Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I can remember a time when I was the recipient of a microaggression. The comment made to me was “that was really very generous; you are not stingy with money at all”. The comment was made when we were collecting money for a group gift for a coworker that was leaving our school. I guess I must have given more than she thought I would have being Jewish.  I was a little shocked to hear her say that. She never made any stereotypical remarks before this incident. The hidden message to me was that Jews are all cheap.

The experience made me feel very uncomfortable and hurt. I felt that I was being stereotyped based on my religion as I have heard these type of comments before.  People do not necessarily mean to intentionally stereotype.  They are not trying to hurt feelings but these comments are very upsetting. This experience is not even close to how it must feel to be the victim of prejudice or discrimination but I did get a glimpse into the negative feelings about yourself when you are lumped into a category and stereotyped because of any one of a number of your social identities.

After learning about microagressions this week, I learned that we must be aware of what we say and how we say it. I am really now thinking differently about prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination. Little comments and slights are cumulative in nature and cause harm and damage to the recipient. We should not make anyone feel offended by our words or actions. There can be unintentional hidden messages behind every seemingly benign comment and compliment. As early childhood educators working everyday with children and families, it is our responsibility to ensure that we do not marginalize anyone.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I chose to interview four people on culture and diversity.

Culture is what you define yourself as. It is what naturally resonates with you. Diversity is the presence or representation of numerous and unique subjects or people. Diversity is group that defines itself in a certain way. Jonathan-age 22

Culture is something you are born with and what your parents are developing in you. It includes your language, beliefs, clothing, food and different components of what is taught to you by your family. Diversity is different groups of people who have their own religious beliefs and own identities. Marilyn-age 68

Culture is the way your local society reacts to different things- your neighborhood way of doing things. Diversity is different ethnic groups with different opinions. Michael-age 52

Culture is the way people function in everyday life. The way they dress and the food they eat. Diversity is various types of groups in one area. Hannah age 16

There were many aspects of culture and diversity that I have studiedin this course that are included in the answers I received.

Jonathan said that culture is how you define yourself and what resonates with you. The example comes to mind is our social identity. Our social identity is a part of our individual culture and it is very much how you define yourself and what resonates and is important to you. Diversity as being a group that defines itself in a certain way would be people that affiliate with a certain religion. People that speak the same language, people that live in the same country, state or town.

Marilyn mentions culture as what your parents are developing in you. This relates to what we have learned about culture coming from the relationships and connections with the people in your life. We learned that language, clothing and food are taught by your family. This entails your surface culture. I also like that she said your beliefs. This is looking at deep culture. She stated that different groups of people that share common religious beliefs and identities. This is definitely a part of what makes people diverse.

Michael talks about a neighborhood way of doing things and how groups of people react to things. This may relate to a culture of a community of people as they may be a part of a dominant culture. Diversity is stated as different ethnic groups and having different ethnic groups in one area. This means that a particular place is diverse. It could mean a neighborhood, a school setting, a work environment.

Hannah said that culture is the way people function in their everyday life. It is the way people function is culture. The way they dress and the food they eat. This is a part of surface culture. She states that diversity is various types of groups in one area. This is a part of diversity in a given area.

What was omitted?

This was an interesting exercise. What was omitted was looking at diversity on an individual basis. The four people that I interviewed looked at diversity in terms of groups of people. No one looked at diversity on an individual basis as each one of us is a unique person. No one talked about diversity in terms of family culture. Everyone looked at ethnicity. No one was able to look at the make-up of a family as being unique and diverse.

What have I learned?

I have learned that my understanding of culture and diversity has broadened. I was so interested in what everyone had to say on the topics. I find that I now have a whole new area of interest. The topics of culture and diversity are so much more interesting to me now. There is so much more to culture and diversity than people actually think about. It goes so much deeper than ethnicity, language and religion.

My Family Culture

If I had evacuate to a different country and I had to choose only three small items to take that represented my family culture, I would choose a family photo album, my Shabbat candle sticks and my mom’s box of index card recipes.

The photo album contains pictures that I have put together of my immediate family and pictures of both of my parents families. I would explain that each picture contains wonderful memories and wonderful stories that I have been told about generations of people in my family that I have never even met. I have had wonderful relationships with so many of these people and those that were part of my family culture. All of these people contribute to my story and my culture.

My Shabbat candlesticks are very important to me as they represent my Jewish religion. In my family culture we celebrate our Sabbath every Friday night. We may not light candles and go to temple every week but lighting candles on Shabbat will keep me in touch with my religion which is very much a part of my family culture.

The recipes have been handed down from my great grandmother. The recipes contain dishes that were prepared on all of the different Jewish holidays. There are also wonderful recipes that I just remember eating as a kid. My great grandmother made them, my grandmother and my mom. My mom just moved to Florida from NY and now we prepare these same dishes together. These recipes are very important to me as they are a link to my relatives and very much a part of my family culture.

I would feel very sad if I had to give up one of these items as they are all so important to me and each one has equal value in my eyes.  Each of these items contains memories and links to my family history, my family culture and my family uniqueness.

From doing this exercise, the insights that I gained about myself and my family culture is that I can see now that my religion is important to me. By taking with me the photos, the candlesticks and the recipes, I see what is really important and what I wish to preserve about my family, my culture and my diversity. I am also now beginning to feel what it must be like for a family that comes to a different country. It must be so scary and difficult to leave behind so much and try to start all over again trying to hold on to your home culture while assimilating into the new culture in order to survive. 

When I think of research

I think one of the most important insights for me came at the very beginning of this course as we learned how to efficiently read research. We learned the key areas to read in order to gain a complete understanding of the research study. It has already saved me so much time in reviewing articles and understanding. I can see that this new found skill will be invaluable as I continue on at Walden and for the rest of my career in the field of early childhood. I also now have an understanding of the types of research including both quantitative and qualitative. I now understand the process of conducting research from start to finish as I have learned all of the steps. I understand that conducting research is a great task but worth the undertaking. What has truly amazed me the most is that over the course of eight weeks we have been able to construct a research simulation.

My ideas about the nature of research have changed as I can now completely see what goes into research. Through this program, I have read numerous studies but I was not familiar with the complexities and steps necessary to conduct research. I have learned that there are steps that need to be carried out in order establish, design and conduct research. There is a specific method and approach that needs to be considered before and during any research study. I hope to now be a much better consumer of research. There are many complexities to research but it is well worth delving into and maybe someday expanded my own participation as a researcher.

I learned many lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in the early childhood field. I learned that all of these steps are important and need to be carefully thought out. A research study needs to be carefully planned, designed and conducted. There are so many factors to be taken into consideration and thought about prior to beginning and while implementing a study. When planning, designing and conducting research in the early childhood field there are many decisions and choices that need to be made to best meet the needs of your study and also the needs of your participants. Care needs to be taken in order to conduct ethical and equitable research while at the same time collect data that will yield valid information that will benefit the participants and the early childhood field.

I think my greatest challenge was the fear of research going into this course. I have read research but never attempted to understand and learn how to be a researcher. A challenge for me was grasping all of the new ideas and vocabulary of research. I now can think of research in a whole new way. I think that the research charts helped a lot. Through these assignments, we were able to review our textbook, review and define vocabulary, state and respond to an issue and answer a reflection question. I really feel that these assignments helped and I was able to use them throughout the course to assist with each research simulation. Now that we have compiled these charts, we will have them always at our fingertips for review.  Another challenge was narrowing down my topic into one very specific question. Dr Dartt was able to help me through this challenge. I read through one of the articles related to the topic I was interested in studying and I was able to find a key word and that key word helped me to narrow my question down to one manageable question to study.

I have learned that it is so important for early childhood professionals to keep doing research. I have an even greater respect for the hard work and dedication of professional that undertake research as research continues to add to an increasing body of knowledge that helps our field in so many ways.

I have learned that as early childhood professionals working in early childhood settings, we are conducting research with our children every day.

I have learned that we can never stop being consumers of research. Early childhood professionals need to continue to read the current research. Research from all fields related to early childhood will help to further the knowledge that those in the field are professionals. Early childhood is a very important field that needs to be continuously studied.

Research Around The World

The website that I chose to review is

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au

What are some of the current international research topics?

There are many current research topics on this website. One that caught my attention was research on asthma. I found this section under the subheading Learning Hub. Under that section was a drop down menu and it brought me to Educator Sources. The first research was titled “Asthma and Asthma Management”.  At this point, I was able to access the Asthma Australia website which provided further research and very informative information.

There is also a subheading for parents. This section is called “Parent Resources” with links to very informative research/information regard the health and wellbeing of children. This section included links to information on health and nutrition, physical activity and quick links for even more information.

There is a section called “Kids Matter”. In this section, I found information and research related to current issues in the social and emotional and mental health and wellbeing issues for young children and families. This is such a current topic in Early Childhood Education and an initiative being put into practice in Australia.

I found a whole section regarding flexibility of care for early childhood settings. One research topic being discussed was flexibility in service as far as hours of operation for preschools. This would include schools providing care exceeding eight hours and nighttime care to better serve children and families.

All of these topics are international topics. They are universal for the entire field of early childhood. These are not issues solely in Australia.

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

It was surprising to see how easy it was to manipulate this website. I learned that many of the same issues and concerns face children and families. I understand that the issues in early childhood are universal.

The idea of flexibility in care as far as really extended hours of operation is a new idea for me. I see that this type of care may very well be the next trend in early education. As this may help families gain access to the kind of quality care they really need for their children. I find this information surprising. I cannot imagine such care here where I live in Orlando, Florida.

The Kids Matter section of this website was very interesting and intriguing. I would be very interested to do further research into this area. There are so many children in our programs with varying abilities and special needs many of which are rooted in social emotional as well as in mental health.

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

This website uses evidence based research to advocate for children and families in Australia. I enjoyed going through the website and look forward to continue to use the valuable information.

I found it noteworthy that there was so much information for parents as well as early childhood professionals and people that care for young children. There is so much information on this website for practitioners, parents and anyone interested in the early childhood field.

I was very impressed with the Publications Section. There are so many opportunities to acquire information. There is so much to be gained that can be applied to classrooms and information for families. Very easily spotted was the topic discussion of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Early Childhood Australia’s vision is that every young child thrives and learns. Their work is guided by the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child). They see their role in achieving this vision is to be an effective advocate for young children and a champion for quality outcomes in early childhood education and care.

Reference:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au

Research that Benefits Children and Families

If I possessed the means and knowledge to conduct research studies about any topic in the early childhood field and I was not restricted by the reality of the present. I would choose the topic of physical activity in early education. I feel that this study would make a major positive contribution to the well-being of children and their families.

By studying the amount of physical activity of children, I would hope to be some part of improving the lives of children and families. I would want to research how increased physical activity could lower the likelihood of childhood obesity. I would ask the question, does physical activity have an impact on children’s increased attention span in school? I see how physical activity helps the children in my own classroom. If my children are given the opportunity for free uninterrupted movement on the playground, they are better able to engage in structured in the classroom learning. I also notice that in circle time, if my children are given the opportunity for movement, they are better able to engage in stories and learning. The findings could contribute to a body of research and have a positive effect on policy makers and practitioner’s decisions to cut play time and recess time out of the daily schedule in early childhood settings. Families would benefit from this research as they would see the need to limit the amount of screen time and get their children moving. I would conduct my research guided by explicit ethics guidelines and hope to be an example of high quality research that benefit children and families. 

My Personal Research Journey

The topic that I have chosen to research for my simulation is the development of self-regulation in 3 and 4 year olds by use of scaffolding. The title of this research is improved preschool social and emotional development by use of scaffolding. I chose this topic because I am very interested in this topic. I know that I will enjoy delving into the subject. In my classroom of 3 and 4 year olds, I am helping to scaffold skills in all domains but the social and emotional domain is what I am the most interested in as I feel that there must be a strong foundation for children to succeed as they continue their educational journey and in life.

My personal experience with this simulation process that it has been a real challenge as research to this degree is something brand new to me. I look forward to becoming a better consumer of research and learning how to do research. I am sure that as the weeks in this course progress, my comfort level with this process will continue to grow.

The insights that I have gained so far from constructing the research chart is that it is designed to help us hone in on and have in one place important information from each chapter of our text book. I read the text and highlight important areas as I go, but having the chart will help to have one resource to use throughout the course for key terms. The second part of the chart will help us to formulate our own visions for future research topics. As we are choosing highlights from our learning resources, this will give us insight into areas of individual interest.  The third part of our chart will help us to think about what we have just read in the chapter for the week and extend our thinking. My overall insight for these assignments is that it will at a glance summarize the weeks learning. It reminds me of the assignments for the Child Development course. We did a chart of the different stages of development and we will have this resource to go back to and use whenever we need it.

The insight that I have gained from this course so far is that there is so much research out there at our fingertips. As early childhood educators, it is important to understand the research and be able to conduct our own research. I understand that this is just the beginning and we have a long way to go. I am excited and quite honestly a bit nervous about research. It is my hope that by the end of this course, I will feel more confident and become a more independent researcher.

If anyone is researching a similar topic to mine, I would love to hear from you as maybe we can share insights and resources. If anyone has any advice regarding research and this course, I would welcome it. My advice to my colleagues is if you have any questions, please contact Dr. Dartt. She has been a wonderful resource. She has offered her insight and knowledge to help me further understand how to narrow down a topic and even find resources for the literature review. Do not be afraid to use Goggle. I put in my topic and topics related to it and came up with the first article for my literature review. As it is a NAEYC article, I know this is a credible source. This may seem like a daunting task now, but I think it will be worth the journey. Good luck to everyone!