Professional Hopes and Goals

   Professional Hopes and Goals 

I hope that as I continue to work with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I will continue to grow from the life experiences that I’ve had and learn from the experiences of others as well. I hope to continue to learn by listening and being open-minded to change. Nothing stays the same. We have seen that this week with the ruling on two very monumental pieces of legislation: parts of the voting rights act being overturned and the Supreme Court recognizing same sex marriage.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be to be “to be the change that you want to see in the world”.-Ghandi Change starts with us!

Goodbye!

It has been a pleasure working with everyone. Thanks for your support and your honesty. This has been one of my favorite classes so far. We really dug into some tough subjects but it seemed like we were able to pull from our own experiences to share.  I wish you all well as we continue our program here at Walden. Good luck and enjoy the rest of the summer. 

Thesha :-) 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Mozambique

It has come to my attention that I will have a student coming to my class from a country in the southern part of Africa. I would share information about Mozambique with my students and practice saying words like Good Monring!- Bom dia (bom-dee-ah) so that we could welcome the student when they arrive. The ways that I would make this student feel welcomed into their new class environment would be having a flag from Mozambique in the class when the student arrived. I would go to cultural specialty store and try to find pãozinho  which are Portugese style-french buns to have as a snack during a meet-and-greet with the children. By doing these things I would hope that this would help to make my new student and their family feel welcome. 

Official Language- Portuguese 

          

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

GYWN OAK PARK

I have enjoyed taking this course because it has given me a chance to reach out to some of my older family members to ask them about some of their life experiences. Recently I went to work and shared information that we had talked about in our class. One my co-workers asked me if I remembered a park in our county called Gwynn Oak partk. I had heard of the park but it had closed by the time my parents and I had moved to our home in 1978. My co-worker then went on to explain that the park was a small scaled amusement park that was segregated. She said that blacks weren't allowed into the park and the the NAACP had many demonstrations before the park became intergratted. At some point the park was closed and now it has become a park when you can go and have picnics.

When I think about things like this it amazes me that this took place in the neighborhood where I grew up. It makes me feel angry that things like took place in my community. This practice of segregation clearly diminished equity because they made it a point not to admit minorities. It makes me mad to think that just because of the color of your skin, people weren't allowed to go to certain places. 

I'm very passionate when it comes to discrimination of any kind so I know if I had been alive during that time, I would have actively participated in any protests that were organized. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week we were asked to describe one example of a microaggression that we detected this week. After learning the meaning of the term I was hoping that I didn't actually encounter any this week and that I'd have use a past experience but after reflecting on my week, I do have something current to share. 

Background Information

This year I have had the pleasure of having two wonder assistants in my classroom. One woman is African American and the other is Korean. Mrs. Buchanan was born in Korea and has lived here for many years. She was placed in my room because the previous teacher she worked with no longer wanted her in her classroom because she felt that "she didn't speak English very well". 
 
During the last school year I listened to my co-worker make negative remarks about her because she felt that Mrs. Buchanan was incompetent because she claimed that  no one could understand what she said. I had never worked with her but she had always been very nice to me when we interacted with each other. My co-worker's comments really made me feel uncomfortable. At one point I remember saying, "If she would talk about Ms. Buchanan that way, I wonder what she would say about me"?? 

This Week..

On Thursday while taking my students to lunch, I was asked by one of the cafeteria aids if Mrs. Buchanan can speak English. I asked the person, "Why would you ask me that question"? She explained that one of the children sat at the wrong table and she told Mrs. Buchanan to keep the children at the table so they didn't have to move. She said that Mrs. Buchanan didn't answer her and told the children to move back to their table. She seemed taken back that she didn't respond and even seemed bothered. After my studies this week I knew that I was experiencing a microagrression. I think if I had not read about this during the week the situation would have made me feel uncomfortable. I think I was better prepared to handle the situation this week because of my new knowledge about microaggressions. I told the aid that Mrs. Buchanan does speak in English and that maybe she didn't feel that she had to answer her questions because she was responsible for managing the children while they were in the cafeteria.

Initially I didn't walk over to the cafeteria with Mrs. Buchanan and the kids but she shared with me that cafeteria workers who served the food had been very rude to her. At one point I had to let them know that I would speak to my principal if their behavior continued. I have become aware of the way that Mrs. Buchanan has been treated and I don't allow people to make negative comments about her when they talk to me. Even without learning about microaggressions I think that allowing people to engage in this behavior only validates their behavior. If we don't make people aware of what they're saying and that it makes us feel uncomfortable, they will continue to behave inappropriately.