Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

This week I was learning about microaggression. I really was looking around and concentrating hard throughout this week to detect an example of microagression. Today, I finally received an example, and it was from my little Kindergartners. In class this week we are learning about American symbols. In my class I also have a boy that was born and raised in America, but still does not have what would be considered “normal” English because of his second language and the accent that he has developed from this. I was having my students turn and talk to each other about American symbols and one other student in my class raised their hand and stated, “Why does he (the little boy in ESL) have to learn about American symbols when he doesn’t belong here anyways?” I was shocked by this and could not believe how blunt the statement was.  I explained to the class that the little boy does live here and was born here, he is just lucky enough to know two different languages. We talked about how hard it is to learn how to talk, and if they could imagine learning to talk in two different ways. We also discussed how it is not nice to single out other people like this and how they would feel if someone said that they did not belong. I feel my students understood more about being nice to others now and how we cannot make racial/ethnic remarks about others.

My observation of my experiences this week affected my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping by understanding that these ideas and personas start with young children. If young children are exposed and have an understanding of all different types of people and grow up knowing this as the norm, the ideas of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotyping could eventually vanish. I hope that one day, this concept could become a reality. 

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week I am diving into looking at different people’s definitions and ideas amour culture and diversity. I have found 3 people that have shared their views with me that are all culturally diverse from myself in either the areas of gender, race, class, religion, abilities, or age.

The first person I asked was my husband.
His definition of culture is – People that have a commonality in ethnicity or language.
His definition of diversity is – How people different from each other.

The second person I asked was a co-worker.
Her definition of culture is – People that have the same basis of language and writing system
Her definition of diversity is – what makes people unique

The third person I asked was one of my neighbors.
His definition of culture is – People that are located in a certain area with genetically similar traits.
His definition of diversity is – How individuals are unique and how people are categorized.

When looking at these answers and how different they were, they all had key points in them about what culture really is and how people view it. Culture to me contains so much. Culture is; a person’s beliefs, social forms, traits, religion, race, values, goals, traditions, attitudes, and language. Culture involves so much that it can be hard to find a short definition of what culture truly means. I feel that all of my three interviewees made a good attempt at defining culture, but I also feel that not all of them thought about all the different aspects that go into culture. I feel that for diversity, the people I interviewed has good definitions for that. I specifically liked the definition my co-worker gave. It is a definition that puts a focus on the positive of diversity instead of the negatives that can come with it. I feel that by interviewing these people about their definitions I now have a better understanding of how others view these two major concepts of our world. The influence these definitions have had on my own thinking about these topics is to look beyond the basics and into the details and to also turn these definitions that can be thought of as negative, into something with rejoice and with pride. 

My Family Culture

In my class at Walden University, we were given this scenario:

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.

The three items that I would take to represent my family culture are:

1.       My Wedding Rings. My engagement ring actually has a diamond that has been passed down in my husband’s family for generations. Usually every other generation receives the diamond and puts the diamond into a new setting to represent that individual. The diamond is from the 1800’s when my husband’s relatives found a diamond while hiking through Wales. It is important for my family because it represent my husband’s culture and us together as a family making a union and joining our two cultures together.

2.       To represent my mother’s side of culture, she is Italian and German, I would take my great-grandmother’s Christmas ornaments hand made by her in Italy when she was a girl. They are very special to me because of how beautiful they are and they are all made with Italian glass and a hobby that is/was popular in Italy.

3.       To represent my father’s culture, Slovak, I would take her recipes of food that she wrote out in the “old language”. My family always makes these dished on special occasions and they are important because culture is food, and food brings people together.

After that scenario now we had to imagine this:

Your feelings if, upon arrival, you were told that you could only keep one personal item and have to give up the other two items you brought with you

If I was told I could only keep one thing, I would keep my wedding rings. They mean so much to my husband’s side of the family, and so much to me to be accepted into his culture and family traditions. It also would show the culture and ideals of us joining different cultures together.

In general what I have gained from this exercise was truly thinking of things that support culture and how we show culture in our everyday lives. I also feel that today’s generation is such a mix of different cultures, that sometimes it is hard to represent your own culture or family culture with just 3 small things.

When I Think of Research....

The class “Building Research Competency” for Walden University has really challenged me on my knowledge about research in the early childhood field. I have truly gained an insight on how long research takes and how many parts can factors go into one research topic. This has changed my ideas and nature about doing research in the field because I now know that I would have to devote my whole self to research and not just try to complete research “part time”. It is hard to receive accurate results when  a person is not fully committed to the research by having the time to complete it entirely. I learn lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in the early childhood field by having to set up my own research simulation and think about each part of the process. I did meet challenges when setting up my research with making sure that the research I would conduct would be valid. Validity of research is so important and much thought needs to go into it to achieve success in a research situation. Perceptions of the early childhood profession have been modified for me as a result of the course by having more respect and understanding for the people that do conduct research throughout the field. I am glad to have taken this course to expand my understanding about research and how it applies to my life in the field of early childhood education. 

Research Around the World

This week I decided to research Australia’s education to see what the countries insight is on education and what the “hot topics” are on the other side of the world. The website that I visited that gave me my information was http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. This website is Australia’s equivalent to the United States NAEYC website.

When researching I found some current topics from their website. This included: prioritizing childhood care and the education outcomes in early childhood, early childhood and oral care, the importance of play in early childhood, and helping a child learn to focus more in a school setting. I found all of these topics fascinating and comparative to the States. I feel that the research that Australia and the States come up with surrounding these similar topics will be valuable for all the children in these countries.

I did find some surprising insights for me while I was researching around on the website. I think the biggest items that stuck out to me were the health concerns and ideas that surround the early childhood field. I was surprised to find out that in Australia most children brush their teeth after lunch and in school hours they have 15 minutes a day of “grooming” time. This would include washing their face, brushing teeth, brushing hair, etc. I found this odd only because I was not exposed to this during my schooling and the students in my class are still not exposed to it. I could see the benefits of this activity to help children understand the importance of personal hygiene and taking responsibility for their body. Another surprising aspect I found was that students in preschool and Kindergarten will still drink their mother’s breast milk for their drink during lunch. I just found this odd because I do not know anyone that provides breast milk for their child over the age of 3.

One last noteworthy information piece that I found on this website was also Australia’s code of ethics for the early childhood field. It is almost identical to the United States. Although we are so far away, our countries are really not that different.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

When looking a research there are many positives that come about. Positives are usually not focused on as negatives are. This week I would like to share a positive example of the effects of research that can affect a child. While I was taking my undergraduate classes at Ashland University a professor and some of his students began researching the lead consistency of Halloween toys that are usually given to children at parties such as classroom parties. These could be plastic buckets, spider rings, vampire teeth etc. They found that “Items like a witch candy bucket tested at 88,900 ppm; a treat basket with pumpkin ornament tested at 87,800 ppm, and fake “ugly” teeth tested at 65,200 ppm.” (2007). The acceptable levels of lead were 600 parts per million (ppm), or 99.97 percent lead-free. (2007). All of these items were recalled. I believe that this research was so important and helps many children not have contact with items that contained lead in them. Lead is so dangerous and can cause serious health problems. I also like this example because of how the research was conducted. They did not put any person in harm of the lead and used safe procedures. This research also helped change the ratio of how much lead can be in toys and the stricter evaluation process of imports coming to the United States. I am glad that this research took place before all the children received those toys. If you would like to read about these stories you can visit these sites:

http://www.ashland.edu/news/2012-01-09/alumni/ashland-university-professor-and-senator-brown-give-progress-report-safety-ha

http://www.cbsnews.com/2100-500172_162-3422364.html

Reference

2007. Ashland University Professor and Senator Brown Give Progress Report on Safety of Halloween Toys Sold in Ohio. http://www.ashland.edu/news/2012-01-09/alumni/ashland-university-professor-and-senator-brown-give-progress-report-safety-ha

My Personal Research Journey

During my next class at Walden University, I am to conduct a research project based on something in the field of early childhood and something that is passionate to myself. The topic I choose to research is in the genre of technology and early childhood education. The main thesis is to see if standardized tests that are technology based have different outcomes than the typical paper and pencil tests. The reason I am picking this topic is because of what schools in my state and the district where I teach are converting over to. I currently teach Kindergarten and in the first few weeks of school, the students were taking a computer based tests so that the district overall can see academically what the students know and what they still need to learn or deepen their knowledge in. So far in my research I have found more articles that have stated that the medium of the test does not matter. I have also found that tests taken on computers have more of an opportunity to provide application problems which will enhance accurate outcomes of student knowledge. I have also found that computer based tests have less stress for children than the typical paper and pencil tests. If anyone has any information about standardized testing in technology vs. testing in the most typical fashion, I would love to hear it! Here are three resources that I have found so far that interested me, and I hope they interest you. I hope the knowledge that I find can help improve my student’s success of the tests, as well as everyone else that reads about my upcoming research.

Kearns, L. (2011). High-stakes Standardized Testing and Marginalized Youth: An Examination of the Impact on Those Who Fail. Canadian Journal Of Education, 34(2), 112-130.

Miller, D. J., & Robertson, D. P. (2011). Educational benefits of using game consoles in a primary classroom: A randomized controlled trial. British Journal Of Educational Technology, 42(5), 850-864. doi:10.1111/j.1467-8535.2010.01114.x

Wilma C. M., R., Wouter M. P., S., Xenidou-Dervou, I., Stevenson, C. E., & Julian G., E. (2011). Computerized Dynamic Testing: A Study of the Potential of an Approach Using Sensor Technology. Journal Of Cognitive Education & Psychology, 10(2), 178-194. doi:10.1891/19458959.10.2.178