Week 6 The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

A memory I have of experiencing oppression, was growing up having a speech impediment. I was subjected to teasing and embarrassment in elementary school. There was one boy in particular that was cruel. This specific oppression diminished equity by isolating me from peers.  I avoided many social interactions and events because he made me feel “different”.  Reflecting on this brings back memories of embarrassment, anger, sadness. Growing up I was always afraid to speak aloud in class and be overly social with my peers. Family members thought it was cute and funny and even mimicked words I said. This hurt my feelings even more. My parents took me to different speech classes to try and help correct the problem. “While there is usually little impact on intelligibility, the impact of a lisp on a child's 'image' can be quite powerful. Of course, some children grow up in an environment where their lisp goes unnoticed, or where it is not regarded as cause for concern. Other children gain positive recognition because they lisp, particularly when the lisp is regarded as sweet, funny, or endearing. By contrast, others face criticism, ridicule, nagging and teasing” (Bowen, 2011). In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity I had a lot of soul searching and maturing to do. It took a long time but I was able to overcome the inequity I felt. Now that I am an educator myself, I understand the impact speech impediments can have on a person’s self-worth. I am an advocate for students and families facing this and provide as much support as I can for them.

References

Bowen, C. (2011). Lisping: When /s/ and /z/ are hard to say. Retrieved from http://www.speech-language-therapy.com/ 

Week 4- Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

An example of microaggression in which I remember from another time was this year in my classroom. I was meeting a new family in my classroom when the secretary walked in to help register the family. She looked at the family and asked if they only spoke Chinese. The mother looked at our secretary and said, “We only speak English. We moved from Haslett (a district close by) and we are Korean not Chinese.” At this point I felt embarrassed for the building’s secretary and bad for the family. Our building is very diverse and we do have many families that do not speak English so I know that the secretary was only trying to help and was not trying to be rude. It was very uncomfortable for all of us.

My observation experiences this week affected my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people by making me more aware and sensitive to my own comments and actions. I currently have a father of one of my students, attending school each day with his son. He is doing this due to severe behavior problems that his son has. They recently moved here from a different country. The young boy is having a difficult time adjusting.  I have to communicate with the father throughout the day about the classroom routines, schedule, activities, etc. It takes a lot of extra effort on my part and at times is very frustrating. This class has made me self reflect on how I am approaching both the father and son. I am trying to make sure that I am not being microaggressive in any way. 

Week 3- Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

My three friend’s/families’ responses:

*80 Year Old White Male

 Definition of Culture

Culture in this definition refers to human male and female behavior.   It refers to:  knowledge; religious, political, and other beliefs; language, traditions, art, law, morals, customs, capabilities, and habits acquired by members of a society (an organized community).

Definition of Diversity

Diversity in this definition refers to human diversity.  It refers to the differences/variations in:  race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, socio-economic status, age, mental abilities, physical abilities, religious beliefs, political beliefs, and other ideologies, language.

*50 Year Old White Female

Definition of Culture

How you are raised. Your customs, holidays, celebration traditions.   It is our custom to celebrate Thanksgiving at my parents’ house with my immediate family. It is the custom with Bill's family to sing Happy Birthday to baby Jesus on Christmas. It was the family custom on my mom's side to take dance and music lessons. Culture can also mean the type of surroundings that are the norm. A farming community might have a different culture than a big city. For example, kids drive tractors early and work in the fields in the country and that becomes part of your culture. A positive, loving home offers a different culture to a child than one where the parents are alcoholics or abusive. It's kind of what you get used to and it can effect who you become.

Definition of Diversity

How people are different from each other...skin color, gender, religion, socio-economic, even where you are raised (country vs city...east coast vs midwest). Diversity can affect your culture.

*40 Year Old Hispanic Female

Definition of Culture

I define culture as a group's shared customs/traditions, art, values, language, sometimes religious beliefs.

Definition of Diversity

I define diversity as having many cultures within an environment.

Each of the participants’ answers to culture I feel have been touched on in my studies in this course. They all discussed the customs and traditions, which I have learned, are the surface culture. Two responses added that culture includes values, language, religious beliefs as mentioned in my studies. Another response mentioned a child’s living environment affecting ones culture.

This course has focused a lot on the dominant culture and all three responses omitted anything about the dominant culture and any experiences concerning this. It would have been interesting to hear what each person thought. I know when the Hispanic female came to America she did not know English and she had a teacher that put her in the back of the classroom and would not support her much.

Thinking about the others’ definitions of culture and diversity has reaffirmed my beliefs/definitions. Through my discussions, reflective journals, blogs, and applications I have touched on all the same points the responses did. 

Week 2: My Family Culture

My Family Culture

If an unfortunate catastrophe happened in our country and I had to choose three items that I hold dear and that represent my family culture to take with me I would choose a family photo album, bible, and my wedding ring. The family photo album means a lot to me because it holds many dear memories I have with my family and of my children. This album would show my surface culture easily to others. The bible means a lot to me because it holds/represents my belief in God. Being a proud Christian is a part of my social identity. I would also choose to take my wedding ring as an item that I hold dear because it’s a big part of my social identity. With choosing to become a wife I have now become a mother. Being a wife and mother is my pride and joy and a major part of who I am. Upon arrival if I were told I could only keep one item and had to give up the other two items would be heart breaking. All three of these items I hold dear to my heart and it would be hard to give two up. Reflecting on this exercise reminds me how important and critical my family culture is to me. My family culture makes me unique. 

Wk 8 When I Think of Research...

When I Think of Research…

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?

This course has taught me a lot about “authentic” research. I have learned many new insights about research from the sources provided. I now know the different types of research designs, data collection methods, techniques, how to validate research, how to be aware of ethic issues, understand the limitations and challenges to studies, how to properly state a research title and major topic and overall goals, how to state the major research question, the independent variables and dependent variable of a study, and the extraneous variables and how in what ways I can control them. I also now know how to create a research study outline. In addition I feel I have a solid understanding about how to be equitable. Before this course, I had no clue what any of this meant. I also learned that there are a multitude of research protocols and a lot of historical information about research and how it has changed over time.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?

Before starting this class I was very nervous about “real” research and overwhelmed about the process. I now feel that I understand more about the process of research and see it as something I could actually do (with guidance). I realize that my own classroom would be a great place to start! I will keep the course text and resources for reference. I found them fairly easy to read and comprehend. They will be great resources to refer to if needed.

What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?

This course has taught me that planning, designing, and conducting research in the early childhood field takes a lot of time and mindful decision making to create a credible and valid research study. A lot of planning and designing goes into the research process before implementation even starts. Then after the data collection, analyzing begins which needs to be planned and organized too. The research process is not something that you can just jump into without proper planning and designing. I did not realize that reviewing related literature was part of the process until I learned that there is a lot of research protocol.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?

Some of the challenges I encountered were understanding the different terminology, methods, and techniques of research. For example, I really needed to study the different triangulation methods and the differences between quantitative and qualitative research. The application part 1 charts did help me take time to read and re-read topics and terms and put things into my own words. Also, the open dialogue I had with my colleagues in the discussions posts were helpful and gave me other viewpoints and perspectives.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

Some of the ways my perception of early childhood professionals have been modified as a result of this course are that I now view us as researchers and data analyzers in addition to educators.  Prior to this course, I really didn’t see early childhood professionals as researchers. I mostly saw us as teachers, caregivers, and educators. I see how we can be researchers because by nature of our position we understand the early childhood field but now have a basic understanding of research design and have the perfect field from which to study. This excites me but I need to process how I would do this within my current time/schedule constraints. That in itself needs to be a study!!

Week 5-Research Around the World

Research Around the World

*What are some of the current international research topics?

-I chose to explore the website, Early Childhood Australia-A Voice for Young Children. This website is the Australian equivalent to the U.S. based NAEYC. Some of the current international research topics I found for 2015 are supporting literacy learning in the early years and inclusive pedagogy from a child’s perspective. In 2014 the research topics were intentional teaching: acting thoughtfully, deliberately and purposefully, ways of thinking, acting and relating about sustainability, pedagogy: programs and relationships in practice, and professional partnerships in children’s services: working together for children. 

* What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

-While exploring the website I found it surprising that a lot of the topics are topics we are discussing/researching in the U.S. Australia’s Early Childhood statement, “A core function of Early Childhood Australia is to develop policies on early childhood education and care and advocate for the rights of children” (Early Childhood Australia) is something we are also striving for in the U.S. I found new ideas and parenting resources on the website. The parenting resource included: Children’s health and nutrition, separation anxiety, and transitions to school. These sources had great information to help guide parents. 

* What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

-Other noteworthy information I found on the Early Childhood Australia website was the different credible publications available. “Early Childhood Australia is backed by over 50 years of producing innovative and essential early childhood material” (Early Childhood Australia). Some of these credible publications include: Every Child Magazine, Everyday Learning Series, Research in Practice Series, Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, and ECA Voice Newsletter.

Overall, this is a great website with lots of information for professionals and families.

References

Early Childhood Australia http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/