- One hope that you have when you think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds
When I think about working with children and
families who come from diverse backgrounds, I hope that children can be free
from struggling with cultural discontinuity and identify who they are rather
than feel lost about their identities due to cultural discontinuity.
- One goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice
Related to my hope above and to issues of
diversity, equity, and social justice, I would like to set up a goal that I
would support children to bridge up their family culture with the dominant
culture by getting to know children's family culture, including their cultural
background, their economic and political status, their religious belief,
parents' expectations of their children at school and the like; by creating a
safe and caring setting for children to feel comfortable, confident, secure,
respected and at ease, and a sense of belonging; by recognizing and honoring
children's home cultures and getting parents involved in the classroom to
introduce their own cultures to other children; etc..
- A brief note of thanks to your colleagues
I would like to take this opportunity to say
"THANK YOU" to my instructor Dr. Ferrari and my colleagues. Thank you
to Dr. Ferrari for providing your responses to our initial posts, and your
feedbacks to our responses on the discussion board as well as to our assignments.
Due to your suggestion, I can see the deeper sides of related questions in this
course. Thank you to my colleagues for your insightful posts and responses in
the discussion board, and your amazing blogs as well, both of which give me
more new insights about the same questions. I have learned a lot from you about
diversity, equity and social justice. I hope we can meet each other in the new
course and wish you good luck! Thank you again for learning together!
Thank you for your thoughts, Xiaowan. I love that you want to work on building bridges between children's family culture and the dominant culture. I think that is a very important goal. It is very tough on a child when they are stuck between two worlds. It is hard to find their own identity, which can be very stressful. Children need teachers who are willing to build bridges and help them discover where they fit in this great, big world. I appreciate all you have taught me during this course. I wish you all the best in your pursuits.
回复删除Xiaowan,
回复删除It is easy to read the passion you have for children and their families through the hopes and goals you have expressed. I am confident that you will be very conscientious and successful in your efforts to create these safe and caring environments that incorporate and celebrate each child’s diversity. Your commitment to them will make a positive difference in their lives now and in the future!
Sandra
I enjoyed reading your post, it is clear that you were able to take the many different and complicated issues around culture and diversity and embed it into your goals and aspiration for children and families from diverse backgrounds. Just like you, I believe that it is important that children bridge their culture and the dominant culture together smoothly to ensure they do not experience cultural discontinuity. Cultural discontinuity can have devastating effects on children and their families. Developing classroom routines and lessons that encourage children to embrace their own family culture while integrating concepts of the dominant cultural is a wonderful way to help children through the transition.
回复删除Xiaowan,
回复删除I can agree with you regarding working with children so that they can be free from struggling with cultural discontinuity and identity. We as educators can use the resources we have been taught in this course to affect positive changes for children and family in the early childhood education field.
I hope to be in more courses with you in the future. Thank you for sharing in this course from your personal and professional life. Keep on learning!