Professional Hopes and Dreams

As I approach for this is the last blog for my course, I would like to say thank you to my professor and colleagues for their knowledge, words of encouragement, and sharing their personal/professional experiences.


The one hope I have for working with children and families who are from diverse background is all feel  welcome, safe, and loved
. When families from diverse background enter a new learning environment, the sense of security is being tested. I want to ensure when the children and families I work with have that comfort zone feeling with me along with being safe in the environment(  by safe in school, the community, and people) and to feel loved.

The one goal I would like to set for the early childhood field  is how the ECE professionals are able to create anti-bias learning environments for the classroom and the programs. Also for ECE professionals to continue their professional learning in the area of diversity, social justice, and equity.  

                                            Welcoming Families From Around the World

ECE professionals have taught children from all various cultures and backgrounds. It is important to have the physical learning environment full of enrichment and meaningful materials that children have access to at all times.  When  children are from a different country, I would want them to feel comfortable in my classroom. For example, this blog assignment is to choose a country  and describe how will I make the child and the family feel at home. 
The country I decide to discuss is Dominica also know as "The Nature Island". Dominica is the sister nation to Dominican Republic.  English is the official language along with Creole, and Kokoy. The religion background is Roman Catholic in Dominica which can be similar to some of the students in the classroom. The  five ways I would culturally responsive towards the family are the following:

• Give the family a bio about me. By giving the family information my experience in teaching and  my personal information(married, with child, degree in Education etc) will make a difference because the family can get to know how I am. 
• Ask the family to come in for a tour of my classroom aka meet and greet. By requesting a tour of the classroom, the family will know of me prior to school starting, able to review the daily classroom schedule and then I will be able to answer any questions from the parents. 
• I will have a parent educational packet available for the parents at the meet and greet. The parent educational packet will include materials of the local child care resources and referral agency, information on inclusion services(if needed) hearing, vision, dental screening (form 3300 or Bright Futures information) local doctors, schools, and activities. 
• I will have the parents complete a toddler resume. The toddler resume includes the likes, dislikes of the child- what they like to eat, are they a morning personal etc. This way I can know the child a little bit better prior to school starting. 

• I will have the learning environment such as real and found materials that represent Dominica and other cultures. I will discuss with the parents if they want to include the common vocabulary words in Creole and I can have the English translation in the class where all can benefit.   

This will benefit myself and the family because I am starting with effective communication with the family. By including the family into the classroom environment, and explaining the classroom operations along with the parental education this will be a successful transition for the child. 

Resources:
(© 2013 )Discover Dominica Authority Retrieved from http://www.dominica.dm/index.php

http://earlyyearsfm.com/easy-enrollment/Social%20Resume-PreschoolToddler.pdf
 
 

                               The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The memory I have of personal side of bias, prejudice, and oppression are ALL the reality television shows such as Bravo's Real Housewives franchise, to Love n Hip, Toddlers, and Tiaras, and the Bachelor. Keep in mind that a group of black men were suing ABC for not having black men on the show

(http://ideas.time.com/2012/10/22/does-the-bachelor-discriminate-against-black-men/).

The Real Housewives from Bravo tv does not give a true definition of what a housewife does. A housewife maintain all responsibilities of the household, and also responsibilities of the spouse and children. This show depicts these women as mean girls in which they do physically fight. The Love n Hip Hop shows how musicians and their love interest to their  day to day life but when the musicians cheat on their wives- what are we teaching are children? Its alright to cheap/commit adultery? As for Toddlers and Tiaras- children are not trophies. I confess, I used to participate in pageants but the microaggressions towards me with my daughter was so strong I decide not to enter her in the pageants due to the ignorance of the judges. Plus my daughter's feisty personality is not pageant like.  Last but not least the ABC show The Bachelor has not had a black bachelor? Why is that? Is this also the microaggression to society that black man aren't entrepreneur's, corporate material etc?
In order to change for greater equity we need to have television shows that will educate our children, adolescents, and youth who will then become mature adults.   Currently, their is a fundraiser online to Bring Back Reading Rainbow. This is the type of television, online education  we need for our children. As the children become adults the above shows that  I mention degraded women, engages in violence, and stereotype men. Each of these shows have various different social identities and can have a prejudice spin on the races/cultures who are involved in these shows based on their actions which will in turn stereotype the ethnic groups. 
See what happens when we can't get to Sesame Street?

References:

2014 Kickstarter, Inc.retrieved from
 https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/readingrainbow/bring-reading-rainbow-back-for-every-child-everywh