Professional Hopes and Goals

Being respectful and supportive are the hopes that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds. I want families to feel comfortable communicating with me regarding any topics. I aim to build great relationships with both children and their families. In addition, one goal that I would like to set for the early childhood education field is to prepare and train all professionals of the importance to be responsive to diverse backgrounds. It is essential to react swiftly to issues related to diversity, equity, and social justice.

To my colleagues and instructor, thank you for your effortless support. Each of you have influenced me in various ways and I am very thankful to have experienced this course with you. I wish the best for everyone and hope that you will achieve your goals.

Keep this in mind:

"Reach high, for stars lie hidden in you. Dream deep, for every dream precedes the goal." -Rabindranath Tagore

Shine Bright!

Welcoming a Family: Thailand

The population for children in different countries continues to grow rapidly in the U.S. For that reason, there is no surprise that I will be involved with diverse students during my journey as an early childhood professional.

I am going to imagine that I am a worker in the early childhood setting who has been notified that I will be working with a child who is from another country. The classroom is the early childhood setting I have chosen to work for and Thailand is the family's country. Here are the five ways I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

* Research the family's country. Learn the language they speak and how they communicate, activities they engage in, and the types of food they eat.
* Ask other professionals for their opinions and experiences about teaching diverse children. Find out their challenges and what strategies worked for them.
*Revisit personal biases. By doing so, this will allow me to provide the family with fair opportunities.
*Include pictures and activities in the classroom that are related to the family's country. This will bring comfort to the child and also awareness to the child's classmates.
*Set an appointment to speak with the family before hand. Understand what their goals are for their child.

I can only hope that this preparation can bring peace to myself and the family. I want them to feel comfortable, respected, and included. If the family feels comfortable, they may be motivated to communicate with me about anything and be involved in their child's education. I also hope that I can establish trust and a great relationship with the child and family. If the preparation shows to be successful, I will share them with professionals and other workers who work in an early childhood setting.

Prejudice

I have witnessed one of my friends as a target of prejudice. While enrolled in a graduate school in Missouri, I met a wonderful person by the name of Samantha. Samantha is Caucasian and is a very kind person. Whenever I needed help or guidance, she was always there to lend her support. One night, Samantha and I decided to go to a party. Once we were inside the party, I saw some of my classmates on the dance floor having a good time. As Samantha and I were walking towards them, I noticed they began to whisper and rolled their eyes. I pulled one of my classmates to the side and the conversation went as followed;

Me: What's wrong?
Kasey: Why did you bring her to this party? All of the white people in this town are racist and arrogant.
Me: No. She is very nice and so is her family.
Kasey: Well I don't like her and she looks stuck up anyway, but I guess you guys can hand around us.

After they continued to have a negative attitude towards her, we decided to leave and headed back to our dorm rooms. Fairness was indeed diminished in this incident.They formed an opinion about her without knowing who she really was. They did not try to get to know Samantha and judged her based off her appearance and skin color. They assumed that all white people were the same.

This incident brought a great deal of sadness to me. I could tell that Samantha was embarrassed and upset by the way my classmates treated her. We never really addressed the issue but at this point, I feel that we should have. In order for this incident to have changed into an opportunity for greater equity, my classmates would need a different mindset. They would have to change the way they think of others race and not judge others based on their skin color.

Question:

Do you think we did the right thing by leaving the party? Or should we have stayed and ignored the attitudes?