Professional Hopes and Goals

During the first course in this program, you helped to establish and became part of a collaborative learning community. As the courses have progressed, you and your colleagues have been studying together and supporting each others goals with regard to taking on and mastering the challenges of this MS Early Childhood Studies program

As you prepare to move on to your final course before the specializations, take time to think about your aspirations with regard to diversity, equity, and social justice, the different ways in which your colleagues have supported you, how you have supported them, and what you wish for your colleagues as they continue on their professional path.

• One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds: That there becomes a standard in the profession on how we welcome, incorporate and include families with diverse backgrounds...that everyone, everywhere uses appropriate and positive standards when interacting with diverse cultures, expectations and families.  We do have NAEYC and their position statement on diversity in early childhood programs, however, all professionals who work with children need to embrace and uphold these standards. 
• http://www.naeyc.org/files/naeyc/file/positions/PSDIV98.PDF
• One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice: To teach respect and acceptance to not only children, but adults/families as well.  It is our responsibility to educate families and our communities on the importance of issues of diversity, equity, and social justice
• I would like to say thank you to all of my colleagues and fellow EC professionals.  This journey of Walden continues to be an enlightening one.  I am learning that I grow so much from collaboration and insights of my colleagues as much as I grow from research exploration and reflection!  Here's to a continued amazing journey and the positive and insightful support of everyone!

Blog Assignment: Welcoming Families From Around the World

Think for a moment about the following two statistics:

• About 195 different countries exist in the world today.
• According to the U.S. census bureau, the United States’ population includes individuals and families from 150 different countries.

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

In order to complete this assignment, first choose a country you know nothing about as this family’s country of origin.

The country of origin I chose for this assignment is: Sierra Leone

It’s a country with ultimate natural wealth -gold and diamonds and holds one of the world’s largest natural harbor at the capital city Freetown. 70% of the population is living under poverty making it the third poorest country in the world.  Sierra Leone is also one of the world’s most religiously tolerant nation where large population of Muslims and Christians live in harmony. 

To prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family, I would research the countries various religions, traditions, living conditions, education system, health and nutrition standards and so on.  I would then interview the family via Skype, and ask for their expectations of their experience here in the U.S. along with helping me understand their personal culture.  Because the differences between this family and others in my program, I am share information with other families so they can be comfortable and welcoming to the new family/child.  I would familiarize myself with the typical way of life in Sierra Leone, their communities, markets, villages, mosques and other places of worship... the internet would be an invaluable resource tool for this investigation.  I may contact our local community center, social services department and religious groups to attempt to connect from someone more familiar with the culture than I am.  I would be especially careful to be aware of stereotypes of people from the country and work to not discriminate or be hurtful in my assumptions.  I do know that Sierra Leone is still recovering from a devastating 11-year civil war that ended in 2002, so I would be especially careful with how I approach the families emotional state and subjects regarding war, suffering, loss, religion and so forth.

These preparations would benefit both the new family, myself, and others in our program.  My job is to make families feel welcome, accepted, safe and respected.  I need to be comfortable in my knowledge and understanding before I can begin the process of helping others.  Knowledge is power, knowledge is a tool, and knowledge can build bridges.  That's what being an educator is.

 Education in Sierra Leone:

http://www.col.org/SiteCollectionDocuments/05SierraLeone_EnviroScan.pdf 

Utube video on Sierra Leone: Maternal health in a poverty stricken country

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBr4qIPOIg0

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

Exploring the concept that personal biases as well as institutional prejudices are sources of inequities and oppression, and that bias and prejudice themselves are learned...

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows
• The movie: The Color Purple has been one that clearly represented oppression and prejudice.  This movie forever changed the way I view racism and oppression in the early to mid 1900's.  It provided an eye opening insight into a young black woman's struggle for her personal identity in a cruel and oppressive world.  I recommend this movie to absolutely anyone seeking insight into a world they are not a part of.
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• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?
• This movie takes place in rural Georgia and focuses on female black life during the 1930s in the south.  It addresses the numerous issues including African American's exceedingly low position in American social culture during this time.  It also addresses female rights and oppression, blurred gender traits, insecure sexuality and the cyclical nature of racism and sexism.
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• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?
•  This movie brought me to tears several times, created rage and anger, and in the end, I mourned for the characters that this movie represented in actual life.
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• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?
• This movie can be used as a very powerful teaching tool on oppression, racism, sexism and so much more.  We cannot erase the past, but we can learn from it. Being born after the civil rights movement, I ave not experienced racism on this level, however, learning about it is a crucial step in not repeating it.