Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

      

     This week was an interesting week for me as I had the opportunity to facilitate professional development training for a group of childcare providers on the topic of “diversity”.  As we neared the end of the training teachers began to share experiences of times that they heard racial comments.  One teacher began to share a comment that she and another teacher had witnessed. She stated that while standing at the bus stop, they heard a little “White girl” comment on a few Black children playing.  Her comments stated: “the Black kids are always so loud and silly.” At that moment, the two teachers looked at each other and then they looked at her mother.  Her mother seemed embarrassed and stated, “I don’t know where she got that from.” While listening to the teachers’ responses, they all agreed that the little girl had to hear it from an adult in her environment.

    For me, normally I would have been offended but I did not take it personal at all.  I realize that this issue is too serious and it is something that we all have to over come.  Instead, I used it as an invitation to share what we have been studying this week.  I began to talk about the three types of microaggressions and that the type of aggression that was displayed was that of the microinsults.  I shared with them how similar the comment was to a scenario that was a part of this week’s discussion question. Many of the teachers stated that this topic is very difficult and hard to approach but agreed that it is something that should be discussed often.  It was a great learning experience and the teachers were very responsive to the information.

 

Prospective on Diversity and Culture

     Whenever you hear anyone speak of culture and diversity the terms are used simultaneously.  In today’s society, it is very hard to use one without the other.  I asked a few acquaintances to give me their definition of culture and their definition diversity. 

     Out of the three definitions that were given for culture, at least one was given as the typical definition and that is concerning race. When people think of culture, they immediately think of a person’s ethnic background.  The other two answers were similar to the definition that has been given during this course of study and that is, culture is how you were raised; how you and the people around you share certain behaviors and beliefs, language, food, and traditions.

     The definitions on diversity were all pretty similar.  Each gave the definition of diversity as different types of people and cultures; basically a mixture of individuals with different backgrounds, race, gender and beliefs.  The answers were similar to what I have been reading in the course text. 

     As early childhood educators we must take notice and respect all cultures.  We must build relationships with all families regardless of their background and try to eliminate all bias behaviors.  Many teachers often look at those things that are visible and assume that they can predict the behaviors of children; however culture is deeper than things that can be seen.

My Family Culture

     If I were in a situation where my family and I had to move to another country far from my own and could only take three items with us, it would be our family Bible, our family album and our music.  We would take the Bible because the word of God is our foundation and it is what gets us through life.  I can’t begin to tell how much just reading Gods word and applying the principles has helped us down through the years.  The next thing we would take is our family Album. We have always been a pretty close family and every now and then we like looking at pictures and remembering good times.  In addition, the third thing is music; we would bring something that could hold as much music as possible, it is who we are, a musical family. 

     Now if we had to choose between the three items listed above, I would have to say our family Bible.  When it comes to the family album, it would be painful to loose photographs, but we can still talk about the good times.  As for our music, because we actually sing as a family group, we can write down our favorite songs and sing them on our own.  But when it comes to the Bible, even though some of the scriptures are planted in our hearts, we still find new revelation every time we read it; it has helped us through life. Personally for me, reading it every day is how I start each morning. It brings me Joy!

When I think of Research.....

     After taking this course, I look at research from a totally different point of view.  The research process is more complicated than I originally imagined.  It involves much more than observations, surveys and data charts.  There are methods to consider, designs to choose, a process to follow, ethics, equity, evaluations and much much more. There is so much information that I found myself going in circles.
     As I began the study the research process , I began to get a little confused about how to tell the difference between qualitative and quantitative designs.  Before I could truly grasp the concept, it was time to move on to the next section which involved ethics and then analysis and how to determine whether a topic can be framed as and hypothesis or not.  I continued with my weekly assignments never really understanding the difference between qualitative and quantitative. 
    As the weeks began to come to an end, I became troubled because I really wanted to understand the process.  In my frustration, I decided to step back and study the first two chapters again and to my surprise, it suddenly came clear to me.  I was so relieved because I have always wanted to know more about research and I had no idea that it involved so much interesting information.
    I think from now on, I will look at research more closely.  I will probably examine it in terms of whether it is bias or involves equity.  I can say now with confidence that if the opportunity presented itself.  I feel that I would be able to conduct a small study.

Reference:

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.