Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

I experienced a microaggression just last weekend.  I was talking with a friend about redecorating my house, and trying to bring a soft touch to my husband’s den.  Knowing that I have a male family member who is gay, my friend jokingly said, “Just ask (family member’s name)”.  I laughed it off because I wasn’t sure how to respond.  This was very hurtful to me, because it made me wonder what she thought of this family member of mine that I am very close to.  This same friend and her husband also tried to introduce this family member of mine to their only gay friend.  Not because they had and similar interests or beliefs, but because they were gay.  I am now realizing that I should probably say something the next time one of these microaggressions occur.  My guess is that she is not only doing this with me.   
     

This week has really made me look deeply into discrimination, prejudices and stereotypes on people.  It’s amazing to me how often they truly occur.  What is even more surprising is that the most damaging microaggressions can occur when they are not intended.  Many biased beliefs are far below the surface, and can surface surprisingly.  “Studies show people can be consciously committed to egalitarianism, and deliberately work to behave without prejudice, yet still possess hidden negative prejudices and stereotypes” (Teaching Tolerance, n.d.).  As suggested in many of this week’s readings, the first step can often be to admit and become aware of our hidden biases.  Knowing that we have some hidden biased beliefs allow us to better control them and attempt to eliminate them.  This week has allowed me to look very deeply at myself, and has revealed some things about my actions and personal beliefs that I was unaware of.    

References

Teaching Tolerance. (n.d.). Test yourself for hidden bias. Retrieved May 25, 2011, from http://www.tolerance.org/activity/test-yourself-hidden-bias

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I talked with 2 family member, all of various ages about their ideas of culture and diversity.  Here are the answers they shared with me.

Jeremy (Age 32)

Culture is beliefs and core values that you are brought up in.

Diversity is different backgrounds such as backgrounds, race, sexual orientation, religion, gender, and age.

Kelli (Age 52) 

Culture is the many different ways that people live. Their religions, food, dress, living conditions, and beliefs.

Diversity is being able to understand that everyone is different and accepting that people do things differently. Diversity would mean accepting differences from different cultures.

Wayne (Age 79)

Culture to me is the beliefs, social forms and traits of a social group.

Diversity is balancing the various racial groups in a group such as college students.

When looking at the statements that my three family members made in regards to culture and diversity, I saw many of the aspects we have studied in this course so far.  In Week 2's video, Julie Benavides, Louise Derman-Sparks, and Nadiyah Taylor sat down to discuss the aspects of culture.  Julie's first definition was very similar to Jeremy's definition of diversity, covering the basics of race, ethnicity, age, gender, language, etc.  Nadiyah and Kelli went on to take it further stating that it is how we percieve the world, it's very personal, and it's how individuals choose to live.  Kelli was right on in her definition of diverisity, when talking discussing other differences, and learning to accept differences.  Wayne discussed social forms and groups, as well as beliefs.   

To me, culture goes very deeply.  It's not only the items we see on the outside that are very apparent to us such as gender, race, age, etc., but there is so much more below the surface that makes up one's culture such as values and beliefs. Diversity encompasses the differences between individuals.  The social identities that all individuals hold vary from one person to another, and this framework makes up each individual and allows for much diversity in our world. 

I found it interesting that Jeremy's definitions for culture and diversity went hand in hand.  His ideas of culture looked at the surface of culture, while his definition of diversity looked under the culture of diversity describing values and beliefs.  He omitted the fact that diversity is describing individuals differences.  I feel Kelli was definitely looking further in depth at both, and omitted some of the basic surface aspects of culture such as gender, race, age, etc.  Wayne also looked deeper under the surface when it came to his idea of culture.  I thought it was very interesting how he looked at diversity as a balance of races in particular groups. 


What this tells me is that once again, everyone is very diverse.  We are all diverse in our thinking and understanding of our and others cultures.  Some of us are more aware of the surface culture, while other's take a deeper understanding.  This will allow me to have a deeper understanding of other's behaviors in regarding to their personal understanding of culture.  For example, I often come across families who will discuss certain culture groups in a very assuming manner.  This tells me that this person may not purposefully being biased, but it could be due to a lack of knowledge or using visual images to make determinations in their beliefs. 

My Family Culture

Following a catastrophe in The United States, I am told that my family will be relocated in another country.  In addition to a change of clothes, I am allowed to bring 3 personal items with me.  I have chosen to bring 3 items that represent my family culture.  They are a photo album, The Holy Bible, and my family recipe book.

The reason in choosing a photo album would be due to memories and events holding so much value in our lives.  We have had many special events as a family such as our wedding day, the birth of our children, our weekly trips to the lake, and our vacations to Florida or Gatlinburg.  Our photo albums are also full of all of the important people in our lives.  With my girls being so young, I would not want them to forget about all of the important people who have impacted our lives.  Having images of these events and people give our daughters a picture to put with the story. 

The reason I would bring The Holy Bible is because I was raised in a Christian household, and am also raising my children in a Christian household.  Having this bible allows gives us a guide to stories that represent moral and values that we have built our family on.  I feel this is currently important to share with my children, and would continue to be important as they learn and grow, no matter what country we are in.

My final item is my family recipe book.  At my bridal shower, my grandmother presented me with a cookbook that contained all her favorite family recipes.  Some of them were passed down from her mother and grandmother, and others were obtained over the years.  These were all recipes that she made for my mother, my mother made for me, and I make for my children.  Over the last 10 years, I have added additional recipes to this book and plan on passing it on to my oldest daughter when she gets married someday.  This book not only represents our cultural food, but is a book that binds generations of women in my family. 

If I arrived in the country and was told to dispose of two of these items and only keep one, I would have to choose to keep the photo album.  Family is the most important aspect of my life!  Having these images to help with memories of events and family members would mean the most to me, as well as my children. 

When I first started exploring the personal cultural items that would be options for me, I have to admit my list was short.   As discussed in this week’s video and in this week’s text, we often have a hard time recognizing our own culture because it is our normal.  I was struggling with this as well.  After discussions with my husband and my mother, I was able to get a better idea of items that were truly important to me! 

When I Think of Research...

I have learned an abundance of information in this course due to the resources and research simulations.  Putting together a research study requires many steps, and certain portions should be completed before others.  This course has caused me to take a close look at ethical situations and the effect research can have on the participants involved. 

Before starting this course, I had no idea how professional and intricate the process of research is.  I have participating in professional research, but never conducted or planned any research on my own.  I knew research was a lot of work, but I had no idea how many different concepts went into the planning, and how many factors you must consider when doing this planning.    

I have learned that when planning research, it is essential to plan one part at a time, while keeping the whole research project in consideration.  It is also essential to revisit previously developed sections to determine if changes need to be made. 

Some of my challenges involved participant selection and ethical issues.  Choosing participants is a struggle because the participants have to meet specific requirements.  They must be parents who are currently anticipating enrollment or changes in childcare or early childhood education programs.  One challenge may be if the participant makes the change prior to the completion of the data collection.  If this happens, the family will not be able to participate in the study.  My goal is to obtain more volunteers than necessary due specific participant requirements.   

I often find myself looking at behaviors, relationships, and certain topics as possible research studies.  I can now look at specific situations/topics and determine how more information regarding them could be very beneficial to the early childhood field.  Knowing how to plan, design, and conduct research is a powerful tool to have as an early childhood educator, and I now feel confident in my ability to do this. 

I have greatly enjoyed exploring topics and having in-depth discussion with all of you over the course of this class.  I especially want to thank Dr. Davis for providing many thought provoking questions and very usable feedback with my work.  I hope to see many familiar faces in our next course!

Research Around the World

I chose to take a closer look at Early Childhood in Australia.  From an article I located on the Early Childhood Australia website, titled “Implementing children’s rights in early education”, written by Sarah Te One of University of Wellington, student rights seems to be a current topic researched.  In this article, the author discusses research done using individual and group interviews, observations, notes, and photographs as a means of data collection.  This research focused on under two-year olds.  It concluded that the physical environment (setting, rules, and routine) can have a direct effect on the children’s rights. 
Some of the other current international research topics include:

·         Inclusion

·         Play-based Learning

·         Social Development

·         Transitions

As I explored the current news releases, it was very exciting to see some of their newest celebrations for Australia’s early childhood field.  A few things I learned when looking through these news releases were:

1. New quality reforms are taking place in 2012. 

2. Childcare refunds to families are now going to be given every 2 weeks instead of the previous quarterly refunds.  This will allow parents to be able to better pay for childcare.

3.  A new law was passed that mandates one staff member to every 4 children (under 24 months) in daycares. 
Overall, I was very intrigued to see that many of the current issues and research topics are very similar to those that we are currently facing in The U.S. 

Resources

Te One, Sarah (2009).  Implementing children’s rights in early education.  Retrieved from: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/implementing_childrens_rights_in_early_education.html

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Andrew's Success Story

I have talked with many parents over the years who all have very unique success stories to share about their children.  Some of those success stories are medical, some involve academics, and others surround other disorders.  Autism Spectrum Disorder is a wide range of disorders that can affect a child's communication, socialization, and behavior.

Alison, a parent of a child with autism, has chosen to share her child's success story with the National Autism Center.  Without the knowledge from research and early intervention, Alison feels that her son would not be where he is today due to his diagnosis of autism. 

Here is her story:

"Imagine this scenario: It’s obvious something is wrong with your child, but you don’t know what it is. A doctor tells you your 2-year old child has cancer. He tells you it won’t be fatal, but beyond that can't give you any prognosis. A thousand questions flood your mind, but the biggest one is, "What's the treatment protocol?" He doesn’t have an answer — the best he can do is give you the names of some books to buy. It’s up to you, as the parent, to learn about it. It’s up to you to try, on your own, some of the treatments others have tried. 

This goes on for two or more years. Your child is not improving. Then, you learn that there is one place in the state that has expertise in his disorder. For the first time in years, the weight of the unknown becomes bearable.

This was Andrew’s story — except substitute the word “autism” for “cancer.“

Our lives turned around when we became involved in an intensive early intervention program. When he began the program, at age 5, he had little ability to communicate. He could not sit at a table for more than a few minutes. He showed little interest in any toys except trains. Today, at age 7, he is completing first grade at a local public school. His math and reading skills are above grade level. He likes to make kids in his class laugh with his imitation of Sponge Bob. There is a long road ahead, but the most important thing we have been given by the program is the knowledge of how to work with him and continue his progress."

—Alison, Parent

For more information you can view the National Autism Center Website.

http://www.nationalautismcenter.org/index.php

My Personal Research Journey

The topic I have chose is something that I feel very passionate about.  As a Developmental Therapist working for Indiana's Early Intervention System, I see many families enter and exit the program.  My hope is that when they exit, the child will continue with some form of quality early childhood program before starting Kindergarten.  I see many benefits, especially for children with developmental delays, from being in a quality program with other children and quality educators.  The challenge I have found is that many parents are not properly educated or informed about the programs available for their children. 

For my topic, I have chosen to take a closer look at the knowledge parents have regarding their early childhood education options, and how they are informed.  I have discovered that this is a hot topic, yet little literature through articles and research papers.  I have found that one of most helpful strategies when searching for literature was to search multiple databases at one, and open up my search up by searhcing other fields and not limiting myself to just educational databases.  The other strategy that I have found very helpful was to jot down some key words and phrases that I could use to search this specific topic.  Using these strategies have allowed me to find a few great articles that are relevent to my topic of parent educational awareness. 

What strategies are working for you?  What have you found helpful?  What have you found challenging?