Final Farewell!! the Journey continues..............

Throughout this course, I have learned that it takes more than teaching curriculum to children.  There is so much that educators have to commit to children and their families.  The one hope that I have pertaining to diverse backgrounds is to always remain humble and respectful of cultural differences.  As an educator, I hope to find ways to implement an environment that embrace and honor life experiences and culture of children.

 One goal that I would like to set for early childhood related to diversity, equity and social justice is to continue establishing positive relationships with families and teach children about self-identity.  Self identity is important because children show signs of being influenced by societal norms and biases early on. 

To all of my colleagues and Dr. Ferrari especially, who have shared ample information that has helped me along the way, I want to say thank you for all the sources you have shared.  There is so much that I have learned from you about what to expect, since I have not yet to teach in any classrooms or be director of a center yet.  Your life experiences have become my second foundation of knowledge for operating child care, teaching, and caring for children.  I always state that I have a long way to go, simply because many of my colleagues have experience in the field.  Once I get that experience, I hope to be successful just as many of you are!  Thanks so much for giving advice and comments on discussion boards and blogs and I hope we can continue to strengthen each other along the way!

P.S  sorry so short, but my daughter fell on my computer screen and cracked about an hour ago, so I had to go find someone's computer to borrow so that I could complete my assignment.  so guys, just imagine what type of night I've had. 

Creating Art

Bias Discomforts and Trauma

We have been privileged this week, to express about what has impacted our lives about bias, discomfort, and trauma within early childhood years. Also, what I have learned about anti-bias work, yourself, and others.  We were instructed to express this with art or media.  My picture solely defines the cries children may want to say but are not able to say because they don't know how.  As you can see within the collage, it expresses that children can very well be victims of prejudices, along with childhood trauma in the form of neglect, abuse, poverty, incarceration, and much more.  We have learned that the effects can be tremendous, leading to poor social skills and low self-esteem, substance abuse and hate relationships, but also on the flip side, the hard work of anti-bias education can help children understand their true purpose in life, and develop the skills needed to accomplish goals in life. 

Also, I have attached a sample song to express what or how children may feel after childhood trauma.
The words in the song are very relative, and when I heard the song, it was touching to my soul.  There are so many innocent  children who are traumatized  from arrays of aspects and we often do not know exactly how they feel, until we have walked in their shoes.

Anti-Bias Exercise

I have a five year old little brother, and he is full of life, adventure, and much more.  I actually remember a time when my little brother was hanging out with me and we were out and about doing some shopping.  We all know that kids notice everything and pay attention to some things more than adults do. My brother noticed many different people while we were out and about and he did not say anything about what he considered “different” to him until he seen a man that he considered “fat”, and he said, “What that fat man doing in the kid’s store?”  I immediately had to correct him, and told him to be quiet, because he was rather loud when he made his statement.  After he said what he said, I got down on one knee so that I was eye level with him, and I told him that it was not nice to speak that way about no one, regardless if they are different from how he and I look.  I had to explain to him that people are allowed to be different and it does not make them a bad person just because they are different. At the present moment when I made my statement, the looks on his face let me know that he felt like he had done something wrong and that he felt remorse for what he had done.  The messages that he may have gotten were to not say hurtful comments about people and that it is acceptable for people to be different from his appearance.  From an anti-bias educator’s perspective, may have gone a little smoother.  The educator may have asked the child to explain why he feels the way he does and does it benefit him or the person he was talking about in any way?  The educator may have also expressed the importance of respecting each individual for who they are as a person and not based upon what they look like.

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

This week we have solely been focusing on identity development, cultural influence and how family bias may have illustrated as the correct way to be in childhood.  We have also spent time on discussing sexual orientation and how we feel about this subject.  We were asked choose topics to discuss related to our resources this week and I chose to discuss my response to a parent or family member who stated that they would not want a homosexual or transgender to care for their child or interacting with their child.  I really had to do some thinking on this matter because it is my job to respect the wishes of parents and make them as comfortable as possible in the environment, but it is also my job to not be bias toward any other staff or colleagues that I partner with.  In this situation, having a productive one on one conversation to discuss reasons why he or she feels that way is my first step.  I would then discuss the goal of the learning community and express that sexual orientation has nothing to do with how well you teach, care for, and interact with children.  I would respect everything that is discussed but could not make promises as to who the child’s teacher would be.  The ultimate goal for our children is to provide a productive, progressive and healthy development for advancement in education and life.                                                     

I have not witnessed terms such as “fag”, “lesbo”, “sissy”, etc in my childhood years, but I heard them greatly in my high school days.  Where I am from and during that time, homosexuality was rising to the charts in the schools and other peers would definitely reveal biases toward these individuals.  I had friends who were homosexuals and I did not feel uncomfortable around them because I never publicly saw them do anything disrespectful to others.  They just dressed different from others or walked different from others.  I have even heard teachers in the classrooms make comments such as these.  These comments can definitely make children think that homosexuals can be harmful and it could make them curious to what it is being a “fag” “lesbo” “sissy”, etc. It hurts their view on people in general and teaches them that it is fine using that type of terminology. 

IT DOES NOT STOP HERE!!

Well, to my fellow classmates, this is a farewell of love and appreciation from the depths of my heart for the feedback, support, comments, suggestions, and much more that we all have shared together.  I remember feeling so scared to speak much during classroom discussions because I was too afraid that I would sound silly.  This was difficult for me to get use to because I felt like I did not fit in with everyone else.  During introduction,  I was merely the only one in class with NNNOOOOO childhood experience ever.  Biology major, tutored students here and there in undergrad, but not lengthy enough for credit.  i could not relate to what everyone else could and I almost threw in the towel!!  I am so thankful that I found my backbone and decided to keep moving forward with this program!  I have learned so much from all of you that will never depreciate in value.  Thanks for everything and I hope that all of you remain faithful in your studies!  Hope to share another course with you all!  Be blessed.

The five stages of development definitely are constructive for team effort of an ultimate goal.  We as people sometimes do not realize the importance of teamwork and how much easier it is to reach the ultimate goal.  In Abudi’s article, she states that in order to identify whether a team is effective, characteristics included are:

 •Clear communication among all members.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Regular brainstorming session with all members participating.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Consensus among team members.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Problem solving done by the group.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Commitment to the project and the other team members.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Regular team meetings are effective and inclusive.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Timely hand off from team members to others to ensure the project keeps moving in the right direction.  (Abudi, 2010)

 •Positive, supportive working relationships among all team members. (Abudi, 2010)

To elaborate a little on the adjourning stage, I can say that there are not many groups or teams that I have been a part of that made it difficult for me to say good-bye.  I guess because majority times that I was a part of a team, it was not enough team effort put forth for effectiveness.  It usually would be team members who would try to put their tasks on others or not support each other.  In my senior year of college, I would have to say that it was hard for me to say good-bye to my cheer sisters.  We definitely experienced the five stages of team development.  We built very strong friendships and trusted each other to get things done, no matter what we had to do to get it done.  We took responsibility (as a team) for everything that was done wrong as well as right and never criticized or pointed fingers about mistakes.  We supported each without a doubt and was respectful when expressed opinions and concerns.  Being a part of this team was one of the truest experiences ever and I will never forget the hard work and commitment that we put into whatever task at hand.  We definitely were a high performance group and it was very hard to say goodbye.  We agreed to keep in touch and network with each other past our college career.  This experience that I have played such a huge part as being a student of this master’s program has been overwhelming at times but great as well because I have met such great people along the way.  From the instructors to my colleagues, I cannot express the gratitude for all the important information exchanged and ideas and thoughts that has been shared with me.  We all work together with the same focus and it makes our relationships special.  For a person who has little experience in the field of early childhood, I appreciate the understanding and respect that we have for each other. It would be hard for me to adjourn because we notice what we have in common with each other and have built this great relationship and have to move on with our lives.  Adjourning is an essential stage of development because it is the moment to celebrate all accomplishments and commend everyone on a job well done and to express personal conclusion.  I have enjoyed my colleagues thus far and am now readily prepared for our separation in the near future.         

References

Abudi, G. (2010). The five stages of team development: A case study. Retrieved from http://www.projectsmart.co.uk/the-five-stages-of-team-development-a-case-study.html

Conflict Resolution
 
I have definitely experienced conflict lately at work with my supervisor for the fact that she often abuses her position of authority.  The strategies that I am going to share are empathy and mediation.  I would definitely use the empathy skill because she does not actively listen.  She normally just hears what she wants to hear and says things that are hurtful.  I would use mediation because she does not realize her wrong until the middle person points the middle finger at her.  Mediation would definitely open her eyes to problems and hopefully will give her a reason to reevaluate what she does and how she treats people.  I could definitely use principles on nonviolent communication because it would remind me of the mutual respect we should have for each other.

Perception and Communication

During this week’s assignment, I have realized the importance of perception and how it affects communication.   Everybody perceives things differently and that does not mean that one person is right and the other is wrong.  It also does not mean that communication between individuals who have different perspectives require more understanding, negation, persuasion, and tolerance of those differences. 

In completion of the assessments, there were more similarities than differences when comparing all three.  It was similarity in the fact that I can become slightly more interested in communication and that I am empathetic when I listen to others.  I was surprised the most about being slightly aggressive with others, because I rarely get into altercations with others or become negative.   Sometimes I will make corrections when I know something is not done correctly by others, but I do not feel that I express them in a negative fashion. 

The insights that I gained about communication this week is that perception can come from how we grew up, and the likes and dislikes that we experience within our lives.  Once we decide upon our views of life, I understand that people are influenced by their life positions, in how they think, feel, act, perceive, communicate and relate to others.  I have learned to listen attentively and to repeat exactly what the other person is saying.  I have learned to be more aware of nonverbal body language as well.  All of these insights can definitely help me professionally because it helps with the development of interpersonal communication within the working environment, it helps to establish openness within a professional environment, and it helps to explore perceptions of one another as a way to have more goals and objectives for communication. 

Now that I think about, I definitely communicate differently with people of different groups.  The people that I interact with on almost a daily basis include co-workers, young children, slightly mentally challenged adults, Muslims, people who are in same-sex relationships and the male gender as well.  Of course we all know that communication is needed to advance in life and build effective social skills for survival.  The way that I communicate with others depends on where we are, the age range, and social status.  When around my co-workers, I communicate freely in any form or fashion because I work strictly around other women who relate to many things as I.  We talk relationships and love, and we also talk about our children and roles as mothers.  I feel the most comfortable communicating and interacting with them because we have plenty in common.  When I interact with young children, including my daughter, I have to communicate in words and ways that they should understand and be the authoritarian as well.  Communicating with children is definitely fun and eventful because I always try to do and say things that teach them fundamentals for school.  Age appropriate communication is how I communicate with them.  Every weekend I am around someone who is slightly mentally challenged and I communicate with her depending on how she is feeling.  She has mood swings constantly and I have to filter the things I say and be sure to give her the attention she thinks she deserves.  We have conversations about my child and how she wants to get her driver’s license.  I have to communicate with her on teenager’s level in order for her to relate and understand what is spoken.  When it comes to interacting with people of the Muslim religion, I do not converse much, because I feel uncomfortable talking.  From experience, whatever I speak about around them strikes insensible feelings because they seem to correct the lives of others.  I personally respect them, but I rarely hold conversations so that I stay optimistic and eager about life.  I interact with people with same-sex relationships often and I feel comfortable around them because they tend to be “down to earth” people and are the honest people I have met thus far.  They speak what is on their mind and are not afraid/ashamed of who they are.  I normally have relaxed communication with them because we joke around and use slang.  With the male gender, I usually communicate with them in uptight surroundings because they tend to be bias toward gender.  There are few things that I communicate with males because we lack similarity roles in everyday life.  If I communicate with males it is usually about work or business.  This assignment has opened my eyes to the multiplicity of communication skills that I partake daily.  I value the relationships that I am a part of and am more aware of the effective communication skills that I use on a daily basis.

Communication Skills: Language, Nonverbal, Listening

I watched an episode of Sex and the City and the relationships I noticed were up close and personal relationships with couples in the show. I assume that these characters were either married or dating.   Holding hands, kissing, hugging, smiling, frowning, crying and looks of confusion are body gestures that I observed throughout the show.  I assumed that maybe the couples were having deep conversation about their relationship.  I observed facial expressions and body gestures that appeared to be results from an argument or altercation, or even receiving bad news of some sort.  When I watched the show with the sound on, I hear conversations of married couples involving fantasies to make the men happy.  As a result, some of the women agreed and a couple of the women were upset about it.  After listening, I clearly understood why I observed smiling and hugging from some and crying and frowning from others.  I would not have ever guessed that “fantasies” was the topic of discussion of the show based on nonverbal communication.  What I learned from this experience is that nonverbal communication can be deceiving.  As I witnessed in the show, you can receive a hug and a smile from someone, but speak words such as “I will kill you and that’s a promise”, which is very contradictive.