Week 4 Blog Assignment

It was coincidental that we were learning about microaggressions this week. We were discussing which staff were going to attend next week’s field trip and work and one of my employees mentioned that she did not want to go on the swimming pool field trip. She is an African American and one of our Latino staff responded with a microagression. She asked “why don’t you want to go, are you worried about your hair”? While everyone giggled with one another, I thought to myself how insulted I would feel if I were in the shoes of the gal who didn’t want to go to the pool. In thinking about microagressions, there were so many things that I learned about the environment I work in as well as myself. The fact is that we are constantly surrounded by these prejudices and we don’t even realize it some of the time.

Blog Assignment – Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this week’s assignment, I spoke to three different friends regarding culture and diversity. I asked them what their definitions of culture and diversity. All three of them had the same response for the definition of culture. They said they thought of culture as something that a person displays because of where they come from. As for diversity, they all had similar ideas but described diversity as a term in differences in how someone looks, where they come from, their language, place of birth, and their ethnicity. All three of my friends that I spoke with are different than me in some way. I asked an African American, one is in a wheelchair, and the other is Jewish. This was great because it gave me a different perspective from all angles and what is encouraging is that we all sort of see things similar.

I think all of my friends did a great job including the major differences in culture and diversity in relation to what I have studied so far in the course. For example, diversity can be something the physically seen whereas culture is something that is an action of display.

Week 2, Assignment 3

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

The three items I would choose in this scenario are:

A photo album full of photos of my family and friends

My bodhran, which is an Irish drum that represents both my culture and my love of music. I would take this with me because I believe that music makes the world come together regardless of cultural difference.

I would lastly bring my Seattle Seahawks Pillow Pet. American football is a huge part of my culture and the pillow is extremely comfortable. I may end up in a country where there are no beds or pillows so this would come in handy.  

 I would discuss in detail why all of these items are dear to me. I would be able to discuss many aspects of my culture and teach others about it. I would be upset and angry if I had to give up two items upon my arrival since I already had to leave everything behind and only choose three items. I would probably be pretty stubborn and argue my way out of giving anything up. However, my photo album is something that is irreplaceable so giving up my drum and pillow would be a little easier. I can make those things, I can’t remake memories.

This exercise was interesting because I think it would be extremely difficult to only choose three things. I do think that the items I chose are practical, heart-felt and slightly superficial.

When I Think of Research...

Since taking this course, I have gained and immense amount of knowledge regarding research. While I was extremely overwhelmed when learning of the content in this course, I am extremely pleased with the outcome and with all I have learned and am still learning.

I have a completely changed idea regarding the nature of research. While the term research seems tedious and exhausting, I have learned that it is indeed complex however, worth putting in the work and the effort.

I have learned detailed descriptions of research designs and planning and implementation. I have learned to always keep ethical issues as a priority of what to avoid.  

Throughout the duration of this course, I struggled with my applications and getting my content to meet the criteria of our professor.

As a result of this course, I have a lot more respect for research in the early childhood field. It was not until this course that I realized the amount of work and effort that goes into research studies.

I want to take the time to thank all of my peers for supporting me throughout this course. I was very overwhelming for me and the support, comments and feedback has been a great help! I look forward to working with you all again.

Final Blog Assignment- Issues & Trends

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field are knowing about the struggles in other countries as well as worrying about our own struggles, avoiding a specific profession due to knowledge of issues and trends in a specific field, and not wanting to develop professionally based on fear of inadequacies in the field.

One goal for the field of international awareness is to be able to globally advocate for every child and not just our own nation.

On a final note, I just want to thank all of my colleagues for making this course such an enjoyable learning experience. I look forward to working with you all in the near future!

Getting to Know Your International Contacts—Part 3

In speaking with my professional contact in Ireland, I was able to receive great responses to many of the questions listed in this week’s assignment. Like in the United States, Ireland is focusing on affordable quality childcare for every family. They are also focusing on professional development in hopes that with will contribute to quality programming.

It is interesting to see, that although we are in different countries, many places struggle with the same things that we struggle with in the United States. It is also reassuring to see that there are early childhood activists all over the globe. I believe that together, we really can make a difference!

Sharing Web Resources

This week, I decided to explore, in detail, the National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC). While I have been on this site many times, I have never taken the opportunity to truly explore it and understand it. I was first introduced to NAEYC when I began my professional career as a government employee. On military bases, child development centers are required to be accredited through the NAEYC. The NAEYC's mission is to serve and act on behalf of the needs, rights and well-being of all young children with primary focus on the provision of educational and developmental services and resources. Their website provides early childhood professionals and advocates with tons of information pertaining to issues and trends in the early childhood field. Not only in this site a news-worthy site, it is full of information pertaining to profession development as well as accreditation.