Professional Hopes and Goals

            When I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds, I hope that I will be able to communicate with them more in order to understand their individual needs and to avoid any misunderstandings. 

            A goal I would like to set for the early childhood field would be to engage all early childhood professionals in advocating for diversity, equity, and social justice.  I believe that the best educators teach children to become good community members; and to do that, they must teach children respect diversity by encouraging equity and social justice.

            I would like to thank all my colleagues for the great discussions that we have had during this course.  Their comments gave me new insight about the early childhood field and encouraged me to become more engaged in the field. 

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The country I chose for “my” family is Malaysia.  In order to be culturally responsive towards this family, I would first learn to say a few greeting words in Malaysian.  I would also learn a few things about the Malaysian culture, such as the dominant religion, values and traditions.  Learning about national holidays and displaying photos in the classroom would also allow the children to feel more confortable.  I would also learn about family structures in Malaysia in order to prevent misunderstandings while meeting the family, I would not want to offend any family members.  Learning about education in Malaysia would also help me better understand this family’s expectations.

These preparations will give me some knowledge about what to expect from this family and will promote a successful first meeting with them.  However, I believe that the best way to get to know the family is to listen to their individual needs and expectations for their children; and to discuss ways they would want me to help their children be successful at school.  The most important thing is not to keep any stereotypes or biases in mind while meeting the family and their children to prevent microaggressions.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

            I experienced prejudice during the first few months of high school in France.  The teachers knew I was previously in a school in Saudi Arabia so they assumed that I was not fluent in French.  They always talked to me in simple words even though I always assured them that I understood what they meant.  That made me feel terrible especially as a teenager in high school; I felt intellectually inferior and that I always had to prove to the teachers that I was capable of completing assignments.  I felt that equity was diminished because I was not treated according to my individual needs; the teachers could not put their prejudice aside in order to take my personal needs into consideration. 

            In order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity; I think teachers would have to change by listen to their students more carefully.  I would have probably felt more confident if my teachers put their prejudices aside and listened to what I needed from them.  I believe that teachers need to pay attention to each one of their students’ individual needs in order to achieve equity.  Each student is unique and comes from a different background and culture; therefore each student has individual needs in order to succeed academically. 

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One microaggression that happened recently was in my classroom with the students.  A group of boys were playing with animals and a girl came and tried to start playing with them.  One of the boys told her she couldn’t play because she wouldn’t understand what game they were playing.  She felt that because she was a girl she didn’t know how to play the “right” way.  I explained to the children that there was no right or wrong way of playing, that we could all play in our own way. 

Microaggressions happen very often to many people; however, they usually avoid talking about them because they involve friends or colleagues.  People practice discrimination, prejudice and stereotypes regularly without noticing because of their biases.  This week’s observations have affected me because I am more aware of the negative effects of microaggressions.  I am motivated to pay more attention to what I say in order not to hurt anyone's feelings; I am also motivated to teach my students to pay more attention to their friends' feelings and to be careful not to hurt them with words.  Children need to learn to put their biases aside while talking to their friends.  This can be done by teaching the children about each other's differences and how these differences can become benefits.