Professional Hopes and Goals

This school year I have began to truly understand diversity. In my school district they have choosen to stop busing students who are English Language Learners to certain schools and make them attend their neighborhood school. With the district choosing to do this several teachers at my school have children in their class from various backgrounds who don't speak Englsih at all. Being put in this situation has caused me and many others to pay attention to way that we do things so that we are including and not offending these children and their families. I hope that we can all learn to work together to do what is best for the children and their families. We all need to find ways to adjust and accomidate so that everyone feels welcome and a part of something. A kindergarten child that speaks only chinese started at our school. Her parents knew that it would be hard on her as well as the class. So the parents made cards that have things like "I have to go to the bathroom" in English and Chinese so that the girl can read them and show them to the teacher to rell her what she wants. 
With the people at my school learning to work with diverse families I want to make it a goal for the early childhood field to be more willing to learn parts of the families lanuaguage and culture. I have found a program online that when I type in something in Englsih the program will say what I typed in a different language. This way I know the family is understanding what I am trying to tell them.

I would like to say thank you to all my classmates and collegues from this semester and class. You all have helped me stay on track and keep things together. I know that all of us started this journey togehter and we are all going to make it to the end. We are almost the end and I know we can all see the finish line.

Welcoming Families from Around the World

I am an elementary school teacher. We recently went back to school this past Wednesday. I have a little girl in my class name Seetha. Her family is from India. The father speaks little to no English and the mother speaks some English. Seetha is also deaf. She has a cochlear implant so she can hear in her right ear. To accommodate the family I welcomed them in English and with a traditional Hindu greeting by bowing and saying Namaste. In Indian culture the father is the head of the household. I made sure that when I was talking I tried to address the father most of the time, even though I knew he really didn't understand me. To accommodate Seetha the mother requested I talk to her on her right side. So I made sure she sits to my left so that she can hear me. I also requested a speaker system for my class. This system comes with a small speaker and a microphone I would wear around my neck. The speaker helps to magnify my voice so that Seetha will be able to hear me no matter where I am in the classroom. I hope to learn more about her family and culture as the year goes on. I think this will be an interesting experience.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

In high school I worked at a restaurant. We were not busy one day so the manager asked to take out the trash and clean off tables etc.  I had no problem doing it until I noticed that no one else was cleaning. I was the only African American girl working that day. When he asked me to clean the bathrooms I questioned him and asked him and said aren’t we all suppose to share the work? He told me that he was in charge and if I didn’t like what he said then I could clock out and go home. Well I went home. It made me mad that he thought he could treat me that way. I had no problem doing my share, but I was not about to do all the cleaning while the other girls stood around and talked. He was being racist.  If he had changed his mood then I could have turned the situation around. When I brought it to his attention that I was the only one cleaning he could have said oh I didn’t mean to let me get someone else to do it. The fact that he got so upset when questioned proved to me that he was being racist. Later when I informed the head manager of the situation she didn’t seem all too pleased. I was fired a few days later for “poor performance”. It is funny that I never had a problem or got a bad review until I complained. That just told me that this restaurant was not the place for me.