Professional Hopes and Goals!

I hope that someday everyone will have access to a great education. This includes having equal access to resources that help aide in education like technology. Working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds and different neighborhoods has shed a light unequal access to resources. 

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice requiring a course on anti-bias education with in the yearly service training required by most center based programs. I believe this will help remind teachers to put their best foot forward in this area. 

At the end of this course of I would like to thank my colleagues for sharing personal experiences, thoughts, ideas and feedback. This course went extremely fast! I wish we could have had more time together but we all know the next class has already started. Best of luck to you all! God bless!

Welcoming Families from All Around the World

• The name of “your” family’s country of origin: Liberia
• At least five ways in which you will prepare yourself to be culturally responsive towards this family:

1. Learn greetings in their language: Hello, good morning, good bye and verbs like: Go, eat, sit, play, sleep, etc. in order to help the child transition into a new environment without stress.

2. Research cultural holidays and celebrations and display a picture or map of Liberia in the classroom. This will allow the child to remain connected with his cultural and embrace differences. 

3. Allow families time for prayer, bible study, or scripture reading. According to the CIA World Fact Book 85% of Liberians are Christian. 

4. During meal time I would make sure that our center or site is able to offer rice with every meal because it is a staple food in Liberia and can be a transitional food used to explore American dishes. I would also make sure that we are able to offer healthy but familiar alternatives i.e Bananas vs. Plantains. 

5. Lastly, I will make sure to have an open line of communication on a daily basis where the family can ask questions and/or provide feedback. 

• A brief statement describing in what ways you hope that these preparations will benefit both you and the family.

Overall I hope to accomplish a sense of trust and safety with the new family upon arrival with these preparations. My desire would be to make their transition to our country as smooth as possible. 

Central Intelligence Agency (2015) CIA World Fact Book. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/li.html

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

http://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2013/06/06/188891906/the-fat-shaming-professor-a-twitter-fueled-firestorm

There is bias and prejudice against obese and overweight people in our society. Yes, the thin win and the individuals who already have extra weight to carry around experience unfair and unjust behavior. Unfortunately these bias and prejudice behaviors are occasionally exhibited by people you least expect. In this case a Psychology Professor at NYU & U posted a tweet regarding obese PhD applicants. This twitter post above is an prime example of someone in a leadership position correlating eating habits, appearance, and intellect. It's unfair to question someones ability based on their weight. I imagine that any obese person who came in contact with this professor was discriminated against and treated as inadequate. I personally don't agree with it. I seriously think obesity is a disease and condition that should be treated just like any other disease. In our society fast food, sugar, and processed foods have increased in television commercials, radio, and all other social media outlets. It's unfair to make individuals dealing with this condition feel less than when their surrounded by temptation. 

In order to change this incident into a opportunity for greater equity, I believe all professors should be mandated to take a class on diverse populations including obese students. Fat shaming and weight discrimination should not be tolerated.