Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

We talked about the -isms each of us experienced in our lives and most of the time it is caused by the people outside of your group. There are situations wherein you also experienced -isms form the same group you belong. This experience is quite painful because you will think that "same feather flock together". We learned about prejudice, stereotype and discrimination which is caused by people who believe that they are better than the others. Other behavioral problems such as pride,  greed, selfishness and enviousness also caused people to treat other people differently. 

I have notice the most common negative trait of the people in my culture were making fun of people who speak differently  such as strong accents, wrong grammar and inability to speak up or reason out.  I traced back and realized that this hidden biases came from our experiences we had when we were little. Some challenged themselves to be better and some just refuse to speak or exclude themselves from a group. I would like to share with you the experienced I had growing up in a school environment.  To some of you it may sound unthinkable but to the culture where I belong, this is really happening.

I experienced being corrected and laughed at all the time when I speak the English language because of the accent and my grammar. I would say most of the people who belong to my culture experienced this because of the way we are taught in school. Teachers in our school were very particular about the way we speak, and the way we write especially our spelling and grammar. I remember when I was little and my  teacher called me to recite a poem and I could not remember anything. Sometimes I could not pronounce the word right and I was laughed at and was asked to stand for the whole time. My teacher even  told the whole class:" this happened because she did not study her lessons". 

 The impact of educators in the lives of the children is really important. Children absorb stereotypes and attitudes about other ethnic and cultural groups from their family and larger society. These biases are easily absorbed because very  young children lack accurate information about the lives of other people (Derman-Sparks & Edward-Olsen, 2010). To the children who had experienced the same way I did, I am hoping they will be inspired to do better and be challenged to reach their full potentials and to those whose spirit was crushed, I wish them great things in life.

 I would say I am fortunate to have great support of my family and the communities which helped me become the person I am today.  It has affected me in my professional practice because this experienced made me see the importance of  family support and the continuity of this support in school and communities.  I have seen the importance of my role as an educator and opened my mind to the reality that -isms is still happening in our society and there is something we can do to lessen or eliminate it by reaching out and offering  my help to the children who uncomfortable and excluded. Making sure that they are treated fairly and valued so they can feel good about themselves and appreciate others as well.

Reference:

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Blog Assignment: Observing Communication

A grandmother was sitting at a restaurant with her grandchild waiting for their food. The child seems very happy and excited. Her grandmother was hugging and kissing her. The little girl looked at her grandma's face and pointed to her lips and then her hat. The grandmother asked her what does she wants. The little girl said she like the same as grandma. The grandmother  pointed to her lips and said : "like this", the child nodded. The grandmother looked inside her bag and took her lipstick out. The little girl's eyes got bigger and begun to clap her hands. Her grandmother applied the lipstick  on her and gave her a small mirror. She also took off her hat and gave it to her grandchild to wear. She asked her why she wanted it, The grandchild said wanted to be like her. The grandmother laughed and said that she was even prettier than her. The child said again: "just like you grandma. I look pretty". The grandma smiled and gave her a hug and kisses. Her grandmother took out her camera and took a picture of her. The child asked her grandma to wait and made a pretty pose. Her grandma asked her to seat properly and not to cover her knees. The child said I have to cover this (pointing at her scar), grandma laughed again and the child giggled. The child made a thumb up sign and grandmother smiled and took a picture of her.

I seldom see situation like this wherein an elder get along this close with young children especially in my culture. Usually children has to sit still and quietly on the table and wait until your grandma or grandpa talked to you. In this situation, I learned the importance of listening and looking at non-verbal cues from the people you are communicating with and because of this a positive relationship has been formed. The grandmother allowed her grandchild to have her lipstick and dug deeper into finding the reason why she wanted it and in return the child unknowingly complimented her grandmother by telling her how much she wanted to look like her. The child was able to express herself and appreciate her grandmother by showing how happy she was with her. At the same time the grandmother gave the child the opportunity to be who she wanted to be at that moment and be proud of her own self.  

I would say that the grandmother did a wonderful job in communicating with her grandchild. She listened and was very supportive of her. She opened herself to the idea of what her grandchild wanted to do instead of discouraging or ignoring her request.  As what Holbeck said :"children communicate, really , all different ways and use their bodies so much that if you're sensitive, you can really pick up cues about how to communicate. Just like her grandmother did.

This week lessons taught me how to look more deeper into what children has to say and what verbal and non-verbal cues they have to get to know them better. I will try to acknowledge what they have to say and not just listen for the sake of being listening but to understand the message and the reason behind the things they do. I will also put myself in their shoes and allow myself to be a kid again and have fun with them every day.

Reference:  

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6358/03/downloads/WAL_EDUC6358_03_A_EN.pdf

Creating an Affirming Environment

I was a former child care home provider and back then I know nothing about anti-bias education, all I know is I wanted my families to know how appreciate and value them as well as share my own culture to them. When I read the Anti-bias education in a family child care home and watched Adrianna's video about her anti-bias environment, it brought back wonderful memories and affirmed that I have that kind of an environment which I never knew. I felt good knowing that I did a good job in setting up my environment as well as building positive relationship with my families.

Just like BJ Richards, I tried to unlearn the biases I have while instilling anti-bias values in the children I care.  When I was starting I have this feeling of getting intimidated by families from other race and ethnicity not because I felt I am superior  than them but the feeling of inferiority that they are better people than me. Being a person from a different culture, I have this feeling of being on the oppressed side because I cannot speak the English language well but as I get to know the families well, I built a sense of pride knowing that I did a good job in providing positive and nurturing environment for their children. Now that I am in a child care center setting I tried to incorporate the things I have in my environment when I was a home care child provider  and  set up my environment  the same way or even better - representing different family structures and cultures using the resources or materials I have in my classroom today.

My welcome board includes The pictures of the teachers in my room as well as their cultural background and experiences. It also includes policies and procedure of our organization, daily routine schedule, weekly planning base on children's observation and children's individual needs, menu which varies every week and everyday food reflecting different cultures. A poster of the USDA is also displayed sending the message to the families that everyone is entitled to a nutritional food no matter what race, color, ethnicity, religion , gender you are.

I have a family board which represents the different families we have. They are encourage to bring photos of their family and I let my children talk about their families. If they cannot bring their pictures, I ask permission to take their photo with their children. This is a good way of showing our families that I welcome and appreciate them. I also encourage families to share their culture to us by bringing some things from their home that represent their families , just like Adrianna, she has her own corner to display it. I also asked them to teach the children how to say good morning or goodbye, thank you and common words they use at home using their language.

In my dramatic area, I have dress up clothes of different cultural background and pictures of the children dress up like them and explaining where and when they wear it. Musical area, I have CD's and tapes about diversity which  use to transition to another area. One of their favorite is the music "The world is a Rainbow which explains how the world is like a rainbow with different people (Different colors). Even if we were different , it makes the world a better place just like the rainbow, it has different colors and when you put them together ,it is a beautiful sight to see. Another way to represent other cultures are the instruments we use. We have some musical instruments used by local Hawaiians, African- Americans, Asians , Hispanic and Americans.

My block area has different toy people representing different races and ethnicity . I also have displays of dolls with wheel chairs, guide dogs and dolls with crutches and canes representing people with different abilities.  My library contains books that are inspiring  and fun to read. I try to provide books that represent multi-cultural background and stories that make children feel good about themselves and be proud of who they are. I also display pictures of different military branches representing which branch of service their mom , dad or their families are from. In manipulative area, I have puzzles with pictures of people depicting different family structures,  different profession and ethnicity. For art and writing area, I provide materials such as papers and crayons or colored marker and pencils representing different shades of colors for children to use and express their family and culture. When doing art , I get the idea on how a child see herself and the people around her without having to ask them.  These are just some of the ways I will and have created an affirming environment.

 In my own opinion, no matter how a teacher arrange or fix her environment or what materials she puts in her environment,  it is always the relationship of the teachers, children and families is what matter the most. Showing respect and valuing our families is the most important thing a teacher can do to have a successful program. A program that promotes respect , acceptance of other culture as well as ours , empowering our children to reach their full potential  and having an environment that nurtures children is what I call an anti-bias environment.

Reference:

 Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/Walden/EDUC/6358/02/downloads/WAL_EDUC6358_02_A_EN.pdf