Practicing Awareness of Microaggression

One example of gender microaggression that I have encountered was at an automobile service shop.  My car was acting up and began shaking a lot.  I knew that I needed more transmission fluid.  I called the service shop and told them that I did not have enough transmission fluid in my car and needed to make an appointment and the man on the phone stated "you need transmission fluid, are you sure?  Are you sure you need more, why don't you bring it in so the mechanic can look at it."  I took my car into the shop and the mechanic drove it around for a few minutes and came back to tell me I needed more transmission fluid. 

The mechanic thought because I was a woman that I did not know what type of service that I needed on my car to fix the shaking.  I believe that a lot of automobile shops stereotype woman to not knowing anything about cars. My brother made sure when I was growing up to teach me a few things!

Learning about microaggression this week made me more observant about conversations around me.  Listening to conversations made me realize that we sometimes stereotype people without even knowing it.  I caught myself this week saying something that would have stereotyped someone but I stopped in mid sentence because I knew I would have offended them.  The motto "think before you speak" really comes into play this week after learning about microaggression.

Perspectives on Diversity & Culture

Definitions from individuals about Culture and Diversity

1. "Culture to me is following the traditions in the country you were born or where your parents were born. For example eating foods, dressing from the country, listening to the music, speaking the language. Diverse to me means being open minded to other peoples cultures around them" (Ms. Betsy, May 22, 2013).
2.  "Diversity means inclusion to me.  Accepting others, like people with disabilities. When I think of culture, I think of the way you were raised.  The food and holiday traditions that are shared in your family" (Ms. Clover, May 21, 2013).  
3. "Culture to me is the way that society acts.  Diversity is the difference in people" (Mr. Paul, May 24, 2013).

After reviewing what I have learned from this course there were a few aspects of culture that were included in my co-worker's definition were.  Those aspects included holidays, food of their family and language.  I believe there were more aspects that were not included like values, education, religion and gender roles.

After discussing these definitions with my co-workers, I believe that people think more about surface cultures instead of deep cultures.  Since this course I now look more closely about the deep cultures of my own family.   If I had to ask others about their definitions again I would ask more open-ended questions, so people would think deeper about their cultures.  Before this course, I saw more of the surface cultures like many individuals but I have learned that their is so much more about someone's culture that needs to be shared.

My Family Culture

If I had to evacuate  to another country the three items I would take would be...

1. Family Photos
2. Teddy Bears 
3. My phone

I would explain these items by showing the pictures of my family members and tell the people something interesting or why I love each member. The teddy bears are very sentimental to me because the bears are made out of my mother's wedding dress and grandfather's favorite jean jacket.  The teddy bears are part of me and I hold dear to my heart because both of these people molded me into the person I am today.   My mother's bear was made 6 months before I got married and my niece carried it down the aisle in memory of her. My grandfather's teddy bear was made the first Christmas after he passed away and the whole family received one and we reminisced about all the good memories we had with him. My phone would be the last item I would take for survival reasons.  The phone could help me communicate.

If I could only have 1 item that I brought, I would choose my phone for survival purposes.  My phone could assist me in many ways for providing communication.  I would be devastated if I had to give up my photos and teddy bears but I keep those memories with me all the time. 

One insight I gained from this activity is how much I hold my family close to me.  I have always been a family person but this activity showed me how important family is to me and I would do anything for them.  When working on this assignment I asked my husband what he would bring and he wanted all survival items and I wanted sentimental items that are important to me.  This showed me how I really do put my family first. 

When I think of Research

1.  What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?
Research is important to every aspect of our lives.  "Research should challenge habitual ways of doing things, and provide reasons to modify, refocus or change" (Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchfold, 2010).  

2.  In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
Research takes time and there are many key factors including ethics.  Ethics is an important piece of the puzzle for research.  

3.  What lessons about planning, designing and conducting research in the early childhood field did you learn?
Research reminded me of teachers and how planning a research study takes time, just like planning activities for children can take time to meet their needs.  Research is not easy and there are many steps that need to be taken to make sure the research study is valid and reliable.  

4.  What were some of the challenges you encountered and in what ways did you meet the
One challenge I did encounter was learning the different designs including qualitative, quantitative and mixed methods.  I had difficulty understanding the difference of each and what data collections is best for each design.  To overcome this challenge I had to use math skills and remember the differences through math.  In my head, quantitative means numbers and qualitative is observation.  

5.  What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professionals have been modified as a result of this course?
As an early childhood professional I believe that research is important to my career.  As an educator I will now read more studies to learn best developmental practices for my classroom.  I will gain more knowledge and understanding of developmental appropriate activities for my children through research and put these ideas to use.  Also, as an educator I must now keep in mind "without research, we would know less about children's points of view, their wants and needs and their possibilities" (Naughton, Rolfe & Siraj-Blatchfold, 2010). 

Reference

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research:      International perspectives on theory and practice (2nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.

Research Around the World

I chose to take a closer look into Early Childhood Australia-A Voice for Young Children. Through this website there are many studies from the Australasian Journal of Early Childhood.  There are two research studies about children with disabilities that caught my eye because that is what my focus is on for my research stimulation.  These articles focus on factors affecting the transition to school for young children with disabilities and communication through social play for children with autism. 

The site is an advocate for young children and inclusion which is a passion for me.  The site promotes best practices for children birth through age eight and has a  vision for high quality inclusive practices in early childhood education and care. The site assists and support professionals to fully include children with a disability and to achieve high quality outcomes for all children. It is nice to see that there are organizations around the world that are promoting inclusion and want to see all children reach their full potential.  I feel this site can be a great resource for me in the future.

Reference
Early Childhood Australia (2013). Retrieved from http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children

When I read this assignment about sharing a positive example how research has benefited children all I could think about was Teaching Strategies GOLD.  I use to work for Teaching Strategies, LLC while living in Maryland and was part of the implementation team when GOLD was developed.   Through extensive research in the early childhood field, the authors of Teaching Strategies GOLD found that there needed to be an on-going observational based assessment for birth through Kindergarten.  I believe that this assessment has helped and continues to help many teachers in keeping track of children's development and learning all through the early childhood years.  Children benefit from GOLD because they are learning and developing the skills they need to become successful lifelong learners. 

I am now on the other side of GOLD and using it in the classroom & observe how successful it truly is.  The best part is when I see families excited about GOLD and want to learn more about the assessment. 

Here is the link to the Research of Teaching Strategies GOLD
 http://www.teachingstrategies.com/content/pageDocs/teaching-strategies-gold-assessment-research-foundation.pdf


Reference
Teaching Strategies, LLC (2013). Retrieved from http://www.teachingstrategies.com/

Personal Research Journey

Thinking about the 3 subtopics that I developed last week about inclusion in early childhood field, I have chose my stimulation to be advantages for children with development disabilities to be in an inclusive early childhood program. 

 I chose these stimulation because I have experience working in an inclusion early childhood setting and saw the positive impacts it brings to children and families.  Being in an inclusion setting we were a small community where we protected one another and saw each others abilities rather than disabilities.  I also came from a family of special education teachers that share a passion for working with individuals with disabilities. 

I look forward to gathering more information about my chosen stimulation.  The Research Chart is building my knowledge and assisting me in learning vocabulary that is needed during this course and a lifetime as an educator. 

To my colleagues:
      I wish you the best of luck in researching your stimulation.  If you have any insights or advice about the chosen stimulation please feel free to share!  I also look forward to all advice and insight about research.