The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

      I hope that with the knowledge I have gained from this course will help me to bridge the gap with children and families who come from a diverse background. I believe that by creating a welcoming and acceptable environment for all will help towards having a partnership with families in the long term. Derman-Sparks and Edward (2010) state that ensuring that every family feels welcome and comfortable creates a crucial foundation for mutually respectful relationships.” My goal for the field of early childhood field is to advocate for regulations, policies, laws, and training that are geared towards improving issues on diversity, equity, and social justice. Passion and commitment help to drive my commitment to work towards bettering the early education field to serve the child, family, and the community.
     To my classmates and Dr. Parrish, I would like to say thank you. Thank you all for your kind words of encouragement through our weekly discussion and blog posts. I learned a lot about each of you and the wonderful acts and deeds that you have contributed to the early childhood field. Good luck to everyone and your future endeavors.

Reference:

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).

Wecoming families from around the world

     I chose the country of Albania, which is located on the Southeast of Europe’s Balkan Peninsula. It shares the coastline with Adriatic and Ionian.  The capital city is Tirana.
     In preparation to receive this child and family I would do the following:
1.     I would research the culture of Albania. If the childcare center I am working for has a family data sheet that outlines such things as Nationality, religion, language and any other important information about the family background.  
2.     Refresh or review cultural competence training, guidance, and strategies as part of my process in preparation.
3.     Ensure that my classroom is welcoming to both the child and the family. Showing that my class is welcoming to families that are different from me culturally.
4.     Schedule a meeting with the parent to talk through the classroom learning objectives and curriculum. During this time learn about what strategies the family uses at home for the learning and development of the child or children.
5.     Keep an open mind in the experience of meeting new people, learning about them, and developing a partnership.
     As a result, I believe that preparing to meet this new family I hope they see that as an educator that I am invested in their family.  The techniques that I use will show the family that I am wanting to establish a partnership that has open lines of communications. Also, I can assist them in learning the culture of this new country and culture they are experiencing being in a new place.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

     Just the other day I was strolling through on Facebook and came across a story a lady posted titled "Don’t judge a book by its cover". The story was a picture of a man passed out in the sidewalk with a Coke bottle beside him. The story is about a woman who walked past a man at a shopping center that appeared to be homeless sleeping on the sidewalk. As she went into a store and as she was checking out asked the lady what was going on with the man on the sidewalk? The cashier informed her that he worked in the area and would typically sit out on the path on his break. Today was the first time she had seen him laid out on the sidewalk. As they looked out the store window, people are walking over him, taking pictures, and calling him names. As the lady walks out of the store, she slows down to take a better look at the guy and notices that he is foaming at the mouth. She yells for someone to call 911 as she turns him over, he begins to foam at the mouth even more. Both her and the cashier called 911 for an ambulance. To make a long story short, the man had suffered a stroke. He was not drunk or homeless.

     This story bothered me to the core because if any of the people that walked by talking about the man or taking pictures would have taken the time to look at him, they may have noticed that something was wrong. Especially the people that were familiar with the man and saw that he wasn’t acting himself. Due to people jumping to conclusions about this man’s circumstance, he could have died as a result. Today people have lost their sense of humanity for caring for another human being; people are more concerned about themselves. Together we all must change the way we care about one another and be more aware of the people and situations around us.