In week 4 of this course, we had to personally evaluate our communication styles based upon three surveys of three different areas of communication: communication anxiety, verbal aggressiveness, and listening skills. In addition, we had to ask at least two individuals to complete the three surveys about our communication skills, as well. The individuals could be family, friends, colleagues, etc. To complete this exercise, I completed all three surveys first, followed by having my boyfriend of eight years, Michael, complete it. Next, I asked my mother to complete it and a colleague and friend of mine, Jen, whom I work with in my school building and at summer camp this summer.
Upon completing the surveys myself, I learned that I have Mild Communication Anxiety based upon my score of 42. In other words, this score and label reports that I have unease and discomfort with some communicative situations, while feeling completely confident and at ease in others. On the second survey for Verbal Aggressiveness, I scored 61 which meant that I scored "Moderate" on the scale and have a good balance between respecting others and holding my ground for something I feel strongly about. Lastly, on the Listening Skills survey, I scored in Group 1, which means I was in the "People Oriented" grouping. Therefore, I exhibit empathy and understanding to help foster good relationships through communication, yet can have difficulty in judging others when necessary due to this. After discussing the survey scores with Mike, my mom, and Jen, I found that their scores were either the same or closely similar in range to my own scores overall. Mike scored 42 as I had on the Anxiety survey; 60 on the Verbal Aggressiveness survey compared to my score of 61; and Group 1 as I had on the Listening Styles survey. My mom scored 35 on Anxiety survey, close to my score of 42 and still within the range of the same description I received of Mild Anxiety; 64 on Verbal Aggressiveness, which was again close to my score of 61 and in the Moderate range; and Group 1 as both Mike and I had on the Listening Styles survey, meaning I am considered People Oriented. Lastly, my colleague and friend, Jen, who teaches first grade in my building, completed the three surveys about my communication skills based upon what she knows of me in the workplace and personally. She scored 36 on the Communication Anxiety survey, which is also in the Mild Anxiety category; 56 on the Verbal Aggressiveness survey, which is also in the Moderate range; and Group 1 on the Listening Styles survey, which is the People Oriented grouping.
It was not surprising to me that Mike, my mom, and I all scored either the same or closely similar scores on this survey as I believe they are the two people in the world who know me the best. They are the two individuals with whom I speak to daily and guide me through the ups and downs of life. I was pleased to know that we all scored similarly, proving what I had already thought about our relationships and understandings and respect for one another. On the other hand, something I was surprised by was the fact that ALL FOUR of us scored in the same categories and score ranges. While I would expect that from my mother or from Mike, I was pleasantly surprised to see the consistency of scoring from a colleague of my workplace. This was reassuring that I am making strides to communicate effectively in all aspects of my life as I had hoped I was doing, yet at the same time provides me with insights on what to improve as I continue on my journey towards competent communication and anti-bias education.
After completing the work revolving around the concept of communication this week, I have continued to have my eyes opened to the reality of the matter at hand. Completing the surveys about my own communication skills was a great opportunity for me to truly examine, analyze, and understand how I am communicating with others in all aspects of my life. One of the greatest insights I gained this week comes from having the opportunity to recognize my owns strengths and weaknesses in terms of communication, especially within the field of education. I realized that I have always been uncomfortable with public speaking but I am slowly overcoming the fear and anxiety I have had in some forms. Based upon the surveys, I realized that I am slowly taking steps into leadership roles, as in this past school year when I created my own PLC for the third and fourth grade teachers with approval from the principal in which we completed a book study and compiled resources and practices for Reading and Language in our classrooms. Additioanlly, another insight I had gained this week was concretely recognizing the impact communication has on an individual's relationships. Based upon the feedback and scores I received from the three individuals who completed the surveys about my communication patterns and skills, I have noticed that we have a true respect and understanding of one another on a deep level, to which it should be acknowledged that the effectiveness of my communication helped to form such strong bonds and relationships. This is a truly important piece to recognize within ourselves - the impact we have on the relationships in our lives (whether it be with a boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife, family member, friend, colleague, student, etc.) based upon the effectiveness of our communication skills - verbal, nonverbal, and listening.
Sunday, July 27, 2014
Monday, July 14, 2014
Cultural Diversity & Communication
Week 3 is upon us already! This week we began to examine the idea of culture in relation to communication. We discussed the meaning of being inter culturally competent in communication, cultural myopia, and the importance of "The Platinum Rule" in regards to being an effective and competent communicator. Each of the aforementioned concepts relate to producing effective communication in many ways. In order to better understand the concepts discussed this week, we had to take time to examine our own communication skills in regards to interacting with various culturally diverse groups. The groups can be culturally diverse in many ways, such as by race, religion, political affiliation, sexual orientation, gender, varying abilities, age, and more. After considering and discussing our personal communication strengths and weaknesses in this area, we need to create at least three strategies for improving our communication skills in relation to interacting with culturally diverse groups of individuals.
Considering the assignment at hand, I reflected upon my own interactions with individuals from culturally diverse groups and populations and the communication skills in which I have utilized in such interactions. I have realized that when communicating with individuals of a different religion, I tend to be more cautious in the wording I choose when speaking on such a topic. Due to the fact that I am trying to be more cautious, I may end up over thinking and not actively listening to the conversation enough. Another example would be when speaking about politics. While I believe I am a Democrat, I tend to avoid all political conversation as it can become a very charged and heated debate in conversation. I may venture into the topic with another individual only to find they are extremely set on their opinion or defensive of their affiliation's beliefs to which I attempt to change the subject as avoidance of the conflict. This is a flaw in my communication skills as I should incorporate the meanings of "The Platinum Rule" in this instance, empathize with the individual and attempt to utilize effective communication skills to complete the debate civilly and appropriately. Lastly, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. In other words, you can read my emotions, thoughts, feelings, etc. all over my face or through my body language very easily. Therefore, I have to be very conscious of the nonverbal signals and cues I am utilizing when communicating with others, particularly when communicating with children and families, in order to avoid detrimental impact or tension.
In light of the aforementioned revelations, I have come up with three strategies to begin communicating more effectively with other culturally diverse individuals. First of all, I need to become more culturally competent and aware of other beliefs, cultures, etc. By doing so, I will gain knowledge to better understand and communicate appropriately with children, families, colleagues, and community members of that specific cultural background. Secondly, I need to work on conflict resolution skills, which would be to become a more empathic listener. To do so, I must focus on the speaker and begin to "put myself in their shoes" to better grasp their feelings and thoughts on the matter. This could help to resolve dilemmas and disagreements, as well. Lastly, I need to analyze my own nonverbal cues to become more aware of how they are used, how often, the reasoning for them, etc. This will be helpful to prevent misunderstandings while communicating with others, as well as to better understand the meaning of nonverbal cues of other individuals with whom I am communicating.
Communication skills are more important than many individuals realize, including myself. It is something we tend to take for granted and treat as "common sense"; however, it is quite the opposite and such skills must be acquired and learned over time. We always have room for improvement and I understand that in my journey to anti-bias education I must become an effective inter culturally competent communicator, as well.
Until next week...
Considering the assignment at hand, I reflected upon my own interactions with individuals from culturally diverse groups and populations and the communication skills in which I have utilized in such interactions. I have realized that when communicating with individuals of a different religion, I tend to be more cautious in the wording I choose when speaking on such a topic. Due to the fact that I am trying to be more cautious, I may end up over thinking and not actively listening to the conversation enough. Another example would be when speaking about politics. While I believe I am a Democrat, I tend to avoid all political conversation as it can become a very charged and heated debate in conversation. I may venture into the topic with another individual only to find they are extremely set on their opinion or defensive of their affiliation's beliefs to which I attempt to change the subject as avoidance of the conflict. This is a flaw in my communication skills as I should incorporate the meanings of "The Platinum Rule" in this instance, empathize with the individual and attempt to utilize effective communication skills to complete the debate civilly and appropriately. Lastly, I tend to wear my heart on my sleeve. In other words, you can read my emotions, thoughts, feelings, etc. all over my face or through my body language very easily. Therefore, I have to be very conscious of the nonverbal signals and cues I am utilizing when communicating with others, particularly when communicating with children and families, in order to avoid detrimental impact or tension.
In light of the aforementioned revelations, I have come up with three strategies to begin communicating more effectively with other culturally diverse individuals. First of all, I need to become more culturally competent and aware of other beliefs, cultures, etc. By doing so, I will gain knowledge to better understand and communicate appropriately with children, families, colleagues, and community members of that specific cultural background. Secondly, I need to work on conflict resolution skills, which would be to become a more empathic listener. To do so, I must focus on the speaker and begin to "put myself in their shoes" to better grasp their feelings and thoughts on the matter. This could help to resolve dilemmas and disagreements, as well. Lastly, I need to analyze my own nonverbal cues to become more aware of how they are used, how often, the reasoning for them, etc. This will be helpful to prevent misunderstandings while communicating with others, as well as to better understand the meaning of nonverbal cues of other individuals with whom I am communicating.
Communication skills are more important than many individuals realize, including myself. It is something we tend to take for granted and treat as "common sense"; however, it is quite the opposite and such skills must be acquired and learned over time. We always have room for improvement and I understand that in my journey to anti-bias education I must become an effective inter culturally competent communicator, as well.
Until next week...
Friday, July 11, 2014
Observing Communication Through Television
Week 2 is upon us and we continue to learn about the importance of effective, appropriate, and ethical communication, especially within the Early Childhood field. This week, we took a closer look at types of communication: verbal communication, nonverbal communication, and listening skills. Each of these types of communication are equally important to being a competent and effective communicator. For the assignment this week, we needed to view an episode of a television show that we do not normally watch and observe the nonverbal communication exhibited when the show is on mute and with volume on. While on mute we need to decipher what the characters' relationships are based on their nonverbal communication, as well as what they are feeling and expressing. With the sound turned on, we need to state what assumptions we made about the characters and plot based on what was observed with sound on and off and whether or not our assumptions would have been more accurate if we were watching a familiar show instead.
For this assignment, I decided to watch an episode of Modern Family as it is not a television show I normally watch on TV yet have heard from many friends it is great. After watching the episode, I ended up watching the rest of the marathon on TV that night as I found it very funny and entertaining! In this episode, there are several characters interacting in different houses but all seem interconnected. The main focus of this episode was one particular family. While watching with the sound turned on mute, you can pick up on the tension between the young characters in the show who seem to be disagreeing about entering a bedroom when the door is closed. From the eye rolling, crossed arms, stomping feet, red faces, and waving hands, you can see there is frustration and annoyance taking place in an argument between what seems to be siblings. Two adults enter (seem to be the parents) and the mom is yelling to fix the problem while dad is acting sincere using sign language and body language to signal behind mom's back that she is overreacting and he loves them all. Mom and Dad leave the room and there seems to be a disagreement, mom makes a decision, and leaves. Dad seems uncomfortable handling a situation with the daughters at first then becomes much like a drill sergeant ensuring they complete chores. The girls look scared and exhausted. Mom takes the boys out for fun to go on go carts, eat junk food, and more. Mom looks as though she is trying to force herself to be "the fun parent" and crosses the line, scaring the boys and making them eat too much. The boys look freaked out and then later sick as they get sick from too much junk food. Their body language shows that they were a family with mom and dad and four children, two boys and two girls, teenage years. The nonverbal communication shows a lot of emotion and feeling throughout, such as frustration, annoyance, worry, anger, fright, exhaustion, humor, and more. After turning the volume on to rematch the episode, I learned that the two adults were in fact the parents, but only three of the teens were their children - the two girls and one boy, the other boy was a cousin. The disagreement in the beginning took place because the boys entered into the sisters shared room when the door was closed without knocking first and the girls were in the process of changing. Therefore, an argument commenced in the hallway about privacy and sibling rivalry and the cousin chiming in as he is from a different culture that it is normal in his culture and it shouldn't be a problem here. The parents depart to another room as the mom shows her frustration through body language that she is tired of being the "bad cop" parent and the dad being the "good cop" parent and decides they should switch roles. Dad takes this seriously after a moment of being unsure because he discovers his daughters have lied and goes seriously bad cop becoming borderline drill sergeant like ordering them around all day. It is a comical twist.
This episode of the show encompassed a great deal on communication as well as concepts from prior courses on diversity and culture. The families in the show are all part of the same extended family. There is one family, as described from the episode, with a mother, father, son, and two daughters; another family with two gay males and an adopted baby daughter; and lastly the father (of the mother from the original family) and his second wife and son. This is, in fact, a modern family, as the title shares. I thought this assignment was enlightening in what we can pick up on from nonverbal communication in terms of relationships and emotions without verbal communication involved. In addition, I think it would have been a little easier to truly follow the episode if I had been more familiar with the show but the nonverbal communication from a realistic family interaction was evident and easily readable.
Until next time...
For this assignment, I decided to watch an episode of Modern Family as it is not a television show I normally watch on TV yet have heard from many friends it is great. After watching the episode, I ended up watching the rest of the marathon on TV that night as I found it very funny and entertaining! In this episode, there are several characters interacting in different houses but all seem interconnected. The main focus of this episode was one particular family. While watching with the sound turned on mute, you can pick up on the tension between the young characters in the show who seem to be disagreeing about entering a bedroom when the door is closed. From the eye rolling, crossed arms, stomping feet, red faces, and waving hands, you can see there is frustration and annoyance taking place in an argument between what seems to be siblings. Two adults enter (seem to be the parents) and the mom is yelling to fix the problem while dad is acting sincere using sign language and body language to signal behind mom's back that she is overreacting and he loves them all. Mom and Dad leave the room and there seems to be a disagreement, mom makes a decision, and leaves. Dad seems uncomfortable handling a situation with the daughters at first then becomes much like a drill sergeant ensuring they complete chores. The girls look scared and exhausted. Mom takes the boys out for fun to go on go carts, eat junk food, and more. Mom looks as though she is trying to force herself to be "the fun parent" and crosses the line, scaring the boys and making them eat too much. The boys look freaked out and then later sick as they get sick from too much junk food. Their body language shows that they were a family with mom and dad and four children, two boys and two girls, teenage years. The nonverbal communication shows a lot of emotion and feeling throughout, such as frustration, annoyance, worry, anger, fright, exhaustion, humor, and more. After turning the volume on to rematch the episode, I learned that the two adults were in fact the parents, but only three of the teens were their children - the two girls and one boy, the other boy was a cousin. The disagreement in the beginning took place because the boys entered into the sisters shared room when the door was closed without knocking first and the girls were in the process of changing. Therefore, an argument commenced in the hallway about privacy and sibling rivalry and the cousin chiming in as he is from a different culture that it is normal in his culture and it shouldn't be a problem here. The parents depart to another room as the mom shows her frustration through body language that she is tired of being the "bad cop" parent and the dad being the "good cop" parent and decides they should switch roles. Dad takes this seriously after a moment of being unsure because he discovers his daughters have lied and goes seriously bad cop becoming borderline drill sergeant like ordering them around all day. It is a comical twist.
This episode of the show encompassed a great deal on communication as well as concepts from prior courses on diversity and culture. The families in the show are all part of the same extended family. There is one family, as described from the episode, with a mother, father, son, and two daughters; another family with two gay males and an adopted baby daughter; and lastly the father (of the mother from the original family) and his second wife and son. This is, in fact, a modern family, as the title shares. I thought this assignment was enlightening in what we can pick up on from nonverbal communication in terms of relationships and emotions without verbal communication involved. In addition, I think it would have been a little easier to truly follow the episode if I had been more familiar with the show but the nonverbal communication from a realistic family interaction was evident and easily readable.
Until next time...
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
Competent Communication
Welcome one and all to the seventh of ten courses in my journeys towards my Master's Degree in Early Childhood Studies. This week I began my seventh course at Walden, Communicating and Collaborating in the Early Childhood Field. For our first blog assignment, we are to ponder the learning about communication from this week and consider someone we know in our lives who is a competent communicator. It can be a colleague, friend, family member, celebrity, teacher, etc. Once we think of an individual to use as an example, we must share the following: who is the person that you perceive to be a competent communicator, behaviors this person exhibits to make them effective, and whether or not you would model your own communication behaviors after this person and why. Instantly, two people came to mind when I thought about this assignment so I will briefly discuss both individuals below.
Upon considering this topic, the first person that came to mind was my mother. My mom is an Assistant Manager for the Payroll Department of a company in Center City, Philadelphia. She has worked for the company for 28 years and takes on much more responsibility than an assistant manager should or normally would because she is great at her job and is dedicated to doing what is right. She lives by the code of ethics and morals and communicates very effectively with colleagues, employees, employers, and clients all over the country and world. Even though it can be extremely frustrating, she always finds the right way to communicate with the individual to help them resolve their issues or answer their questions appropriately and effectively. She maintains professionalism in all conversations and endeavors in the work place, even when she wants to deep down lose her cool. She makes everyone she works with feel at ease and helps anyone as much as she possibly can. I learned so much about my mother in her workplace as I worked with her for a few years when I first started my job experiences from age 16-21 as a file clerk in her office. I admire my mother for a variety of reasons, but her work ethic, dedication, demeanor, and attitude are behaviors I attempt to utilize in my own career endeavors. Despite the fact that our fields of work are different, there are still ways to implement the same traits and behaviors into my own communications with others in my work place. The rapport my mother has with her colleagues, employers, and clients is something I truly admire and aspire to have in my own career.
The second person who came to mind was my first grade teacher and recent fourth grade colleague who retired this year. Carol B. is a remarkable individual and educator with a dedication and passion for educating children that cannot be compared. I am lucky to share that she was not only my first grade teacher and inspiration for becoming a teacher, but also my colleague in the fourth grade for three wonderful years. I consider her to be one of my mentors, without officially having that title. In terms of communication, she always has the most professional and eloquent ways of speaking to others, whether it be the children, colleagues, administrators, or parents and families. Whenever faced with a difficult situation involving a parent, I would seek her for advice or ask her to review my response before sending as I respected her competency in terms of ethical conduct and ethical communication. Similar to my mom, she developed an instant rapport with the children and families, as well as administration. She entered a room and instantly earned respect of those around her for simply being effective in her communication skills and doing her job well. She spoke on behalf of educators and staff in our district as a Union representative on the Negotiations team and was very well versed in her speaking abilities. I admire Carol more than words can express and would be honored if I could be an ounce like her in terms of my communication skills in education and overall as an educator in this field in general.
That's all for now…until next week! :)
Upon considering this topic, the first person that came to mind was my mother. My mom is an Assistant Manager for the Payroll Department of a company in Center City, Philadelphia. She has worked for the company for 28 years and takes on much more responsibility than an assistant manager should or normally would because she is great at her job and is dedicated to doing what is right. She lives by the code of ethics and morals and communicates very effectively with colleagues, employees, employers, and clients all over the country and world. Even though it can be extremely frustrating, she always finds the right way to communicate with the individual to help them resolve their issues or answer their questions appropriately and effectively. She maintains professionalism in all conversations and endeavors in the work place, even when she wants to deep down lose her cool. She makes everyone she works with feel at ease and helps anyone as much as she possibly can. I learned so much about my mother in her workplace as I worked with her for a few years when I first started my job experiences from age 16-21 as a file clerk in her office. I admire my mother for a variety of reasons, but her work ethic, dedication, demeanor, and attitude are behaviors I attempt to utilize in my own career endeavors. Despite the fact that our fields of work are different, there are still ways to implement the same traits and behaviors into my own communications with others in my work place. The rapport my mother has with her colleagues, employers, and clients is something I truly admire and aspire to have in my own career.
The second person who came to mind was my first grade teacher and recent fourth grade colleague who retired this year. Carol B. is a remarkable individual and educator with a dedication and passion for educating children that cannot be compared. I am lucky to share that she was not only my first grade teacher and inspiration for becoming a teacher, but also my colleague in the fourth grade for three wonderful years. I consider her to be one of my mentors, without officially having that title. In terms of communication, she always has the most professional and eloquent ways of speaking to others, whether it be the children, colleagues, administrators, or parents and families. Whenever faced with a difficult situation involving a parent, I would seek her for advice or ask her to review my response before sending as I respected her competency in terms of ethical conduct and ethical communication. Similar to my mom, she developed an instant rapport with the children and families, as well as administration. She entered a room and instantly earned respect of those around her for simply being effective in her communication skills and doing her job well. She spoke on behalf of educators and staff in our district as a Union representative on the Negotiations team and was very well versed in her speaking abilities. I admire Carol more than words can express and would be honored if I could be an ounce like her in terms of my communication skills in education and overall as an educator in this field in general.
That's all for now…until next week! :)
Wednesday, June 25, 2014
Professional Hopes and Goals
Believe it or not we are in our final week of this eight week journey on Perspectives on Diversity and Equity! The past eight weeks have flown by and while they have been extremely challenging and exhausting, they have always been very eye opening and enlightening. I feel as though I have learned a great deal about myself, my colleagues, my field, and society. There is still so much more to learn and this journey to becoming an anti-bias educator will be long and eventful! In this last week's blog entry, I need to reflect on my learning and create one hope and one goal around the issues discussed throughout the course.
My hope for the future for working with children and families of diverse backgrounds is to make them feel appreciated, respected, welcomed, comfortable being who they are and understand that it will be celebrated. My hope is to make them realize they have so much to offer, just as EVERY child from EVERY diverse background does. My hope is to help them acclimate to the culture of society while preserving and celebrating their own culture at the same time. I truly wish to work hand in hand with the families and children to create opportunities for a bright future for ALL children in my classroom. I think I can do this based upon the knowledge I have gained in this course, my caring and nurturing demeanor, and the journey I will continue to take towards anti-bias education.
Additionally, one goal I would hope to create for the field of Early Childhood Education in relation to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be a tiered goal. First of all, I would like all educators to be properly trained, as we are being trained through these courses at Walden, to begin a journey towards anti-bias education and ways in which to include and incorporate children and families from all cultures and backgrounds. Secondly, families need to be more involved and included more often in early childhood programs for their children, regardless of their diverse backgrounds, allowing for ALL parents and families to build a strong partnership with the educators and their children from the start of their child's educational career.
Lastly, I would like to extend my thanks to my colleagues for all of your continued support in this course, as well as our prior courses together. I have had the honor and privilege of working with many of you repeatedly throughout our journey through this program and I smile each time I begin a course and see a familiar name. While the idea of online courses seemed disconnected and distant prior to beginning, I realize now how inaccurate that truly is based upon the bonds and friendships I feel lucky enough to have formed so far in this journey. This course was not our easiest; the workload and content was exhausting, challenging, flat out DAUNTING and OVERWHELMING….BUT we have survived yet again! We are coming to the finish line of another course in the program and I couldn't be more proud to have colleagues as supportive, knowledgeable, and caring as each of you. Here's to each of you and our next adventures together! :)
--Ashley
My hope for the future for working with children and families of diverse backgrounds is to make them feel appreciated, respected, welcomed, comfortable being who they are and understand that it will be celebrated. My hope is to make them realize they have so much to offer, just as EVERY child from EVERY diverse background does. My hope is to help them acclimate to the culture of society while preserving and celebrating their own culture at the same time. I truly wish to work hand in hand with the families and children to create opportunities for a bright future for ALL children in my classroom. I think I can do this based upon the knowledge I have gained in this course, my caring and nurturing demeanor, and the journey I will continue to take towards anti-bias education.
Additionally, one goal I would hope to create for the field of Early Childhood Education in relation to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justice would be a tiered goal. First of all, I would like all educators to be properly trained, as we are being trained through these courses at Walden, to begin a journey towards anti-bias education and ways in which to include and incorporate children and families from all cultures and backgrounds. Secondly, families need to be more involved and included more often in early childhood programs for their children, regardless of their diverse backgrounds, allowing for ALL parents and families to build a strong partnership with the educators and their children from the start of their child's educational career.
Lastly, I would like to extend my thanks to my colleagues for all of your continued support in this course, as well as our prior courses together. I have had the honor and privilege of working with many of you repeatedly throughout our journey through this program and I smile each time I begin a course and see a familiar name. While the idea of online courses seemed disconnected and distant prior to beginning, I realize now how inaccurate that truly is based upon the bonds and friendships I feel lucky enough to have formed so far in this journey. This course was not our easiest; the workload and content was exhausting, challenging, flat out DAUNTING and OVERWHELMING….BUT we have survived yet again! We are coming to the finish line of another course in the program and I couldn't be more proud to have colleagues as supportive, knowledgeable, and caring as each of you. Here's to each of you and our next adventures together! :)
--Ashley
Saturday, June 21, 2014
Welcoming Families From Around the World
Hard to believe Week 7 of this course is upon us already! I have to say that while this class has been challenging I have truly enjoyed it overall. For our blog assignment this week, we have to envision we are a part of a specific scenario and discuss ways in which we would approach the situation. The scenario is as follows:
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You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice - a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.
In order to imagine this scenario, I have chosen the country of Zimbabwe, as it is a country I know little to nothing about their language, experiences, culture, etc. If I were in this situation and learned of this new student coming into my classroom, I would attempt to learn more about the country, culture, and more. However, this would only be surface facts and information that may not necessarily be applicable to this specific student. Therefore, it would be crucial to find additional ways to learn about the country and this specific family. In order to properly welcome and work with a child from another country and culture one is unfamiliar with, one must first understand the concept of cultural responsiveness. "To be culturally responsive is to be open to those differences, to be open to those complexities, and realizing that not everybody thinks the way you do, that not everybody sees the world the same way you do," (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010). Considering cultural responsiveness, a few possible ways to help the student and family feel welcomed by utilizing culturally responsive practices could be:
- Make the children feel important, feel valued, feel understood and appreciated in the classroom and in the home. Ask the child and parents about their likes, interests, language, culture, beliefs, country, and more. Having important conversations and taking the time to get to know them individually will set a precedent and help them to feel valued and invested in the education process, even when in a new country.
- Incorporate the diversity in your classroom into classroom decor. Allow students to bring in or design items that represent their culture, heritage, family, beliefs, etc. to put on display throughout the classroom. Children can explain what it is and why it is important to be shared with their classmates. This will help students of all diverse populations feel comfortable and safe within the classroom environment.
- Create opportunities for children to share their family history and heritage with their peers and teachers in the classroom. It could be in the form of a family show and tell, traditions project, and more. It will help students to learn about the diverse cultures thriving within our society and promote tolerance, understanding, and acceptance, while also helping the child feel equally important and valued as other children in the class, regardless of race, ethnicity, gender, etc.
- Invite families into the classroom frequently and keep them actively involved in their child's educational experience. This will allow you to learn more about the child and their culture, as well as their personal family values and family identity. Parents can come in as volunteers for events or in day to day classroom activities or just to observe.
- Make visits to the child's home to interview and observe family life in this environment. This will show you are invested in the child's well-being and education just as much as the family and it will give great insight into the family's perspectives, routines, culture, and more. Understanding the family in this way will allow you to communicate effectively and make a positive difference in this child's life. You will be able to utilize what you learn to accommodate the child within your classroom.
By completing the following guidelines and examples of cultural responsiveness, it would positively impact and benefit the lives of the children and families within your classroom, as well as the teachers and staff. These guidelines could make a positive impact for children and families in that they will feel important, feel appreciated and respected. It will instill a positive foundation for their future in education. Additionally, the guidelines could positively impact the educator(s) involved as it will allow them to learn more about various cultures and understand ways to incorporate diversity into the classroom to allow ALL students, regardless of background, to feel welcome, comfortable, safe, respected, and appreciated so they can learn and grow in a community of learners.
References:
Laureate Education, Inc. (2013).
Cultural responsiveness. [Video webcast]. Retrieved from
https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_4067193_1&content_id=_13667522_1&courseTocLabel=Resources
Wednesday, June 11, 2014
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, & Oppression
Welcome back! We continue with this course in Week 6, discussing more and more controversial and emotional topics. From what I am gathering from the discussion posts this week, each of us (including myself - BIG TIME) has been experiencing a bit of a roller coaster of emotions over the last six weeks: frustration, anger, disappointment, confusion, pride, etc. As we continue to learn about diversity, culture, perspectives, equity, isms, micro aggressions, and overall equality to all human beings in our society, my eyes continue to be opened to instances I had not considered previously and to my own views and biases in that regard. While I have always considered myself to be open, tolerant, and accepting - overall bias-free - I, along with some of my colleagues, have been shocked and saddened to discover that I have committed micro aggressions against individuals due to some type of ism….unconsciously, unintentionally, and without aiming to hurt or harm. I was heartbroken when analyzing my own life and experiences and realizing I have not lived free of bias as I had always thought prior to this course; however, I am taking this as motivation to go down this extremely daunting and challenging road to becoming an anti-bias educator.
That being said, this week for our blog assignment we needed to revisit and analyze an example of an incident in which I, or someone I know, experienced bias, prejudice, or oppression and describe the scenario for discussion and analysis. While learning about these ideas, I have been relating to one specific ism and specific encounter(s) or experience(s) in regard to this ism lately….that being sexism and being sexually objectified as well as mistreated and disrespected by a male parent of one of my student's from my class. However, I would like to turn the tides for this specific example this week as that prior example was more intentional. For the example this week I refer to an act of micro aggression, which was unintentional yet continuous in my experiences. Again this example could be considered sexism in some way, shape, or form but it took place with friends and was an unconscious and unintentional blight committed with me being the recipient.
Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy. I always played sports, especially softball, and was surrounded by sports my whole life - either watching, talking about, or playing at home, school, on a team, or with friends and family. By the time I had reached high school, I was at an age where (as most teenage girls) I began to have "crushes" on boys. Being a tomboy and interested in sports and attempting to avoid the drama, I had several male friends, as well as female friends. It was awesome because I always felt comfortable since I knew and loved sports so we always had that in common to talk about. They respected me for this and for some this was the basis of our friendship. However, the comments made in passing were frustrating at times and completely harsh on my sensitive self-identity and self-perception. While my guy friends had the best of intentions, they had no idea what they were saying was being perceived by me as hurtful and frustrating. They would say things like "You know so much about this for a girl" or "It's so nice to hang out because you're like one of the guys". Both comments were equally frustrating and upsetting as the first felt like a punch to the guy - just because I am a girl means that I can't play, like, or know sports? That felt so WRONG! The second was just as difficult to hear because yes…I AM A GIRL… and yes… I LIKE you. Due to the second comment, a follow up sometimes occurred - "But you're like a little sister to me, I could never see you like that so it's best we just stay friends." All of the aforementioned comments, as I stated, are unintentionally harmful to a teenage girl's self-esteem, self-identity, and more. During such instances I remember feeling low, feeling like I did not have the respect I wanted or deserved, feeling like it shouldn't be one extreme of a guy abusing his rights with you because you're a female or the other extreme of not being considered a female just because you participate in what used to be considered a "predominantly male activity".
I think that such instances, while innocent and unintentional in nature, are detrimental and can take away from the equity of women versus men in our society. It is not fair to portray certain things for men to do but not for women - this goes against equity or providing opportunities for ALL human beings, regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, culture, identity, sexual orientation, etc. Even though my male friends are wonderful and had the best of intentions and would be the first in line to "handle" any person who "gave me a hard time" or "hurt me" in ANY way, they could not wrap their heads around what they themselves had done with just a few words in passing conversation. In order for things like this to stop perpetuating on the small scale like this or on an even larger scale like my previous examples last week with sexism, our society and our society's expectations MUST change. We have come so far through the years and I think we still have a great many battles to overcome in order to have a truly just society. However, I do strongly believe we can get there, whether it be 5 months, 5 years, 500 years from now, I do believe it will happen….eventually. :)
Until next time...
That being said, this week for our blog assignment we needed to revisit and analyze an example of an incident in which I, or someone I know, experienced bias, prejudice, or oppression and describe the scenario for discussion and analysis. While learning about these ideas, I have been relating to one specific ism and specific encounter(s) or experience(s) in regard to this ism lately….that being sexism and being sexually objectified as well as mistreated and disrespected by a male parent of one of my student's from my class. However, I would like to turn the tides for this specific example this week as that prior example was more intentional. For the example this week I refer to an act of micro aggression, which was unintentional yet continuous in my experiences. Again this example could be considered sexism in some way, shape, or form but it took place with friends and was an unconscious and unintentional blight committed with me being the recipient.
Growing up, I was a bit of a tomboy. I always played sports, especially softball, and was surrounded by sports my whole life - either watching, talking about, or playing at home, school, on a team, or with friends and family. By the time I had reached high school, I was at an age where (as most teenage girls) I began to have "crushes" on boys. Being a tomboy and interested in sports and attempting to avoid the drama, I had several male friends, as well as female friends. It was awesome because I always felt comfortable since I knew and loved sports so we always had that in common to talk about. They respected me for this and for some this was the basis of our friendship. However, the comments made in passing were frustrating at times and completely harsh on my sensitive self-identity and self-perception. While my guy friends had the best of intentions, they had no idea what they were saying was being perceived by me as hurtful and frustrating. They would say things like "You know so much about this for a girl" or "It's so nice to hang out because you're like one of the guys". Both comments were equally frustrating and upsetting as the first felt like a punch to the guy - just because I am a girl means that I can't play, like, or know sports? That felt so WRONG! The second was just as difficult to hear because yes…I AM A GIRL… and yes… I LIKE you. Due to the second comment, a follow up sometimes occurred - "But you're like a little sister to me, I could never see you like that so it's best we just stay friends." All of the aforementioned comments, as I stated, are unintentionally harmful to a teenage girl's self-esteem, self-identity, and more. During such instances I remember feeling low, feeling like I did not have the respect I wanted or deserved, feeling like it shouldn't be one extreme of a guy abusing his rights with you because you're a female or the other extreme of not being considered a female just because you participate in what used to be considered a "predominantly male activity".
I think that such instances, while innocent and unintentional in nature, are detrimental and can take away from the equity of women versus men in our society. It is not fair to portray certain things for men to do but not for women - this goes against equity or providing opportunities for ALL human beings, regardless of age, race, gender, ethnicity, culture, identity, sexual orientation, etc. Even though my male friends are wonderful and had the best of intentions and would be the first in line to "handle" any person who "gave me a hard time" or "hurt me" in ANY way, they could not wrap their heads around what they themselves had done with just a few words in passing conversation. In order for things like this to stop perpetuating on the small scale like this or on an even larger scale like my previous examples last week with sexism, our society and our society's expectations MUST change. We have come so far through the years and I think we still have a great many battles to overcome in order to have a truly just society. However, I do strongly believe we can get there, whether it be 5 months, 5 years, 500 years from now, I do believe it will happen….eventually. :)
Until next time...
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