Professional Hopes and Goals

In light of recent events, it is my hope that we will be able to make all children feel safe and loved in all of our schools.  I hope that we can show children of diversity that they have something to give to the world that we live in.  That what makes them special is that they are different from the person sitting next to them.  I hope that we can give each child a solid and equal education.

A goal that I would like to see happen in the early childhood field would be that we work on giving each child a fair chance at being themselves, and I chance to share who that person is. I would like for us to allow children a chance to share all of the differences and the likeness that we have. Once we can do that then maybe we will see each other as equal and be fair and just with each other.

Thank you to each and every one of my classmates for sharing your personal stories and opening ourselves up to change.  By the way Mrs. Dartt I was really thrown by the whole name and then to see the picture. I just I should be open to names also.

Thank you!

Welcoming Families from Around the World

Today I am preparing my class of per-schoolers to welcome a family from Brazil into our part of the world.  The first thing that I will do is become familiar with the country of Brazil.  I want to know what language the family speaks and if they also speak English.  The second thing I would want to do is prepare the class for our new student.  We would talk about the language of Brazil (Portuguese) and the history of Brazil.  We will prepare ourselves to give the family a genuine encounter.  I would want to set aside some time to spend with the family to get to know them, how well they speak English, how the family dynamics play out, to make sure that I do not offended any one.  The fourth thing I would do is assign a partner for the child to show them around our center.  The final prep work would be to ask the child to bring in photos from Brazil.

I hope with these preparations we will be able to make the child feel a part of the class and welcome the family into the United States. Taking the time to get to know the family without placing any ideals that are wrong or would promote any biases or prejudices, will help the class be ready and include the child from the first day. Basic knowledge of the land will help us all have a starting point for open conversation. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

               Personally I cannot hold onto any incidents of prejudice, or bias, or forms of oppression, for that that is a sure way to hold a grudge against everyone.  When I see a program or start to read a book that is clearly bias or shows prejudice I have to make sure that I am in the right frame of mind or just skip it all together.  One story that I will share is when 9/11 came and people where placing flags all over the place, on cars and in the front yard, and wearing them in every form.  I had a co-worker who was from Pakistan and she has a son that she was very worried about.  She did not know if she wanted to mark him and what he drove in some way to try and protect him or just not draw attention to him.  She decided not to draw any attention to him at all.  I had another co-worker that worked at another location and she came over one day and said “boy did Mrs. S. mark her car up with flags”.  I had to tell her no that was not Mrs. S car but someone else‘s car.  A person that wanted the world to know that she was an American, that Mrs. S was afraid it would draw to much attention to her son and have him attacked on the street.  We need to be very careful when jumping to conclusions about how people respond to a threat of danger.  It is not funny that because of where a person is from or what they look like puts them in danger every day that they leave the house.  I was disturbed that it never accrued to my co-worker that Mrs. S. would be afraid for her son and her husband. We took the time to talk about it and I hope that we both will remember that conversation from that time.  Her children may never feel threaten when going out, but some people are.  We have to make people aware of the full picture.