Wishes, Hopes and an End of Course Thank you

As I complete my final week of this course on Perspectives on Diversity and Equity, I think about how if more educators had training in anti bias education, then more children would grow up accepting their own unique identity, have higher self esteem, and be much more accepting of the characteristics of others that make us all different yet wonderful. So my hope as I dive into working closer with diverse children and families is to make a difference, even in small ways, and to help my colleagues realize the importance of anti bias education for our future. I realize that most likely I will make many mistakes along the way, but it's been said many times that we learn best from those mistakes. It's a journey we make as we learn to become better educators and therefore better individuals. My short term goal is to take what I have learned from this course and use it to assess how my current school is doing regarding addressing issues of diversity and equity, and then bring those issues to the attention of our school administrators. My goal for the early childhood field in general is to influence other early childhood educators to make changes to their classrooms that welcome diverse families and make them feel at home. Even if I can only influence one, eventually there will be a chain reaction and more will follow. I want to thank all of my colleagues that have participated in this course with me for their support. I also thank you for opening my eyes to the perspectives of others and thank you for the wonderful discussions we have had over the last eight weeks. I wish you all well and hope to see you in future courses at Walden.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

This week we have been asked to respond to the following scenario:

While working as an early childhood professional, you receive notification that the child of a family that has recently emigrated will be joining your class soon. You know nothing about this child, family or their country of origin. You are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to learn more than surface facts about their country of origin. Choose a country of origin for this fictitious family and describe how you would prepare yourself to be culturally responsive to this family and how these preparations will benefit both you and the family.

For this assignment, I chose Bolivia, a country in South America for the country of origin of this fictitious family. During this course we have learned that to foster positive relationships with and among families it is to establish two way communication.  The key to establishing two way communication is to treat families as the source of information on the child, engage them in planning for their child and create an atmosphere of mutual respect and cooperation (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Another important factor in establishing a teacher-family partnership is to respect and value the family's culture. It would be prudent to learn some basic communication etiquette pertinent to the family's country of origin. It is also helpful to learn some basic words or phrases in the language spoken by the family. If this is not feasible, having an adult interpreter (either on staff or as a consultant) would help the family feel more at ease and facilitate the family's transition from their home nation to their new home. Talk regularly with the family, sharing their child's experiences and asking them to share information about the child's home experiences. When differences of opinion arise, it is important to remain calm and to keep communication open, try to find out why the family feels this way, explain your position and the goals you have for doing things a certain way, and make every effort to reach an agreement that is amicable to everyone. Another way to make the family feel welcome at your center is to make the classroom accessible, ensuring that families and children can move freely throughout the room and that there is a comfortable place for families to sit and observe or talk with you (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Providing books or materials to families in their home language also makes them feel welcome and gives them a sense of belonging.

I took some time to research some basic cultural information about the cultural norms of Bolivia. It is important to keep in mind that most, but not all families may hold these values and beliefs, so it is best to be observant of the power dynamic and of nonverbal as well as verbal communication to avoid misunderstandings. I learned that in general Bolivian people speak Spanish, but many speak one or more of the 36 indigenous languages including Aymara, Quechua, or Guarani. Bolivian people generally value direct eye contact as an indication of trust and honesty, but it is necessary for men and women to avoid overly direct eye contact during their initial meeting as this may be misinterpreted. Handshakes are a common form of greeting for business-type relationships. Bolivians value polite, formal communication and avoid confrontation as much as possible. This also includes ensuring voices are kept at a medium to low volume, as loud voices in public are frowned upon. I learned that in general Bolivian people stand relatively close to the person they are speaking with, generally one to two feet away, and that it is considered rude to back away from someone while they are speaking. Women's social standing in Bolivia varies based on where they live. Women living in urban areas are expected to work outside the home, while women living in rural areas are not. Instead, women living in rural areas are expected to oversee the general duties of the house, educate/care for children and do all of the cooking and cleaning. It is also important to note that Bolivia is generally a male dominated society, therefore males make many of the important family decisions. Generally, most Bolivians (95%) are Roman Catholic, and therefore celebrate the holidays associated with this religion, however many people of indigenous decent retain some of their pre-Christian beliefs.

By becoming aware of the cultural values and beliefs of a family and establishing open, honest communication, families will begin to feel comfortable and welcomed because they are respected. Consulting families regarding their hopes and dreams for their child, clearly communicating your hopes for their child (after you get to know him/her of course) and finding common ground ensures that you are all working towards providing the child with the best environment possible for her/his development. Treating families as the expert regarding their child shows respect for the family and gives them power, avoiding feelings of marginalization. Respecting the family structure and dynamics also avoids marginalization.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Landers, M. and Grossman, L. (2014).  Bolivia. Culture Crossing: A community built guide to cross-cultural etiquette and understanding. Retrieved from http://www.culturecrossing.net.

www.everyculture.com/A-Bo/Bolivia.html

www.infoplease.com/encyclopedia/world/bolivia-land-people.html

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

We have been learning about institutional prejudices as sources of inequity and oppression, and that bias and prejudice are learned behaviors. I would like to share with you some ongoing issues I have witnessed regarding disability bias. I am a special education paraprofessional. I work one on one with students who require it. Over the last few years, I have been assigned to work with two students who were wheelchair users and also had some communication issues. One student used an eye gaze computer to communicate as well as basic head nodding for yes/no questions. The other student had a well developed vocabulary but was somewhat difficult but not impossible to understand. If you took the time and made the effort to listen to what she was saying, you could understand her fairly easily. The bias I witnessed time and time again came from adults within the school as well as other students, who assumed that she couldn't speak and would direct all communication about her over her head to me. Often these questions would be seeking the student's opinion about something. At first, I would turn and ask her the question, and then relay the answer, but then realized that this method was contributing to the problem, not being the solution. I began directing everyone to ask the student directly. These incidents really diminished equity in education for these students because these students were denied quality, meaningful interaction with other adults and peers. Furthermore, it disempowered the students because the student was being spoken for more often than not, and because it reinforced the notion that these students could not make their thoughts and opinions known without teacher assistance. These incidents still occur despite continued redirection (by me) to ask the student the question. This saddens me and makes me very angry. It also makes my student very angry, because she has stated more than once that she feels that she does not have any friends because no one will listen to her. She says it also makes her angry because she can talk! I agree with her, because it marginalizes her because she is slightly challenging to understand. I feel that if people took the time to listen carefully to what she has to say, and then ask her to clarify if they don't understand it all (she is happy to do so) it empowers her to communicate her ideas, thoughts and beliefs. For incidents like this to truly stop, because I am sure that they occur to other people living with a disability, it would be necessary to educate people to address people directly, regardless of their appearance, and to look to parents, caregivers, teachers or other people working in an assistive capacity for answers only if they do not receive a response from the person. It is also important to note that some people require a slightly longer time than others to process the question and formulate their response. Education that not everyone with a disability has communication problems would also be helpful. It is also helpful to keep in mind that with today's technological advances, some people may use augmentative communication devices to assist them in their daily lives. Devices  may include but are not limited to things like iPads or Tobii eye gaze computers. Generally, it comes down to basic common sense, and the golden rule "Treat others the way you would want to be treated". I doubt you would want someone ignoring you and talking about you over your head to your teacher or caregiver when you are perfectly capable of expressing yourself using voice, sign language, or technological assistance. It's just something to keep in mind when working with people with disabilities, and would truly help diminish incidences of ableism.