal of Education for Sustainable Development 4(2), 219--226

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The movie “Queen” by Alex Haley had examples of racial prejudice in it. In the movie there was a biracial girl name Queen that is the daughter of a slave and slave owner. She is being mistreated by the slaves and slave owners family because of her color and position.  When Queen turned five years old her slave owner father moved her to the main house so she could learn to serve and be a lady’s maid. The slave owner’s wife didn’t accept that his daughter from a slave would be living in the same house and being treated the same as them. The daughters grew up as playmates queen also served her half- sister until her death. Everywhere Queen went she was resented by others.  Towards the end of the movie Queen ended up going crazy and having a break down because she was so busy trying to please and be accepted by others. Queen’s grandfather died and she wanted to bring her children so they would know where her life started at. There were still negative comments by the slave owners family member towards Queen so she told her children” that home is where you are loved.”

 

The racial prejudice treatment that Queen received because she was a black slave diminished equity when she approached some slaves because she was hungry. They made fun of her because of the way she ate and because she knew how to read and right.

There was an incident where she met two ladies that hired Queen to work in their home because of her qualifications. Once she started working with the ladies they tried to push their religious beliefs on her and wanted her to stop attending her church and attend theirs.

This movie brought back how there are still prejudice people in the world today of every race. There are still organizations that represent the klu klux klan in the south. Parishes in Louisiana within the last five years just started holding High School Proms and taking senior trips together.

We as a people should become more united to bring about a change. We as a nation would have a greater equity if we can come together for the good of the people. Learn to get along, share views and ideas to bring a greater chance for change.

Reference
Haley, A. (1993). Queen

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The conversation I observed between two students in my class identified gender microaggression.  A girl and boy student wanted to assist in putting up nap cots. The boy student told the girl student she could not pick the cot up because she was a girl and did not have any muscles. The boy student felt because the other student was a girl she was not capable of lifting the nap cots.

My feelings toward gender microaggression are that it is wrong to have preconceived standards of any individual. Children model adult’s behaviors and actions and begin to develop microaggression that they may hear or see other do

The observation between the students show me that at a young age we start to develop and gain prejudice biases against particular groups, sexualities, genders, disabilities and race. We as individuals build relationships that are supportive of our children and their families without any biases.

Perspectives On Diverssity and Culture

I questioned three of my friends about their definitions of culture and diversity. These were the answer I received:

Culture

The way in which people live that makes them different from others.

The belief in things you are taught and things you do.

How you are raised, heritage, where your family is from, recognizing language, Religion, social standards and the way you live.

Some examples of culture are values, traditions, Religion, education. Some families believe in their children getting a college degree. Some families may believe only in high school education only. A family may believe in God. Other families may believe in Buddha.

Things that I recognized that were omitted from culture that I have learned in this course include our parenting patterns, the way we eat, talk, play and our living arrangements. People may feel they don’t need a house with three bedrooms and a bathroom to make them feel comfortable they can live in an apartment, or a trailer as long as they have a roof over their head that’s what counts.

Diversity

Divided by, defending, separate.

When you have a lot of different cultures blended together.

What makes us different from each other, race, sexual preference, political views.

Diversity is recognizing, appreciating, respecting, and utilizing a variety of attributes, not just race and ethnicity. It creates performance advantages through synergy of diverse ideas and people.

Some examples of diversity include attributes of individuals, their experiences and backgrounds.

Things that were omitted from diversity that I have learned in this course include identity formation and the benefits. There is a benefit of being different from others you will learn characteristics such as traditions, opinions of politics and others family views and they can learn from you.

The influences that my friends views about culture and diversity has really help me see what is important to them and how we all or different and have our different opinions about these issues.

My Family Culture

Three items I would bring with me if there was a major catastrophe and I was relocated to another country without any say so would include a Bible, family portraits/ identification and insurance papers.

The Bible is important to my family and me. It reminds me of the faithfulness of God. God reminds us in the scriptures of the promises he has for those who are faithful to Him and His word.

I will always be reminded of the people that are dear to my heart with family portraits and identification. This would give me the strength to continue on the journey of life taking one day at a time. Hopes of there being a better day when our lives will be back to normal. If anything was to happen and the family was separated are lost identification would be shown in hopes of reuniting lost members of the family.

Insurance papers would be of importance if a family member or I was to die. I would not want them to be burdened down with how they are going to deal with the cost of burial. They would have insurance papers that would be submitted to take care of expenses that occur when someone dies. They would even have some money left over for themselves.   

If upon arrival could only keep one of the items I brought that were dear to me it would be the Bible because my family would be that with me. The Bible is very uplifting and I would be able to view scriptures that remind my family and I that we are not along and that all of our steps are order by God.

Insights gained would be how committed to our religion and how my family and I rely on the word of God to get us through every situation we may face. Also how we rely on the word to function and get us through life.