Week 3_Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture My first interviewee is Male. Shawn is a family friend who is a different gender than me. He defines culture as “your race” and “different attributes of a person. (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definition coincides with what I have learned this week about culture in many ways because culture is what makes up a person’s character. It is when we take these characteristics and join with others who share the same characteristics to form a culture. From this understanding of identity and discourse, identity construction involves a double movement, where we are identified by a history of discourses-ideas and images of who we are-and identify ourselves by responding to the representations that have already identified us (Hall, 1996). Shawn defined diversity as “Taking different characteristics of a person and combining into society” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definition goes with what I learned about diversity because we have our uniqueness and we live in society. While this is so, we need to learn about the uniqueness of others. “As children learn new things and take on new languages, new ideas, new perspectives, it should be in addition to what they have at home” (Laureate Education, Inc. 2013). My friend An Ho, who is Vietnamese, interpreted his definition of Culture as follows: “How society behaves, everything from food to beliefs” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). This definitely coincides with what we have learned in the class this week because culture does consists of beliefs, food, clothing, socioeconomic class, etc. For diversity, he says that diversity is about variety-“different from other cultures” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). I agree with An’s definitions of the two terms related to culture and diversity because his definitions coincide with the various aspects that define a person’s heritage. William, my boyfriend of ten years, has a whole complete different definition of culture and diversity. Culture, to him means, “our roots as to where we come from, what our family does-but some cultures venture off into another culture of its own.” (Personal communication, January 26, 2013). His definition differs slightly as to what we have learned about culture and diversity this week because roots are our heritage and where we come from. He goes on to use roots as what our family does and how we are defined by our upbringing. The readings this week have not expanded on what our roots consist of. The interview process about culture and diversity has expanded my thinking process because the men gave me more details about how society defines culture and diversity. Although, my knowledge of culture and diversity tells me that the terms are intertwined to reflect characteristics of individuals in society, we all fit into society with our defining cultures and that’s what makes us diverse. References Hall, S. (1996). Introduction: Who needs ‘identity’? In S. Hall & P du Gay (Eds), Questions of cultural identity (pp. 1-17). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Laureate Education, Inc. [Author]. (2013). “Culture and diversity” Walden University. Retrieved from. (http://mym.cdn.laureate- media.com/Walden/EDUC/6164/03/downloads/WAL_EDUC6164_03_A_EN.pdf).

My Family Culture

Blog: My Family Culture Imagine the following: A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture. In response to the emergency issue at hand, nothing is dearer to me than my family. They are number one in my life. My family will always have a place in my life and heart no matter how big or small our shelter will be can come with me no matter where I go. If I had to choose three items to bring on our journey it would be my grandpas war medals, my photo book of my deceased daughter (first born), and my Jewelry (diamonds). An explanation of these items would be that the picture book is the only imagery I have of my baby besides the memories that are in my heart. The nurse in the Neonatal ICU made me a little book for my baby that had a picture with me and my ex on the only day that we got to hold her. Also, there are her baby cross, rosaries, and growth chart included in the book. This book is meaningful not just in the imagery, but the whole meaning of the memory book. My grandfather’s War Medals are meaningful to me because of their significance of my grandfather’s dedication to his country and his life story. I honor my grandfather’s struggles because he fought in a World War and raised all of his grandchildren all by himself. Lastly, my jewelry has some significance because it is my property. Also, it is valuable due to the gold and gems that encompass the metals in the rings. If I were told that I could only keep one personal item and had to give up the other two items I brought with me, I would be saddened because the items are a part of my life history. Some of the items are passed down from family members, while others are items that I want to pass down to my children. Some insights that I gained about myself is that I value my family enough to place them first in life, while cherish items that have been passed down to me. My culture is that of American, however, I learned that family comes first in any situation.

EDUC 6164-1_Perspective Diversity and Equity

Well here we are in our sixth class towards our Master's Degree. How exciting to be in all of your classes again. I really look forward to learning all I can about equity and diversity with all of you. I hope everyone has a successful year and feel free to ask me any questions at any time. Good luck to all.

When I Think of Research...

As I take time to reflect all I have learned in this course, I can only think about children and families and how they are subjects in research. I learned about ways to conduct an effective research simulation, how to read abstract and journal articles and how to gain the most out of reading them without having to read the whole article. I can definitely say that this course has taught me how to conduct research in a new light. By taking time to research, utilize interviews, observe, and focus on the subjects instead of any biases, I can really create a meaningful research simulation. In regards to children and their families, it is important to recognize that children can and do have a voice and they also provide meaningful research. My ideas about the nature of doing research have changed because I can now look at a research article and narrow my focus down to the subject matter, the participants, the findings, and the methods and determine if the research is valuable to me. I also gained insight about how to narrow my research question down to a specific model to provide the best results. I can now focus on a topic of study and locate my subjects, I can also determine how I will get information from them for my study and I can put it together to provide useful and appropriate information for others to use. Some lessons that I learned about designing my research include determining the processes of conducting research I will include in my simulation such as triangulation, finding relevant literature, obtaining consent from parents to get information from children or themselves, and deductive research methods or hypothesizing to gain results. Through all of these aspects, I can conduct research that is free of bias, is specific to the population being studied, and resourceful to others who may utilize my research for their own benefit. One lesson that I learned that stayed with me is the power relations model in research. When utilizing and speaking for children, it is important to recognize that risks can happen but it is important to realize that serious harm is unacceptable. Also, children do have a voice in research and consent is important in any research simulation. Some challenges that I encountered in my research and reading about effective research is that it is always important to narrow down the topic of study to a researchable and effective topic. What made it hard is when it involves children; the results may be broad because of the differing circumstances that they face. So, I learned to choose a topic and refine the research to focus on the particular topic and not get carried away into other topics. By creating subtopics the research becomes more thorough and the reader can see the research for its validity. Some ways that my perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified is that my job is more professional because I learned how to become a more effective researcher and I can now look at a topic and find ways to research that topic and come up with effective strategies and techniques to find a solution to that particular problem or concern. Lastly, my perceptions of an early childhood professional has changed because I realize all of the important roles, duties, responsibilities, and concerns that we are faced in any given day. From that, it gives me more opportunity to work harder and love even more what I do. Lastly, I give my outmost thanks and support to all those who have crossed my path in my journey to become an effective early childhood professional. I wish all the best and success towards any and all accomplishments having to do with the field of early childhood education. I also want to thank my instructors who have guided and mentored me throughout my program of study. A warm thank-you to all who have been there.

Week 5_Research Around the World

Research Around the World Early childhood Australia is a national, non-profit, non-government organization that works to promote the well-being of children aged 0-8, and offers a knowledge database of early childhood education professionalism to those who want to learn more about children. Some recent articles include topics of early childhood environments and inclusion. In October, Early Childhood Australia published an article about promoting children’s social and emotional well-being in childcare. Early childhood mental health is important because these issues can affect children as they grow into adults. To be aware how we as early childhood professionals can promote the well-being of children, we can help to create environments that offer rich and lasting relationships with children and their families. One surprising fact I learned based on my research about Early Childhood Australia is that there is little research about how early childhood environments promote the well-being of children. “Although Childcare centers have a vital role to play in the social and emotional development of children, the strategies used to promote children’s wellbeing in such settings are not well researched” (www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/). By researching this topic, the Australian Early Childhood website described some key challenges for not obtaining much research on such an important topic due to language barriers of families and teacher education or qualifications. One noteworthy topic that I discovered during my search from the Early Childhood Australia website is that they really focus on finding information on effective practices and obtaining information on Quality childcare centers. I think this organization is a good one to keep in our list of researchable resources because of the abundance of current and past information about the Early childhood Field. References (www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/). (200-2012). Elise Davis, Naomi Priest, Belinda Davies, Margaret Sims, Linda Harrison, Helen Herrman, Elizabeth Waters, Lyndall Strazdins, Bernie Marshall and Kay Cook. “Promoting children’s social and emotional wellbeing in childcare centers with low socioeconomic areas: Strategies, Facilitators, and Challenges. University of MelbourneLast updated October, 4, 2012). Retrieved from. (http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/australian_journal_of_early_childhood/ajec_index_abstracts/promoting_childrens_social_and_emotional_wellbeing_in_childcare_centres_within_low_socioeconomic_areas_strategies_facilitators_and_challenges.html).

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

Option 1: As I sat back with my family thinking about the positive effects research has on families, I could only think of one icon that changed the lives of thousands. Erin Brokovitch brings back memories of Julia Roberts and the movie she played in called, “Erin Brokovitch” Erin Brokovitch is an inspiration to many for her efforts of curing a small town from pollution form their own Electric and Water Company. Erin, a single mother, obtained a job at local law firm in Cali when she stumbled across some files that gained her attention. Through Erin’s research, she found that Pacific Gas & Electric was poisoning the residents of Hinkley for 30 years by leaking Chromium 6 into the ground water. (http://www.brockovich.com/mystory.html). Her efforts resulted in her performing massive research of medical files for the town, and setting up anti-pollution lawsuits. It is efforts such as Erin Brokovitch’s that helped over 600 Hinkley residents to receive settlements and the company Pacific Gas & Electric to pay out over 333 million. The reason I share this information is because one single-woman stumbled across medical files and took it various efforts to research about the town of Hinkley, and help the residents from a poisonous substance that infected the pipeline which housed their drinking water. References Official website of Erin Brokovitch. (2010). Retrieved from (http://www.brokovich.com/mystory.html). Wikipedia.org. (Nov 7, 2012). Erin Brokovitch. Retrieved from. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erin_Brockovich).

My Personal Research Journey

My chosen topic of discussion for this course is the issue of Poverty. My main focus is how we as professionals can create and implement programs to help those children in poverty stricken neighborhoods. My subtopic of choice is how we can create programs within the poverty stricken neighborhoods for parents and children to come and receive advice, pamphlets or reading materials, meals, medicine, and immunizations to assist them in raising healthy children. I feel that just offering pamphlets to parents with information about nutrition, can help them learn about what good eating has to offer. Also, by including a shelter, or dwelling within poverty stricken neighborhoods, we can offer services besides pamphlets; we can offer medical advice, nutritious meals, after-school care, and job searching tips to help parents get out of poverty. My experience with this topic has been very rewarding in the new insights that I have gained about research and the topic being one which needs attention. I think by learning what it takes to become an effective researcher, I can come up with plenty of useful measures that cities and communities can adopt, low-cost to help Americas families. With, that we can go even further to help children and families globally. By asking each of my colleagues to offer any useful advice or resources to direct in the right path towards helping those families in need can be of great value towards my research. I know that two valuable resources that deal with global efforts to end world poverty include the Global Children’s Fund and UNICEF. One can find a tremendous amount of articles, measures, and expert advice in how to help those families in need. Resources Global Children’s Fund. (www.globalfundforchildren.org). UNICEF. (www.unicef.org).