Professional Hopes and Goals

Diversity and equity work is a continual process of learning and growing.  My hope is that all of the children and families who come from diverse backgrounds that I work with will work with me to build relationships and feel supported.  We are all working to ensure that children are successful as they grow and learn.

As I continue to work in the early childhood field, one of my goals will be to continue to personally work with anti-bias education.  Professionally, I would like to help other early childhood educators become more self-aware.  In my current position, I am already working to set up trainings for our teachers that focus on anti-bias education and diversity in early childhood classrooms.

 

Thank you to my colleagues for being open, for rich discussions, for sharing ideas, and for providing an environment of support!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

According to the U.S. census bureau, the United States population is made up of individuals and families from 150 different countries.  Here in Connecticut, there are individuals and families that identify as Italian American, Irish American, English American, African American, German American, Portuguese American Polish American, Hungarian American, and French Canadian.  There are individuals and families from Puerto Rico, China, Jamaica, Guatemala, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Mexico, India, Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, Indonesia, Brazil, Panama, Cape Verde, and former Soviet countries.  Early childhood education programs throughout Connecticut are becoming more diverse.  In the child care center where I work, we are seeing an increase in children and families from Haiti.

Here are some steps I can take to prepare myself and the teachers to be culturally responsive towards the children and families coming from Haiti:

• Research family culture in Haiti.
• Learn some basic words and phrases in the Creole language.
• Research the early childhood education system in Haiti.
• During the enrollment process, get to know the family through conversation and having them fill out our family/culture information paperwork.  Also, arrange for an interpreter if necessary.
• Arrange for the child and family to spend time in the classroom prior to the child's first day.

In researching family culture in Haiti, I discovered that in Haitian families, children are thought to be gifts from God, and parents, particularly mothers, will do almost anything to ensure that their children's basic needs are met, even if it means neglecting their own basic needs.  Family and community support are common within Haiti. It is not uncommon for children to be raised by extended family members and members of their community in addition to their families.  Respect and obedience are characteristics that are valued by Haitian families.  Haitian parents teach their children to protect the family structure and privacy and to respect their elders.  Finally, when working with Haitian‐American families, it will be important to remember that “appropriate discipline” varies from culture to culture and, in Haiti, many families use physical punishment as their primary means of discipline (http://www.in.gov/isdh/files/Hatian_Culture_tip_sheet-IDMH.pdf).

Haiti is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere.  Preschools in Haiti are mostly private and most families cannot afford to send their children.  Haitians can be very expressive and speak loudly which may be misinterpreted as anger.

Some Creole words and phrases:

• hello = alo
• welcome = akeyi
• friends = zanmi
• bathroom = twalèt
• Nice to meet you! = Nice al kontre ou !

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Opression

On February 15, 1981, I was just about two months shy of my eleventh birthday and I was watching television in the family room.  The Jeffersons was about to come on and it was one of my favorite programs.  That night's episode was titled, "Sorry, Wrong Meeting," and it changed my life.

I have found the full episode and watched it again.  Thirty-four years have passed and it still impacts me.  The episode is about racism, particularly between whites and blacks.  Please, watch the episode (this video repeats part of the episode after it ends about 21 minutes in).

Spoilers ahead!


Hopefully, you took the time to watch the episode.  I saw it on the night it first aired.  As a ten year old white girl, I was shocked and stunned.  I remember sitting in the living room in disbelief after the episode ended.  How could anyone have so much hatred towards another person based on the color of their skin?  How could anyone prefer death over having a black person save their life?  It made no sense to me at ten years old and it makes no sense to me at forty-five years old.

Since I first saw this episode, I have unfortunately witnessed racism in many forms including microaggressions.  I have also met many people who stand against racism.  Has there been a defining moment in your life that helped to form your views on racism?

Awareness of Microaggressions

Do you know what a Microaggression is?  Chances are that you have either been the target of microaggressions or you have used them towards others either unintentionally or intentionally.  Microaggressions can be based on race, gender, sexual orientation, or disabilities.

This week, I was out having dinner with my family when I overheard a man at the table next to me make a blatantly derogatory remark about another individual being gay.  The waitress had looked at him in shock.  His response to her look was, "Don't look at me like that!  I'm not a racist!  My girlfriend's daughter is half-black!"  Um, what?!

Often, the individual who used a microaggression is not even consciously aware that they have hurt or offended the person they are speaking to.  It is vitally important for early childhood professionals to be intentional in their communications with families and children in order to ensure that they do not use microaggressions.  Be aware of the words and phrases you use!

Still unsure of what a Microaggression is?  Here are some examples I found:

This video by Ken Tanaka is an example of a Microaggression taken to the extreme!

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week, I reached out to friends and family and asked them to define culture and diversity.  I would like to share some of their definitions:

"Culture to me is related to people and their race or where they came from.  It encompasses their beliefs and values, how they dress, customs, and sometimes how they act or interact depending on how deeply their cultureis a part of the individual. - K.W."

"Diversity is that there are many races and cultures and that they are diverse or different from each other.  This diversity needs to be respected and should guide how the individual should be treated depending on how they believe or what their culture believes. - K.W."

"Culture is the way of life of particular people as shown in their families, their lives, and their religious beliefs. - M.W."

"Diversity is having having many different abilities and ideas.  People from different races. - M.W."

"Culture is defining characteristics or traditions that belong to a specific civilization such as foods and dance styles. - T.W." 

"Diversity is what makes everyone different or diverse.  Diversity can be something as simple as hair color or personality. - T.W."

"My definition of culture is the common bonds, attributes, and beliefs within a group who identify themselves as being connected through race, socioeconomics, or other common denominators. - D.G."

"Diversity is developing an understanding of people who identify with different cultures and beliefs and then accepting and including those differences in a social or work setting. - D.G." 

  

"Culture is a way of life.  You go to a new part of the world to experience and explore a new culture, to see how that part of the world celebrates, works, cooks...to see everything about it.  It is a particular society. - T.R." 

"Culture to me means how you are raised to believe and do certain things based on your family and where you live.  You are raised to believe that a certain religion or political affiliation is the only way to believe or that certain races act a particular way. - H.S."

"Diversity to me means that despite your upbringing (by whom and where) you are open to all cultures and beliefs and understand that it takes many types of people to succeed.  You associate with people of many faiths, races, and backgrounds. - H.S." 

Culture is like an iceberg!  There are so many aspects to one's culture.  It's likely when you ask someone to define culture that they will omit aspects that others see as key points.  Overall, I believe that we all have a deeper understanding of culture than that which lies above the surface.

It is fascinating to discover how others define culture!

Many of us have gone through Diversity Training at work.  Hopefully, your training was NOT like this!

My Family Culture - An Exercise

Imagine...

A major catastrophe devastates your country and the emergency government decides that all survivors must be evacuated to other countries.  Survivors have no say in where they are relocated to and their stay there may be permanent.  You and your immediate family are being evacuated to a country in which the culture is completely different from yours.  You make take one change of clothes and 3 small items with you.  You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

I don't know about you, but I immediately have anxiety just thinking about choosing just three items!  The first thought I had was that I would take my photo albums and scrapbooks.  But, they do not fit as one item and there are several of them.  However, my laptop and my phone hold thousands of pictures of my family.  Photos hold so many memories of my family and tell so many stories that I can't imagine a better way to take my cultuire and history with me.

The next item I think I would take with me is our family Bible.  I guess that sounds cliche, but I do have the names and dates of every event written in it and it holds important papers and clippings.  It would help carry on the history of my family as we journeyed to our new country.

The third item I would take is my jewelry box.  Now, anyone that knows me knows I wear my wedding rings, my Pandora bracelets, and maybe a pair of earrings.  However, my jewlery box holds some of my grandmother's jewelry that was passed down to me, jewelry that was given to me by family members over the years, and other small mementos.

But, the exercise is not finished!  Now, imagine that when you arrive in your new country you are told that you may only keep one of the three items you brought with you!  What?!?!?  Are you kidding me?  Ugh!  I guess I would choose to keep my laptop or phone (notice I still haven't fully committed to which one of those I would choose!).

There are a few things this exercise brought to mind.  First, I have so many things that narrowing them down to three or even one seems nearly impossible.  Second, I have been through the devastation of losing family photos that can never be replaced and I would never want to go through that again!  In deciding to take my laptop or phone, I realized that I may start scanning several older family pictures in order to have them saved digitally.  In addition, since I would have had to give up my family Bible, I would also scan the documents and written pages into a digital file.  Finally, I may just shove as much of the jewelry and momentos from my box as I can into my pockets!

When I Think of Research...

       It's hard to believe that eight weeks of the Building Research Competency course is almost at an end.  If you are like me, you have heard about research and you have consulted research many times.  However, I truly had no idea how much thought, planning, and hard work is involved in the research process.

       Some insights I have gained about research include knowing that research can follow a quantitative design, qualitative design, or mixed methods design.  That there are many ethical concerns that need to be considered before beginning the research process.  In addition, I have learned that researchers increase the value of their research by working to ensure that their study is reliable and valid.

       When I thought of the term research prior to this course, I envisioned quantitative research methods with researchers calculating numbers and analyzing loads of data.  After learning about qualitative design and mixed methods design, I see how using these methods in researching the early childhood field is so much more than numbers and percentages.  Early childhood research benefits children, families, educators, and the community.

       Research involves so much more than posing a question and seeking to answer it.  Developing the research question is only the beginning.  The researcher has to figure out the design method, the participants, the ethical considerations, the variables, the types of data collection, how the data will be analyzed, validating their research, and so much more.  It is a long and arduous process.

       Deciding on my research topic and redefining it was the first challenge I encountered.  I had narrowed it to three subtopics and considered my peers and colleagues opinions on which topic would work best for my research study.  It truly helped me to have that feedback.  Another challenge I encountered was choosing which design method I felt best suited my study.  I listened again to my peers, I had notes from my professor, and I evaluated all of the data collection methods I had decided to use before selecting the qualitative method.

       One thing that has become clear to me is how vitally important research is in the early childhood field.  Early childhood educators should become consumers of early childhood research because it is so beneficial to the work they do everyday.  I now have a clearer understanding of how to read research studies and how research is developed and conducted.

       I have to thank my colleagues that have worked with me and supported me as we learned about research in the early childhood field.