Welcoming Families From Around the World

     I am working for a child care center and we are preparing for a new student whose family just migrated from Benin, Africa and I was informed he will be placed in my room.  I was told that Benin is located in West Africa bordered by Togo and Nigeria.  The climate is tropical and Benin is sub-Saharan.  The main industry is agriculture.  My new student, Claudio will speak French, a language I do not speak.   I immediately begin researching the culture of Benin, the types of schools and family attitudes toward education.  I am also interested in learning about the music and foods of Benin and research if foods can be purchased locally.  Of particular interest is the family structure and religions of the country.

     There is an employee of the child care center that works part-time in the kitchen and speaks French fluently.  I make arrangements for this employee to assist me communicating with Claudio and his family.  I ask her to teach me a few phrases and words that will be helpful in meeting my new student’s needs during his transition into the program. 

     After completing my initial research I schedule a meeting with Claudio, his parents and the interpreter.  I am very careful to ensure Claudio and his parents are comfortable and understand what is spoken.  My goal is to ascertain their goals for Claudio and to explain the child care’s goals so we may work together to combine and incorporate their goals into the curriculum.  We discuss their family culture, their views about education, and their customs and foods, special toys that Claudio may share with classmates or that may be purchased by the center as well as special holidays and religions celebrations. The family shares that Claudio has several favorite books from Benin that he would be willing to share.  With the interpreter’s assistance, we discuss how the family handles discipline and discuss the guidelines used by the center.  We also discuss Claudio’s learning style within the family and the general learning styles that are prominent in the schools in Benin. I ask Claudio and his parents to suggest changes we could make in the classroom to reflect their culture and help Claudio feel more comfortable and at home.  Claudio’s mom agrees to volunteer in the classroom twice a week and his father will volunteer one day a week.

     Claudio’s family provided many suggestions for books, learning materials, and snack foods that reflect their country and customs.  I begin ordering books, including audio books in French and English as well as posters and several new games and toys that Claudio’s parents suggested.  The interpreter helps me add French words to all the items that are labeled around the room.  We plan a snack menu that includes some of Claudio’s favorites.  I schedule a meeting with the center director and other teachers to discuss incorporating suggestions and ideas Claudio’s parents made into our curriculum.  I plan to discuss the differences in the learning styles and discipline and to seek guidance, suggestions, and participation of the staff.  I share that I would like to add music around the world to our plans so that the children can make musical instruments, including some used in Benin.

     Last, I sought permission for the kitchen staff interpreter to spend time in our room, especially Claudio’s first day, to assist with the language barrier.  I shared all the information I gathered and learned with my children and together we planned to make Claudio’s first day a special day for him.

     My hope is that Claudio and his family will have a smooth transition into the culture of the center and our room.  We will assist Claudio to be proud of his heritage and language while learning a new culture and making new friends.  My knowledge of cultural diversity will be broadened and I hope to broaden the students’ views and knowledge of diversity as well. 

Resource

Smidt, S., (2006). The Developing Child in the 21st Century: A Global Perspective on Child Development.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

     An incident that happened at work reflected classism and brought to light the magnitude of how people that are part of the dominant group are not aware of the hurtfulness of their actions.  Everyone’s favorite employee was forced into retirement due to her medical condition reaching a serious level.  We were all very sad and continue to keep tabs on her by getting updates from her best friend.  During a conversation I was having one of the clerical staff this employee’s condition was mentioned.  I realized that she was totally unaware that the employee’s condition had gone from serious to critical.  While I was updating her she started to cry.  She said, “Oh my, that’s my girl!  Every time I asked her best friend how she was doing I was told that she was fine”.  My heart broke!  I was sad to realize the extent of the hidden biases in an environment I spend the majority of my waking hours!  My friend suffered the result of classism by the dominant group because she is clerical staff.    

    This incident highlighted inequity in my work place based on the hierarchy of class.  Witnessing the devastation my friend felt first because she became aware that someone she obviously loves is in the dying process and second because she was excluded from this information.  The feelings this incident brought to me were anger and a deep feeling of unfairness. 

     There is great power in leading by example.  I am hoping my colleagues will follow my lead and develop relationships at work that are not based on an individual’s place on the totum pole of hierarchy and that this incident will be the beginning of awareness of the inequity the dominant group practices based on class.  My friend left my work area, still crying, and went directly to the sick employee’s best friend.  This time she was updated on the condition of her dying friend.  My friend used the moment as a step toward enlightening the other employee of the effect being excluded from information had on her. 

    In an adult world people are capable of educating and advocating for themselves.  Change occurs with knowledge, awareness, and sensitivity.  People must become knowledgeable about biases, prejudice, and microaggressions.  Next people must become aware of their own biases, prejudices that result in microaggressions.  Finally, people must become sensitive to the feelings of others and the effect biases, prejudice, and microaggressions have on the recipients. Every adult is responsible for this undertaking.  In a child’s world family, teachers, clergy, community members, and institutions are responsible to teach and instill equality and equity.  

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

       Work is such a large part of our lives that it is “everyday life”.  Situations that caused me to question people’s intent and to realize that unintentional microaggressive acts are common and acceptable at work every day.  One such act took place after a white colleague fell and became injured while shopping during her lunch break.  A different white colleague said to me, “Oh, she’s just going after disability.  Isn’t that what people like her do”?  She was perpetuating classism and buying into the myth that there is a culture of poverty because of where the first employee grew up (Gorski, 2007).  I found this to be confusing and questioned the intent because these colleagues are in the same job classification, the injured employee has many more years’ experience, and both are extremely intelligent evidenced by their photographic memories.  I now realize the comments reflect vying for power and a superiority attitude (Laureate, 2010).  What I have learned in this course thus far has taught me that I should have made the second colleague aware of the implications of her statements and not have accepted it as an everyday occurrence.  A similar situation occurred when my supervisor made a comment about an employee of color, stating “she’s just using the system, aren’t they all like that”?  Again, this statement indicates a superior attitude, racism, and discrimination due to negative stereotyping (Teaching Tolerance, n.d.).

          The effects of microaggression I have observed in my present place of employment is that a cumulative effect and disempowerment.  The women of color or from a different class than the dominant group do not point out the aggressions and silently “move on”.  Their acceptance and “harmony” in the work place seem to take precedence over their feelings of being slighted and demeaned (Laureate, 2010). Although the comments were not made directly to the women, there is subtle attitude that not everyone is fully accepted into dominant group which pervades the office.  Awareness, self-reflection, and breaking away the “norm” or “in-crowd” are steps we should all take to strive to break the “-isms” cycle.  The onus of responsibility for change (Gorski, 2007) is on all of us.

My experiences this week have made me keenly aware of the heart-wrenching plight of marginalized people.  Aside from the “office politics”, my job involves listening to and reading complaints, many of which are prompted by microaggressive behavior as well as behavior related to the “-isms”.  I hear people say, “My relative was made to feel like a second class citizen because he/she speaks a different language”; “I was singled out because of my color”.   I hear the loss of dignity and helplessness.  My passion to re-enter the early childhood field is renewed and strengthened.  Our job to identify patterns of behavior and to supplant the beliefs and assumptions that undergird the behavior (Margles, 2010) begins at the beginning when attitudes are forming as studies have shown that as early as age 3, children pick up terms of racial prejudice (Teaching Tolerance, n.d.). 

References

Gorski, P. C. (2007). The question of class. Education Digest, 73(2), 30–33. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Academic Search Complete database: http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=a9h&AN=27177336&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Microaggressions in Everyday Life [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Margles, S., & Margles, R. M. (2010). Inverting racism's distortions. Our Schools/Our Selves, 19(3), 137–149. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database: http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=51372248&site=ehost-live&scope=site

Teaching Tolerance. (n.d.). Test yourself for hidden bias. Retrieved May 25, 2011, from http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

     In preparation for this blog entry, I interviewed three individuals.  Although all three are family member, one is much younger that I, one is a different gender, and one is younger and teachers in a high school.  All three interviewees agreed that culture is about family, values, and upbringing.  This definition is the basis of what this course is about.  We are learning the importance of empowering children to value their family culture while learning a new, dominant culture (Laureate Education, 2010).  Sarah further explained that her definition of culture includes “what is socially acceptable within the social ‘norm’”.  Culture has more to do with socio-economic status than with race even though race plays a part (Sarah, 2012).  She provided an example of a playground that many of her students talk about at school.  The homes around the playground have furniture and couches on the sidewalk where people sit and drink beer all day.  Children must earn their way onto the basketball court.  Drugs are a big part of the scene.  Sarah explained the importance of understanding this type of culture in order to know what each family values before calling home to report that a student is not doing well in school.  For instance, it is important to know the extent to which the parent values their child’s education or if the child is attending school just to get a meal (Sarah, 2012).  The culture Sarah described is different than what we have learned thus far in class because the students are older and the emphasis is not on race, ethnicity, religion, language, family structure, or sexuality (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008). 

          Defining diversity, the interviewees named ethnicity, language, dress and religion as part of the definition, as well as how individuals from different cultural backgrounds interact with each other (Lee Ann, 2012) (Brian, 2012).  Sarah defined diversity within her school as teachers knowing and understanding what different families’ values are and introducing cultures from all parts of the world into the classroom; as well as students respecting each other’s cultural backgrounds and not having “clicks” or a hierarchy of popularity such as “cool kids”, or “popular kids”.  She explained that it is quite a challenge to be culturally diverse, and feels her school is successful in making “the playing field” more even for the students (Sarah, 2012).  The definitions of the interviewees correspond with what we are learning in class in that we learned that diversity is rooted in the assumption that there are many different kinds of families in the United States and around the world (Harris, 2008); and children need to feel their families are acceptable to their teachers (Gonzalez-Mena, 2008) and that they fit in with the dominant culture (Laureate Education, 2010). 

          My own thinking about culture and diversity has been validated by the viewpoints of the family members I interviewed.  My understanding of the importance of getting to know every family, regardless of culture has been broadened by my interview with Sarah.  Her teaching experience exemplifies that putting into practice what we are learning can reap great rewards.  Sarah attended a high school that was not culturally diverse yet had many social hierarchies such as “cool kids”, “jocks”, and “popular kids”.  The students in the school where she now teaches are quite culturally diverse.  Because of the hard work of the administration and teachers there is not a clash of cultures (Ngo, 2008), but an acceptance and harmony.  Conducting these interviews has been very rewarding to see the potential for a continuum of cultural and diversity acceptance throughout a child’s schooling. 

References

Brian. (2012). Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2008). Diversity in Early Care and Education (5th ed., pp. 8–13). Boston, MA: McGraw Hill.

Harris, S. R. (2008). What is family diversity? Objective and interpretive approaches. Journal of Family Issues, 29(11), 1407–1417.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the SAGE Premier 2010 database.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Culture and Diversity [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

Lee Ann. (2012).  Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012

Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond “culture clash”: Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

Sarah. (2012). Retrieved from a phone interview on March 17, 2012.

My Family Culture

            Following a major catastrophe from which my immediately family survived we cling to each other and express extreme gratitude that we are able to be together.  We are sympathetic for the tremendous loss and seek ways to comfort each other and others less fortunate.   We follow our customary tradition by praying together and jointly deciding the items we value most to take to a new country.  We decide first to select pictures depicting our lives and place them in a small photo album.  We select everyone’s baby picture and baptismal picture to remind us of our religious upbringing and how influential religion is in our everyday lives.  Sports played a major role in three of my four children’s upbringing, so we chose one picture a piece as mementos of their favorite sport and of my other daughter and me attending their games as a show of support and encouragement. Education and training are highly valued in our family, so we chose everyone’s graduation pictures, including mine and my son’s graduation from basic military training.  Maintaining close ties with extended family and carrying on traditions of our heritage is of great value to us, so we included a family reunion picture and pictures of my parents and siblings, and of my children’s father and his parents, their stepmother and step family.  Some of our best memories are of playing and having fun together, so we included pictures of our family vacations and birthday parties. 

          Our second treasured possession we decide to take is our family cookbook.  We have recipes that have been handed down from generation to generation as well as new favorites.  Sharing meals by sitting around the kitchen or dining room table was of particular importance to us.  One of the most frequent calls I receive from my daughters is, “Mom, how do I make this, what ingredients do I need to buy”?  My son was a great helper in the kitchen.  Our visits now center on me making everyone’s favorite meal. 

          Third, we decide to take my son’s notebook.  He has many games, music, and movies that we would be able play and watch.  As a family we enjoy listening to music.  We love playing games together as well as watching movies.  We have always enjoyed these are activities and feel that if we incorporate activities that are familiar we’ll adjust more easily and readily to our new country’s culture (Derman-Sparks, 2010) (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010).

          Upon arrival in our new country we are told we can have only take one item with us.  I explain to my children that I have many recipes memorized and we are all creative chiefs.  One of my daughters is a Consumer Science teacher and also has many recipes memorized.  We give up the cookbook and plan to enter as many recipes as we can remember into my son’s notebook as soon as we get settled.  My son already has an array of pictures saved in his notebook and we ask if we can upload the pictures from our photo album before relinquishing it.  I realize how devastating it will be not to have a picture of my parents or siblings and for my children not to have pictures of their father and his family.  After much debate, we agree that we could write our recipes on paper.  We could learn to enjoy the music of our new country.  We are all very creative and could make familiar games from various items or make up and/or purchase new games.  However, we would never have the opportunity to take pictures of our loves ones that did not survive.  Our decision would be based on whether or not we are given permission to upload our pictures.

          The insight I gained from this exercise is that it is very difficult to pinpoint items that are more important than being with my immediate family.  Our family culture will bind us together and help us integrate into a new culture.  We will have each other.  I taught my children to be resilient and the dominant culture (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010) in our lives taught us as a family to be resilient because we are a single parent family.  We will have each other for support and learn from each other how to become integrated into a new way of life.  I foresee that we will become dependent upon each other in new ways and will need to draw upon each other’s strengths to adapt and change. 

References

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). P. 5.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Family Cultures: Dynamic Interactions [Video webcast]. Retrieved from http://www.courseurl.com

When I Think of Research...........

The insights I have gained about research include that researchers are disciplined, passionate, and committed.  Researchers devise an intricate plan to gather information or data that will shed light on a question or hypothesis about a specific topic resulting in an advancement of what is known about that topic.  The researcher must be disciplined to research past studies related to the research topic.  He must be passionate to ensure his methods of data collection and analysis use methods such as triangulation to ensure accuracy and validity.  A researcher’s commitment to the integrity of the study involves self-reflection and continuous evaluation to ensure the study is ethical and respectful of the participants, planning for their participation to the highest degree possible and reasonable. 

My ideas and thoughts about the nature of doing research have been expanded.  The various methodologies, cultures, and thought processes that are so integral to the research process were new to me.  Although ethical issues were not new to me, applying them to research was.  Participant participation in the research process has been an enlightening concept and sheds light on diminishing power relationships and applying equity.

Planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood brought new meaning to the phrase “look at the big picture”.  The researcher must keep the entirety of the study in mind while attending to every minute detail.  Planning, designing, and conducting research interconnects every aspect of the research process from formulating a research question to ensuring the validity of data analysis.  

Some of the challenges I encountered during this course were grasping the concepts of methodology and culture and understanding the application of ethics and equity.  I met these challenges by studying the readings throughout this course and reviewing them several times, applying what I was learning to my research study, reading and trying to comprehend the viewpoints of my colleagues and professor in our discussions, and searching the web for related articles.

My perception of early childhood professionals is that of respect.  Early childhood professionals apply ethics and equity in their “everyday life” of working with children.  The lessons and guidance they provide children are based on research.  After taking this class I realize the interdependence of children, parents, early childhood professionals, and researchers of early childhood development.  Each plays a role to increase our knowledge of child development.  My perception of our field as a profession has been broadened and strengthened.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues and professor for all the assistance provided to help me understand the difficult concepts associated with research.  At times we had different viewpoints; however this helped me gain a better understanding of the research process.  Thank you all very much!

Reference

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing Early Childhood Research: International Perspective on Theory and Practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill

Early Childhood Research from a Global Perspective

        Reviewing international research topics found on the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) and the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) websites I discovered that many of the research topics are similar to those in the United States.  Topics of research involve practices of parenting, school readiness, supporting child well-being, play and physical activity, scaffolding, language, gender roles, and diversity.  Research topics that differ from those typical to the United States involve indigenous studies that include stories, knowledge, materials, and practices as part of the research.  Other differences I noticed are that research is completed in orphanages, and there is more emphasis on the capacity of children and their ability to fully participate in all aspects of research. 

          I reviewed the (EECERA) website that includes the European Early Childhood Education Research Journal.  This journal is published four times a year.  It is a scholarly journal meant to provide support and information sharing for its partners and readers.  The website highlights the most read and the most cited articles.   The insight I gained is that we can learn much from the work being completed globally with children.  Other countries appear to be more advanced in their attitudes toward working with children, recognizing that children are much more capable than we give them credit in the United States.  Research is more focused on children participating in all aspect of research projects.  There seems to be less emphasis on children with disabilities than in the US, as many of the research projects include both children with and without disabilities; “More able children tend to model behaviour and instruct less able counterparts on aspects of the research. These findings suggest that with support young children with and without a disability can be fully engaged in the research process” (Gray, Winter, 2011).  On the other hand, many African countries appear to be less advanced than the US in regard to child care.   Many research studies in African countries focus on different aspects of support for child care centers. 

          The noteworthy information I found reviewing the different websites related to global research studies are the wealth of information that is shared and the emphasis placed on sharing.  The amount of research conducted and the knowledge gained about child development and the capacity of children beginning at birth is awesome!  It is very encouraging that researchers follow a code of ethics.  Also encouraging is that children are viewed with such respect and that as a global community we are searching for ways to understand the full capacity of children as contributing members of their community.

         

References

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php 

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/

Gray, C., Winter, E. (2011).  Hearing voices: participatory research with preschool children with and without disabilities [Abstract]. European Early Childhood Education Research Journal, v. 19, 3. Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/