Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I want to bring to my students and their families it to be sure to include and make everyone feel welcome. In addition, I want to be sure to incorporate everyone's culture into the classroom. I will perform this by making sure that the children and families have seen I have made an effort in trying to incorporate their diverse and unique traits to the classroom. These activities will consist of sharing our cultures in a class and show and tell discussion, a wall with resources for parents that are both written in English and in Spanish, in addition to having online resources where parents can receive further information (I would like my online page to have different varieties of languages that fits their language needs). 
Right now, I am working as a pre-school teacher and I notice that some children are a little standoffish to their peers that may look different (ethnic, cultural, religious background). If I do my part in making everyone feel welcome and educate my students about other cultures and of people's differences, I'm sure these fears that children may have will hopefully diminish.

I want to thank each and every one of you for commenting on my posts these past 8 weeks. Thank you for the feedback. I too have learned a lot through reading each one of your comments and posts. 

Happy Holidays!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The name of the family's country origin is Nepal.

In order to prepare myself I will locate Nepal on a map and see what is the primary ethnic and religious background. I will also research what the typical customs are in Nepal. In addition, I will find out information about their education system. Lastly, I will research about various ways of communication (the do's and don'ts).

Knowing these five aspects about people from Nepal can provide a lot of information and help us ease the transition of our student and their family to our American customs. For instance people of Nepal worship the cow, so it would be important for me as a teacher to educate my other students why people of Nepal do not eat beef. In addition, it would be important for me to know who is the head of the household, in order to discuss school business with. I also think it is important to know of the different religions in this country, as particular religious practices might interrupt with the normal class schedule.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

One incident where I witness prejudice is where my friend would refer to Asians as being bad drivers. In this particular situation, my friend was upset and had road rage and continued talk about how Asians were bad drivers. I do not agree with my friend, however may understand how this person may feel this way because there may have been several instances where my friend has had bad experiences with drivers who just so happen to be Asian.
Each time I confront my friend I give examples of how some Asian people do races, this is where he gets defensive. This example diminishes equity because my friends comment is referring to several Asian people and not just a single bad person. He is saying that this person is a bad driver because he/ she is Asian, not because they simply have poor driving skills.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

A microaggression I witnessed this week occurred at the preschool I work at. It was an incident between an Asian girl and a Caucasian girl during lunch time, during which the caucasian girl asked the other girl what she was eating. However when this question was asked, it was asked with disgust. When I witnessed this, I knew I had to say something in order to make sure nobody's feelings were hurt. With this being said, I told the entire class that each of us eats different types of food in our families. And it is important to know about different cultures, although something might not look appetizing it might be very delicious. One will never know until you try it.
I would not necessarily say this observation was prejudice, stereotypical, or discrimination, I think it was a remark simply made of ignorance. Because the food that was being eaten had seaweed in it, and was "different" to the Caucasian girl in the class; she simply asked what it was. I do not believe this question was made to make the other girl feel bad, but was asked out of curiosity.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment I interviewed my 12-year old half Brother, my 10-year-old half-Sister, my Mother (100% Native American), and my Step-dad (Caucasian).

Brother:
"Culture it is stuff that relates to a race" (Moore, 2014).
"Diversity means a race that is not native to the area" (Moore, 2014).

Sister:
Culture is religion and where people are from.
Diversity is where people are from different places (countries).

Mother:
My Mom believes culture is to keep in touch with ones heritage.
My Mom believes diversity is like a melting pot. Several communities of different nationalities.

Step-Dad:
Culture is one's background (ethnicity).
Diversity is a mix between races living in a society.

Having asked four people about culture I believe my Step-Dad and Sister gave the most thorough answers. As for my Mom and Brother, they only had a general idea of what culture is. My sister said culture is religion, I believe she went in-depth with her answer. My Mom, Brother, Sister, and Step-Dad neglected to provide thorough answers and only had one opinion of what culture really was. They forgot about family culture, and what is included in culture (i.e. language, customs, ethnic background, traditions, religion, etc).
As for defining diversity, I believe my Mom and Step-Dad were on point when it came to defining diversity.
Thinking about others definitions of culture and diversity, it has given me a better understanding of how people do not typically think of or are aware of culture and diversity.

References:
Moore, A. (2014, November 15). Personal Interview.
Moore, A. (2014, November 15). Personal Interview.
Moore, M. (2014, November 15). Personal Interview.
Moore, N. (2014, November 15). Personal Interview.

My Family Culture

I am half Native American and Mexican, however am more in touch with my Native American side.

Three small items I would take along with me during this evacuation would be a dream catcher, Kokopelli figurine or stuffed animal, and a turquoise necklace. Each of these items represent my Native American culture and are common things I have in my house. In addition, I feel all of these items represent who I am.
I would explain to others that each item has a different significance. For example, the dream catcher chases bad dreams away, while the Kokopelli is a fertility deity that plays the flute, while traveling from place to place wishing positivity everywhere he goes. Lastly, Native Americans are well known for their turquoise jewelry. I absolutely love Turquoise due to the vibrant hues and variations of the rock.
If I were to narrow my belongings down and keep one personal item with me I would pick the Kokopelli figurine. Like previously mentioned, the Kokopelli is a fertility deity. He not only presides over childbirth, but also having fertile agriculture and the fertility of game animals.
For this assignment, I had to look up more information about the Kokopelli and had learned that he represents fertility in game animals and in people. In addition the Kokopelli is depicted as having a partner or with animals depending on each tribal beliefs.

When I Think of Research...

Having taken this course has given me a plethora of new insight. For example, I now know how to prepare for research. Research takes more than conducting research (i.e. interview, observations, etc.) it takes more in-depth thinking.  There are several strategies that go along with research—before I thought it was just conducting the research, but now I know that it consists of dependent, independent variables, and mixed method research. In addition research needs a plan, for example, who are the participants, what is the research topic, what is the goal of the research, what type of data collection is going to be used, etc.

Before taking this course I had a general overview of what research consisted of and what types of data collection can be used. However, when it comes to performing research in the early childhood field I have found there are several factors that need to be considered before carrying out the research. Researchers need to be aware of confidentiality, as well as the NAEYC ‘s Code Of Ethics. In addition researchers should also take the planning of the research into account.

When it comes to challenges that I experienced, I did have trouble remembering the definitions of dependent and independent variables. Whenever an assignment would ask for dependent and independent variables for our research simulation, I would often not input these two. What I thought was dependent and independent variables were really not the correct answers. In order to fix this issue and make the definitions stick, I had to refer back to the text and to Professor Parrish’s comments.

I am not sure my perception of an early childhood professional has been modified, however it has only assured my thinking. Early childhood professionals do it all; they are mentors, teachers, role models, and researchers. They keep the interests of their students and their student’s parents interest first.

Research Around the World

After reviewing Early Childhood Australia from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

I found the current international topics are: the health issues on children using technology and how to prevent issues before they occur, supporting children’s imaginative play, and children’s rights.

After exploring this site, I found information on how children’s rights, and how the United Nations Conventions on the Rights of the Child (CRC), are doing their part to be sure that all children, universally, receive human rights and standards.  According to this website, “[this is] one of the most internationally recognized treaties, the Convention sets out the basic rights of children and the obligations of governments to fulfill those rights” (Children's Rights - Early Childhood Australia).

In addition to this affirmation, I found information about asthma and how it affects every one in ten children. It is unfortunate how there is a high rate of asthma in children, and the cause is still unknown on how asthma is developed.

Learning more about asthma is important information, especially when it comes to working with children. We need to be sure we as teachers are familiar with issues that are likely to affect our students and how we can help them. This would make a great research assignment in the future.

References:

"Children's Rights - Early Childhood Australia." Early Childhood Australia Childrens Rights Comments. N.p., n.d. Web. 4 Oct. 2014. <http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/learning-hub/educator-resources/childrens-rights/>.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Option 1:

Performing research on children and families who suffer from poverty has given us tremendous amounts of insight on how lower class families live. Children who come from low socio-economic families often fall into a category labeled “at-risk”; these individuals often experience numerous setbacks from their peers, such as lack of motivation, tired and restlessness, obesity, declining grades, and sometimes fall into delinquency. If research were not done on children and families who are affected by poverty, we would never know the physical, cognitive, and social and emotional setbacks that go along with being a lower class citizen.

One example I have is of a sixth grader that I helped out a few years ago. For one of my undergraduate classes, we would volunteer in an elementary after school program in a low-income neighborhood. Every week I helped different students, but one, which I remember, is of a sixth grade girl. I can see that she is caught up in her social life right now and is getting poor grades in the classroom. She told me that she would skip school and hang out with older high school kids, and that she would drink and smoke (actually, her older cousins were her peer pressures).  It is unfortunate, because she did tell me that she really does try to do well in school, but at the same time the reality of being a low-income citizen and neighborhood violence and corruptness in her neighborhood is getting to her. Learning about children who are affected by poverty, the neighborhood that goes along with it, and seeing it first hand is heartbreaking. These children feel hopeless and have nowhere to turn.

Now that we know of several cities, towns, states that are affected by poverty, there are now several organizations and governmental programs that can help those that are underprivileged.

Your Personal Research Journey 6163

The topic I chose for the simulation is how we as teachers can do our part in positively affecting our students, which are at-risk for crime, violence, and drugs. When I say at-risk children, I am referring to those that are age 10 and up. I have chosen this topic because having a bachelor’s in Sociology I have learned that there is a reason behind children turning to negative means for help. What really interests me is how this entire process is preventative, and if we do our part we can positively turn our student’s lives around.

Having constructed the research chart, I have learned several new insights that will help better equip me for this class and in my future endeavors. I have learned the process of learning how to decipher whether information is of high quality and reliability; this research chart has allowed me to apply the information that I have learned.

Have any of you done research before? If so, what was the topic, and can you share any insights that you have learned.

My tip for doing research is to take lots and lots of notes. If it is performing an interview jot down important information during the interview, then immediately after, write a summary of the entire interview. This allows you to reflect on everything that was discussed and reassures that you do not forget any information.