I have learned a lot since the beginning of this class. One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families of different backgrounds would be that the teachers are educated in the different backgrounds. By this, I mean that teachers need to do research outside of what the families and students tell them about their culture. This research needs to be done before they meet the child and their families. This will allow for a more successful learning environment. It seems as though a lot of teachers these days do not show interest in all of the different cultures and they do not do extra research to educate themselves. This will only help meet the needs of all of the students in your class.
One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to diversity, equity and social justice is to make sure that I know as much as I can about every student in my class. By doing this, I will conduct research on my own, communicate with parents/children and communicate with other teachers. Communicating with all of these individuals will allow me to learn about the different cultures. It is a must that all cultures should be treated the same in any class setting.
I just want to thank everyone for being open and establishing a great line of communication from the beginning of the class that continued throughout the entire class. Without this type of communication, the success of this class would not have been there. Even though we do not know each other, sharing stories and sharing advice was very helpful to me! I hope to get the privilege of having another class with you guys sometime down the road of my Master's program.
I set a similiar goal for the field of early childhood. I think as teachers we will be more successful if we get to know our students on a deeper level such as their heritage and culture. I agree that sharing stories helped. Sometimes hearing about different things people have gone through helps me see situations from another perspective.
ReplyDeleteThank you for all your thoughtful posts and feedback. I appreciated your perspective during each assignment. I look forward to working with you again.
ReplyDeleteGood Luck on the Journey!
Betsy Carlin
I agree with you when you say that teacher's have to become educated and do their research with respect to diversity and culture. I also think that communication is the key ingredient to a better relationship with the families. Great post.
ReplyDeleteThank you for your blog, I feel that we need to become educated with other cultures. Diversity is part of society and we need to embrace other cultures rather than think that everyone should all be the same. I have learned so much in this course from everyone's post. Thank you and good luck with everything.
ReplyDeleteChelsea,
ReplyDeleteThank you for blogging with me. I believe that you can acheive your goals of addressing diversity in education. I also hope to establish equity in early childhood education. Good luck on your future goals and hopes.
Making sure you get to know as much about each child in your classroom is a great goal which seems to be shared by others in this class. That just shows how we are learning together and all realizing how important this aspect of being in the education field is. We all know that we have to go above and beyond what the books teach us and learn from each individual family and child. This takes time and effort and it is wonderful that so many people in this course, including myself, is more than willing to go the extra mile. Thanks
ReplyDeleteAmber
Chelsea, I also agree that we need to educate ourselves on the cultural backgrounds of the children in our care. It is so important that we as educators continuing to learn!! The families themselves are often a great resource of information (after they have been there a while and a good relationship has been established) I have actually asked some of the families that I work with where a good place to go would be that could help me better understand their traditions, and they love to share. It has been great reading your blog! Carolyn
ReplyDeleteChelsea, I agree with you on the fact that you think if educators are going to work with children and families they should be educated in different backgrounds. I think that this would give us all more of an appreciation towards others. I enjoyed reading your post this semester. I look forward to reading more in the future if we have any together. Good luck in the future with the rest of your courses!
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