Professional Hopes and Goals

My hope is to make a positive impact on the programs children and families.  I am so excited to start on this journey and when I look back years later, I want to be able to see the children I worked with as successful adults, maybe even in the oval office.

One goal I would like to set for early childhood related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to give my absolute best to the children and families I work with to encourage a positive outcome in order t empower them to do and want more.

I would like to thank all of you for sharing your insights and experiences.  I love this coursework because I am engaging with some great minds in this field.  I would also like to thank Dr. Kein for her patience and consistent efforts to assist me in improving my writing and critical thinking, which are going to be so very important in our field.

Although the picture above includes a magic wand, work and dedication are the key to success.

I pray we are all success in this class and the classes to come.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

                                                    Chain Bridge in Budapest, Hungary

We are welcoming a family from the country of Hungary.  Located in central Europe, Hungary has a rich culture which offers its residents and visitors beautiful sites and scenery to view.

The ways I would prepare for my family’s arrival to our class would be to:

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S         Search the library and internet for the history and culture of Hungarian families.

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      Find the most appropriate way to welcome them into the classroom (hang a flag, prepare foods,etc)

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             If possible, find out the child’s name and if it is difficult to pronounce, practice in order to make the child   feel at home in my classroom.

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      Research toys or classroom materials that may differ from ours and try to have them in the classroom.

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             Remain as culturally sensitive and open as possible to learn from the child and their family.

 In preparation for the family’s arrival, I hope to begin and maintain a warm and open relationship with the  family.  I hope to make them as comfortable as possible. But what I most hope for is to educate and nurture the child and family with excellence and care.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

I chose this image because Steve Biko was an extraordinary activist.  He fought and died for the elimination of Apartheid and I will remember him in this way. 

I was told of a story of a Muslim woman who was driving home from work, days after 9-11, and she was almost run off the road by a person who, with malice in his face told her to, “go back home!”  She was stunned, but cleverly said to him, “I’m on my way home.”  

This was one of the most outward manifestations of blind hatred I have heard in my life.  To hate because of someone else’s action is the epitome of ignorance.  I was not saddened by this act, I was enraged.  If she were not a strong, confident woman, this could have taken away her feelings of security in her own neighborhood. But she knew these things would occur and remained strong throughout the weeks, months, and years after the horrible tragedy that left loved one’s without family members, the global community in unrest, and a whole religion under the microscope of society.

It would have to be a total change of society beliefs in order to rectify the dilemma of prejudice.  The reality is, this has been an issue since the beginning of diversity in the world. In order to conquer this parasite each one must teach one the beauty that resides in all of humanity.  Steve Biko had it right when he said the oppressor' s weapon is the mind of the oppressed.  

It was not a world banker that ran this women off the road, it was a common man who felt it was "his duty" to "serve his country" by retaliating against anyone that looked like the people who paralyzed the world.  We have to take a stand and begin to look at the whole picture and make conscious efforts to join together to achieve success.