Professional hopes and goals

• One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds (any format and any length)

One hope that i have for working with children and family that come from diverse backgrounds is being able to be a comfort to them and someone who is able to talk to them and for them to come to me about anything that they may not understand.  I want to be someone that diverse families aren't afraid of and regardless of us being different from one another I want them to know that I am always here and willing to listen, learn and teach without judgment.

• One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to always be open and honest and offer my own opinion and actively set goals to create change and help in those areas.  Always being a positive role model for growth and influencing my peers in positive ways when it comes to the subjects. 

I want to say thank you to all of my colleagues for sharing their different ideas and opinions over the course, I really do appreciate all that i have learned from each of you on this journey and I hope that you all continue to grow and learn with your studies and your time here at Walden! Best of luck to you all!

Welcoming families from around the world...

I just got word that there will be a new student arriving and being placed in my school age classroom. She is from Germany her an her family,  German is her native language but she knows some english and her and her family have only been in the united states for a month now, so she does not know much about america.

There are a few ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the child and the family:

1.) First I will be sure to be open and listen to the family and ask questions I may have being careful to rid myself of my own biases I may have.

2.) Learn the family dynamics and respect that within the family and incorporate it in how I deal with the family.

3.) Instill in the child to always stay true to their native culture all while learning a new one, making them feel comfortable with both.

4.) Offer advice care and attention to specific things that may not be familiar to the family and child.

5.) Learn as much as I can about the culture so that I myslelf am educated and going the extra mile to welcome a new family and culture into a new environment.

With these preparations, this will be a great start to learning from the family also making them feel a lot more comfortable and hopefully being able to trust and confide in me.  I want them to be able to come to me and not be afraid to ask me anything or talk to me about problems they may need help with.  I could learn a lot from them, and about a whole new culture and they could gain so much knowledge from me on my own culture and the united states as a whole.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

One memory of prejudice that I remember distincly was when  I was in high school.  My brother got into an argument with a fellow classmate outside of the classroom and I was in a group with my friends and I could see him arguing with this boy who is Caucasian and I just remember hearing the boy call my brother the "N" Word. that stuck out to me so heavily.  I ran over because I knew my brother was about to get violent after that and I remember him hitting the boy once and I was able to grab him altough he was quite stronger than me,  I grabbed him because I did not want him to end up suspended or expelled. After explaining the situation to the principal because security still came because of all the comotion and noise from all the kids screaming and wanting to see a fight, both of them were suspended.  My brother was suspended for hitting the boy and the boy was suspended for saying the "N" word.  That situation was very scary to me to witness because I didn't know how it would play out especially to someone so close to me. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

I feel like in the situation, equity was diminished because of how they both were punished the same, I personally feel like the boy should have had a harsher punishment than my brother, because words hurt a whole lot more than being physical. The word that was used in this situation was like daggers and caught a lot of people off guard which caused retaliation.  I am not saying my brothers actions were right, but being that disrespected is very much uncalled for. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

The incident brought of feelings of anger for me personally and once I saw my brothers reaction it made me sad because I knew he was hurt more than anything with the situation.  For a long time I was hurting for him and with him because my family means the world to me.  When my family is treated badly or in situations that are emotional and hurtful it affects me as if it were me.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

Both of the individuals in the situation could have made the situation a better opportunity for greater equity by being more mature and talking out instead of speaking in anger and saying hurtful words. It could have all turned out so differently, but in high school when I was going a lot of kids were not as mature as they should have been. Thank God for growth though.