Professional Hopes and Goals

As I work with children and families from diverse backgrounds I hope they always feel welcome in my classroom.  I hope they feel that we have good communication with each other and that working together we can do our best to help their children be successful.  One goal for myself and for the early childhood field would be to never let my own biases get in the way of being an effective, caring and responsible teacher.  I would also hope that all early childhood teachers would be aware and knowledgeable about diversity, equity and social justice.  Having this awareness and knowledge will make them better teachers. 

Thank you to all of my colleagues in this course.  This course has given us all the opportunity to share personal stories and I am thankful for your openness and willingness to share.  Reading stories and ideas containing examples of what we are learning about has helped me get a better understanding of the issues presented in this course.  Thanks for all of your help and good luck in the next course!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

My family’s country of origin is Romania.  I chose Romania because through World Vision my family actually sponsors a young boy from Romania.  Even though we sponsor this boy I actually do not know anything about Romania. 

The following are the five ways I would prepare to be culturally responsive towards this new family:

1.     Research – I would do research on Romania.  Where is it located, what language do they speak, what is the climate, favorite foods and information on the environment and economics.  I would start by using the website http://www.romania.org.

2.     Language – I would try and learn some common words in Romanian so I could help the child feel welcome.  There is actually a translator section on the Romania website where you can translate English words into Romanian.  http://www.romania.org/services/romanian-translations.php

3.     Food – I would learn about what kinds of snacks they like to have in Romania and hopefully bring some of those foods into the classroom.  I would hope this would make the child feel more at home and it would help the other children learn about the new student.  Familiar food always seems to be a comfort to me. 

4.     Include Materials – I would bring music and books into the classroom that relate to Romania.  This would help educate the other students about Romania and help the child feel at home and that his culture is represented in the classroom.

5.     Meet the Family – I would take a special time to meet the family prior to the child attending school and after the child has been in school for a week or two.  This would allow me the opportunity to learn about the family and see what their expectations are for their child’s school experience.  Meeting with them a couple weeks later would be a good chance to see how things are going and if they have any new questions or concerns. 

These steps would help me have a better understanding of Romania and the environment the child has been living in.  It would allow the other students in the class to feel like they have a better understanding of where the child is from and it would hopefully bring up similarities between the children.  I hope it would help the child feel welcome in the classroom and a part of our classroom team.  I hope the family would feel important to our program and feel comfortable enough to have open communication with us.  I hope these steps would create a good environment of acceptance, caring and belonging.    

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

Prejudice was really brought to light for me when I read the book “The Help” and then watched the movie.  It has been many years since I have watched the movie but it was heart wrenching to see how some white people treated African Americans.  I was not born during that time so actually reading about these experiences made it much more real.  In this book the prejudice and bias against African Americans diminished all equity.  The African Americans in this book were not treated fairly.

It was embarrassing and difficult to watch some of the ways African Americans were treated.  It was even more difficult to realize that these situations really happened in our country.  As I read the book and watched the movie it made me sad and angry to see woman being treated differently just because of the color of their skin.  The part that really got to me was at the end of the book when Aibileen had to leave her job and leave the child she had been taking care of everyday.  The little white girl was about three years old and she adored Aibileen.  She preferred Aibileen over her own mother and to watch Aibileen’s sadness when she had to say goodbye was depressing.  It was even more difficult to know that all of that sadness was caused because of another woman’s hatred. 

There are many things that would need to change in the environment to turn this situation into an opportunity for greater equity.  Thankfully there were a few people who were making good choices and helping to bring equity to the situation.  Throughout the book Skeeter was a white woman who started treating African American woman appropriately and in return created an opportunity for greater equity.  Celia was another white woman in the book that did not let society’s beliefs influence her own thinking of African American woman.  Celia showed equity to her maid and in return found a strong friendship.

It was great to see the bonds these two white woman made with African American in a time in history where these bonds were not suppose to be made.  They did not let the prejudice and bias of society influence their treatment of other people.  That is an attitude more people need to possess.