A family from another Country...

The country that I have chosen is Korea. The child that will be joining the early childhood setting is a three year old little girl. I know nothing of Korea so I will have to research the culture in order to prepare myself for this new little student.

The five ways that I will prepare myself for this new student:

1) The main thing is to prepare myself by studying and trying to learn all I can about Korea and the culture there.
2) I will prepare my classroom so that it is welcoming and has pictures of different cultures including Korea so that the child will feel more comfortable.
3) I will create a questionaire to ask the family so that I am sure to not offend the family or child by unknowing microaggressions.
4) I will prepare my other students by explaing different cultures to them so they will be able to adapt to the changes.
5) I will make the family feel welcome by explaining to them the program and giving them a time to help me understand their culture so that it will be an easy transition for the child as well as the family.

I hope that these preperations will help me to be open minded and welcoming to the new student. I think that by preparing and researching the country and culture before hand will give me some lead way in knowing what to expect.

The Personal side of bia, prejudice, and Operession

One of the first experiences that I remember with prejudice and oppression was a few years ago. I was in church with my family. My cousin was there with her husband who is from Guatemala. This elderly woman said in a loud voice, "Who is that  black man sitting back there." My cousin and her husband were not sure how to respond to the elderly lady. Another lady in the church tried to explain to this lady that my cousin's husband was Guatemalan. The lady had no clue about other cultures that were different from whites and blacks. Her lack of understanding of other cultures really made the situation awkward. My cousin's husband did not feel oppressed by the comment but the rest of the people felt oppressed since in today's world we would think that people were more accepting of diverse cultures and relationships.

Micro Aggressions

 A few months ago my boss/administrator was trying to hire a new supervisor for our office. At the present time she has majority white supervisors. In the past she has had a wide range of cultures but overtime people come and go etc. The office is all women which creates much drama, so my administrator being an elderly white lady, says this "I'm going to try to not hire another one of the drama the last ones created." A few of my co-workers and myself just looked at her and shook our heads in disbelief. We were ashamed that she would even think that all black women or other ethnic backgrounds would be the dramatic ones in the bunch. She tends to show her racial ignorance quite often. It is sad that in today's society racism is still strong. Growing up in the south I have always been aware of racism and the effects that it has on people. However, this week after studying micro aggressions I have learned to be mindful of how I say things and even through my actions toward others.

Culture and Diversity

The three people that I asked about culture and diversity were my husband, my sister, and my mother.

My husband said that culture is what makes a person unique and different. It is the core of the person and how he or she sees the world around them.

My sister defined culture and diversity as the backdrop of who a person is and where he or she originated from. 

My  mother defined culture as what makes up a person rather it be their gender, race, or religion. It is what makes the person unique. Diversity is blending many types of people together in order to form a common ground.

These definitions are pretty close to what I have been learning about this week. My awareness of culture and diversity has increased as I read more on the topic and gain input from peers, friends, and family on the subject.

Three Things

If I were every uprooted from my home country and sent some unfamiliar place and could only take three things I would have to take my quilt that my mama gave me, pictures of my family, and my bible.

The quilt that my mama gave me is much like a child's security blanket. I take it on all vacations and its the one blanket that I sleep with every night. I feel that I can sleep anywhere as long as I have that special  quilt.

The second item that I would take with me is my photo album with family pictures. Pictures are such a treasure and I love to look back on the "good times".  It always brings a smile to my face to reminisce on the old times, fun times, and my great family. I feel that those feelings would help me get through being in a foreign land and outside my comfort zone.

The third thing that I would take with me is my bible. The bible would show mty faith and help me push through the trials that I may have to face being in a strange land. The bible gives me strength to continue going.

If I was forced to just take one of the three items I would have to choose my photo album because the pictures can never be replaced and the other items can. If I was forced to let everything else go but still had my family photo album to flip through and remember where I came from then I would be able to make it.

My Thoughts on Research

These past eight weeks have been stressful and time consuming. I did not realize how much time actually has to go into research until this course. With that being said I do not hold back in saying THANK GOODNESS this course is coming to an end. :) I work full time, have two small children and this class has been hard on me. My challenge has been time management. I tried to "wing" it  but research is much more demanding and takes a great deal of time.

In the course I did learn that there are many ways to conduct research. I often found myself going to the internet to read more on the topics discussed in class because I am not good at research and wanted a more clear understanding on the different types of research. There is a lot of preparing and organizing that go into research which in my opinion makes it that much  more time consuming. The one thing that I take away from this course is that research is not something that is taken lightly and thrown together. It is time consuming, requires a great deal of preparing, and proper time management.

I wish each of my classmates the very best as we strive to finish the task set before us.

International Research

For this blog assignment I chose to explore the Early Childhood
= \of Australia website. (www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org/au)  As I explored this website there were many research topics available-some of the ones that stood out to me the most were learning through play, diversity, childhood obesity and childhood health and bullying  to name a few. As I read the articles on childhood obesity/health and bullying, my eyes were opened up on these issues. It seems that of here lately these two topics have been hot topics for early childhood professionals. I defiantly enjoyed the site and will be revisiting it soon.