Professional Hopes and Goals

After this course, I hope that I can provide the best support to children and families of the military community that will meet their needs and reflect their diverse background.  It has been re-emphasized to me that I must ensure that all children and families feel comfortable in the program, share their diversity, and become partners and not just customers.

I have three goals that I want to implement in my current program that will reduce the conflict of diversity, equity, and social justice:

1.       Provide diversity training to parents and staff  

2.       Hold a quarterly family cultural night

3.       Make everyone to include the children, families, community, and staff stakeholders  that promotes the concept that everyone will be treated with respect and fairness

By implementing these goals, this will help the children, parents, and staff to become advocates for the early childhood programs.  I realize that I cannot make a difference on my own and it does take a village to build a strong alliance within the early childhood field.

                I really enjoyed the opportunity to network with everyone.  The knowledge and experience that you all have provided has given me a new prospective in the area of realizing that I do not know everything and there is always room for improvement.  I have always believed that without feedback, especially critical feedback growth would not happen and in the early childhood field this would lead to a lack of providing stimulating environments.  Thank you all for being an advocate for the children and families.  Your dedication and willingness to enhance your expertise in the early childhood field will truly be an asset to an organization, programs, policy makers, children, and families. 

Welcoming Families From Around The World

WELCOMING FAMILIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

I have been told that a new child from Indonesia will be arriving next week into our preschool program.  This will not only be a new adventure for the new child, this will also be a new change for the children already enrolled.   I must keep in mind, “ when people enter our country today they follow in the long footsteps of a long American history of ethnic and national groups seeking to better life for their children,” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, p. 73, 2010).  I want to be prepared to the responsive to the new family in the following five ways:

1.      Send a welcome letter to the new family and program brochure.

2.      Engage the staff in preparing for the arrival of the new child. Provide information about the family and child

3.      Introduce the new family culture to the children already enrolled, through reading Indonesian age appropriate books, add culture appropriate pictures to the environment and other materials supplies within the environment. This will promote awareness and provide friendly environment.

4.      Create a community based informational folder that will provide resources to the family.

5.      Provide monthly family night participations opportunities that will allow families to be empowered to share their culture with one another.

My ultimate goal is to make sure that the program meets all the needs of each family that is enrolled in the program.  It is important to build a relationship that is positive and allows for continued growth.

 REFERENCE

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).

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

One time I was interviewed for a job over the phone.  After being selected and moving to the new location, I in processed at the human resource office.  I was welcomed and a call was made to my new supervisor to tell her that I had arrived and to come meet with me in about 30 minutes.  As I was finalizing the paperwork, my new supervisor walked in said hello to me and the human service staff.  Then she stated, “I am here to see the new manager, Mrs. Patricia Harris.  She was told you just walked by her.  Granted, I was stunned, as I was the only new person in the office and she knew everyone else.

I took this as being bias to my race and an example of micro-insult as the only contact that I had with my new supervisor was through telephonic communication.  From her expression on her face, after she was told that she had just walked by me, it was clear that she was looking for someone other than a African American Female.

My initial thought was that she was not aware that she had hired an African American Female for the management position and that she was embarrassed that she had assumed that I was of another race.  Given that fact that I had been told in the past that when I am on the phone I do not sound like I am of the African American culture/race.  It is often hard to actually see what we are doing until someone calls it to our attention, (Derman-Sparks & Ewards, 2010, p. 94)

I like what Dr. Eugene Garcia, (2011) had to say in the course media, “We’re all diverse individually.  We walk in many worlds.  We wear many faces.  So diversity is just part of what we are and what we all are.  So we shouldn’t fear it.” Although I did not feel offended, this encounter left me with a learning experience of how not to be quick to judge people by the sound of their voice and form an opinion of what they may look like once you come into physical contact.

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J.  (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves.  

          Chapter 3. p. 23 & 25).

Laureate Education, 2011. Course Media, In His OwnVoice: Dr. Eugene Garcia, Perspectives of Diversity
          and Equity.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

People collectively make disability appear through interpretation, (Titchkosky, 2009). This week I detected the act of micro aggression of disability.  Not all children transition from one activity to another and often need more time or direction.  This week I experienced a child was labeled as having a behavioral issue because he talked too much and showed no respect to the caregiver’s authority.  From my understanding, this matter had been going on for at least 4 months and the parents were not provided detailed daily observations from the caregivers, they were only provided verbal comments  of, Your child did not have listening hears on today”, or “Not a good day”.   When the parents were approached by the managers to address the behavioral concern, no documentation to support the concern was available.  It seemed that the child was being stereotyped based on word of mouth.  No observations were conducted, nor were the parents given the opportunity to have their child evaluated.  This was truly an insult to the child and the parents.  The managers and caregivers demonstrated their lack of realizing that they were being biased in their opinions.  Per Dr. Sue, (2013), “because they are unaware that they have engaged in something harmful, oppressive, and detrimental to person, they cannot be self-corrected”.   Effective communication is definitely recommended and following the process of documenting and observing children daily interactions and tracking the areas of highs and lows will need to be reviewed and then goals or objectives defined to help the child transition from home to the classroom and vice versa.  An anti-bias environment is the key.  The program should remember that ongoing assessment of the learning environment and practices in relation to children with disabilities or behavior concerns is essential, (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Another avenue to take would be to   reach out to other support services and resources that will help the family and the program to meet the needs of the child.

References

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

         Chapter 10, “Learning about different abilities and fairness” (p. 129).

Sue, D.W. PhD. (2011) Microaggressions in Everyday Life. Laureate Education Inc Walden

          University. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?

 Titchkosky, T. (2009). Disability images and the art of theorizing normality. International  

          Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education (QSE), 22(1), 75--84.

          doi:10.1080/09518390802581893. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic  

          Search Complete database.