Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

This week topic in regards to racism microaggression can be elaborated in regards to many examples that happen every day in America.

I moved back to the South after living in Minnesota for over nineteen years; did I experience racial microaggression, sure I did, more frequent than others. But it wasn’t until my children and I move to the South when my son experienced it for the first time, and it was so very obvious.

We moved to these apartments in a low income neighborhood, because it was what I could afford at the time. My son was twenty-one years old and had never been in trouble before as a child, teen or young adult. I think the most he had ever done in high school was being caught in the hall without a hall pass; outside of that he was a good kid. He happened to be waiting on a friend that he meet through me job to go sight seeing Tennessee, because he was new to the area. As he waited on her, a Southaven, MS policeman drove by and got out his car to ask my son, “why was he just sitting outside?” and my son replied “I’m waiting on a ride.” He told my son to stand up so that he could check him for weapons, and my son was like what! By this time I could hear the commotion; so by now I’m walking outside to see what was happening. And he told me to step back, I explained that he was addressing my son, and I needed to know what this was about. This man tells me that there was a shooting two blocks over about a week ago and he was just riding by and happen to see my son sitting there, so he took it upon himself to see who my son was. If this was not racial profiling, please tell me what is? I explained to the officer that I have a two year degree in Criminal Justice, and I know my rights. He seemed to have backed off a bit after me saying that. But one thing I have learned about police officer’s, they profile victims are mainly people who live in poverty areas, and minorities. You never see police ride out in the upscale suburbs and harass those people unless they are called out there.

In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people

Now that there is an educated name for the forms of discrimination, prejudice, and stereotypes, I have gained a much broader perspective in regards to microaggression. I have always tried to live by the notion to treat people accordingly to the way I want to be treated. I try not to judge nor place stigmas on people race, cultural or religion. The statement Dr. Sue made in terms of unintentional microaggression in regards to race can be unintended to be hurtful, but the person receiving the message could be an insulted (Education Inc., 2010).This teaching has help me become mindful and more aware as to how I will address people of other cultural groups on my job or just in every day converstions.

Reference:

  Course Media: "Microaggressions in Everyday Life" (approximate length: 27 minutes)
In this program, Dr. Derald Wing Sue presents a lecture about the concept of microaggression in everyday life

Perspective on diversity and Culture

Their definition of culture

Their definition of diversity

*My Mother definition of culture is what we appreciate and value.

My Mother definition of diversity is being different.

*My friend Bethany is Caucasian and she lives in Minnesota, her definition of culture is what we are raised to believe or accustom to.

My friend Bethany definition of diversity means to her is accepting other’s for who they are.

*My Auntie Rosie was raised as a Catholic, and she feels that culture is defined as acceptance of what we value and believe in.

My Auntie definition of diversity is understanding that we are different people, who have various beliefs.

Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples? My reflection of the answers pertaining to culture and diversity that I have studied that’s included in the above answers would be each person elaborated on what their beliefs and values were in regards to culture and diversity in similar ways.

Examples are the values and beliefs that certain cultural group holds; such as acceptance, understanding our differences and beliefs we are accustom to.

Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?

I don’t believe that there was anything my friends and family omitted, because each person was honest and straight forward about the questions being asked.     

In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?

I would have to say as individuals we all hold certain values, norms, and beliefs. This may come from how we were raised and what we were taught as children. We have the right to our on beliefs, I feel that it is important to be able to conversant, and listen to others in regards to their culture values and how they feel about diversity, because this helps us to understand why we are different and unique. And when this happens, you gain a better perspective of others.  

My Family Culture

My Family Culture

If my life took a turn for the worst and I experienced such catastrophic incident, the three most important items I would bring would be my bible, a family picture, and keep sake item of my dog Gracie.

1.    My bible is a book that I turn to in a time of refuge. It has rooted and grounded me into the person I am today. My faith and belief in Christ has given me the strength to do the impossible.

2.    Having a picture of family who was not able to come or may have lost connection during this incident would remind me of our time spent (Memories).

3.    Knowing that my dog Gracie wouldn’t be able to come, I would have to take a picture of her with me. I love my dog just as much as I love my children.

If I were told to give up the other two items upon arrival, as pain for it maybe, it would have to be the photos of my family who was left behind or I lost connection with and my bible. Some people may find it a bit strange for me to give up my bible. But I’m pretty familiar with most of the scriptures in the bible. I would have to keep the photo of my dog Gracie. I’m such an animal lover that I truly believe knowing that I couldn’t see my dog anymore would just be devastating to my heart.

My insights in regards to leaving this country to migrate to another country would be hard, but knowing that my family is with me would make the transition easier. I believe after a while becoming adapted to the lifestyle of this other country wouldn’t be so hard. Of course anything you are accustomed to and you have to give that up is always difficult.  What we practice in our country in regards to accepting other culture beliefs this would be our time to embrace those feelings

My Insights on Research

    

Before taking 6163 Building Research Competencies, I had little information about research and how important it is to the early childhood field. I know now that the information I have learned pertaining to research has enlighten me on different ways to approach situations in my career field. I have gained a great deal of knowledge about Research as a tool to learning about Quasi-experiment in research. Each chapter brought valuable information that I will apply to my everyday life, while understanding and working in the early childhood field.

Since taking this course, I never really thought about the importance of research. While working on my undergraduate degree, I remember doing maybe two or three research papers, and these papers was not as in depth as to the information I learned in this course. I will forever take with me the knowledge, and skills this course offered and apply it to my own individual research.

All of the lessons were important, but the one that stood out to me the most would have to be Equity in research Designs. Because cultural groups are such a sensitive and important topic, it is imperative that research be fair and unbiased while conducting such lessons when it comes to equity towards certain cultural groups. Every child is important when conducting research studies and deserves the up most respect. Researchers must take off their blind folds to accommodate every study with credible and accuracy data, for minorities are an important aspect in “legitimate” research as well.

Even though this course has come to an end, I still have some challenges that I will take with me, but with those challenges has come dedication and persistence to continue to learn and strive to gain a better concept of research. I learned that research is so very important and is well needed in understanding and assisting children and families in the early education field. I will continue to study research to look for new ways to enhance my career field while meeting the needs of children and their families.

As an early educator, I have come to realize and understand that research plays such a crucial part in this field. If inaccuracy in research is conducted and applied to the early childhood field, than we as early educators are not able to gain the knowledge in reaching the highest potential in meeting the needs of children and families. The information I have learned in this course have given me the tools needed when building credible research. I will always use the course reading book, “Doing Early Childhood Research,” and articles as a reference guide throughout my career and education journey.

  

Dr. Davis, thank you for all of your positive and encouraging feedback. Colleagues, I wish each and every one of you nothing but the best in your educational journey at Walden. I hope to hear from you in our next course.

                                                        

Research Around the World

                                     Current International Research Topic

I was reading the study tilted: The Status of Coordination and Supervisor of Early Childhood Education in Ghana

Africa has always been a country of interest to me in regards to the living environment and lack of access for children to receive a high quality education.  

What interests me the most pertaining to this study was how important it is for the people providing the study to identify the main factors that cause the current problems that has affected the early childhood education in Ghana to become a success.

This early childhood care development (ECCD) designed a survey of questions to the early childhood development programs to help understand ways to help make the programs better for the children of Ghana. The main focus in the study was on coordination and supervision of early childhood programs; in hopes of understanding the effectiveness of coordination and supervisory in the EC programs. The study consists of also seeing how this works in other countries.

The research focused on rural and urban location in Ghana. A total of 22 respondents, which were directors, teachers, and ECD coordinators that where all involved in the research data. 

The main findings of the study were that planning of activities at all levels was

very minimal. The research revealed that the minimal degree of implementation and

coordination of programs could be attributed to the following factors: (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA).

     *Insufficient knowledge on the concept of ECD at all levels.

     *No comprehensive operational guidelines for the ECD sector.

     *Inadequate trained personnel.

     *No budget allocation except for salaries of teachers.

     *Inadequate supply of teaching learning materials.

     *Lack of policy on ECD (draft policy exists but has not been approved).

     *Lack of awareness on the ECD policy at all levels.

In the light of these findings, suggestions for improving the implementation,

coordination and supervision of ECD programs were made. Areas for further research

were recommended. 

 Insights I have gained in the Early Childhood on International Website

In the previous course, 6162 Issues and Trends in EC field, colleagues and me had to contact International professional in the early childhood field. I gained quite of bit of knowledge about certain topics in this area. Many of the topics focused on children in Africa and other countries, I found many interesting topics, discussions and research   under the Association for Childhood Education International http://acei.org/. This website offered information from how politicians implement policies to how programs worked best for children and families. Understanding that Africa any many other countries are thousand miles away, but they all have so many things in common, and one is implementing, designing programs that all children will benefit from in the end.

                                 What I find out on this website

This website has many topics to read in regards to research on an International level. This website would be very resourceful when doing research on a particular subject or relate to when needing to understand how Africa's EC programs are designed.

References:

Association for Childhood Education International
http://acei.org/ 

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

                                            

Research that benefits Children and Families

Option # 2

"Positive Reinforcement" with Children

Positive Reinforcement with children has been a topic of interest to me since I have been working in the early childhood field. I was told that rewarding a child for bad behavior is not healthy. But personally I see things differently. I believe that children who portray bad behavior at an early age should be encouraged to positive-motivate reinforcement. I’m not a researcher and I have not done a study on this particular topic, but working in the early childhood field, you come in contact with children who maybe more challenging than others; with this being said, we must find methods to work with children on all levels.

I do believe that a child who continuously shows bad behavior should not be rewarded, if this behavior has become a pattern, than other options should be seek. This child will start to realize that he/she can continue to show bad behavior and still be rewarded for it; which is not healthy.

Now on the other hand, when it comes to “positive reinforcement”, research states that you run a very hi risk of training them to just grow-up to be approval seekers who won’t be self-motivated to do things as they grow up to be adults, unless they are  highly motivated and rewarded.

The bigger problem is that there really seems to be a lot of evidence that suggests that positive reinforcement as a technique for getting a child to do something actually trains them to be extrinsically motivated… meaning they’ll grow up to be the kind of adult who won’t do anything unless they have something to gain for it.
And the evidence seems to suggest that these types of children grow up to be adults who won’t share, help, or give their all, unless they’re being compensated fairly to do so; instead of growing up to be intrinsically motivated to do things, even if there’s not an immediate payoff.

The Positive Contribution

Even though there have been some studies on positive reinforcement and the affect it has on children; my theory of positive reinforcement would be the term “favorable.” If encouraging children to do well by rewarding them with incentives such as happy face stickers, treats, and high fives than I will continue to do so. I work with Pre-school children and some are more challenging than others, whether it’s with learning or behavior issues. I encourage positive behavior with my children through stickers, favorite treats, games, and etc. I find these to be motivating and encouraging. And the children who are more challenging than others are the ones I implement this to the most. And I really see a difference. As children become adolescence, I believe they will learn very quickly that society will not be rewarded them for negative or bad behavior. This is why children should be taught early in life the does and don’ts in what are expected of them. I have had parents to tell me that they see a difference in their child abilities to do well in school and with their peers, and that their behavior has changed a great deal than before. I hope to continue to do research and studies on "Positive Reinforcement" in the early childhood field; for I believe that it is very important to understand that children and families need to know what works for their child/children to be motivated.

Natural and Social Reinforcement are to reinforcements that I highly recommend and utilize in my classroom.

*Natural Reinforcement occurs when a natural consequence for a certain behavior increases, hoping the behavior will occur in the future.

*Social Reinforcement entails consequences for behavior such as a smile, high five, and a tickle.     

Using Positive Reinforcement to increase Desired Behavior, Dr. Debra Leach EdD, BCBA

www.centralreach.com/articles/using-positive-reinforcement-to-increase-desired-behaviors/www.centralreach.com/articles/using-positive-reinforcement-to-increase-desired-behaviors/

My Personal Research Journal

The topic of interest is "Poverty" and the total affects it has on children and their families from coginitve developmental delays to social and emtional barriers. I believe this issue is so important because there are many children in America who are suffering from poverty. I work in a low-income community, and many parents are receiving some type of government assistance to help take care of their families. I feel if I can offer children and families the best quality care in early childhood education programs, than I'm helping to break the cycle of longivity of poverty. Making the difference in the lives of these children and families is what I plan on doing.

Research states that children who are born into poverty grow-up as adults in poverty. I personally feel that this is a myth. I believe the cycle of poverty can end with the help of politicians, neuroscientist, early educators and all who make important decisions in this field of study. My dream is that one day research is revised and seen as a myth. This epidemic can stop, if children and families best interest to heart is taken into consideration.

If children are introduced to high quality education taught by highly qualified teachers and teachers with many years of experience; than children would be able to reach their highest potential when entering into Kindergarten and elementary school. Research shows that children who graduate high school and go on to college are more than likely to get higher paying job that increase their salaries; so they can provide for themselves. While providing high quality education to children, I hope to be able in providing families with reliable resources within the community that they may benefit from. Some families just need a helping hand to encourage them to do better. My passion as well as my mission is to do just that.

Grasping research and understanding the importance of it to my career in early childhood field. Always staying ahead with new information/data is another way of providing the best quality care for children and families.

Sharing Resources is another way to help colleagues better understand the importance of helping to fight the cause of poverty.
The Children Defense fund a non-for-profit organization based in Washington, D.C., USA, that advocates on behalf of children through a variety of activities http://www.cdf.com/ is an excellent website that offers up to date information on children and familes dealing with poverty.

What have you found to be difficult?

What has help you so far with research?

Please share resources?