Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

When I was back in high school I had to ride the city bus to school and one day this man gets on the bus (which was crowded) he stands next to me, looks at me and says, “black B”. I don’t think anyone else heard him, but I was stuck on what I should really do. Did he really mean that or was he just upset because I was sitting down and he had to stand, those were the questions running through my mind.

I was visiting a college friend a few years ago and her husband and her were talking about a person they knew and they made a comment regarding her weight, I felt very uncomfortable being in the car with them and it made me look at them differently.

 Last year there was a 5 year old girl who attended the preschool where I worked, in her class was a 6 year old African American girl, she would make comments regarding her color. I was told this by a co-worker and I was disgusted, how could this little girl know anything about racism, except it being taught to her. I went and told the director, she talked to the mother and the mother’s reply was, “she doesn’t know where she got this from, they are not racist”. I am glad to say that the little girl stopped with the comments and started playing with her. Just think if I had not been told, that little girl could have gone through her life being racist. That little girl affected the mood of the African American a great deal; she was insecure about her skin color.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I asked three of my friends, two women and one man. Both of the women were African American and the man was from Africa. Here are their responses to their definition to culture and diversity:

 Culture

Alicia: A group and their thought feelings and emotions about life and our society.

Charles: The way people do from background; example in india their culture before getting married is to buy gold and lof of things that different from others. In Africa some people don't wear shoes the day they wed.

Theresa: A set of behaviors generally accepted by the group in which they live or a society or group of people that form from different beliefs experiences or values.

 

Diversity

Alicia: The difference or being different

Charles: The different background of people; example black man from Africa

Theresa: Differences among people or differences of anything such as different types of motorcycles, different types of flowers, different types of houses, and different types of people etc.

My reflection
Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples? Theresa mentioned the difference between objects and people and Charles mentioned how different other countries are when it came to weddings. In chapter 5 it starts out with this statement, "The word culture refers to how particular groups of people live" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.55). This one statement sums up what all my friends were saying. 

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission? They didn't mention gender, relationships, or children. Chapter 5 states, "Every day, in every action, we express our particular group culture and our individual relationship to our culture; nothing is more important within a culture than how its children are raised" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.55).

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics? I was surprised by their answers, these are well educated individuals, I wouldn't change my definition of culture based on theirs. I would take into consideration the different culture of India and Africa, I didn't know that about those cultures.

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).

My Family culture

• A description of the three items you would choose

1) Bible
2) pictures
3) food

• How you would explain to others what each of these items means to you

1) My family is very involved in church, our faith is important to us, nothing to joke or play around with.
2) We love pictures, we take pictures all the time, having these pictures will help remind of the fun times and loved one.
3)We love to eat, everytime we get together, we are eating, whether it's a cookout or going to to restaurant.

• Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

I would be hurt broken, but I wouldn't have a choice but to decide which one I will take with me. I would rather be able to have one item, than none.

• Any insights you gained about yourself, your family culture, diversity, and/or cultural differences in general, as a result of this exercise,

No new insights were discovered during this exercise, I still believe in my beliefs and my family culture.

WK8 When I think of Research.......

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

I have learned that doing research is very demanding and confusing if your not familiar with the in's and outs of research. I also learned that there are many components to research that can be helpful and not make it so difficult.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

I never really thought about research before this class, except I wanted to stay clear of it. Well to be honest, this course has proven to me why I don't do research.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

I learned that planning is a very important process in research, much like an educator planning their curriculum. Designing a research takes a lot and much focus; a researcher needs to be very familiar with the parts to needed to design a research. One thing I think I could do is conduct the research; the observation and interview portion of it at least.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

What challenges didn't I encounter should be the question, lol. No really, at first I was a little hesitant to do some of the assignments, because I knew I really didn't understand research and what it really took to understand it fully. What helped me to overcome these challenges is reading and reading over the different parts of a research.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

I don't want to have to do another research class or research in my profession.

Research around the world

I choose the Early Childhood Australia: This is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. You can access several links to early childhood research from the menu on the left side of the home page.
http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

What are some of the current international research topics?

• 'Stories from the Heart' Connecting children and families with out Earth
• Respecting diversity: Articulating early childhood practice
• Nurturing the spiritual child: Compassion, connection and a sense of self
• Meaningful planning: Rethinking teaching and learning relationships
• Understanding children's feelings: Emotional literacy in early childhood
• (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/)

 What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

• Their mission statement and their values caught my eye. They are totally dedicated to their children and want to make sure they receive the best, not just in education, but in life.
• Their Every Child magazine is informative, from education to politics. A whole magazine dedicated to children's lives, with real life stories.
• They have a newletter called the voice, where it advocates for children, allowing people in the community voices be heard, that normally wouldn't be heard.
• They have been advocating and advancing children since 1938

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

I found an article dealing with parents who share too much information about their children and their lives, the article called it "Parental Overshare". They are calling it the new genre out today. One of the stories is stemmed from the tragedy in Newtown and the others are from blogs. As I was reading these stories, I was disheartened. These parents didn't seem to care about their child's feelings or their social life. Young children have it hard, but teenagers are in a whole different ball game, when it comes to things like this. Here are some of the stories in the article http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/the-ethical-implications-of-parents-writing-about-their-kids/267170/

• Shortly after the tragedy in Newtown, Liza Long, an "author, musician, and erstwhile classicist," published a viral essay with the provocative title, "I am Adam Lanza's Mother," comparing her own mentally-ill teen son to the alleged Newtown killer, and herself to Lanza's first victim: "A few weeks ago, Michael pulled a knife and threatened to kill me and then himself after I asked him to return his overdue library books," Long wrote, concluding from this and other troubling incidents that her son is likely on his way to opening fire in "a fast food restaurant. A mall. A kindergarten classroom."
• In July, for example, on a New York Times opinion blog, Beth Boyle Machlan, "at work on a memoir about mothering and mental illness," described her daughter's O.C.D. Despite the lack of violence, Machlan's essay may be more disturbing than Long's—we get an account of the girl's therapy session, and hear Machlan calling her daughter "bunny" and "sweetie." Private scenes the reader should not have had access to.

This is what the article had to say about stories such as these and about parental overshare, "Still, anyone looking to question the ethics of parental overshare faces a tough audience" (Bovy, 2013). "The ubiquity of confessional writing has spilled over into confessions that implicate not so much the author as the author's still-underage offspring" (Bovy, 2013). "Parental overshare, as I define it, does not refer to parents discussing their kids with friends and family" (Bovy, 2013). "Parental overshare does not always deal with tragic circumstances; it ranges from family secrets to lighthearted anecdotes" (Bovy, 2013).

I suggest you go to the website and read for yourself, who knows maybe this is a start of a new genre, as author puts it.

Reference
Bovy, P.M. (2013). The Ethical Implications of Parents Writing about their kids. Retrieved from http://www.theatlantic.com/sexes/archive/2013/01/the-ethical-implications-of-parents-writing-about-their-kids/267170/

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I choose is The economic effects on preschoolers living in poverty. I choose this topic for one because I am an African American and our culture suffers a great deal with poverty and second because I see so many children (not just African  American) living in poverty and struggling with the effects of economics in their life. I want to furture look into how much it effects them and not just what I see in some, but in different areas of the United States and countries. In doing my research on finding articles dealing with this, I have come across many articles dealing with poverty, preschoolers, economics, families, and health. I would love for you to give me advice, your experiences, and articles you have or seen dealing with this topic. I encourage you all to take time and see the children around you, especially the younger children, who suffer a greater deal with economics and poverty. Lend a helping hand or direct someone to them who can, these children are our future, literally. This world is going down fast and unfortunately our children are going down just as quick.