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?