My Experience with Microaggressions

I have had a few experiences with microaggressions but they haven't been that many. One incident in particular that stands out at the moment would be the time that I was sitting in a college classroom completing a test. The following day, the teacher was able to grade the test and hand it back to us and this Caucasian, young woman looks at me and says, "How did you make that?" I was proud of my grade but this woman made me feel that there must have been something wrong because my grade was better than hers. It was as if people think that African-American women (in particular) aren't capable of excelling in the field of education. Having this experience makes me not want to ever subject my students to anything of this nature which is why I am mindful of the words that come out of my mouth.

"Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I have a great deal of family members and friends that I could have pose the questions to but I decided to talk to someone whom I had nothing in common with other than the fact that we worked at the same place. *Tim is Caucasian; has parents who are racist and his friends are mostly African-American. My interest in Tim continued as I found out Tim's age which is 54. He is 21 years older than I am and for all of these reasons I decided to ask Tim the following two questions: How would you define culture and diversity? I wasn't prepared for Tim's answers but I believe that when dealing with challenging individuals, it builds your character.
Tim told me that diversity relates to those people whom he grew up in the vicinity of (Caucasian). He didn't have the luxury that most of us had which would include growing up around people of different races and ethnic backgrounds. As for culture, his response was kind of vague because again, he didn't have access to other cultures. His ideals about culture is limited which is acutally kind of sad. I think that ,as adults/parents, we have a tendency to force our own beliefs onto children which stifles their growth such as it was with Tim. Tim, although he didn't admit it to me, shared some of the same beliefs that his parents did. Also, I think that when I asked these questions of him, his mind probably began to wander about all of those people that he came in contact with who weren't Caucasian and how nice and friendly those people could have been. By him being close-minded, he omitted or left out the ability to learn about others. Perhaps, it could have made him a better person. I believe that when we observe and investigate others, it forces us to look at ourselves and examine the type of people that we are and who we want to become. Tim's answers influence me because I am now looking at myself in a different light--needless to say, I am embracing who I am and what I am and I am putting my view of myself before what everyone else thinks I am.

My Family Culture

I have been recently given the task of sharing certain information about my family culture with others. There are some things that are a part of my culture that is very important to me. If I had to evacuate my country or my place of residence, these things would be something that I would most definitely take on my journey. The three items that I would take with me would be photos of family, friends, and students that I have taught, my collection of poetry, and my shoe collection. Each of these things have a story behind them. In the following paragraphs, I will explain the meaning/story behind these items.

My photo collection is important to me because these are people who have shaped and transformed my life. My family has always been there for me no matter the situation or the circumstance. The friends that I have made over the years have begun to look and feel just like family in so many ways. They have given me strength and support to complete my education and they have also provided a listening ear when I have needed advice. My students have made me realize my potential as a teacher. They push me to succeed by being themselves regardless of what that consists of. We all know the type of things that middle school children do and in the midst of it all, I rise to the challenge.

My poetry collection is one that is a true representation of who I am as a person. My poems speaks volumes without me having to say a word. I enjoy writing and I have been writing poetry since I was ten years old.

Last but not least, I would take my shoe collection. I am not a vain personality. I love shoes because as a child, my parents weren't able to afford a lot of them. We weren't rich and we wore mostly clothes that were handed down from one sibling to the next. I never want to be placed in that situation again.

If I had to choose one item to keep, it would be my poetry collection because one day, I plan to be published and those faded pages will be ones that I use as inspiration. The pictures of my family, friends, and students will forever live on in memory and in my heart. I doubt if these things will fade from existence. As for my shoe collection, I would give them up because I know that it is about time that I break this cycle. Although vanity is not my motivation, mentally, I need to get passed my childhood poverty and my outlook on the whole situation.

By completing this activity, I was made to look within myself and pull out some things that I thought I had forgotten. It made me think...

Week 8 Blog Questions Answered

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course? I have learned that while doing research, it is important to be remain as objective as possible which is hard for me when conducting observations; therefore, I know that it would be hard for me if I was doing actual research. Other insights include the fact that there are different ways of doing research. I was only aware of the two that are the most prevalent. I was exposed to the mixed method of research through my reading.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed? In my opinion, research can be a tedious job--proving and disproving hypothesis can be time-consuming. I have always been weary of doing research because there are so many steps to consider and if you don't know what you are doing, then of course, that could pose a problem.

What lessons about planning,designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn? The planning of the research is the most difficult for me. During the planning stages, there are a couple of things that has to be done before designing any portion of the research. For the most part, I learned that I must identify a problem or a topic. The problem has to be one that is researchable. Sometimes it helps to see if the problem or the topic chosen has been researched before. If it has, that information may be used as a resource. After that, a hypothesis should be formed a research proposal is constructed.

What were some of the challenges did you encounter? The one thing that challenged me was the hypothesis. I had to reword the hypothesis. I also had to determine which method would render me the best results. I also had to constantly keep in my mind that subjectivity is the key factor. It is all about the facts and not emotions.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional has been modified? Of course, my perception of becoming an early childhood professional has been modified because I never realized that there was a great deal to take under advisement. I didn't take into consideration that there was so much research in this particular area of education but then again, if we are to get the besdt practices, then there has to be a great deal of research.

"Analysis of International Websites"

The international website that I chose to explore was http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au. This website was interesting to me because it dealt with early childhood in Australia. It is not everyday that we hear about Australia so I felt that it was necessary to expose some of the great things that was found on the website. Some of the hot topics that were featured were code of ethics, best practices in early childhood education, and teaching through play. Of these hot topics, the one that I think is important and is a topic that plague most of today's classroom is the teaching through play topic. Teaching through play is important because it is one of the most beneficial ways in which children learn. If we take the act of play out of the school system, we are doing the children a disservice.

The new insight that I gained was centered on the concept of emotional and social skills and how it contributes to the overall learning experience of the child. "Emotional skills are about learning to manage and express feelings appropriately. Social skills are about relating to others." In the classroom, I think that if the child's emotional and social well-being isn't on the level that it is supposed to be on, then there will be problems in the classroom.

The other noteworthy thing that I learned--not really learned, but it sparked my interest because code of ethics is important in the job and in a school setting. Obeying the code of ethics helps to keep us in line so that we can continue to serve our students.

"Chosen Researchable Topics"

I chose option 2 and the topic that I chose to research was Asperger Syndrome. I chose to this topic because my cousin was diagnose with the condition and what I found out was the fact that it was a social disorder. My cousin is not able to function socially and that created a problem in the classroom because he is surrounded by people. At one point, they took him out of the general classroom setting but I have been told recently that he is back in. He has had people to coax him into trying to talk but any progress is minimal if any. I think that if we, as educators, were trained on how to interact with students such as these, we would be better equipped in handling them. More research would make assessing students who are this way easier and it would help the teachers and the students know what to expect.

"Topic Chosen for Simulation"

I originally chose student and teacher interaction. I narrowed that down to three subtopics and the one subtopic chosen was incorporating real-life scenarios into the classroom. I think that this chosen subtopic is one that will allow the teacher and the student to get to know each other and by doing this, they may be able to create a more positive learning process. On a personal level, I find that there are times where teachers become so busy with preparing students for the test that they lose sight of the big picture. The big picture is the idea that children learn more when they feel as if they are a part of the learning process. I can also remember sitting in class and feeling as if the lesson was not relevant to me as a child. I would like to make my own teaching more relevant to the life of the student rather than being driven by the information found within the textbook.