Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

This week’s assignment was very interesting! I enjoyed discussing culture and diversity with my friends and colleagues. I asked for their definitions of culture and diversity, here are their answers...

LB-“Culture is race, religion, heritage, and socioeconomic status (SES).” “Diversity means different groupings of cultures.”

NS Stated “culture is beliefs, language, religion, customs that are transmitted by society.” “Diversity is different cultures interacting or interactions of different societies.”

CQ Said “culture is religion, race, SES, also your morals and values you are raised with. So basically how race, religion, ethnicity, etc. factor into shaping not only a person but the community as well.” “Diversity, I feel is a mixture of all cultures within a setting that provides opportunity to learn and grow from. One that expands the culture you’ve been exposed to either in a negative or positive way.”

The answers I received included many of the aspects I studied in this course. Examples of deep and surface culture were given such as customs and language. NS definition of culture reflects the influences of the “dominate culture” in society. CQ’s definition of culture explained how individuals are shaped by their family culture (values you are raised with).

Thinking about others definition of culture and diversity influenced me to think about my definitions of culture and diversity. I agree with all of the answers listed above. To add to the definition of diversity; I believe diversity is awareness of your culture and the cultures of others. I believe diversity is a celebration of cultures interacting.

My Family Culture

The three items I would take with me, if I had to take refuge in an unknown country is a Bible, my family southern recipes and a CD of my family’s singing group, Chorus of faith.

These items are important to me because it is the foundation of my family culture.  My grandmother was from Memphis, Tennessee and she had thirteen siblings. She moved to New York with three sisters and they brought their southern style cooking. My grandmother and great aunts spent a lot of time together in the kitchen, talking and cooking. Our family would gather together monthly and on holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas. We would cook and bring different southern dishes such as fried chicken, candy yams, collard greens and sweet potato pies. On Sundays after church my immediate family would have a family dinner.  My grandmother and her sisters also brought their deep faith in God and were very passionate about teaching their children and grandchildren about the bible. Their passion and faith birthed a choir called the Chorus of Faith, the sisters sang at different churches and events. Their children and grandchildren were recruited to sing in the group.

I would be disappointed and fearful, if I arrived to a new country and was told I could only keep one of my three personal items. I would be concerned that my culture would be lost and I would be forced to adapt to the new country’s culture. However, it would motivate my family and I to uphold the stories behind the personal items I had to give up.

As a result of this exercise and this week’s topic, I realized the importance of maintaining my family’s culture. In the past years my family’s gatherings are dwindling and I am motivated to reunite my family.

When I Think of Research...

When I started this course, Building Research in Early Childhood, research seemed like “mission impossible.” The thought of research seemed so big and intimidating that I could not see myself as a researcher. At the end of the course I am proud to say I can see myself as a researchers and I have an understanding of how to conduct research.

 A major challenge in my journey to building research was narrowing my subtopic. School readiness is such a broad topic and I specifically wanted to explore its connection with children and families living in poverty. I investigated several websites exploring similar topics to spark my ideas and gain insights from many researchers. I also reached out to Professor Davis and she was great support at helping me bring clarity to my ideas.

I have gained many insights about research from taking this course and producing my research simulation.  The importance of involving children in research to gain deeper insights in child development and learning promotes many strides in the early childhood field. Recognizing participants’ ethical rights is as important as the focus and purpose of a research project.   Planning is essential in the conducting research; the plan includes exactly how the research is designed. In order to conduct a successful research a researcher must plan the different phases of the research process.

Early childhood professionals wear many hats in the early childhood field and I am excited to continue to grow and learn in my new role as a researcher. I look forward to using what I have learned in this course in the upcoming school year. I desire to become more efficient in my roles as an early childhood professional and researcher.

Thank you to my colleagues for all of your support and hard work in this course. I have learned so much from your posts and feedback. Good luck in all of your endeavors!

International Issues

Current International Research Topics in Australia

·         Working together and building partnerships in early childhood settings

·         Learning and teaching through play

·         Engaging families: Building strong communication

·         Understanding children's feelings: Emotional literacy in early childhood

Interesting Insights I Gained Exploring,  http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/ website

Under the Early Childhood News tab I read an article titled, “New Era for Early Childhood.”  It highlights the changes in Australia’s early education to ensure quality across early childhood services and improve educational and developmental outcomes.   Over time the achievement gap between struggling and on level children are expanding. The Australian Children’s Education and Care Quality Authority (ACECQA) is partnering with governments and the early childhood sector to ensure a national system of high-quality early childhood education and care for all children. The changes are results of the raised awareness of early education on children’s critical development during the early years. 

Click the link to read the article: http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/every_child_magazine/every_child_index/editorial_new_era_for_early_childhood.html

Other interesting information:

The Early Childhood Australia website has a host of information and links to early childhood resources.  Here are a few I found really interesting:

Children and Respect: http://extension.umaine.edu/publications/8050e/

Routines and Procedures: http://csefel.vanderbilt.edu/briefs/wwb3.html

: Research that Benefits Children and Families

I was checking out the Child Trends websites and I found a research article related to my research topic, school readiness and poverty. The title of the article is “Disadvantaged Families and Child Outcomes: The Importance of Emotional Support for Mothers.” The purpose of the study was to examine the availability of emotional support for disadvantaged mothers and its effects on their children. The findings of the research discovered that children from disadvantage backgrounds have better social and behavioral outcomes when mothers have emotional support in parenting. Emotional support from mothers offers a safeguard against negative child outcomes such as depression and grade retention. The researchers propose specifically that children are more likely to display social competence and school engagement. The summary of the research was all children from advantage and disadvantage backgrounds benefit when their mothers having emotional support. The highlight of the research is to value finding ways to ensure that mothers and families from disadvantaged backgrounds receive the support they need.                                               

Here’s the link to the article if you would like to read it- http://www.childtrends.org/Files//Child_Trends-2012_03_21_RB_MaternalSupport.pdf?utm_source=Disadvantaged+Families+and+Child+Outcomes%3A+The+Importance+of+Emotional+Support..&utm_campaign=Disadvantaged+Families+and+Child+Outcomes%3A+The+Importance+of+Emotional+Support+for+Mothers&utm_medium=archive

My Personal Research Journey

My Research Topic

The research topic I decided to write about is school readiness. As I reflected on my topic and my passions I want to learn more about school readiness and children living in poverty. I selected this topic because I was intrigued by the inequalities in school readiness skills among children exiting preschool programs and entering kindergarten. During an assignment in one of my classes at Walden I learned that a large number of the families’ in the community I work in are living in poverty. I have also learned that children living in poverty are at risk of many disadvantages including inadequate early childhood experiences and limited access to quality early childhood education.  This motivated me to learn more about supporting the children I encounter and learn how I could improve their school readiness skills.  Therefore I would like to research how to increase the quality of school readiness among children living in poverty and identify strategies and practices to improve school readiness skills among children living in poverty. If you know of any resources or have any suggestions that would help me in my research process I would really appreciate the information. Thanking you in advance!

Constructing the research chart and other insights…

I think the research chart is helpful when you are reading a book, article and etc. and you would like to reflect on what you learned from the text. It is a good reference to refer back to on particle topics and also build a personal glossary to use when reading other research documents. Week 2’s discussion assignment was pretty cool, prior to this week I didn’t know how to find out if a website was credible or not. I’m glad I now have a better idea of how to evaluate websites and research articles. I will also be sure to share the information with my colleagues.

Here’s a list of Good Credible Resources:

http://www.childtrends.org/

http://www.naeyc.org/

http://nieer.org/

http://www.zerotothree.org/

Good luck on you researching journey!

Issues and Trends Final Blog

Three consequences of learning about the international early childhood field

1.       Exploring issues and trends on an international level enhanced my understanding of issues such as poverty, equity and diversity and its effect on children worldwide.

2.      I also learned what organizations and advocates are doing around the world to improve the accessibility and quality of early care and learning.

3.      Listening to the professionals on the podcasts helped me reflect on my professional goals and passions for children and families.

One professional goal related to international awareness of issues and trends is to continue reviewing the NIEER (National Institute for Early Education Research) international website resources and newsletters.

Thank you to my colleagues that responded to my blog posts, I enjoyed reading your views and experiences. Best of Luck!