Professional Hopes and Goals

This class has truly opened my eyes to the real meaning of diversity and its effects within the field of early childhood education.  One hope that I have for families of diverse backgrounds is that they are open to sharing their experiences and cultures to others and that they understand that many of us early educators are living works of continuous education.  As teachers, we may not get it right the first time but I hope parents and families see our passion and attempts to incorporate and learn and they give us a chance to make them feel welcomed and respected.

In regard to the early childhood field, I hope anti-bias and diversity education become standard courses in undergraduate studies, a requirement to obtain or renew and teaching license, and are seen as valuable professional development opportunities for all professionals within the field.  It saddens me that the growth I made and the information I learned during this class is being present to me for the first time.  I have been in the field for 7 years this August and how useful this would have been to have my first year in the classroom.

To my colleagues, I appreciate your insightful ideas, thoughts, and information you posted during this course.  I have gained new information from each of you.  I wish you well in all of your future endeavors and may your light continue to shine, your vision remain to close to heart, and you always remember your purpose and reason for wanting to work with young children and their families.

Best to all of you!

Welcoming Families Around the World

There are many steps I would take to welcome a child a their family from Qatar.  I would first seek general information about the country from the internet and the embassy.  This would help to provide me with a general overview on the countries customs, social rules of behavior, clothing, holidays, religion,etc.  My next step would be to have a lengthy conversation with the family to learn about the family culture, their ideas of education, gender roles, behavior, family celebrations, and other information that is specific to the family.  This would aide in ensuring I have culturally proper interactions with the child, their family, and provide some consistency between home and school.  I would ask the family to teach me common words and phrases, 1 or 2 children's games and songs.  Having this information would allow me to increase my interaction with the child as well as the interaction between the child and other children.  We would be able to greet the child in their native language, play games they are familiar with, and sing songs.  This alone will aide in the child feeling accepted and valued and increase a positive classroom environment.  It would be important for the child to see a representation of their culture within the classroom, so family pictures, pictures of famous and well know places in Qatar, food, flowers and clothing for dramatic play should be added. Lastly, I would have the family come in as often as possible to read stories, sing songs, share meals and treats native to their country, and tell family and culture stories.  Including the family will show my respect and value for the uniqueness and diversity they bring to my classroom.  It will enhance the relationship and will create a positive  foundation for the family as I would be their first experience with a non-native teacher and school.

The personal side

I remember being a sophomore in college and I decided to get a part time job at the local grocery store.  My college was in a country town where the only black people there were those attending the university.  I was a cashier and one day this white woman came through my line with a fur hat.  She was a much older lady and by her demeanor towards me, she was not happy that she had to go through the line with a black cashier (there were only two open at the time).  To pay for her items she wrote a check.  I put the check through and it was declined.  I ran it again and it was not accepted.  I leaned in quietly and said "ma'am your check is not being accepted do you have another way to pay for your items".  Well she instantly became LOUD and angry saying "clearly you don't know what your doing", "you people cant even work a machine", "this is why only certain people should be allowed to handle peoples money".  Well I stayed calm on the outside but on the inside I had one too may "you people" for my liking.  I was angry that she stereotyped me.  I was angry she called me uneducated all because I was black. The floor manager came over and tried to run her check with me there and it was also declined.  The store manager said the same thing to her I said and she went into her pocket and pulled out cash, threw it at me and walked out.  No one said anything to me, not another employee, manager, nothing.  That was my last day working at that store.  I was hurt that someone accused me of not being able to do my job because I was black.  She accused me of purposely trying to embarrass her because I was black. The sad part is that in those parts, the only black people many people see is what is on TV and that's what they base their assumptions and thoughts off.  It would have to be a personal investment of those living in limited diverse areas to learn and want to learn about other culture, otherwise the same assumptions will continue to happen.