When I try to think of someone that is a good communicator, there is no one in my family that I think of. Journalist and great communicators, the only celebrity I think of is Oprah. I feel that her understanding of others, the way she uses her words, her body language make her a good communicator. She rarely takes sides, she may give advice, but doesn't judge anyone. She listens to everyone, and is patient until they are done. She also makes good eye contact with whoever she speaks too.
I would like to have her patience to listen to people. One problem I have is that some people are long winded and it is hard for me to be patient and listen to them. Especially when they are talking about something that I either have no interest in or is off topic.
Being a talk show host or even a journalist takes very special skills. Listening is one of them and I think one of the most important. This makes us knowledgeable about a topic we will be discussing or writing about, and gives us more credibility.
"GENIUS IS ETERNAL PATIENCE"
MICHAELANGELO
Saturday, May 11, 2013
Saturday, December 22, 2012
Professional Hopes and Goals
The hope that I have is that I can create an environment for children that welcomes all diverse backgrounds. Creating an environment that is welcoming to everyone can be challenging, but with some hard work and an understanding of each childs diversity this can be accomplished. I also hope to share the importance of this with my staff. I have learned that as a society we are so focused on the dominant culture, that the others seem to get lost. I will advocate for all children and make sure that everyone's cutlure is celebrated.
My goal is to educated others on diversity. I thought that I had a good understanding of diversity, cutlure, "isms". But after completing this course I learned that not only did I not have a complete understanding of it, other do not either. This is a topic that needs to be taught and re-taught.
I enjoyed reading many of the post from everyone. I truly enjoyed learning about everyone and hearing so many stories. It made me feel that we have all had so many of the same experiences, and it helped me learn.
Thank you and Good Luck to everyone.
My goal is to educated others on diversity. I thought that I had a good understanding of diversity, cutlure, "isms". But after completing this course I learned that not only did I not have a complete understanding of it, other do not either. This is a topic that needs to be taught and re-taught.
I enjoyed reading many of the post from everyone. I truly enjoyed learning about everyone and hearing so many stories. It made me feel that we have all had so many of the same experiences, and it helped me learn.
Thank you and Good Luck to everyone.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
I would welcome a family from Scotland. This is a place that I know nothing about.
The five things that I would do to prepare for myself to be culturally responsive are:
1. I would research their government, and learn what there laws are. This will help me understand how they may react to certain laws in our country and I would be able t explain the differences.
2. I would learn about their customs and holidays. This will teach me about what they believe in and if they celebrate any of the same holidays as we do.
3. I would learn about any other language they may speak.
4. I would find out which region of the country they are from, what is the culture like there and what are the different religions.
5. I would learn about how family's function in Scotland. For example, do extended families live together, what are the cultural norms for society, what is the hierarchy within the family structure.
I hope that by learning these different things about Scotland, I will have a good understanding of what the family may be like. It will help me be more sensitive to their needs and avoid unintentionally insulting them. It will also give me topics to discuss with them which will make them feel as if they are part of our community. There also may be similarities between their culture and mine and I can use that to help them feel as if they are part of this community now. Making a family feel special and welcomed is important in the success of the child in the classroom.
The five things that I would do to prepare for myself to be culturally responsive are:
1. I would research their government, and learn what there laws are. This will help me understand how they may react to certain laws in our country and I would be able t explain the differences.
2. I would learn about their customs and holidays. This will teach me about what they believe in and if they celebrate any of the same holidays as we do.
3. I would learn about any other language they may speak.
4. I would find out which region of the country they are from, what is the culture like there and what are the different religions.
5. I would learn about how family's function in Scotland. For example, do extended families live together, what are the cultural norms for society, what is the hierarchy within the family structure.
I hope that by learning these different things about Scotland, I will have a good understanding of what the family may be like. It will help me be more sensitive to their needs and avoid unintentionally insulting them. It will also give me topics to discuss with them which will make them feel as if they are part of our community. There also may be similarities between their culture and mine and I can use that to help them feel as if they are part of this community now. Making a family feel special and welcomed is important in the success of the child in the classroom.
Saturday, December 8, 2012
The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression
The best memory that will give the best example of how I have experienced prejudice and bias is when I met my husband. I came from what most people would think of as "rich" neighborhood, a middle class family. My family was far from rich, but perception is sometimes the key to judgement. I was 16 when I met my husband and he came from a part of town that my family was horrified that I was in. His family was poor, his mom was raising 3 boys alone and was on welfare. To my family this was unacceptable. My mother did everything passable to keep me from him. Because he came from a different social class, my family thought he must be no good.
The feelings that this brought up for me was disappointment with my family, anger and I rebelled against them. I did not understand what the difference was. I realized that we were different and that is what made us so good together. My family was horrible to him and his family. I was sad for them when they were treated as if they weren't equals. Although my family seemed to have it all, believe me we were just as dysfunctional as many family's are. The difference is we put on a good show.
To this day, although my husband has proved himself over and over again my family still doesn't really accept him. They would need to change their understanding of diversity and culture and learn to embrace all types of people, before they would be able to get over prejudice. My husband has been a good provider and loves me and our children with everything he is. He can't seem to live down where he came from. I have learned alot from this and have never judged anyone my daughter or son have dated or been friends with.
I had never thought about this being a form of bias or prejudice before. But that is exactly what it is. Although my husband was not judged on his skin color, he was judged by his address. I am taken back by how my family could be this way. When I was young, my thoughts were they just wanted the best for me. Now I have a clear understanding that it was not about what was best for me, it was what was about what was best for them. My husband and I have been together for 25 years, he is my best friend! If I would have had that same prejudice I would never had the opportunity to find him.
The feelings that this brought up for me was disappointment with my family, anger and I rebelled against them. I did not understand what the difference was. I realized that we were different and that is what made us so good together. My family was horrible to him and his family. I was sad for them when they were treated as if they weren't equals. Although my family seemed to have it all, believe me we were just as dysfunctional as many family's are. The difference is we put on a good show.
To this day, although my husband has proved himself over and over again my family still doesn't really accept him. They would need to change their understanding of diversity and culture and learn to embrace all types of people, before they would be able to get over prejudice. My husband has been a good provider and loves me and our children with everything he is. He can't seem to live down where he came from. I have learned alot from this and have never judged anyone my daughter or son have dated or been friends with.
I had never thought about this being a form of bias or prejudice before. But that is exactly what it is. Although my husband was not judged on his skin color, he was judged by his address. I am taken back by how my family could be this way. When I was young, my thoughts were they just wanted the best for me. Now I have a clear understanding that it was not about what was best for me, it was what was about what was best for them. My husband and I have been together for 25 years, he is my best friend! If I would have had that same prejudice I would never had the opportunity to find him.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
Microaggression
I had never realized how micoraggression affected my life until this course. The one microaggression that I have experienced is that I live in New Jersey and I am Italian. I have a very Italian heritage and many people in the area have always assumed that since I am Italain and have many influential family members that my family must be part of the Italian mafia. Of course this is ridiculous, if I was part of the Italian mafia, I would be alot richer than I am, LOL!!! I never realized how this affected me until this course. It never really bothered me until I got older. This is such a sterotype of Italians, everyone thinks that if you live in New Jersey or New York, and you are from an Italian culture and your family has money you must be tied to the mob.
Microaggressions can be very damaging. I really resent that fact that people think that because of my heritage, that I must have a family involved in crime. Now that I have a better understanding of what and how micoraggressions affect people I will make sure that I am more aware of sterotyping people according to thier culture and heritage. These assumptions can be very damaging to a person mental health.
Microaggressions can be very damaging. I really resent that fact that people think that because of my heritage, that I must have a family involved in crime. Now that I have a better understanding of what and how micoraggressions affect people I will make sure that I am more aware of sterotyping people according to thier culture and heritage. These assumptions can be very damaging to a person mental health.
Saturday, November 17, 2012
Diversity and Culture
I spoke to 3 people that were all in different parts of their life. Each one had similiar ideas as to what culture is.
The first person I spoke too was a caucasin women in her late 50's and was a stay at home mom when her kids were young. Her thoughts were that culture is how you were raised and all about family and tradition.
The second person I spoke with was a spanish women in her early thirties in the early childhood field. She said that she never really thought about what culture was or how it influenced her. She felt that it was important to raise her children with a strong sense of their spanish culture and family and traditions were very important.
The third person I spoke with was a man in his fiftys, who is puetro rican. He is very proud of who he is and where he comes from. He was born in puerto rico and feels that family is everything. Although he feels that he has definalty been influenced by the dominant culutre, he trys to keep up with his culture.
What I found by speaking with these 3 different people is that they all had never really thought about their diversity or culture much. They practiced what they were taught and there traditons were very important to them. The dominant culture where they live has definalty changed there culture and they do not always feel that there culture is accepted. Although they have strong beliefs in there way of life, they seem to keep it in their house, and not show so much of it in public. Family was the most important thing to them, and they all keep their culture alive with their family.
After speaking with them I realized that if people don't really think about how their own culture influences their lives then how do we teach our children to be accepting of others if we don't feel accepted. The man that I spoke too had such a strong love for his culutre, but since it is frowned upon he choses to keep it home. When I asked how understanding they were towards other cutlures, they basically said that they had never really thought about it and they only focus on their way of life. They all agreed that they need to accept everyone and be proud of who they are.
The first person I spoke too was a caucasin women in her late 50's and was a stay at home mom when her kids were young. Her thoughts were that culture is how you were raised and all about family and tradition.
The second person I spoke with was a spanish women in her early thirties in the early childhood field. She said that she never really thought about what culture was or how it influenced her. She felt that it was important to raise her children with a strong sense of their spanish culture and family and traditions were very important.
The third person I spoke with was a man in his fiftys, who is puetro rican. He is very proud of who he is and where he comes from. He was born in puerto rico and feels that family is everything. Although he feels that he has definalty been influenced by the dominant culutre, he trys to keep up with his culture.
What I found by speaking with these 3 different people is that they all had never really thought about their diversity or culture much. They practiced what they were taught and there traditons were very important to them. The dominant culture where they live has definalty changed there culture and they do not always feel that there culture is accepted. Although they have strong beliefs in there way of life, they seem to keep it in their house, and not show so much of it in public. Family was the most important thing to them, and they all keep their culture alive with their family.
After speaking with them I realized that if people don't really think about how their own culture influences their lives then how do we teach our children to be accepting of others if we don't feel accepted. The man that I spoke too had such a strong love for his culutre, but since it is frowned upon he choses to keep it home. When I asked how understanding they were towards other cutlures, they basically said that they had never really thought about it and they only focus on their way of life. They all agreed that they need to accept everyone and be proud of who they are.
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Thinking about what I would bring has made me realize how many items I have from my family that are important. If I only had 3 to chose from I would be leaving alot of my culture behind. The first item I would take are family pictures. Pictures of my grandparents, parents, children, friends and memories that I can never replace. I would also take an oil painting that was given to my parents as a wedding gift in 1969. Although my parents divorced, this painting represents my beginning and the love my parents once shared. The third thing I would take is a large crystal bowl that belonged to my great grandmother, this bowl has been passed down 3 generations. It is important to me because I would like to continue the tradition of passing it down in my family.If I had to chose one out the three items, I would chose my pictures, it is important to me to be able to share with future generations what everyone looked like, it will also help to keep memories alive.
While thinking about what I would bring I asked my husband what he thought. After thinking about all the wonderful things we had, we realized that there are very few items of importance. The most important thing is our family and our two dogs. We have an English bulldog named Shelbi and an American Cocker Spaniel, named Odie. That really surprised us, we have spent 25 years building a life and home. We have filled our home with so much stuff, and none if it is important. Why do we keep buying so much stuff!:) This has given me a little bit of a reality check, I guess there is nothing more important than your family, they alone will keep your culture alive.
While thinking about what I would bring I asked my husband what he thought. After thinking about all the wonderful things we had, we realized that there are very few items of importance. The most important thing is our family and our two dogs. We have an English bulldog named Shelbi and an American Cocker Spaniel, named Odie. That really surprised us, we have spent 25 years building a life and home. We have filled our home with so much stuff, and none if it is important. Why do we keep buying so much stuff!:) This has given me a little bit of a reality check, I guess there is nothing more important than your family, they alone will keep your culture alive.
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