Microaggressions Week 4

The most salient experience that I have with racism was when I was interviewing for a teaching position.  I interviewed for a middle school position teaching special education.  The middle school was in an urban area and was predominantly African-American.  The principal asked me about my high school’s diversity ratio and my own personal upbringing.  My high school exhibited very little racial or ethnic diversity.  He asked me, “How in the world do you expect to relate to these children who come from poor, abuse-filled, black homes?  You have no idea what they have to deal with on a daily basis since you came out of a happy, white home.  They will eat you alive”.  I was disgusted by his comments.  He was judging me before he even knew me.  I told him that despite my upbringing, I attended a diverse university and was not racist.  He made several other rude, demeaning comments toward me about my inability to teach African-American children.  It was very frustrating.  I thanked him for his time and told him that I did not want to work in an atmosphere where I had to prove that I was not racist.  He knew nothing about me.  My family is bi-racial and prior to my father finishing college (which he did when I was 5) we lived with limited financial means.  Just because my “surface culture” fit into the dominant culture in the United States, all families are different and should be treated as such. 

This experience made me realize how quickly someone can judge others by only their surface culture.  It is frustrating and unfortunately I have been on both ends of the experience.  I have judged others wrongly at times.  This is something that I need to work on.  

(I chose this photo of our trip to Disney this past summer.  We were are Epcot and loved the diversity that it presented.  Noah, Masen, Maddyn, Mekhi, Owen, & Ella with Mickey!)

My family is blessed to be racially diverse, have multiple religions, differing sexual orientations, differing financial statuses, and ability levels.  Diversity can be so beautiful!  We can learn so much from each other!!! 

WEEK 3 Cultural Definition

THREE FRIENDS:
My Brother-in-law Stan:  "My definition of culture is, I guess, that I am a Black man.  I am involved with my family, well my in-laws and my own family.  I am from Indiana, but have lived a lot of places.  I am a Marine."
"My Mom was a single, hard-working mother.  We moved a lot.  I knew she loved me.  After she died, I was pretty lost.  I lived with family, but I was not really involved.  I started to value family when I met your sister."
"Diversity is a mix of different aspects of your life, like race, sex, finances, how many are in your family, if you do stuff with your family."

Matt:  "I guess my culture is that I am a heterosexual, white male.  I am now a single father.  Divorce sucks.  It changes you." 
"Growing up, I tried to avoid my family.  I had a ton of chores on the farm.  I worked hard.  I guess I learned the value of hard work and how it pays off."
"I guess diversity is how mixed up your heritage is, like I am Irish, Scottish mix.  People can be many cultures or races."

My sister Amber:  "My definition of culture is that I am a family-centered, wife and mother.  I love and cherish family.  I am a mixture of a country and city girl." 
"Well, you know my childhood.  Mom and Dad were very loving and involved.  They taught us about God and the values of education.  We knew what they expected, not that I always did that.  I have a lot of good memories of growing up.  I hope my kids have good memories too." 
"Diversity can be any mixture of differences.  The differences can be family structure and dynamics.  My kids are bi-racial.  One way to be diverse is what your family values and stresses the importance of.  That is one example of diversity." 

These conversations made me realize how different peoples' definitions of culture can be.  Some people include race, some include gender, and some people include their values in their definition.  I think that childhood memories and interactions can form a basis for your cultural values.  However, I know that it does not have to make you follow in the path of your past.  For example, my cousins (my Mom's brother's children) grew up in an abusive home.  The parents were addicted to drugs and alcohol.  My parents and grandparents ended up taking my aunt and uncle to court to get custody of the kids.  My cousins went to college and have great family lives.  I am so thankful that my parents and my wonderful grandparents helped them.  Their lives could have been very different. 

Week 2 6164

This is actually something similar to a discussion that I had with my husband this week in wake of the catastrophic tornado activity in our state.  Honestly, I believe that preserving our culture would be importantm but the health and safety of my family would be most important. 
The three items: 
*I would take would be my photo album containing photos of my granparents, my parents, my in-laws, my sister's family, my husband's siblings, my husband and I as children, and of course my own children.  The photos are of major events such as birth, baptism, holidays, or weddings.
*A Bible. 
*A container containing baby supplies of my children. 

I would keep the photo album.  While the Bible is important in my faith journey, I do not feel that I would need a physical representation to continue to pray.  The baby clothes and blankets would represent my love of family and how family-centered we are.  It would also be represented in the photo album.  The family photo album would demonstrate our love of family and that most events are a family affair.  The photos would include our faith (by photos of baptisms and holidays) and our love of family (by including our loved ones). 
These are examples of photos that are in the photo album.  The first photo is of my nephews (Mekhi and Masen) and Noah; second photo is of my niece (Maddy) and Owen; third photo is of Masen and Ella; fourth photo is of them enjoying breakfast before school.  Family time is the best!!!

I have always known that my life revolves around family.  While giving up the Bible would be difficult, I would also want my children to have photos of their family heritage.  This was an interesting assignment. 

WEEK 8 Reflection 6163

I learned a lot from this course.  Prior to this course, I read research studies frequently about issues related to my son's medical issues.  However, I was always unsure what actually to believe from the information.  The terminology that I learned from this course will be very helpful in deciphering the important information. 

My research simulation was about whether parent knowledge about the laws regarding the transition from early intervention services to preschool impacts a parent's choice on available programs for their child.  I can tell you that I truly believe that it does.  My youngest son just "aged-out" of First Steps services and I have several friends whose children are in the process of "aging-out" of services.  If I did not have a background in special education, I think that I would have been lost.  This has made me realize that my role as a future developmental therapist for First Steps can also be an advocate for parents to learn about their parent rights.  It is so important to know the laws. 

I did find the course to be very challenging.  The terminology was hard and I was often confused on the variables of the studies.

Thank you all so very much for your input during this course.  I look forward to "seeing" many of you in our next courses!  Best wishes to you all!!! 

International Research Week 5 EDUC 6163

Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): Developed and maintained by the University of Victoria, Canada, this virtual university is the international gateway for early childhood research worldwide. Through the link below, you can access ECDVU’s Sub-Saharan Africa portal. The second link takes you to a list of current early childhood research conducted by students in Sub-Saharan Africa.

What are some of the current international research topics?

The topics included: Pilot Study of the Adaptation of an Established Measure to Assess the Quality of Child Services in a Selected Orphanage in Zambia (http:www.ecdvu.org); Building Community Leadership for Quality Sustainability in Madrasa Preschools: The Case of Madrasa Preschools Post Graduation Support;  Assessment of the Caring Practices in Two Motherless Babies’ Homes in Abia State, Nigeria and the Development and Delivery of a Nutrition Training Program to the Staff of These Homes to Improve Nutrition of Children in Their Care; The Status of Coordination and Supervision of Early Childhood Education in Ghana; A Community-driven Rural Early Childhood Development (ECD) Project, with Emphasis on Culturally and Developmentally Appropriate Exploratory Learning Concepts; Utilizing Indigenous Stories in the Promotion of Early Childhood Development Programs in Uganda; Integrating Indigenous Knowledge in ECD Training and Services; Involving Fathers in Early Childhood Care and Development; Assessing the Influence of Different Early Childhood Development Models on Pre-School Children’s School Readiness in Kenya; Strengthening the Capacity of Grandparents in Providing Care to Children Less than 8 Years Old Affected by HIV/AIDS.

Many of the topics were similar in nature to topics that we see in the United States, such as quality of child services, school readiness, involving fathers, single parent homes, and cultural diversity.  However, there were several topics that were somewhat different.  These topics consisted of a study about grandparents providing care for young children affected by HIV/AIDS and studies about indigenous populations.   

What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

I was interested to learn about Diversity research being conducted.  Some of our close family friends just returned from a mission trip in Africa.  They stated that they worked with children in an orphanage whose parents had died of HIV/AIDS.  The volunteers took supplies and educational supplies over to the children.  Some of these supplies included books and other resources that had been donated by various organizations.  While this is wonderful, I am sure that few (if any) of the supplies were translated or readable for the children. 

What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?

This website was about improving the quality of life for children and their families in Africa.  The program seeks to accomplish this through working, on a sustained basis, with ECD leaders from across the continent. The Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) is an internationally recognized program operating within the School of Child and Youth Care at the University of Victoria. It was interesting that this program is virtual in nature and research is done by people around the world.  This research impacts the lives of many children and families living in Africa. 

References

http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/index.php
http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php

Week 3 Ethics

My background is in Special Education. I love working with children. I found teaching children with special needs to be very rewarding. I also have children of my own. My youngest son has special needs.



This is one of the reasons why I am very passionate about inclusion or mainstreaming.  Inclusion describes the process of integrating or including students with disabilities into general education classes.  These students would be included in their least restrictive environment (LRE) mandated by the Education for All Handicapped Children Act of 1975 (Public Law 94-142; now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). 



What are the perceptions of general education teachers toward teaching students with disabilities in their classes? Much of the available relevant information is found in teacher surveys (Scruggs & Mastropieri, 2006).  These surveys studied teacher’s beliefs, opinions, and acceptance of the inclusion of children with special needs in general education. 



Although personal feelings and beliefs toward inclusion is based on personal values, I am so thankful that this research was conducted to try to increase acceptance and knowledge about inclusion.  The key is education and knowledge about differences. 

My son, Owen, has special needs.  I am thankful that students with special needs are included to thier LRE.  My nephew, Masen, also has some special needs.  Masen was born at 28 weeks and has ADHD and other processing issues.  He is in 2nd grade and is fully included in his classroom.   



References

Scruggs, T.E. & Mastropieri, M.A. (1996).  Mainstreaming in Education.  Exceptional Children, Vol. 63(1). 

PHOTO:  My little babies...Ella, Masen (one of my nephews), Noah, and Owen...they love playing dress-up. 

Research Simulation

OWEN...my early intervention star!!!
Ella and Noah...hugs!!!
Noah, Owen, & Ella...sibling love!!!

My background is in special education.  My goal is to become a developmental therapist.  However, it is my role as a mother of a child with special needs helped me formulate my research simulation.  My topic is parent knowledge of available services as a factor in children's effective transition from early intervention to preschool. 

My son just turned 3 and aged-out of First Steps.  If I did not have a background in special education, I would not have been prepared for transitioning my son from early intervention services.  As a developmental therapist, I hope that I will be informed in guilding parents in the right direction and help ease the transition into preschool. 

I found some good articles about my topic, but I am not exactly sure how to run the study.  I am thinking that I will survey parents of children who are about to or have just aged-out of early intervention services.