Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope I have when I think about working with children and families who come from a diverse background is that I will be able to seek out and authentically represent their deep culture after establishing relationship with them. In doing this, I hope to create an environment that is authentic to all children represented and honored in the space.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that more professional development, workshops and conversations would occur surrounding these topics. If we do not talk about these issues and how to do a better job of meeting the needs of these topics, we will not effect change. We have to advocate and talk about it!

Thank you all for a wonderful 8 weeks! I feel that because of you and our conversations I have grown both professionally and personally! I wish you all well!
Rachael

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The new family in my classroom will be coming from Germany.

I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive in the following ways:

1. I will send a card to the child at his new home address written in English and translated to German welcoming him to the classroom and the school family.
2. Using the same translator, I will have all of the orientation information translated for his parents to ensure they are able to know specific information about the classroom.
3. I will learn key phrases in German such as "Hello" "Goodbye" "bathroom" "eat" etc. to ensure that the child feels comfortable and is able to have his needs met.
4. I will research Germany and it's surface culture to include some of the culture in the classroom so that the child and his family feel welcome, as well as ask for specifics about the family in order to learn about their deep culture.
5. I will give myself grace to learn about this child as I do with every child that enters the classroom and extend grace to the child and the family as we begin to develop a relationship.

My hopes in doing these things is that the family will feel welcome, loved and respected as well as honored and valued. I will learn new things on my own and hopefully learn a lot from the family and the child. :)

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

This week at work, I witnessed someone else as the target of bias and prejudice. I know that the heart of this co-worker was not to offend, show bias or prejudice, however the longer I think about the interaction the more I am able to see this interaction as bias and prejudice. We have several posters up in the hallways that are outdated, and not relevant for the culture of the center. As early childhood educators, we desire to authentically represent people of all ethnicity, cultures and abilities. Two of these posters are certainly outdated and do not represent African American people well. Long story short, this co-worker said to another co-worker who happens to be African American, "You should be offended at this pictures. I would be if I were you." As I watched my co-worker try to process what had been said to her, this course replayed in my mind. I did not hear the entire conversation, I do know that they took the pictures down, and my co-worker said to me later that she was confused to why this other co-worker thought it was okay to tell her how she should feel. I have encouraged her to talk to this co-worker and explain how she is feeling. I hope she does. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

This bias and prejudice diminishes equity simply because one person told another how to feel about a situation. Yes, the pictures are outdated and need to be updated, however, I feel that it could have been handled in a different way to honor the culture of our co-worker. For example, she could have asked our co-worker about her culture and if she felt these pictures represented her culture well. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

This incident brings up sadness and a little anger for me. The co-worker who is African American is a close friend of mine and to think that she was hurt makes me sad and angry. 

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

I think the co-worker who told the other that she should be offended would have to change her paradigms to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity. Again, I do feel that this was an unintentional micro-aggression, which does not excuse the statement, however, she would have to be aware that her words were offensive in order to change. Therefore, there would need to be a conversation between the two ladies that was authentic, vulnerable and respectful.