Wk-8 Blog-Professional Hopes and Goals

Week 8-Blog: Professional Hopes and Goals

The one hope that I have working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to develop a positive relationship and partnership with their community by developing an educational program for young children and their families. A educational program that will have young children and their families to participate in learning about social visibility or invisibility of children and families from diverse cultures. The program will be called “There’s Always Hope” in which, will contribute to the well-being of the diverse children, a lesson to be learned from each other through partnership connection about respecting families diversity. The program will be scheduled for the evenings after school and on weekends for at least one hour. The children, parents, staff, community of volunteers will be able to participate and volunteer to interact and collaborate with each other by being placed with another family other than their own family members from other diverse cultural background. They would role play education activities that will redirect children and families from diverse cultures. That way they are able to become knowledgeable and understanding of the uniqueness of diversity within their environment. This program will consist of age appropriated lessons about one’s own social identity relating to “Ism” redirecting the differences of diverse cultures by learning from one another ideas that will embrace compassion, encompasses, acceptance and respect of a safe, nurturing, positive outcomes providing opportunities of excelling in equality education. Therefore, the redirection of children and their families to have a fresh start forming a positive attitudes about other cultures values and beliefs. The “Ant- Bias Education for young children and ourselves will consist of positive scripts consisting of children and families of diverse cultures participating in role play and activities. The lessons will consist of positive role playing engaging with other families by using life experiences using ideas, opinions, creativeness, exploration, literacy, language, books, toys, music, art and self-expression and positive, open end questions that will welcome diverse children and families to feel comfortable, respected and supported throughout their personal journey. The objective is to redirect internalized oppression and encourage and motivated children and families to value everyone's differences in order to receive respect so they can move beyond discrimination in a positive way in order to become productive and successful within their choice of endeavors throughout their lives and given respect, support, trust within society towards another individual social identities within their community. One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to start educating our children and families about “Anti-Bias education for young children and families and ourselves. We would achieve this by implementing positive open-end questions, ideas and opinions within the curriculum, books, and other resources to accommodate and use within every early childhood education programs. These resources about the children and families from diverse cultures that will help them to identify with themselves as well as others to establish equal equality opportunities in the educational field. A special thanks to my colleagues who gave such excellent insights throughout this course it has been a privilege and you are a gift to me by respecting and supporting me throughout my journey. Thank you for being a positive influence within my life experience. All of you are awesome and I have the up most respect for each and every one of you Thank You Sincerely,

Welcoming Families From Around the World

                     

The name of my family’s country of origin is Nigeria. According to, the history Nigeria is located in West Africa and shares land borders with the Republic of Benin in the west, Chad and Cameroon in the east, and Nigeria in the north. Its coast in the south lies on the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean.” en.wikipedia.org

The five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family is listed below:

·         To establish a kind and respectful relationship and partnership in serving the children and families with diverse and cultural contexts within their community. Furthermore, having an open line of communication, listening and learning about their perspectives, experiences and knowledge. Therefore, I can be positively responsive,sensitive and honest  about any concerns, ideas, and beliefs they may like to share about their cultural uniqueness. In other words, I will welcome them to share their opinions when I accommodate children and families with or without a disability or ability from diverse cultures to met their individual needs and goals in cognitive, physical and emotional learning and development.

        For instance, I will offer diversity educational activities consisting of math, science, health, language and literacy, art and music that provides diversity books, dolls, farm animals, a barn, family portraits, table toys such as Lego’s, diverse play clothes, hats and play food pictures posted within my classroom setting.

·         To explore and interact with the children and their families by providing a positive understanding of their differences and similarities by valuing their languages, cultures and life experiences. For example, encourage collaboration by having an open group discussion consisting of them sharing ideas, creativity using open end questions. For example, Jill, what do you like to play with today?  What do you like to eat? What song do you like to sing? What did you draw or paint?
              To be honest in providing positive feedback when offering information and resources that don’t discriminate against their race, ethnic, cultural, gender or religion but be sensitive towards their culture values and morals within their environment. For example, what would you like to play today?  What do you like to play with at home?

·         To be supportive towards a safe, healthy, nurturing, comfortable, inviting diversity environment that offer solutions to participate and have access to equal equality education and opportunities to excel  in their lives throughout society. For example, encourage “Betty” carrots are good for your skin, eyes and teeth they help you to be strong like mommy and daddy.

·         To be committed to children and families by providing a caring multicultural learning environment of parents, staff, children and peers engagement. That way they could experience freedom of self-expression, creativity to be able to participate in the early childhood program broad membership consisting of collaboration about their concerns or ideas and opinions about the criteria, curriculum, code standards, school readiness program, interest and desires for their child goals in educational field.

For example, invite children and families to interact and eat dinner together that will encourage collaboration in parent meetings, school events and field trips to volunteer in the classroom. By bringing something from home they would like to shared verbally or show that welcome their cultural identities within their community.   

·         A brief statement describing in what ways I hope that these preparations will benefit both the family and myself. These preparations will benefit the family and myself to establish a healthy, safe, positive, honest and friendly interesting relationship and partnership. By understanding and learning from each other how to appreciate our differences and similarities of different but equine lifestyles.

Reference:

en.wikipedia.org

http://www.unicef.org/nigeria/children_

Blog wk 6: The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory I have of an incident that I experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as fictional ones, such as movies,books, television shows happen on the south side of town where I live in San Antonio, Texas between the year of 1979-1984. I was in my early twenties when I first unravel my privileges and oppressions when enter into a beauty Salon in my neighborhood. However, I thought that cosmetologists provided services that include caring for cosmetic condition of all types of hair, skin and nails. Therefore, I wanted to get my hair permed, so I walked into the beauty salon and I asked the hair stylist if she could put a perm on my hair and she said to me “take off your hair scarf”. So I did, and she said to me, “we don’t do that type of hair at this salon”.I remember looking around the room at the majority of client’s were Hispanic .Everyone was staring at me and I felt so uncomfortable and embarrass to be aware of the fact that I was a target of racism identity.

 I was mistreated as a person based on my self-confidence of being an African American woman. I felt at the time that I had no limitations based on categorization of my personal choice and personal growth.The hair stylist discriminated against me because of my physical appearance. I was viewed as a member of a non-dominant person or group of people of color in which she felt she doesn't want to participate in serving within her institution. Furthermore, keep in mind the one time I encounter such incident in real context, including online environments, as well as fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows. I realized this wasn’t the first incident about hair stylist that I had witnessed within my life who chooses what type person hair they chose to work on based on social identity, this type of personal side of bias, stereotyping, prejudice and oppression have existed and still exist within today’s society.

For example, I watched a movie on television name “Beauty Shop” The African American women had open a beauty salon and she hired a Caucasian woman and an African American man to work in her salon. The other African American women hair stylist was happy to get extra help and said it’s about time you hire someone to help out in the salon. However, when the owner introduces the new hair stylist who was a Caucasian they became very upset with her after they found out the lady was Caucasian women and said “Oh, no” we are not working with her and we see what you are trying to do by hiring a white girl, you trying to turn this shop in a white beauty salon.  She doesn’t know anything about black people hair.” The owner begged them to give her a chance and said she was a very creative hair stylist. However, two of the

African American women quit and walked out refusing to work with the Caucasian woman.

Later that night the owner had a celebration and invited all her hair stylist and they were at a club when a very handsome black man came over at the table and asked the Caucasian woman to dance instead of the black women. However, after she left the table some of the black women said “Did you see that all of us beautiful black woman sitting at this table and he pick the white girl to dance with him?”

The ways the specific bias, prejudice and /or oppression in these two incidents diminish equity consisted of institutional prejudice and discrimination of unfair treatment based on social identity of a Caucasian woman who was a target of an injustice act upon another person or group of people of a different race.        

However, these two incident bring up feelings of self-hate consisting of internalized oppression about another individual belief can engage in behavior of self-reflection essential to be anti-bias when stereotyping someone’s social identity. According to, “Internalized oppression or inferiority based on social, psychological consequences for people or a person belonging to more than one society, identity groups who experience any of the many faces of institutionalized prejudice and discrimination, such as limited access to opportunities or resources and constant negative messages about their groups.”Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 26 par 4).In addition, “Internalized oppression is a feeling or belief that the negative messages are true. It is learned behavior that is a response to institutionalized racism, sexism, classism, and the other isms. Which have undermined the sense of self.” Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 26 par 4).

In other words it means when a person or a group of people stereotypes about one’s own group, or identifying with a different (usually the dominant) culture’s standards of beauty regarding hair color, eye shape, body size, or skin tone as being “better” than their own group’s standards.” Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 26 par 7) According to, “How we feel personally about social identities may stand in opposition to the social realities of advantage and disadvantage.” Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 27 par 5). “For example,social discrimination and negative messages about being working class do not necessarily stop people from being personally proud of their working- classfamily background.” Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 27 par 5). 

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).