Practicing Awareness on Microagressions

Unfortunately, we all probably witness more microaggressions than we realize. Everyone seems to have "good intentions" at someone else's expense.

What I have noticed about the Early Childhood field, is that teachers are very open about their sexual orientation. How their colleagues respond to their sexual orientation is another story. Many people suppress their disagreement with, aversion to, or repulsion of homosexuality. Some do it out of respect, some fear, some because they don't know how to handle such a sensitive topic.

Earlier this week I was talking with two teachers in my office about my son. My son is a personal trainer and body builder and he is quite fit, to put it mildly.
The young ladies were looking at pictures of my son's physique and called a third teacher into the office. The first two young ladies became quite excited and started motioning for the third teacher to hurry and come see.
As the third teacher approached my desk, one of the other ladies commented, "Oh, we've got something for you to see. Look at this eight pack," she yells, pointing at my computer screen. The third teacher looks at the picture and smiles. She looked at me in disbelief. "That's really your son or is that a picture of a model? He's got abs in places I've never seen abs!" One of the other teachers started clapping her hands and high-fives the other teacher. "I knew that would do it. There is no way you can look at a body that hot and not get turned on! We're going to turn you yet!" The other teacher joined in and informed me, "Yea, we've been trying to find guys to hook her up with. We're going to make her forget all about that girlfriend and come back to our side. You can be changed, girl, just watch us." Pointing at the screen, she tells the third teacher, "Look at him. That's what you've been missing."

The third teacher laughed the comments off and remarked, "Well, good luck with that and you don't even know any guys that look like that, not even for yourself." It was a half laugh and half grunt. I am aware that she loves her girlfriend very much and I knew she was bothered by the comments, but apparently she was used to this teasing by her friends. But, was it teasing? To me, it sounded like they were invalidating who she was and her reality was that she was very committed to her girlfriend.

Later that day I called the two teachers back to my office. I asked them whether they frequently teased her like that. They laughed and mentioned it was all in fun, they were just "messing with her". I explained to them that they can't make jokes or comments in the workplace about "changing" a person. I asked them how did they think their comments had really affected her? They admitted they had not considered her feelings. They thought it was funny and it wasn't meant to be personal. How is a person's sexual orientation and sex life not personal? I knew they felt I took it too far and was getting too involved in their "friendly" way of interacting with each other. Perhaps I was, but I saw a look on the other girl's face that also told me that perhaps that so called kidding was one sided and unwelcome.

As a witness to such an exchange, I was taken off guard. I knew they were friends and really liked each other. However, even joking about "changing" someone is a clear indication that deep down, they saw her lifestyle as wrong and in need of fixing or reversing.

I saw it as a teachable moment and I wanted to prevent any further "kidding" like this between friends. I wanted them to honor their relationship by respecting their friend's lifestyle and values. We will not agree with our friends about everything, but we all have the right to make our own decisions about how we live and who we are and that right should be respected.

This experience underscored for me how so-called "innocent" or well-meaning comments can make a person feel as if they are not "normal" because they are different. I don't want any of my staff feeling out of place because of their identities.

I perceive prejudice, discrimination, and/or stereotypes as exclusive and pointless and the outcome is hurt, exclusion, and even feeling traumatized. This experience illustrated for me how you don't just "bounce back" from being discriminated against. You try to figure out how to move on and somehow live with the hurt without allowing the hurt to take over your existence. Discrimination is an indignity. It affects how you feel about yourself. Discrimination results in feelings of shame, hurt, disgust, embarrassment, and even anger.

I watched two little girls coloring with a box of 64 crayons. I love the names of colors nowadays, macaroni and cheese? Wow. As they were coloring, they would say, "Pass me another color" or "give me some more colors". There were 64 colors to choose from. Not once did I hear, "Pass me the different color".

Why can't we think like that? Are we different or just another of many choices?

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I emailed two of my professional acquaintances and I spoke with one of my colleagues at the center.
I asked them each for their definition of culture and diversity. Here is what I learned:

• Culture is what a person believes in and values. As educators, it is important that we respect the beliefs of others and share in their values.
• Culture is a person's traditions, customs, and lifestyle.
• Culture is part of a person's race and how they were raised. It includes their food, clothing, and language.We work with families of different cultures and learn how to respect what they believe and how they live.
• Diversity is the differences in a group of people. Being in a diverse group of people means being with many people from all races and colors.
• Diversity means mixed races and abilities. Classrooms and workplaces are beginning to represent people from all over the world and some people may be handicapped, in wheelchairs, blind, autistic, etc. A diverse population is inclusive.
• Diversity is how we see ourselves and others and all of our differences.

I think that defining diversity proved to be more difficult than defining culture. All three defined diversity as a term used to describe disability or races.
The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied, which are included in these answers are race, beliefs, values, lifestyle, food, language, clothing, how we see ourselves in the world, and abilities.
 Some of the aspects omitted were gender, sexual orientation, religion, and socioeconomic status.
I think in discussing the definitions with others I really realized how much we only think of surface culture.
I am influenced by these responses to really consider a person's differences and culture on a deeper level, rather than what I can see.I think my work with children and families must involve getting to know people for who they are and how they feel about their place in the world.
Before our readings this week, I had never thought about culture as how we see ourselves in the world.
I am not sure how I see myself in the entire world, but in each part of my world I see myself through my various identities. I want others to see me as a person who cares about others and is willing to help, without being asked.

My Family Culture

OMG! Hardest post EVER! For me this is probably the most challenging assignment I have had yet. I envy my colleagues who are tussling with all of these wonderful objects they have that they just can't decide over which to take and which to leave behind. And I'm looking around and can't pinpoint anything that I cherish that much!

I actually don't like this assignment. I think it is interesting, but I would have preferred it to be about survival instead of culture because I know exactly what I would take for an emergency evacuation. But, that's evacuating here with the infrastructure intact.

The assignment says I will have my immediate family with me. Once I read this, I didn't need anything else. If I had to evacuate, all I would want is my immediate family. Yes, I would hope my extended family is evacuated, but that's another assignment.
So, this became very challenging for me. In reality, all I would need is my family and I would move on. Would I need money? Is the U.S. currency going to be worthless or will I be able to exchange it? Wouldn't I need money to start over? My wants are all the things we have to leave behind.

So I reread the directions, things that I hold dear. Think harder.
I decided the three things I hold dear are:

1. My MacBook. Well, my IPad is smaller. I'll take that.
2. Photos of my husband, children, and dogs in a small album.
3. The small file I keep that contains birth certificates, marriage license, social security cards, and financial documents.

In explaining what these items mean to me: My IPad is the electronic version of life. I can virtually connect and communicate with people from all over the world; my photos would hold my memories of my family that I cherish; the file contains documentation of who we are.

Now, they tell me to give up something and choose. I'll keep my photo album. Although we are all together, I have no way of knowing if we will all survive. I don't know if they use electronics in this new culture. What if I can't take new pictures once we arrive? What if someone becomes ill? I would lose my loved one, but still have pictures to remind me of his/her smile; I could look at him/her everyday and think about all of the things we did when that photo was taken. I can't rely on my memory. I don't even remember what I just ate for breakfast an hour ago! I need the visuals.

What I learned about myself is that I cherish my family more than any of the things I own. What I learned about my family culture is that our truest values are how we care for and about each other. We need each other.

The insight I gained about cultural differences is that there may be differences so significant that you lose some of your social identities and will have to adapt to a new way of living and even thinking. In this assignment, leaving my culture may have meant losing my socioeconomic status, my vocation, my hobbies and interests, maybe my preferred food choices, and possibly some of my beliefs.

I thought about this a little more. I had been thinking of this assignment in the extreme; being forced to evacuate without any knowledge of where I was going. I had this "Gilligan Island"type of vision.
In reality, isn't this what immigrants face when they leave their countries? The American or Western culture is everywhere, but it can be quite different when you adopt a culture while living in your home country from having to adapt to and assimilate into a culture in another country.
                  

When I think of Research...

When I think of research I think of how exhausted I was these past eight weeks. I think of the frustration I felt and the intensity of the level of concentration it took to get me through many of the chapters in the textbook. I remember reading entire paragraphs and then going, "huh????" and then rereading the paragraph and going, "huh????" and rereading the entire paragraph again and thinking, "Okay, I still didn't get any of that, but maybe tomorrow."

I remember when I first started this course and how unsure and uncomfortable I felt. Of all the subjects I did not want to tackle, this was the one I least wanted to tackle. I discovered I was familiar with far more terms than I initially thought. I also found myself drawn to the results of research papers, wanting to discover the statistics and numbers. It was a different approach for me.

There was so much to learn about research from this one course. It was insightful to learn the standards of ethics required in Indigenous research. I have often found research to be quite bias and stereotypical, so I was quite surprised to learn that research should be equitable and fair and there were certain adherences that must be followed when researching indigenous people. I was surprised to learn that researchers should gain the consent of participants in their home language and respect their familial traditions and customs. I honestly don't believe this happens every time. There seems to be so much research out there that lumps groups together. When I read the reports, I often ask myself who did they interview? How did they deduce that "black" people or "hispanic" people are less inclined to do that than white people? Which black or hispanic people did they interview? Where do they go to get their information? I never trust the statistics when it comes to race or socioeconomic status. However, in reading our textbook and other course readings, I found it insightful to learn that there are requirements to guide investigators to avoid biases and produce equitable, fair, and just results.

My ideas about the nature of doing research have not changed. I think it is hard work, which requires a lot of planning and design and experience.

It was helpful for me to learn so much about the various design methods and how to plan which method would be most appropriate for your study. Obviously, I am not experienced enough to truly know how to plan for a study, but I feel I have a better understanding of what to do. In thinking about the nature of a study, it is very involved and detailed: what do I hope to find out?; who do I need to participate in my study?; the setting of my study; whether it would be a quasi-experimental design or true experimental designs; quantitative, qualitative or mixed-methods approach; and so much more.

Learning about ethics considerations and the challenges was really helpful for me. Empowering children and respecting their rights is crucial in involving children in research. Prior to this course, I thought only parents would have been consulted. It was good to learn that children are supposed to be respected and protected in research.

It was challenging for me to digest some of the chapters in the text. I would have to read and reread some of the sentences to make sense of it all. Often, it felt like it was too much coming at me at once, but after I would take my time and read over something it became easier to comprehend. It was also challenging to come up with my own reflective question on one of the charts. At 2 o'clock in the morning I really just wanted to answer questions,move on, and go to bed, not try to come up with a question. I had no idea what to reflect on for that particular topic and was surprised at myself when I came up with one. I do know that research is not for me. I still find it to be too time consuming and complex. Perhaps working on a research project with others and while I was not holding down two jobs and tending to a family, would make it seem a little less challenging.

My perceptions of an early childhood professional have not changed as a result of this course. I think ECE professionals are among the hardest working, most intelligent, highly-skilled professionals working today.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for their insightful questions and comments on the discussion boards and the information they provided through their blogs. I think this group was the smallest I have been in so far, but the information was just as enriching.

Dr. Shephard provided some very useful articles (I am on my third very large binder and this is only my 4th class) to use as resources and some very insightful questions on our assignments. I appreciate the support she gave us during the discussions.

Research Around the World

I selected the Early Childhood Development Virtual University (ECDVU) Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) website to explore. The title of this website alone made me curious enough to check it out.
The link to the research being conducted is http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/major_reports.php


I was surprised to discover the current international research topics are the same as the current research topics here in the U.S.:  Quality child care, Quality Child Services, Sustainability, Cultural and Developmentally Appropriate Practice (DAP), Parent's perception of early childhood needs, Indigenous studies, Parent Collaboration, Parenting enrichment and training of trainers, leadership skills training, and school readiness, etc.


The research is being conducted in Uganda, Ghana, Eritrea, Nigeria, Malawi, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Lesotho, and The Gambia.


Two research topics particularly caught my eye: "Assessment of Interaction and Stimulation in Single-Mother Low Income Families" and "Involving Fathers in Early Childhood Care and Development". I was completely surprised to see what is usually considered "urban problems" in America are also global issues. However, the urbanization of Uganda is also considered to have detrimental effects on the family structure and children's growth and development.


One study that I really enjoyed and gained some interesting insights and ideas about early childhood, which I think my colleagues may also find noteworthy is "Utilizing Indigenous Stories in the Promotion of Early Childhood Programs" in Uganda. The study explored indigenous storytelling-"myths, legends, tales, tricksters, fables, and other stories" and evaluated the usefulness of these stories for early childhood development (Barabogoza Gamurorwa, 2004). We read stories and share tales with children in our programs as part of curricula, but it is interesting to learn that cultural storytelling is not always perceived as useful in supporting children's development.


Of interest to note concerning my own research simulation topic; the study evaluated the issue of children preferring to watch television and listening to the radio or spending too much time watching television and listening to the radio. Television and media are perceived as being harmful to children's learning and development due to its adult influence such as, violence, language, and pornographic content. Some of the suggestions for reviving storytelling was to put the stories on television and the radio or on CD ROMs; forming radio listening clubs at school and in communities and then discussing the stories; and by putting the stories in comic books and videos (Barabogoza Gamurorwa, 2004).


Indigenous storytelling was seen as a way of offering psychosocial support for children with special needs such as, HIV/AIDS and growing up in civil war. The researcher felt it was essential to include indigenous storytelling in a new learning framework being developed by The Ministry of Education and Sports for preschoolers, to provide a more holistic approach to early childhood development-intellectual, social, moral, spiritual, and emotional components (Barabogoza Gamurorwa, 2004).

There were two stories included in the appendix. The second story seemed to be incomplete. The ending may have been omitted or perhaps I missed the point of the story. The first story was about a lazy frog who did not want to help, but wanted to reap the benefits of others' hard work. It was a similar tale to The Little Red Hen, who did all of the hard work to bake bread and when she was done all of the other animals wanted to help her eat it. Isn't it interesting how tales and stories transcend cultures and countries?

The research being conducted in these African nations underscore the importance of providing effective holistic early childhood education on children's growth and development and overall healthy well-being.

Reference
Barabogoza Gamurorwa, A. (2004). Utilizing indigenous stories in the promotion of early childhood development programs in uganda.  Retrieved from http://www.ecdvu.org/ssa/documents/major_projects/Gamurorwa-%20MP%20Final%20-%20UVic%20LP.pdf

Research that benefits children and families-Wk 3

Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that attacks the body's tissues and organs. Lupus can be a debilitating disease. My sister-in-law was diagnosed at the tender age of seven and she lived her entire life in mild to severe pain. The dresser in her bedroom resembled a small pharmacy. She was on an aggressive high-dose steroid regiment, which was intended to relieve the pain and allow her to function normally. She was obese, had little physical activity, and suffered from skin rashes in addition to the severe joint pain that plagued her for days at a time. She passed away at the age of twenty-five, with her older sister holding one hand, me holding her other hand, and her big brother (my husband) massaging her legs.

My sister-in-law benefited from drug therapy research. At the time, her doctors were using many new and innovative drugs to treat her symptoms. She was able to go to school and enjoy childhood in spite of the pain she was in some days.

I became interested in pediatric lupus because I wanted to learn about the disease that caused my sister-in-law so much pain. The only time she didn't smile was when she was in pain. However, you could count on her face shining brightly and flashing a smile everyday!
I tend to read as much research as I can about Lupus and HIV. After losing two important people to such horrible diseases, I have found working as a volunteer and giving as much of my time as possible, particularly fulfilling and meaningful.

One interesting study that I would like to share is about researchers learning about Reduced Bone Density in Newly Diagnosed Children with Lupus.
Because of the amounts of high-dose steroid treatments, lack of vitamin D, skin rashes, lack of physical activity, and obesity in children with lupus there is an increased risk for osteoporosis.

"The researchers hoped to learn about the prevalence of low bone mineral density, as well as to identify risk factors for its development in a large cohort of newly diagnosed children and adolescents with lupus" (Lupus Foundation, 2013).

The study took place at SickKids Lupus Clinic in Toronto, Canada. 80 children 5 years of age to 18 years old who were newly diagnosed with lupus were studied between December 2001 and 2007.The children underwent bone scans within three months of being diagnosed. They received 80 units a day of vitamin D and 1,000 mg/day of calcium supplementation. Advanced statistics were used to determine a relationship between bone scan measurements and clinical and laboratory measurements (height, weight, blood levels of calcium and biological vitamin D).

Reduced bone density was not impacted by lupus activity or treatment. Reduced bone density measurements were associated with lower body mass index and reduced calcium levels. Reduced hip bone density measurements were associated with lower body mass index.


What was important about this study was that newly diagnosed children were studied to predict long-term osteoporosis. It is largely unknown whether children with lupus grow to reach their genetic degree of bone growth. Due to the results, vitamin D and calcium intake is encouraged in children with lupus and bone mass density is monitored long-term.

There is no cure for lupus and it remains a "mysterious disease". Lupus is a lifelong disease. With research and clinical studies, managing lupus and understanding the effects of medications on symptoms have improved significantly. Children with lupus are living for longer periods of time than any other time in history.

Reference
Lupus foundation. (2013). Reduced bone density in newly diagnosed children with lupus. Retrieved March 23, 2013 from
http://www.lupus.org/webmodules/webarticlesnet/templates/new_empty.aspx?articleid=4344&zoneid=76

Wk 1 Issues and Trends

New course blues!
So here we are in our fourth course. We're knocking them down like bowling pins, yet it feels so slow. Maybe it feels slow because two of my friends just finished their Master's and I am kicking myself for not starting when they did.
Well, here we are in Issues and Trends right after a two week break. It was so relaxing not to have to worry about deadlines for two weeks. I think I got way too spoiled and relaxed. All this week I had to keep pushing myself to go to MyWalden and get busy. I guess I'm back.
I have almost all new names in my discussion group this time and so, I do feel without friends this time. However, it is also a great opportunity to connect with different people and learn from other people.
I am looking forward to learning some new tricks and meeting more new friends.