A Day in the Life!

What does spending days as an Early Childhood teacher look like?

Is it sitting and watching? Is it telling the children to "do this, do that"? Is it just expecting them to listen?

Not at all my friend!

It is listening to a "little" tell me a story for what seems like the umpteenth time that day, it is sitting in the floor while a lot of different littles sit all around me and want me to play. It is craft time as I teach them how to hold a paint brush, and watch them use their imagination and show me just how creative they are. 

You see, I'm not just listening to their story, I'm giving them my undivided attention, showing them that they are important and that what they say matters. I'm sitting in the floor with them because when we, as adults, get down on their level not just literally, but through play, we can begin to see the world how they see it.  I'm teaching them how to hold a paint brush and nurturing their fine motor skills, but also building a relationship with them. 

As a teacher, I sometimes set goals for what I would like to see my littles accomplish, what I want them to learn.  But many times, I find that I am learning right along with them. Littles are such good teachers, often times without realizing it.  During our time together, they teach me to find joy in the small things.  For instance, one day in my class the activity for the day was to mix different paint colors to see what color they make. As my students did this using only their hands, they giggled very loudly and without reserve. I asked each one, what was so funny, they replied with "It's squishy!", "It's making a new color!", "This is fun!".  These children found joy in getting to get messy and mix colors. That was it! When is the last time as an adult that you have mixed up paint and laughed????

  I know for myself, often times, I spend my days stressing over adult life in general. We get lost in the mundane task of everyday life and forget to slow down and take it all in. Children are God's way of showing us to enjoy our lives. 

Thank you God for littles. 



“While we try to teach our children all about life, Our children teach us what life is all about.”
  — Angela Schwindt, home schooling mom States

Why Early Childhood?

"I'll never forget the sense of wholeness I felt when I finally realized what in fact I 

really was: not just a writer or a language buff or a student of human development or a telecommunicator, but I was someone who could use every talent that had ever been given to me in the service of children and their families."

                                        

                                                                     --Fred Rogers

     I began working in the early childhood field back in 2012. I had just finished college, graduating with a B.A. in Christian Ministries from Williams Baptist College. I honestly had no idea what I was going to do with my degree, I didn't know where to go from here. I started praying and asking for God's guidance. My question to God was, "what do You want me to do with what You have given me?" I wanted to make a difference in the world around me, I wanted to make a lasting change, I wanted to DO SOMETHING. 

     One day soon after, a friend posted about a job opening at a daycare in Jonesboro. I remember thinking, I can do that. I can babysit kids all day for a paycheck, it'll be something I can do for now, until God shows me His direction. I began that job and with each day that I went to work, I was learning that I wasn't just babysitting. It was so much more than that. I fell in love with the field of early childhood during my first year of working there, perhaps even the first six months.  I made the decision that very same year to go back to school and get a degree in early childhood. I began school at Walden University and in 2014, I earned a M.S. in Early Childhood Studies. 

Throughout my quest to earn my master's degree, I worked full time. I did change jobs but it was still in the field of working with littles.  The more that I worked with the little people of our world, the more I saw the importance of what I was doing. I was these children's first teacher, (outside their parents, of course).  In early childhood, we are teaching the future. What I hope to see in the future, the changes that I hope to see in the world around us, it starts with me.  

It starts with what I teach in my classroom. If I hope to see more love in the world, I need to teach my littles how to show love to one another. If I hope to see more positivity in the world, the atmosphere in my classroom needs to be positive. If I hope to see less fighting in the world, I need to teach my students how to solve problems together.  I need to teach them kindness. 

Learning is more than just ABC's and 123's. It's more than reading and writing. Those things are very important and need to be taught, however, shouldn't learning be about things like love and kindness too? Every time we turn on the news, every time we read a newspaper, there are stories about someone killing, stealing, lying, cheating, etc.  As a parent myself, I have said many times, I am afraid of the world my son is growing up in. I have heard so many others say the same thing. As early childhood teachers, our littles have a clean slate.  We can instill these key aspects. We can show kindness and love in our classrooms. We can show them that sometimes we, as humans, get upset, we make mistakes, and we can also show them that's it's okay to do so. 

Early childhood is my passion and always will be.  One of my favorite parts of teaching in this field (which is birth-5), is watching a child succeed at something that they have been working at.  When they finally get it, their eyes light up and search for mine, to see if I'm watching. Children yearn for attention, they want approval. I want to show each child that I have in my care, that no matter what they do, no matter how many times they have to try at something, that it's okay. They are still of value to me, they still matter. They are still loved.

Time Well Spent

          Wow... I cannot believe that this is our last assignment in our Master's program.  After I finish this assignment, I will have completed my journey at Walden as a grad student! I have learned and grown so much since my beginning at Walden.  One important thing that I learned during this program was what making a positive social change was about.  Before I began my degree, I had never heard about positive social change, nor did I know what it meant.  However, I know what it means now.  Positive social change is what we as early childhood professionals should aim for.  How can we change the world for the better, how can we make a change that will impact the world so that it is different than before?  Another important thing that I learned about was advocacy.  Young children cannot speak for themselves, and many times parents do not know how to effectively speak for their children either.  It is our job to step in and serve as an advocate on their behalf.  I am to fight families and their children so that the children receive the best care and  beginning to life as possible.  Another noteworthy thing that I learned about was the importance of a positive, continuous partnership between school and family.  These partnerships are crucial to the child's learning and success in school.  When the teacher and parents work together, the child has better chances to succeed and go on to make a positive social change on the world around him.
          A long term goal that I have is to be able to see the parent resource center that I aim to open inside my future childcare center, be a success.  I want it to help families and is a helpmate that eases some of the burden so that they can focus on their children.  I want to say a huge and special THANK YOU to my instructor, Dr. Darragh, and all of my colleagues!  You have been key to my success in this program and have helped me become the early childhood professional that I am now!!!  You all have been patient with me and has guided me through the program.  You have evaluated me and pushed me to be the best that I can be and for that I am so thankful!  I cannot say enough that I deeply appreciate everything that you, (Dr. Darragh and my colleagues) have done to help me reach my goal of receiving a Master's degree.  I wish you all well in your future endeavors, and perhaps one day our paths will cross again.  I am here for all of you and my contact information is: 

   Rachel Walters--rachellwalters19@gmail.com

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Community: Internationally

          The first organization that I chose to feature in this blog post was UNICEF (United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund).  UNICEF is has been given the authority by the United Nations General Assembly to advocate for the protection of children’s rights, to help meet their basic needs, and to expand their opportunities to reach their full potential.  Their purpose is “to work with others to overcome the obstacles that poverty, violence, disease, and discrimination place in a child’s path.”  They particularly focus on the following areas: child survival and development, basic education and gender equality, HIV/AIDS and children, child protection, and policy advocacy and partnerships.  They work in eight different regions of the world; they work hard to ensure the protection of children all over the world.  I researched on their website, some jobs that are open.  One specific job is for chief field officer, in which the person receiving the job is in charge of the UNICEF office.  The education required for the field is an advanced university degree in one of the following: Social Sciences, Public Administration, International Relations, Business Administration, Public Health, Education, or other related field.  The work experience required is five years progressively responsible professional work experience in social development, project administration, monitoring and evaluation, some at the international level. Emergency experience required.  For the language skills, fluency in English is a requirement as well as another UN language (UNICEF, n.d.). 

            The second organization that I chose was the Save the Children foundation.  The mission for their organization is (Save the Children gives children in the United States and around the world what every child deserves – a healthy start, the opportunity to learn and protection from harm, especially when disaster strikes. We advocate and achieve lasting change for millions of children” When a natural disaster comes, Save the Children are the first to work for the children of the disaster.  They work in seven different regions of the world.  A job available on the site is titled, shelter coordinator, and the skills required for the job are as follows: Degree in Civil Engineering/ Architecture/ Construction Management or other relevant qualification in design or engineering, professional minimum experience of 5 years, experience of working with NGOs, experience in running multiple construction projects over different geographical locations, experience of managing multiple contractors, and different construction teams, ability to make frequent field visits between Erbil, Duhok and Sulaimanya; work under difficult circumstances and under pressure, critical thinking, organization, coordination and planning skills, ability to provide technical inputs, make technical and structural assessments, prepare Bills of Quantities and drawings, organization, coordination and planning skills, good computer skills -Excel, Word, Internet,  excellent interpersonal skills, excellent knowledge of spoken and written English, knowledge of Arabic/ Kurdish is an asset.  (Save the Children, 2014).

            The third organization that I chose was the Academy for Education Development.  Their mission is to improve lives in lasting ways by advancing integrated, locally driven solutions for human development.   They offer services in behavior change communication, creative services, research services and many more.  They work to find solutions for the future.  They serve more than 70 countries around the world as well as all of the United States of America.  The experts in their organization influence policies and guidelines, and they even publish in journals.  A career that I found on the website is Associate Director, Country Programs, Alive and Thrive Project.  The description of the job is: “The Associate Director, Country Programs will provide management and program oversight of activities in Burkina Faso to ensure that the project is effectively and efficiently implemented.”  The skills and education requirements are: Bachelor's degree or its international equivalent, Master's degree strongly preferred plus a minimum of 5 years of experience with international development programs, demonstrated experience in sector specific or multi-sector project management and implementation, must be able to read, write, and speak fluent English; fluent in host country language, experience operating in insecure environments, and experience working in a non-governmental organization (NGO) (Academy for Educational Development, 2011).

          Learning about these three international organizations has been interesting.  It is encouraging to me as an early childhood professional to know that what others in the field are doing for the children of our world. 

References

Academy for Educational Development. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.aed.org/en/index.htm

Save the Children. (2011). Retrieved from http://www.savethechildren.org/site/c.8rKLIXMGIpI4E/b.6115947/k.8D6E/Official_Site.htm

United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF). (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2011, from http://www.unicef.org/

Jobs/Roles in the ECE Field on the National/Federal Level

          I had a great time exploring the various organizations and agencies that are out there for the Early Childhood Field.  Learning about the different opportunities for people like myself and all of my colleagues is exciting.  I examined many organizations and agencies however, there were three that interested me the most.  They are:

1. National Education Association (NEA):  Their mission is to advocate for education professionals and to unite our members and the nation to fulfill the promise of public education to prepare every student to succeed in a diverse and interdependent world.  The NEA works on every educational level from early childhood to graduate level such as the one we are in currently.  They discuss different issues such as common core standards, education funding, and early childhood.  They provide resources for teachers and administrators, as well as information about grants and funding.  I chose this organization because it is such a broad resource for teachers.  It offers a wide variety of information.  A job that I could apply for there is a state affiliate.  They lobby legislators for the needs in the education field.  The job requirements are: a bachelor's degree, successful public school teaching and leadership experience with an advocacy organization, previous chief negotiator, collective bargaining and grievance arbitration experience is desired, proven ability to develop and coordinate an effective membership organizing program,proven ability to work independently and in a diverse, collaborative, and team environment, effective consulting, training, presentation and representation skills,strong problem-solving and conflict resolution skills,knowledge of office automation technology including word processing and data applications, and strong written and verbal communication skills (NEA, 2014).

2. National Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP): Their vision is family economic security, strong nurturing families, and healthy child development.  The NCCP is a public policy center that works to help the low-income families of America.  They work at the state and national level and are family-oriented.  They perform research to find solutions and develop strategies to help child in poverty.  They take on projects such as housing subsidies and child development, promoting paid family leave, and the some topics that they research and discuss are child poverty, children's mental health, early care and learning, and immigrant families.  A job that is available with this organization is an Associate Research Scientist, this position's role is Director of Childcare and Early Education Research Connections.  The job requirements is to have a Ph.D or Ed.D or equivalent in Early Childhood Education, must have knowledge of early childhood research, policies, and programs, and five years of relevant experience (NCCP, 2014).

3. Council for Professional Recognition: Their mission is the Council for Professional Recognition promotes improved performance and recognition of professionals in early childhood education of children ages birth through 5 years old.  They provide the Child Development Associate (CDA) Credential.  The CDA is required in many states for early childhood professionals.  In Arkansas, a director must have a CDA or a Bachelor's in a related field.  There were no job openings listed for this organization (Council for Professional Recognition, 2013).

References

Council for Professional Recognition. (2013). About the Council.  Retrieved from http://www.cdacouncil.org/about-the-council

National  Center for Children in Poverty (NCCP). (2014). About NCCP. Retrieved from http://www.nccp.org/about.html

National Education Association (NEA). (2014). About NEA. Retrieved from http://www.nea.org/home/2580.htm

Communities of Practice

          During this week in our course, we learned about communities of practice.  Communities of practice share three common aspects: interest, community, and focus (Helm, 2007).  For this assignment, we were to choose three local or state communities of practice that we would like to belong to.  The three organizations are listed below:

1. NAEYC - I chose this organization because at the very beginning in our Foundations course, we were introduced to the NAEYC.  Before, I had never heard of it, and never knew anything like it existed.  The NAEYC is one of the largest Early Childhood Resources and organizations around.  They offer thousands of resources to parents, families, childcare centers, early childhood professionals, etc.  The resources and the things that the organization does for the field of Early Childhood is so great and it makes me want to be a part of it.  I want to be a part of something that influential to young children and their families (NAEYC, n.d.).  A job opportunity that was posted on their site was Director of Early Childhood, in Dallas, TX.  I would love this job!  In order to fulfill this job, I would need to be knowledgeable of the licensing requirements for the state of TX, have patience to work with families, children, and the staff, an understanding of advocacy, great organizational skills, and a passion for the early childhood field.  

2. ZERO TO THREE - The mission for this organization is "to ensure all babies and toddlers have a strong start in life" (zerotothree.org, 2012).   The reason that I chose this organization is because, just as with the NAEYC, we learned about this organization in the Foundations course.  They offer thousands of opportunities for babies and toddlers. They offer articles and research studies about issues that deal with babies and toddlers.  The site also offers information to parents such as how important play is.  There is a job available titled, Senior Writer/Training Specialist.  The knowledge and skills required for this job is to have a strong knowledge to the Early Head Start program, strong knowledge of infants and toddlers, strong knowledge of different cultures and an education requirement would be a Master's in Early Childhood Development.  

3. Arkansas Department of Human Services - The mission for this program is "Together we improve the quality of life of all Arkansans by protecting the vulnerable, fostering independence, and promoting better health.  As a teacher at a childcare center, we have to work with the licensing person when they come to our center to ensure that the requirements are met.  The licensing and regulations are just one part of DHS.  They protect children and families, they offer ARkids insurance for children, the SNAP program (nutrition program), and many others that serve the families in the state.  This organization is respected in the state and I admire the work that they do.  A job posted on this site was Family Service Worker Supervisor. The skills for this job is knowledge of supervisory practices and procedures, knowledge of the principles and practice of counseling, social work, and case management, knowledge of state and federal laws, rules and guidelines, etc.  The education requirement is to have an equivalent to a bachelor's in social work, sociology, or psychology, or a related field (http://humanservices.arkansas.gov/, 2011). 

References

 Helm, J. (2007). Building communities of practice. YC: Young Children, 62(4), 12-16.

Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database

Beginning of the End

     WOW!!! We are beginning our last class here at Walden University! That is so crazy! However, I am so excited to take this last class and learn all that I can from Dr. Darragh and from all of my classmates.  The first week's assignment have been challenging so far and I look forward to the next 7 more weeks that we have together to grow and develop into the early childhood professionals we were meant to be.  

Thank You!!!

          I cannot believe how quickly these past eight weeks have gone by!!!!  You all have been great and given great support.  We have grown together as a team, helping each other work towards achieving our goals.  You have offered great advice and help to me through our assignments.  You all have helped me to see things in a different light, through different eyes than my own.  I truly appreciate all of your help.  I wish you all well as we all go through the rest of our time here at Walden.  I hope that in the future if you ever need anything that you will not hestitate to reach out.  I am here and will help any way that I can.  My email address is rachellwalters19@gmail.com!

Adjourning

          Throughout this week, I have learned alot about groups.  The last stage that a group must go through is adjourning.  I think the hardest group to say goodbye to would be the high-performing group.  A high performing group has worked through alot and through that work has gotten to know each other and become closer.  That is why I think that a high-performing group would be the hardest to say goodbye to.  The group that I described in my discussion one this week was a high-performing group.  We had done so much together and it was very hard to say good-bye to them.  Some closing rituals that I have experienced was that everyone in the group tell about something that they enjoyed while working together the most.  
          I will adjourn from the group of colleagues that I have joined while at Walden, perhaps, by giving each group member encouragement and well wishes, or by discussing our journey while at Walden and what we will miss the most.  Adjourning is an essential thing for me to  becaue I feel that it acts as a closing so that a person can move on.  The group life is over and they can move on to other things.    Learning about groups and conflict have proven to be very helpful this week. 

Disagreements

          Here recently, at work, my afternoon teacher and I, had a disagreement.  It never escalated into an argument or anything thankfully.  We just simply disagreed.  I do think that using nonviolent communication could help this situation.  If we both stepped back and tried to see the situation, the way the other person did, perhaps the conversation would have went more smoothly.  Trying to find a way to compromise would be better than not solving the problem and ignoring it or just letting it go.  The three R's would also be efficient to help the conflict be resolved.  Respect, reciprocity, and responsiveness are three things to remember in an conflict.  We were not disrespecting each other in the disagreement, but it is always important to remember.  Reciprocity is important, the actual definition is a mutual exchange.  Each person involved needs to be willing to discuss and work through the problem.  Responsiveness is equally important, learning how to respond appropriately without adding to the conflict is a necessity.
          Learning how to effectively communicate even during a conflict is something that an early childhood professional needs to do.  Our job is all about communication.  We communicate all day long, with our parents of our children, our children in our class, and our colleagues.  What are some suggestions that you have to help with using the strategies I presented to help solve conflicts?  What are some other strategies that might help?

References

 

Center for Nonviolent Communication. (2013). What is NVC. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/about/what-is-nvc.html

 

Kashtan, I. (2002). Hearing the "Yes" in the "No".  From the Center for Nonviolent communication. Albuquerque: NM: NVC. Retrieved from https://www.cnvc.org/what-nvc/articles-writings/hearing-yes-no/hearing-yes-no



Evaluating My Communication Skills

          As I evaluated my communication skills and then had two other people evaluate me and my communication skills this week, I learned so much.  One particular thing that surprised me was that all three scores from all three sources, myself, my mom, and my husband, all turned out to pretty close to the same.  This surprised me because I did not think it would be that close. These were the test results.  I am a people-oriented communicator that communicates well and shows respect for others, but at times I tend to trust people more than I should and I am almost too sensitive to others' needs.
          One insight that I gained this week was that evaluating your communication skills is a necessity.  If you evaluate your communication skills periodically, and work to enhance them, the relationships that you have in your life will flourish.  Another insight that I gained from during this week was that nonverbal communication explains a lot about who you are.  Nonverbal communication is just as important as verbal communication.  The "look" you give someone, sometimes says more than the words that come out of your mouth.   Understanding these two insight will help me grow as a professional and a person in that I will better understand why I do things, why I act certain ways, why I approach a situation the way that I did.  I will become more intact with who I am.  

Communication Strategies

          Many times, before I even realize it, I communicate differently with a person that is different than myself simply because of the difference.  Does that make sense?  I do not mean any harm by this, for most people they do not, but nonetheless, it causes feelings of hurt for the other person.  When I encounter a person that is different, e.g. different religion, different sexual orientation, different beliefs, different culture, sometimes I freeze up and do not know how to talk to them.  I do not know how to relate to them.  Therefore, I have nothing to talk to them about, or so I think.  Other times when I encounter a person that is different than myself, I may accidentally do or say something that offends that person without even meaning to.  This offense then causes a barrier to form between me and that person.  It is my job to learn how to handle differences for myself so that I do not offend others just because we are different. 
           A strategy that I could use would be to try to withhold judgement long enough to gain a deeper understanding than first impressions allow.  Instead of lettting the first impression rule our thinking about a person, we should really get to know the person or family before forming an opinion about them.  Another strategy that I would use would be when something about a families' practice really bothers me, I will try to look at what they are doing through their eyes instead of my own.  Trying to understand why they do what they do, by putting myself in their shoes would allow me to forget about my thoughts for a minute so I can think about others.  A third strategy that I could use would be to recognize that learning unwritten cultural rules of nonverbal communication takes time and patience(Gonzalez-Mena, 2010).  These three strategies could help me to communicate more effectively with the groups of people that I talked about previously. 

References

 

Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

Observing Communication

          For this week's assignment, I watched an episode of the Bernie Mac Show.  While watching it the first time without sound, I saw that the show was about a family.  The relationships that I observed was a Father-Son, Father-Daughter, Husband-Wife, Mother-Son, Mother-Daughter, then Sibling-Sibling relationships.  I was able to understand that the father cared for his son because of his gestures and his expressions.  He would hug him, and pat him on the back, and simply show interest in him.  This particular episode was about the father and the son.  The son was having trouble with kids around him, they would pick on him and beat him up, because he is small.  The father tries to teach him how to stand up for himself.  Some of the nonverbal communication that I was able to observe was frightened, disappointment, anger, proudness. I was able to see these kinds of nonverbal communication because of their facial expressions, their body language, and the interaction between the people in the show.
          When I watched the show with sound, I found out that the husband and wife was not the parents to the three children in the show.  They were their uncle and aunt.  The children were the husband's sister's kids.  However, the relationships that was between the adults and the children resembled a parent/child relationship.  A situation in the show that I misinterpreted when I watched the show without sound was when the husband and wife were talking and the oldest girl was in the room setting the table and was listening to them talk.  The first time I watched it, I thought they were having an argument, and all the while trying to not let them the girl hear it.  However, when I watched it the second time, I realized that they were not argueing they were discussing what to do about the boy, and they were trying to not let the girl hear them.  Through this assignment, I learned so much about communication, nonverbal communication especially.  A person displays so much about what they are trying to convey to someone else.  Nonverbal communication is just as vital as verbal communication. 

References

 

Wilmore, L. (Creator). (2001). The Bernie Mac show [Television series]. Los Angeles, CA: Fox Broadcasting Company.

Communication

          A person that I think is a great communicator is my dad.  He is a pastor and a preacher of a church and has been in the ministry for my whole life.  Some behaviors that he exhibits that makes him such a good communicator is that he understands people and can connect with people.  When he is preaching, he does not talk above everyone else, he talks so that they can all understand.  He uses examples that people can relate to.  He shows people that he cares because he expresses it, he says it.  When he is trying to emphasize a point, he uses pauses effectively.  He is able to make his points clear and concise, he keeps his mind clear so that he can bring his points out that way too.  He is able to use facial expressions and hand gestures effectively as well so to emphasize his points.  He influences the people he is around, influencing people is one of the most important aspects of communication (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2009). 
          I would want to model all of these communication patterns after him in my own communication.  I would love to be able to communicate as well as he does.  Many times I find myself making things more confusing that things really are when trying to get a message across.  I also do not connect with people as well as my dad.  I have trouble connecting with people.  Communicating as well as my dad would be something I would love to be able to do.  

 

References

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St.   

            Martin's.

Professional Hopes and Goals

          For children and families that have diverse backgrounds, I hope that they will get the justice and support that they deserve.  I hope that they are treated equally one day.  All families no matter their background, they deserve to be treated just as other families are treated.  One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field is that all early childhood programs would train their staff to be educated on diversity, equity, and social justice.  All early childhood professionals need to be educated on these matters because every child is different and in order to provide the care that the child needs, their teacher needs to know how to respect the diversity of each child and their family. 
          I would like to express my thanks and appreciation to all of my colleagues for helping me through this past eight weeks.  I have enjoyed learning with and from all of you.  I wish you all well as you continue on your journey at Walden and then beyond.  I hope maybe to have you in some future classes!! :)

Welcoming Families

         For this week's assignment, for the family in my scenario, I chose for them to be from Aruba.  In order to culturally responsive towards this family, I would first do research on the country.  I would learn everything that I possibly could about Aruba.  I would learn what the currency, how the government is run,  and everything about the culture.  The second thing I would do would be to learn about family culture and the roles of family members in Aruba.  I try to understand how the family and the household is run.  The third thing I would do is to learn some of the major phrases that are used in Aruba in the native language.  I would make myself accustomed to these certain phrases so that the family does not feel isolated because they do not speak English.  The fourth thing that I would do is to begin learning everything about the individual family that I could before meeting them.  I would look at their family tree, and research their family so that I am able to know them a bit better.  The final thing that I would do would be to make a packet about the U.S. and where they are living.  The packet would include information on the schools, the religious systems, the activities that they will see, how families do things here, and many different things.  However, the packet will be in the families native language. 
          I hope that these preparations will allow the families' transition to go smoothly so that they do not feel like they are being overwhelmed.  I want them to know that they are welcome here, and that they are accepted.  For myself, I hope that I able to understand more about the people from Aruba, so that the next time I have a family from Aruba, I am prepared. 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

          A memory that I have of experiencing prejudice and bias happened about a month ago.  Late one night around 11:30 or 12:00, my husband and I were watching television.  We were watching the old show, "The Jeffersons."  In the show, Mr. George Jefferson was answering the door.  He was letting Mrs. Louise Jeffersons' uncle in (all African Americans).  Apparently, her uncle was a butler and George thought that it was lowly of him to be a butler.  When the uncle came in, he turned to the doorman(Caucasian) of the apartment, who was helping him with his bags, and said thank you sir, and was about to give him a tip.  George tipped the man instead, and the doorman said, "Thank you sir."  The three men went back and forth saying "thank you sir."  The doorman left, George shut the door, and turned to the uncle and said, "Look! You don't have to say sir to my doorman, just because he's a honky."  When I heard this statement, I turned to my husband and said, "Did you hear that?!"  I could not believe what I had heard.  Now I know that during our class, everything we have learned about prejudices, and racism has had to do with being against all other races besides white people.  However, I feel that this statement was a prejudice/racist statement against white people.  The term, honky is a racial slur towards white people, it diminshes equity between the races because it labels white people. 
          The feelings that I felt when I heard this statement was shock and disbelief that it was ever aired on national television.  Nowadays, if any kind of racial slur towards any group of people is used a protest and big fight breaks out.  At times, the whole situation turns to chaos.  In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity, instead of George using the racial slur to refer to the doorman, he could have turned to the uncle and simply said, "Just because my doorman is white, does not mean you have to call him sir."  In my opinion, this would be better because this statement is referring to the color of a man's skin, instead of giving him a label because of his color. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

          An instance that happened today is an instant where I observed microaggression.  My husband and I are youth leaders at our church, and we live in town, not far from our church.  Many of our youth kids stop by randomly at our house to see us.  Today one of our youth, that has been gone all summer visiting his mom, stopped by to see us and catch up since he had been gone awhile.  The boy's father is white and his mother is black.  He has dark skin.  Before I go any further, I just want to point out that I think that this is an unintentional microaggression and I do not think in any way that harm was meant.  My husband jokes around with any dark skin person we know and makes different comments, such as, ("wow, you got a tan.." or "you have been eating so much chocolate, it turned you brown."  Most of our friends will come back at him and make a joke of some kind about being white.  When the boy came to see us today, my husband said, "wow, did you go to the beach, it looks like you tanned to much, it turned you brown."  As soon as I heard my husband say his comment, I felt a cringe in my stomach.  I recognized this immediately as a microaggression.  The boy smiled and laughed but did not seem to favor his comment, and did not offer a response.  My husband, I think, sensed the this discomfort and apologized and said he did not mean anything by it, he was just joking around.  The boy waved it off and started telling my husband about everything he did this summer.  I did not say anything to my husband about the incident, however I think my husband quickly learned that jokes like the ones he made today are not always liked and funny.  Again, I do want to stress my husband was only trying to joke around and was not in anyway trying to hurt the boy's feelings or discriminate against him.  He did not intentionally commit a microaggression against the boy. 
          Before this week, I had never heard of microaggressions. After I listened to Dr. Sue define and give demonstrations of microaggressions, I realized that I had witnessed microaggressions before, I just never knew the term for the actual incidents.  My perception of discrimination, prejudice, and/or sterotypes of people have been widened and more defined in a way.  As said, I knew that discrimination against people of different race or culture than another is real, it happens everyday, however, I was not aware of it in my life.  Taking the IAT test this week has really opened my eyes to how the world of being prejudice.  It's real, and it happens, sadly enough.  Microaggressions are very dangerous and they need to be dealt with, our children and our future deserves it. 

References

Microaggressions in Everyday Life. (n.d.) [Video podcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_3397500_1%26url%3D



Diversity and Culture

          For this week's assignment, I interviewed three different people and asked each of them to give me their definitions of culture and diversity.  I interviewed my dad, my teenage cousin, and a foreign exchange student I met in high school from Korea.  I chose these three people so that the answers that I received would be diverse.  My dad's (age 47) definition of culture was: "Culture is the lifestyle of a generation."  My dad's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is alot of different cultures and lives, it's also different ways of doing things and different ways of living."  My teenage cousin's (age 17) definition of culture was: "Culture is the complete make up of a person's external environment, for example, their clothes, language, food, and family."  My teenage cousin's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is a whole bunch of people from different cultures who live and work in the same area."  My Korean friend's definition of culture was: "Culture is a group of people who have shared the same belief, behavior, or pattern of living."  My Korean friend's definition of diversity was: "Diversity is a difference related to culture.  It is different groups of people from different cultures living together.  They might share their cultures and it could be a positive way of to create a cross-cultural thing that connects the world together." 
          An aspect that we have studied in this course that I see included in some of the answers that I received is diversity itself.  Each person has their own definition of culture and diversity.  Each person has formed these definitions by experiences in their lives, their cultures, their social identities.  Stemming from diversity, I see the aspect of social identities.  The definitions that they gave, for example, my dad's, come from their social identities.  My dad is has seen different generations interact, he was the youngest of seven children and when he was born, he had adult siblings.  He grew up observing interactions between generations.  I think an aspect that has been omitted from discussion in the interviews was dominant culture, simply because it was not called for, it was not up for discussion.  I simply wanted to know the basis of their thinking as it refers to culture and diversity. 
          Asking these three people these two questions has influenced my thinking on these two key elements.  It is always better to have "another pair of eyes" when looking at something, and it is the same when it comes to culture and diversity.  Being able to hear what others have to say about culture and diversity gives me the chance to think about the two topics in ways that I have not thought of before.  I am able to see through someone's eyes and maybe understand it in more depth than my initial thoughts. 

My Family Culture

          If a major catastophic event happened and ruined our country, and my family and I had to be evacuated to a different country as refugees, I know which three items I would take with me that would represent my family culture.  I would take my Bible, a family portrait, and a frying pan.  I would take the Bible because it represents everything that my family is.  God is our life, He is first and foremost, and my Bible would be my most important possession.  My dad is a pastor and my parents have been in the ministry for around 20 years.  My husband has recently surrendered to the ministry, and we currently work in our church in anyway we can.  God has been great to us and has always provided, my Bible would represent the whole essence of my life.  I would take a family portrait because after God, comes my family.  We are very close, we see or talk to each other everyday.  We share everything and we love each other very much.  The family portrait would respresent my support system in life.  I would take a frying pan because to me it represents where I am from.  I live in the South, in Arkansas.  We like good old-fashioned home cooked meals!  We have big family get-togethers and have a huge table covered with food and all the counters too!!  The frying pan represents where I am from and how I grew up. 
          If upon arrival, I was told that I could only keep one of the personal items and had to give up the other two items, the item I would keep would be my Bible.  I would be upset and hate to part with the other two items and maybe even give a little protesting at first.  However, if it was necessary I would give them up, but I would feel that I was fortunate to be able to keep the one thing that is the life blood of my whole being.  My Bible is that important. 
          I am glad we were given this assignment!  I enjoyed it so much!  My family culture is interesting but to me it seems whole and I feel blessed to be a part of such a culture.