Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

Observing Microaggressions

This week I was made aware of many things in our everyday lives that are considered microaggressions. My sister is a very sensitive person and it drives me nuts. She has to have it her way other wise she gets offended by what you say or do. An example is this summer our children play golf together in different tournaments. I asked her to get me the information to the campgrounds that are close and she said she was to busy and she would get it to me later. Three days later and I still did not get the information. I took it upon myself and completed the task. Well by this time it was late and I had to take what I could get. When she found out I did it she got made and upset. She told me that she spent hours mapping out the miles from the courses to the campgrounds to make sure they were close. I told her that many of them were booked and I had to take what I could get. Needless to say she is mad at me and now she tells me that I do not respect her work and that I am such an awful person. Since she was a child I can remember that if you would tell her that she looked nice that she would say what does that mean. She gets upset at the drop of the hat no matter what you say or how you say it. Her reactions and attitude is why I struggle when I hear someone get upset of unintentional microaggressions. Looking back at my life as a child and now as an adult I see many incidents that can be considered microaggressions. If I was like my sister I would have dwelt on them and never moved forward to finding out why the person said that and what was their side. I see that emotional reactions can create more misunderstandings then rational thinking. When I am in a room of lots of people my anxieties kick in because I have to keep telling myself that they are not judging me. When I was in my twenties I went to New York City. This was a difficult emotional time for me. There are so many people walk on the streets and they are in my personal space. I had to hang on to my sister so I would not pass out. Many people have told me that when they first meet me that they think I am stand offish this is only because I am quiet and will not look people in the eye. Yes, I am a confident person but my anxieties control many things I do. It takes me time to get to know someone. Many people it takes me a whole year and others it does not. I struggle to go to church because there is too many people in the room. I know most of the people there but it is still hard to function. In my case I have experienced microaggressions from my own race and gender. I have been told many things that could have left emotional scares but I have chosen to look at it as them being ignorant to who I am and the situation.  I remember in junior high that the girls in school would say mean things to each other when they were in a fight. I watched my best friend be completely distraught over something her cousin said to her about her boy friend. They tried to get me to pick sides and I said that you are all my friends. I told them they were being childish and I will be friends with who I want and do things with all of them.  I believe that microaggression happens many times in school and that is where hurt feelings and bullying happens. You have an insecure child that finds and other child to say things about. I might be wrong but children are only trying to fit in and make themselves feel better because they are insecure about their world. My 9 year old is very emotional so last night when her dad and I were working on the gazebo her dad made a face and she took it wrong and got up set. Yes, sensitivity does play apart in microaggressions. Dr. Sue talks about being served last at a restaurant but what I want to know is when he said something what was the servers answer. I like to see all sides of the equation so I can understand everyone. His friend said he was being sensitive. I do not think that it is just a race or gender problem when you look at microaggressions. I see it happening interracial as well.

Reference
Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Microaggressions in everyday life [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Asking people there definition of culture and diversity is interesting. In my adulthood I have gained a new understand for culture and diversity. The definitions that I received was that culture is your background, values, habits, lifestyle, traditions and where you grew up. I also asked them to describe their culture in 10 words and this is where they seemed to struggle. I started to give them examples of mine and they still struggled. From this experience I understand more about how culture is like an iceberg. They talked about the dominate cultures. When we started to have a relaxing conversation then they started to relax. Culture is defiantly misunderstand. But I do have to say these women that I spoke with are very open minded and never once put race, religion or ethnicity in the mix of culture. Diversity to them was similar but not the same. I enjoyed the conversation because the one lady has been all over the world on missions with the LDS Church. She talked about languages and different traditions. Diversity is seen by these women and it was fund to hear the difference in generations.

 

• Which aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied in this course are included in the answers I received—and what are some examples?
• The answers that I received from these women were all found in this course but they were very broad in understanding. Many women do not see being a mother or a daughter as being part of a culture. They see it as gender not culture. 
• Which aspects have been omitted—and what are some examples of such omission?
• Some things that were omitted were the characteristics of the dominate culture. As I see the sub-cultures and the family cultures. The did talk a little about how in Malaysia two cultures have similar traditions and beliefs but never have interacted. It took me time to get them to go beyond the top of the iceberg. When we did it was a fun conversation.
• In what ways has thinking about other people’s definitions of culture and diversity influenced my own thinking about these topics?
• Many things influence my culture. My definition of culture and diversity are influence by my experiences with other individuals. I was raised that our history and the past are part of our culture and who we are. I agree with the ladies that tradition is part of culture.

EDU6164 My Family culture

I had to contemplate this assignment because I have many things that I would want to take with me. One of the things that I would want to take with me is a history book about this countries history. The easiest way to do this would take my Kindle with a variety of books. Next I would like to take my family photo album. Lastly, I would like to take a book about the sports in this country. I just went to the pro rodeo hall of fame and I can only image what history we are going to lose with a mass devastation in this country. Our history is such a vital part of who we are and how we got here. I thought about bringing a bible but the I stopped and thought many history books refer to the bible. If I was only allowed to keep one item when I arrived it would be a history book about our constitution and James Madison. It would not be easy giving anything up but my thought is we need to remember history so we do not make the same mistakes again. It is important to know where our culture came from. Reading history and understanding it helps me move forward because I understand today better. The bible is very important but their are many countries that this can be found in plus many countries it is illegal to worship outside religion. The insights I gain is that you can not wrap up your culture in one item. I can not wrap my family culture up in one item. My sister's ex-husband is having to sell all his dads Germany things that meant alot to the family in the past but not to the new generation. He is torn because he still understands the importance of his families history but his brothers do not. I gained many I insights on how we evolve and change from generation to generation.

When I Think of Research... EDUC 6163 WEEK 8

• What insights have you gained about research from taking this course?
• The insights that I am taking away from this course is that research in the early childhood field is complicated. I can see the benefits and the complications. I gained the importance of working togther with the children as researchers not just as adults or professionals in the field.

• In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed?
• My ideas have changed because now i see how complicated it can be. I believe that it will be harder to complete a real research project in this field then in the biochemistry field. I have more respect for the researchers in this field. I also understand why it is so important to continue doing research.

• What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn?
• I learned that the beginning stages are really important to consider all the variables before you jump head first. Planning is so important to collecting the proper data and information. This is not a filed you can just wing it because of all the unknowns.

• What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them?
• Challenges that i encountered was the amount of research that is not out there for what I wanted to look at. I am so interested in intervention because of the benefits but not everyone sees this. Change is coming but slow because of the complications it causes for teachers.

• What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course?

This class has opened my eyes to the importance of planning and research for this field. With out the proper research then many things would still not be advancing the way it should. We have had many important professionals help create this field and it is going to take many more to help improve the field for our children.

Website I studied : http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

• What are some of the current international research topics?

Reconciliation is a movement that the early childhood Australia group is working on. They recognize that racism, bigotry and segregation are an issue within their country. These are important variables in their country that are causing issues in the early childhood field for children. "Transformation that moves us from ignorance and racism to respect, from inequity and prejudice to justice, and from inaction and fear to hope" (earlychildhoodaustralia.org). This is very interesting because this is an issue that we face here. I found it very interesting to read the documents that they have on this subject. 

• What surprising facts/insights/new ideas about early childhood did you gain from exploring this international early childhood website?

The facts and insights that I gained was that they are no different then the US because it seems that all countries struggle with these same issues. I believe from everything that I have read and gained knowledge from that many of these traits are part of human nature. Our cultures and religions have a natural instinct to try and have power over another. One day I hope this is not true but the evidence shows that we will not see and end in the near future. It is going to take many individuals standing for all rights all over the world.

• What other noteworthy information did you find on this website?
• They have a symposium coming up and it is to help the whole population of Australia. "Building and nurturing strong relationships between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is central to our national identity and well-being. Starting these relationships in the early years will secure positive outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait children and their families. This effort also ensures all children develop a better knowledge, appreciation and understanding of the living culture of Australia’s first peoples." (earlychildhoodAustralia.org) I found this to be interesting. They find the importance of communication and working together for the future of their country. The education and the cooperation of all cultures is beneficial to the children and future of the country.

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

For this blog post I am going to share an article and give some personal stories about my children because they have learning disabilities (LD).  The article I am going to share is "All Children Can Write" by Donald Graves. Donald Graves is to be considered the father of how the process of writing for children. This paper focuses on the fact that poor writing skills has more to do with what a child knows. The example that is in the paper is about a child who would cover their paper and have a lot of black smudges all over because of him trying to spell. Many children do not realize that writing is not just something that you need to know but it is a form of communication. "There was not attempt to connect his writing with the communication of ideas" (Graves, 1985, p.1). When the correct approach is taken children understand this but with the wrong instruction they see it as just something they have to do. When the child was diagnosed with visual motor problems the approach then they took a different approach to helping this child write. The teacher took time to find out what he was interested in. The teacher allowed the boy to teach them about something he was interested in which help change is perception about writing. "The writing-process approach to teaching focuses on children's ideas and helps children teach the teacher or other children in the class what they know, with emphasis first given to ideas and clarifying" (Graves, 1985, p.2). The realization that writing can help a child to communicate with other children. When children understand that their writing is being read by other children can help them understand the importance of written communication. The two basic principles that have been gained by the research is that teachers teach best by showing and the environment must be structured. What I gained from this article is that teaching writing is about showing children the meaning of writing. My children struggle with writing and find it time consuming.

My oldest is ADHD and one of the problems is that sloppy hand writing is just a fact of life. The reason is because it takes too long. She understand writing is a communication form but it is hard to spend the time writing because it takes a long time. Attention span is a struggle. My middle child struggles with writing because she has short-term  memory issues and she had fine motor issue early in life. She is very frustrated when she writes because it is a struggle and time consuming . Both my children's writing difficulties flow over into reading for one reason or the other. Because of Donald Graves research my children are taught differently how to write. They are not treated bad or talked differently about. Children all learn on a different level I found this article interesting because it was 35 years of work and they made many strives to help impove the experience of children learning to write.
Reference
Graves, D (1985) All children can write, Retrieved from http://www.ldonline.org/article/6204/?theme=print

Personal Research Journey

This is going to be a journey learning about how to create a research simulation. The topic that I want to focus on is RTI (response to intervention). RTI is a personal topic for me because of my children. I have had many experiences with not getting my children diagnosed or recognize that there is a delay until it is too late or we have missed the window. My 6 year old had a 90 minute seizure when she was 18 months old. We have been see more and more affects from this seizure as she enters school. My family is consider middle income so we do not always get the help that we need. When the professionals in the school system tested her since she was 2 years old she has always tested above average. The problem is she has sort term memory problems and she struggles with writing. She had fine motor skills problems from birth. I had to take classes to become a Developmental intervention assistant in order to help my own daughter because I could not get the professionals to see what I had been witnessing.  There are many other delays she has but these are the big ones. So, I want to learn about context at subsequent application of RTI. I want to answer the question of what should be the time period between discovering that the instruction is not responsive to a child's needs and development? How and when and by whom? I am tired of the line she will grow out of it. My sister has a 5 year old that struggled to walk normally and speak normally and she is just now getting the proper help. My sister is also low income and her children have been in preschools and on help programs but no one would take the step to help it was always she will grow out of it. We have these great programs but children are still falling through the cracks. I want to understand why. I want to learn from this course on how I find out why and how to conduct a research so I can answer why to help children who are not receiving the proper help. What I have gained from completing the charts so far is that research in the early childhood field is very complicated compared to doing a scientific experiment in organic chemistry. When I was 18 I was a biology major and I would conduct and do research projects in organic chemistry. Finding reliable research and that many of the research in early childhood is qualitative not quantitative. Yes, there is many research conducted with quantitative date in the early childhood. In this field you have many variables to consider. When studying a child you have many things change in one day. I have gained that developing a research simulation takes many considerations and understanding all the variables. It is not like picking 2 chemicals and watching their reactions in different situations. These are the things that I have gained so far in this course. I am looking forward to guidance and insights from the information in the course and colleagues.