I was trying to find the perfect way to thank everyone that has taken the time out of their busy lives to answer a question, give me inspiration or sometimes just be a friend. To some this is just another class but to me it was another way to meet amazing people on my journey. Thank you for everything.

This week you read about the five stages of team development: forming, storming, norming, performing, and adjourning. Consider the adjourning phase for several of the groups in which you have been involved. Think about which aspects of the groups made for the hardest good-bye. Are high-performing groups hardest to leave? This is one of the hardest groups to leave. I think that when you leave a group that you think is not high performing, only to end up in a situation where you are disappointed by the dynamics of the team. I think a great example of this is I left a center that was pretty financially depleted and ended up somewhere I thought was going to lead me to a better future because they seemed to be more organized and in a better area. What I didn't realize was that the financial aspects of the center had nothing to do with how the establishment was run. At the time I was treated pretty bad because I didn't have a degree and I ended up getting severance pay because I was so miserable. When you are with a team of people that are all looking to achieve the same goal, it is really hard to start over.

Groups with the clearest established norms? This is also a group that is pretty tough to leave because when you leave to go to another center ( I am just using this as an example) you have already established normalcy and a set way of achieving a goal. I imagine that it is going to be really tough to leave my colleagues when I finish my masters degree because this is normalcy to me. I have been collaborating on projects and researching papers for the past two years. When this is over it is going to be really tough for me to get back into another routine. I think adjourning is essential because it brings closure. I am getting sad now just thinking about it.

A recent conflict that I had at work is I drive a bus in the morning and I pulled in the front of the school to let the little girl walk into the building. When I opened the door I saw a teacher that worked for the school standing across the street shaking her head at me. Before this class I would get pretty heated, park the bus and maybe have some kind of conflict. Times have changed for me. I calmly asked the woman why she was shaking her head and she thought it was a bad idea where I parked to let the little girl out and I should pull up to an underpass ( that you could not fit a bus through) and then cut in front of cars on the way out. Soooo, I calmly asked, “Is this what you want me to do?” and she shrugged her shoulders. So I told her that I need directions from her or someone who has answers before coming to any kind of conclusion to this problem. Later in the day, there was a call from the school to my work that they worked out the situation and gave me an answer. The first thing I did was avoided internal violence, I was very calm when I was speaking to this woman and the second thing I learned was I did not take it personally that she shook her head at me, I simply wanted an answer. Does anyone have any advice they could give me on this situation?

Being judged by my Peers

This week was really interesting. Our assignment was to first observe ourselves as communicators and then have family/coworker do the same. When I evaluated myself I tried to be as honest as possible and I think perhaps I was being a little too critical. People did not see me as abrasive but someone who did not warm up to big crowds. I decided instead of giving it to just two people I gave it to as many coworkers as possible. Not everyone turned it in but I think that in every job situation (if someone is brave enough) they should be evaluated by their peers. These are some of the things that surprised me that there was disagreement on whether I was open with people and the use of my time during the day. I was shocked by this because I didn't think that people would be able to pick up on this. This just goes to show you that, they are swifter then I give them credit for. I was also shocked that people noticed that I do get impatient when things do not move as quickly as I want them to. I am not sure if this is a positive or a negative attribute.
Insights that I learned about communication is that I need to slow down and not be presumptuous when listening to all sides of the story. I have learned this week that I do not take enough into account the person's background, culture or the way they communicate. This is something that I need to work on in the near future. I also learned that I need to be more comfortable when expressing my opinions. My uneasiness does come off as aggressiveness and this again is something that needs to needs to be changed. I really did enjoy this assignment.

How to Communicate

Three strategies that I could use to communicate more effectively are first know that there are perceptual barriers. “ Successful intercultural communication requires mindfulness, being respectful of others, and maintaining an accurate perception of the situation.” (O'Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. 2012) When I take this information that is in the text and apply it to communicating in an everyday situation there will be times that I do not agree and I will have to hold my tongue, respecting the culture of another person.

“ Stereotyping is the act of fitting individuals into an existing schema without adjusting the schema appropriately; it involves organizing information about groups of people into catergories so that you can generalize about their attitudes, behavior, skills, morals, and habits.” (O'Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. 2012) I think that when we communicate with people we first must realize that everyone stereotypes, this is a natural instinct. As it says in the text some stereotypes are positive as well as negative. Our jobs as Educators is to look at families and coworkers as individuals and try to look beyond this. Because this will lead eventually to prejudice. When we are thinking about or examining preconceived situations in our everyday life that have already happened or assume are going to cause a situation, it is really easy to make snap judgments. In order to become an effective communicator we must come to the conclustion of a problem without gathering the information first to solve it or at least listen to all sides of the story.

I The biggest problem I have personally with communicating is that if someone I am trying to speak to doesn't speak the language, I will talk slower and pick up the accent. If I make the assumption if someone doesn't have enough intelligence to follow simple directions (this would be anyone) it is really hard for me to hear their side of the story when something goes wrong. These are things I need to work on myself.

References

O'Hair, D. & Wiemann, M. (2012) Real Communication; An Introduction Bedford/St. Martins; Boston*NewYork

• What do you think the characters' relationships are based on the ways in which they are communicating? The episode that I chose was “Puddy is A Christian”. When they are sitting around the table at the diner, George is reading the menu not really interested in what Elaine is saying while Jerry is talking to her by making eye contact. Now we fast forward while they are in the house and both George, Jerry are now looking intently at the Jesus Fish Elaine took off Puddy's car. George goes to watch tv, again not making eye contact with her but instead watching television this time. Puddy is now in the house with Elaine looking down and walking away but still speaking to her. Jerry is making eye contact again in the last scene and George is reading the newspaper at the diner not making eye contact.
  Based on the way the characters are communicating with the sound off I would say
  that George really doesn't have much interest in what Elaine is trying to say while Jerry throughout the episode is making contact. Elaine seems to sit by Jerry and across from George when talking. This tells me that they have an established relationship.
• What are they feeling and expressing based on the nonverbal behavior you are observing?
  Jerry is inquiring whatever Elaine is speaking about. Elaine is expressing fustration over a dilemma and it seems George does not care.

Now, watch the show with the sound turned on.

• What assumptions did you make about the characters and plot based on the ways in which you interpreted the communication you observed?
  I assumed George was not listening but with the sound on he was irritated that more people did not appreciate Christian rock. I assumed he wasn't listening. In the kitchen George asked if she changed the radio station and didn't care Elaine stole Puddy's Jesus Fish. Puddy told Elaine very calmly she was going to Hell when I assumed he was passively again not paying attention to what she she said.
• Would your assumptions have been more correct if you had been watching a show you know well?
  I believe that they would because the body movements of the characters did not always match the dramatic things that they were saying. Which does make it funny when you are watching it with the sound on.

Waiting My Turn

The person that I think has competent communication skills is someone that I know that has a radio show. The reason that this person has incredible communication skills is that even if the radio host disagrees with what the person says, they always give the person the chance the speak. The incredible thing about this is, even if the person's point is not valid the audience is allowed to dictate this and it is not the host that narrates the storyline. I believe that when we communicate with another person we need to listen more instead of trying to defend our point. I had an English professor tell me once years ago, that everything that goes into my head does not need to be released from my mouth. I would like to monitor some of my communication skills after someone who's job is to listen as well as speak. I also believe we are sometimes quick to defend what we have to say instead of being open enough to see a different point of view.

Thank you Everyone

First I want to thank everyone in this class that supported me and took the time out of their day to respond to my discussion questions or help me on my journey in this class.

• One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds 
• My hope that I have when working with the diversity with my families is, everyone that I come in contact with will be as excited as I am to continue to learn to build a stronger community and a better way to communicate.
• One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice (any format and any length)
• One goal I would like to set for myself is in the next 8 years to fluent in a language other then my own. This is something that is not only important to me but I feel a true passion for this cause.
•  

The New Student

My family has arrived from Spain. I will be culturally responsive by having different phrases hung on my wall in order for the staff to become better acquainted with the child.

¡Hola! - Hello

¿Cómo está usted? (frm) ¿Cómo estás? - How are you?

No entiendo / No comprendo – I don't understand

¡Lo siento! - I'm sorry

Un idioma nunca es suficiente – One language is never enough

I would research and ask questions about the cultural background of the family and make my schedule adjustable for any questions.

I would ask the family to bring in objects from their home so our class could become more acclimated with the child.

We would read folk tales from Spain and look at globes, pictures.

We would also feast on authentic Spanish food

I would hope these adjustments would not only benefit the child that is entering my classroom but also my other students. These small tasks would add to cultural equity and hopefully the children would not only benefit from this in early childhood but carry the experiences throughout their lives.

Resources

(2013) Omnigolt retrieved from http://www.omniglot.com/language/phrases/spanish.php

Racist Comments

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

The assistant director at my center tells the story of when she was in the Kindergarten room years ago. There was a child that was giving her an especially hard time and she turned to correct them. The child stopped what they were doing and turned, looking at the assistant director saying, “ My father said I didn't have to listen to you because you were nothing but a monkey.” My assistant director said her heart had never felt so broken. She is a black woman.

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?
  Because of the racist comment from the father, the assistant director was not looked at as an authority figure. Much less a human being.
• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

This brings up feelings of sadness for the assistant director that she had to experience this, sadness for the child that she will grow up with such a racist outlook on life and hatred for the father.

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

In order for equity in the kindergarten class we would have to bring more diversification in the classroom. Through literature, food, speakers, music ect it would have to be taught that an African American or anyone should never be called such horrific things. Last year in the Kindergarten class they went to the museum and learned what slavery was.

An example of microaggression that I experienced was when a parent who is a psychologist and from California came to pick up his daughter. It had been an especially trying day and the children were just not in synch with me. The father walked in the door sat down tiredly and watched the children as I tried to get them in order. I turned to the father and apologized. I told him that I was a little intimidated because he was a child psychologist and I merely worked in a school age room. He stood up and said he make 270.00 dollars and hour to examine or diagnose a situation. I told him I make seven.

When the father used how much income he made in order to shut down any proceeding conversation we were about to embark I felt powerless. I didn't feel it was worth his time for him to ask me a question about what was exactly going on in room but to give me the message that he simply wanted to go home.

I can honestly say that this week has really opened my eyes with stereotypes and prejudice. I was surprised that there was just such an underlying nastiness in the way people talked to one another to gain power in a situation. Yesterday in work when a woman was put in charge to close down our building and tried to undermine what I said to the children as a way to embarrass me and empower herself I felt a sense of “bitchiness” when I retaliated. I feel guilt when I am in this situation and I am forced to regain power by speaking up for myself.

Diversity and Assimilation

I would like to begin with saying the first person I talked to an Indian coworker named Nita. Nita to be seemed very much involved in her heritage but I was really surprised by the answers she gave me about culture and diversity. She told me about her daughter who is in 5^th grade. Through out the years, the administrators and teachers would constantly get her name wrong, even as going as far as spelling it wrong on a certificate she received in school. Nita said she tried to explain to her daughter that she had a difficult name and to have understanding when people were not able to pronounce it. I told Nita about our reading and how this is really an event that chipped away the spirit of this little girl. What I had taken out of the conversation was that assimilation was more important to Nita then diversity. The reason I came to this conclusion was because with each example of an Indian tradition that was taken from my reading there was an excuse why this couldn't take place in an Early Childhood setting.

My husband says culture says a certain number of people who have similar beliefs in society while diversity is people with points of views or backgrounds/differences.

The last person I asked about culture and diversity was a parent of Chinese decent. We had a conversation on how American and Asian culture were different. She told me that she did not practice a lot of the traditions that were from her home country. An example of this would be, on the child's first birthday the baby picks from a group of objects to determine what their occupation will be when they become older. She thought this was silly when she thought of others doing this. She said it didn't bother her when she thought people thought she was something other then Chinese. What I had gathered again from this conversation is assimilation is more important and traditional cultural values have taken a backseat.

“All young children first develop their self-concept within their family, getting their initial sense of place in the world from who their family is and where they fit inside it. By preschool age, they begin also developing group cultural identities and social identities.” Sparks, D. L.& Edwards O. J. (2008)

I really enjoyed talking about other peoples cultures and it opened my eyes to assimilation and diversity. With the people that I talked to there was a lot less of the diversification that I expected.

Reference

Sparks, D. L. & Edwards J. O. (2008) Anti Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. National Education For Young Children

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.

This is the first item I would take with me. It is a coin that my husband got me after my grandfather passed away. They would give these coins to fighter pilots while my grandfather was in the Navy. This holds dear to my family culture because it reminds me what my values were based on. It reminds me of the stories that my grandfather instilled in me since I was a little girl and how I still pass these stories on to this day.

These are metro tokens from Trenton New Jersey. I actually have them on a necklace instead of a pair of cufflinks. I wear them frequently because they ground me and help me remember where I come from whenever I feel as though I am lost. My tokens are pretty beat up and it only has meaning to me. To everyone else they look like a coin.

The third thing I would bring is a clothespin. This clothespin would represent my grandmother raising us. It would represent the plastic tubs of water she put in the yard for us to play in the Summer and the smell of fresh laundry we would run through that she hung up. My grandmother is a huge part of my culture and things I also still use today.

If I was told I could only keep one of these items, it would feel was though I would have to give up that memory. These identities are so engrained in me I do not think this would be possible.

The Journey: Research Around the World

The Journey: Research Around the World: What are some of the current international research topics? One thing that I noticed while looking at the Early ...

Thank you for helping me

Before I start my blog post I want to thank everyone in this class for my journey. I was really nervous in the beginning that I wasn't going to be able to pull through but with your help I am almost at the end. This is one of the most insightful classes I have taken so far at Walden. I've learned how to put together a research study while keeping an ethical perspective. I have a better understanding of quantitative and qualitative although I do struggle with the both a little. “One of the first tasks of the child development researcher is to decide on a basic method by which to collect information. Scientific inquiries generally fall into two broad categories: those conducted using qualitative methods and those conducted using quantitative methods. As the word "qualitative" implies, qualitative methods employ nonnumeric designs and attempt to study phenomena inductively, as a process, and in the place in which the phenomena occur. Conversely, the quantitative approach attempts to measure phenomena numerically and make conclusions deductively and with respect to outcomes or products. Both approaches are well represented in the study of children.” (n.d) Methods of Studying Children - Qualitative Methods Of Child Study, Quantitative Methods of Child Study retrieved from http://social.jrank.org/pages/413/Methods-Studying-Children.html

My ideas have changed about research because now I see it more as a process. I didn't realize that if you become emotionally \involved with the participants, this might affect your study. One of my favorites topics this semester is children and power relations. In the past when research was conducted it was done so unethically without the consent of parents. This is no longer the case. When we are conducting a research study the safety of the children must come first, we must also decide on what method we will use to study the children. Some of the challenges that I have encountered was learning the terminology and before those helpful hints on how to read a research study, I also struggled with that.