My Professional Hopes and Goals for the Early Childhood Field

I would like to begin by thanking my 6164 Perspective Diversity community for all their support and guidance throughout these eight weeks. This course has been a very interesting one, and I wish my 6164 community all the best as they continue to strive for greatness throughout there MSECS program.

One hope that I have when thinking about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is providing these families with a level of acceptance and compassion beyond words. I always tell my husband, "actions speak louder than words", and providing diverse families of various backgrounds with a spirit of humbleness, acceptance and gratitude is the first step. The reason I say gratitude is because, without the diversity of these families, coming here to america and their willingness to expose and share their cultures with us, we would only have access to a limited level of diversity to display and share within our classrooms and amongst our children, so we should also be thankful that our multi-cultural families are open to sharing their cultures and levels of diversity with us.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is the hiring of more adequate and qualified teachers, who are open and humbled by the leverage that each of these variables hold. Diversity within a classroom is the epitome of our social world today. The level of inequity displayed in society today is the very reason why knowledge, comprehension and deliverance of equity in early child care is imperative today. We as teachers, often times become so engulfed in our biases, personal issues and internalized privileges that we disregard how our personal social injustices affect the social justices due to our children. It is time that we all jump on the same bang wagon and strive for the best for our young children, in the field of Early Childhood Education.

Welcome to America !!!

The country of origin that I chose is Comoros. Comoros is an African Island, located on the Indian Ocean, found between Mozambique and Madagascar. In this country, the known religion is Muslim.

One aspect of the Muslim religion is the importance of time spent with a child's mother. In response to this, as the child is away from his/her mother for a substantial amount of time, I will make it my duty to make the child feel as comfortable as possible by showing much more extra attention.

I will also encourage the other children to make the child feel much more comfortable by encouraging interactions with the child.

As the child is out of their element and away from home and familiarity, I will place photos and pictures of Comoros, as well as families dressed in Muslim and Comorian attire to help make the child feel a little more comfortable.

We will explore as we dissect different aspects of the country and the dominant religion of Muslim by learning about Ramadan, and reading books about the Comorian island. .

As the child explores the classroom, and becomes much more acquainted with the different areas in the classroom, I will also place familiar clothing in the Dramatic Play area. Clothing such as the Shiromeni worn by women and long color skirts and Koffia hats worn by the men.

Lastly, Comorian people are known for their fresh fruits and vegetables. We will also incorporate such activities into the classroom, through cooking experiments and other various activities.

I believe these preparations will benefit both me and the child , as I learn more about this country and its' dynamics, while he/she learns to adapt to this country. We will help one another as we provide one another with diverse information to be shared in the classroom. The level of diversity will be beyond measure and dynamically used for the enhancement of his/her's education.

My Personal encounter with Biases and Prejudices

In all honesty, I can not recall any incidents where I was exposed to biases or prejudices. However, my brother has been exposed to this. My brother was walking with his friend, to the bank, in the afternoon. On his way to the bank, two police officers walked behind my brother and grabbed him by his shirt. They placed him against the wall, and placed hang cuffs on him. My brother's friend, dumb-founded, stood helpless as he sought to find out why my brother was being arrested. My brother continuously asked why was he being arrested, but nothing was told to him. All he was told was to be quite. When he arrived to the precinct, the officer told him that they received a call from a woman who's purse was stolen, and he matched the description given. After being given further information, my brother explained to the officers that he was no where near that vicinity. I vividly recall the day my mother received the call from my brother that he was being held in "county" for something that he did not do. After much paperwork and deliberation, they released my brother with a simple, "oh, sorry". I recall how livid I was, and even considered pressing charges. My brother, however, felt completely different. He did not argue with the officers, but accepted the apology and even shook the hands of the officers. I learned a lot from my brother in this situation and I truly applaud his humbleness and his lack of aggression.