Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Microaggressions happen to people everyday regardless if there intentional or unintentional.  When communicating with other's we need to be aware of and sensitive to other's feelings and background.  Recently I witnessed a microaggression occur between a husband and wife.  My husband and I were invited over to another couple's house for dinner with other couples.  Before dinner the couple who was hosting the dinner was showing us a room they recently painted.  Knowing the wife painted the room herself, a comment was made by one of the other couples stating "You did a nice job painting this room."  The husband replied. "Yeah it turned out pretty good, considering a girl did it."  This is an example of a microaggression against a girl because of her gender.  Although it was a harmless comment made by her husband, it still suggested that a woman is inferior to a man when it comes to painting.  Normally I would take this type of comment simply as a bad joke however, after learning about microaggressions I recognize this situation as such.

Things that I noticed this week when looking for microaggressions, was that there seemed to be a lot of settle occurrences.  All of the microaggressions that I noticed were based on typical stereotypes that many people have.  Many of these times I would not have noticed, but when simply looking for them it was obvious.  While people are not intentionally trying to hurt other's feelings, it is important that we all think about consequences of our comments. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Learning what others definition regarding diversity and culture was interesting and inspiring.  When asking my brother in law who is Hispanic he mentioned that culture relates to your ethnicity, traditions, and values.  To him diversity is the differences that lies among us.  My friend who is married to someone of a difference race said that culture is basically who you are and how you relate to your traditions, beliefs, and family.  She said that diversity is the difference between people and the way they think or act about certain issues.  My co-worker stated that culture is all the the things that make you who you are and the decisions you make.  She said diversity consists of the difference between different ethnic groups.

Many of the things these people used to define culture and diversity relates to what we have been learning about in this course.  I have heard many times that culture is what makes us who we are.  I have also learned that ethnicity, traditions, values, family, beliefs are also related to culture.  Everybody touched on pieces on diversity which include the differences between one another.

Overall, they gave brief explanations regarding culture and diversity.  They only touched the surface with regards to the both of these topics. While they noticed the obvious characteristics of culture and diversity they didn't mention the more subtle aspects of culture and diversity such as the differences of opinions and the differences in interests. 

This assignment made me realize that many people view culture and diversity in very basic terms without having a deeper knowledge of what culture encompasses.  It is important to understand not only what culture and diversity is, but what it means to you. 

My Family Culture

When you going through a catastrophic event the most important thing to me would be family.  As long as I had my family I know that everything else would fall into place eventually.  If I were to be moved to an unknown country the three items in addition to my family and change of clothes would be my Bible, family album, and my family cookbook.  I would share with others that my faith and my relationship with God is my first priority in life.  My Bible is one of my most valued possessions that I hold dearly.  I live my life through my Bible and I reference it often to help get through difficult times.   The second item I would take is an album with family pictures.  This album represents my family and the history where I come from.  My family is a big part of who I am and feel truly blessed.  The third item I would take is my family cookbook.  This cookbook is filled with recipes from my great grandmother, grandmother, mother, aunts, and cousins.  These recipes are staples at every family gathering and is something that I would like to continue using to represent my family culture. 

If I was told that I could only keep one item, I would choose to keep my Bible.  As difficult as it would be, my faith is my foundation and with that, I could lean on God to face any struggle and begin to build a new life for myself and my family. 

As culture is important, and would hate to loose many of things that make me who I am, I also realize that my culture and my values are instilled in me and would go with me wherever I went. 

When I think of research...

My view of research has changed quite a bit during this course.  While I always knew that there were a lot of things to consider when doing research, I am now aware of how intricate of a process completing research is.  It is not as simple as coming up with a question and trying to find the answer.  The question has to be written clearly and in a way that allows the research to lead to an answer that can be understood clearly.  I also learned that there are different processes and methods that can be used to complete the research.  Many things like researchers bias, ethics, data collection and analysis, and issues with participants all need to be considered when completing the research.  Any mistake in any of these areas or in the research design could lead to invalid data, in turn, wasting the time and effort of the researcher.  As an early childhood educator, my view on research has been enhanced when considering the effects the research can have on children.  Not only can research provide children and professionals with information that can improve the development of children, but we also need to consider the impact that allowing children to participate in the research project could have on the child.  Children are often an essential piece of the research design when completing research to help children.  We need to make sure that their best interest is always in mind when completing the research.

A big thanks to all my colleagues for sharing their views and insights throughout this course.  I wish you the best with your upcoming classes.

Research Around the World

I chose to review the Early Childhood Australia website (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/).  This site offered a vast amount of information regarding early childhoold.  One of the research topics mentioned on this website was Everyday learning about responding to the emotional needs of children, Respecting diversity: Articulating early childhood practice, Learning and teaching through play, Children's resislience: Working with the early years learning framework. 

In the early childhood news it mentions a media release regarding "How does your state rate?"  This is a new report regarding the progress that each state is making towards the National reforms of the early childhood education and sector.  It mentions that changes have been made and their will continue to be changes in the future.  It also mentions that new standards have been placed and will continue to be implemented.  I find this information insightful as here in the United States early childhood is evolving and is in the process of setting higher standards as they are in Australia.  As early childhood is an ever changing field it is important that we continue to set new standards and ensure their implementation. 

I found the link "Socially and Emotional as a basis for curriculum" in the Every Child magazine to be noteworthy.  This link discusses why should social and emotional learning be the basis for curriculum and how do we teach social and emotional skills.  It mentions the importance of relationships to learning and making meaningful relationships with each child so they feel safe and valued.  The link http://www.kidsmatter.edu.au/ was offered as a resource to provide additional information on this topic. 

Research that Impacts Children and Families

When looking into the early childhood field, there is endless research and studies being conducted.  Many of these studies have made an impact or will make an impact on a child or family in some way.  No matter how big or small the impact was, it made a difference in a person's life.  If I had the means and knowledge to conduct a research study, I would choose to research the effects of parent involvement on children's school readiness skills.  I feel that the effects of this study would make a positive contribution to the well-being of children and families.  As parent's are a child's first and most important teacher, we need to give families the tools and knowledge to help their child become successful.  Most importantly we need to find ways to involve families in their child's education.  As early intervention is also key to a child's success, the earlier in a child's educational process parent involvement begins, the more powerful the effects. 

The positive outcomes from this study would show:

Higher grades, test scores, and graduation rates
Better school attendance
Decreased use of drugs and alcohol
Better self-esteem

As the lack of parental involvement is the biggest problems facing public schools, we need to give parents the tools necessary to help their child be successful.  In doing so, we will have positive outcomes that will make a major impact in a child's life. 

Your Personal Research Journey

I chose to research ways to promote healthy social emotional development in young children.  I chose this topic for my simulation as this is one of key factors when looking at the social emotional development of a young child.  Social emotional development is a personal interest to me as I am involved with this issue on a daily basis in my current position.  In order for a child to be succesful, we need to be aware of their social-emotional needs and address them.  As there are many factors when looking at the topic of social-emotional development, I feel forunate to have the opportunity to research and learn more on this topic.

When completing the simulation process, I found that narrowing my research to one chosen topic beneficial as it was easier to find more specific information.  This allowed me to direct my research more specifically.  I was able to understand how to use the literature review and how it can be very beneficial to research.  This process helped me direct my reading and to find the imporant information from within the reseach report. 

Completing the research chart was very beneficial as it guided me through the research process.  As many of these terms and strategies are new to me, looking deeper and defining these terms gave me better understanding of research and how to conduct it.  Many of the articles in the learning resources of this course have given me a wider range of strategies and ideas to help in my research process.

When looking at the topic on social emotional development, are there any resources or experiences you can share with me to give me a different perspective on this area?

Resources to share:

Baggett, K. (2009, November). Technologies for Expanding the Reach of Evidence-Based Interventions:  Preliminary Results for Promoting Social-Emotional Development in Early Childhood Retrieved from Walden Library http://tec.sagepub.com.ezp.waldenulibrary.org/content/29/4/226.full.pdf+html