Communication Skills/Professional

The person who I believe demonstrates competent communication is Mr. Jack Damron. Mr. Damron just retired as our Executive Director, but he has the communication skills that I want to follow.  During his time as Executive Director he made sure that he went around each morning to the different departments to say good morning and ask if there were any concerns.  He made sure he complimented his employees in a positive manner and remembered every little detail of each one of us (there are over 200 employees).  During our staff meeting he made sure that he praised his employees and stressed the fact that his job was made easier because he had the competent staff to make sure the job was done.  

He made himself accessible to all employees and never had a negative attitude, no matter what the problem was.  He made sure he gave his employees his fullest attention when discussing any topic, never gave the impression that he was bored.

I would want to model some of my communication behaviors after Mr. Damron because I believe his method of communication was very effective.  I saw how every one of his employee had the respect and admiration for this gentleman.    I want to be able to have the same positive effect that Mr. Damron had when he went around inquiring about how our day was going.

 Professional Hopes and Goals

The one hope that I have is that all children and families, no matter what their culture/background is will be treated equally and that they in turn will do the same. We must as educators understand the different cultures/customs that the families we work with and not be judgmental.  We must do this in order to provider these children and their families with the most effective and appropriate services they need without making them feel inferior or not want to ask for the assistance their child needs.  We must teach our young ones to respect each other, however, in order for this to succeed we as adults must show them the way and respect each other also.

One goal I have after this course is that all educators become educated in the issues related to diversity and to understand the different customs/traditions we will be working with.  We must stand up for the rights of these children and become advocates for them and make sure that we don't become judgmental when a child comes from a low economic status family.

I would like to thank my colleagues for providing the support in this course..  I realize that educational journeys become successful when we support each other and provide positive feedback.  A big THANK YOU for being the role models that I know I will continue to exercise in my professional and personal life.  I would also like to thank our instructor for always providing the positive feedback on our discussions and class work.  Hope to see some of you again in my next journey.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The family I have chosen to learn more about is a family from Vietnam.  We have had families from this area, however I have never worked with them before and I would like to learn more about their culture in order to provide the appropriate services.

The first thing would be to learn more about this country, its traditions, religious beliefs, language  and the culture of the Vietnamese people.  This will insure that I don't do or say something inappropriate to the family.  After learning this, I would share the information with my co-workers and administrators just in case someone else has to step in and help with this case.  I belief that if we all work together and learn about each other's caseload it will make our program a success.  I would look into contracting with a language interpreter in order to provide the best and appropriate services to the family.  I would look at our present caseload and see if we are serving any families from Vietnam and maybe visit them to see if I can learn more about their customs and traditions.  The last step would be to set up  a visit with the family to learn more about their family structure and prepare them of what our program consists of in order to provide the appropriate services.

I belief that in preparing in this manner will assist me in providing the services to the child and family.  This will also help in teaching the family how they can also help their child after I am gone from the home.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

The memory that comes to mind is that of when my sisters and I were small (about 7 years of age) my parents took us shopping and just like little children we were just looking around the store.  One of the store clerks noticed us and started following us all throughout the store, not saying a word.  We started walking out the store and my Father noticed the clerk followed us and so he decided to approach her to ask if there was a problem, had his children taken something without paying.  Her answer was no, but because we were Hispanics she had to be double sure that we were not taking anything.

In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

The incident of prejudice diminished equity when the store clerk put all Hispanics in the same category of "if you are a Hispanic then you must be someone who steals from others". Without really knowing what type of persons we were, she put us in the same level as maybe someone else she had had a bad experience with.

What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

It brought feelings of being uncomfortable in the stores, however, my parents made sure they explained very carefully the reason the store clerk had done what she had done.  I guess because we were still young children it didn't affect us much and the way that my parents explained the situation also played a big part on how we developed as adults.

What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

I think that how everyone in the community think and act would change this way of thinking. We must continue to educate everyone in this sort of topic.  

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

The microaggression I witnessed  was from a previous director at our program, she was originally from North Dakota and she would always say "is this how you all do things here in South Texas"?  It was always disturbing to hear her say that, however, no one ever confronted her about how she was stating things.  What made me think was how dare she stereotype the people from South Texas and ask if this was the way we do things here.

I think that this week has opened up my eyes a little more and has made me think more about how others  see the people from South Texas.  I felt discriminated by her remarks, but was not about to confront her because that might mean my job.  It is sad to realize that this sort of thinking still goes on.  Maybe if we were to move to another state we might see how the residents of that state do things and think the same way that my former director did.  However, we must work very hard to try and stop any prejudice feelings we may have towards other races.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

In looking at the definition and how different persons define culture and diversity, I chose to call some of my close friends to ask them their perspective.  The persons I called were Levi Steptoe, Jr. (African-American State Soil Scientist), Kathy de la Pena (retired ECI Director) and Dahlia Alvarez (retired diagnostician for school district), and asked them to define culture and diversity.  I asked the same questions that are in this week’s assignment:

1.         What is your definition of culture and diversity?

2.        What affects have the two had on your professional career?

Levi Steptoe, Jr. defined culture and diversity as: “Culture and diversity are actually interconnected because of how they cannot exist or relate without the other.  You have to look at the big picture and understand how culture deals with the various groups of people in one society and diversity is the mixture of all the groups. I certainly believe that culture and diversity has influenced my professionally career for the better and I have learned to work with different cultures in the different places in which I have been assigned to work at.”  I can honestly say that it has not been easy learning and understanding the different cultures I have worked with however, I have managed to get ahead in my professional life by doing so.

Kathy de la Pena defined culture and diversity as: “Diversity is what makes our world and further defines the many individuals who you come into contact every day. I feel that culture is the whole that makes all persons humans and explains everything that we do, we say, how we dress and our way of thinking. When I first arrived in South Texas, it was very hard understanding the people and their different culture because I was raised in South Dakota and things were very different.”  I learned as much as I could about the children and families I was working with and it was a big eye opener for me.  I grew to understand the culture and was able to provide appropriate services to these children.

I decided to ask my best friend (childhood friend and from same culture as me) to define culture and diversity and her answer was the following:  “In working as a diagnostician in the elementary school setting made me understand that even in our own culture there was differences.  Going into the early childhood education field I had to know about the background of the families I was working with in order to provide the testing and services the children needed. As a professional I have learned to see how the effects of culture and diversity affect the children’s learning abilities and can I know that culture and diversity if used accurately are teaching tools to understand all types of people and their backgrounds.  I learned to identify with these children and their families even though they came from the same culture as mine, yet there were significant differences.”  I do agree that culture and diversity made an impact on my professional career and I grew in a positive manner in order to provide adequate services to the children entrusted to me.

In asking my friends to define culture and diversity it is really something to see how they all define culture and diversity in just about the same way.  It is very important to me to understand how we all are very different, yet we work for the same things, making sure that we are able to provide adequate services to children who need them.  It is very interesting how when you start asking questions and digging deeper into the thoughts of others, we all really think alike just in a different manner.

My Family Culture (Imagine the following):

The three items I would choose are a family picture, because family plays a major dynamic in my life.  I have instilled upon my own children that family is very important in our lives, without family, I feel that we would be lost.  This belief was instilled to me by my own parents.  The holy bible would be the next item I would choose because of the religious beliefs my parents have instilled upon me.  I have come to believe that without prayer and the presence of God in our lives, our lives would be meaningless.  The last item I would take with me would be whatever money I have in my possession.  This would be used to be able to get whatever necessities my family would be needing in order to survive in this new environment.

I would explain the importance of keeping the family alive and by carrying the picture would be an indication to anyone who wanted to know who your family is.  The Holy Bible would be represent the importance of my religious beliefs and the reason why I must continue to teach this to my family.   In explaining why I chose money, would be to be able to provide whatever necessities my family would be needing in this new country.

I would feel very sad, however, I would keep the money because pictures we can carry in our minds and our hearts.  The Holy Bible would be carried in our teachings and continue to practice our religious beliefs.  It would sadden me in having to give up these two items, but as I explained we can carry the images of our loved ones in our minds and hearts.  Without money, we would not be able to provide for the well-being and safety of my family.

The insight I have gained about myself is that family comes first and I must do whatever it takes to provide for them and keep them safe.  That my family culture is very strong and that I continue to strive in making sure that my own children continue with this cultural beliefs.