adjourning

I think when you have a good group the leaving at the end of the project is hard. Some projects sometimes take up a large portion of the class and you become friends with the people in your group and once its over you don't get to talk to them anymore, unless you have traded contacts.

I think that high performing groups are hard to leave because they are successful and you trust everyone in the group because you know they all want the same result and that is to get a good grade.

I don't have many groups that I have felt not happy that it was over with. I have had a few friends in some of the classes I was in and I wasn't happy it ended because I wouldn't get to see them as much anymore because we are in different classes.

I feel like with getting my Masters degree it will be kind of sad to finish it because I enjoy reading about everyone else's experiences with their work and school and how they do things in their classrooms.

Adjourning is an essential part of the group project process because it teaches you how to end things in a healthy manner.

conflict resolution

A conflict that I have had at work is that some people have been accusing me of making them feel "uncomfortable" because they know I am a lesbian. I have been called into the office a few times and spoken to about it. I have never tried to make anyone feel uncomfortable and I usually only talk to my friends at work. I go to work to do my job and all the children and parents love me. The ways that I have resolved the accusations is that I keep to myself and stay away from the ones who are saying things to my boss. I also have a friend who approached my boss and told her that people are talking about me and are trying to get me in trouble, and that if they do not stop doing this to me she will be forced to quit because she is a bi-sexual person and is feeling discriminated against as well.

To my colleagues, do you have any advice on what I should do?

similarities and differences

The similarities I had with my mom and friend who did was that they got the anxiety and listening ones the same as me because I am very predictable. However, the verbal aggression one they got lower and I got a much higher score. I felt like it was weird that I got a high score because I usually let people say what they want and don't usually say anything negative towards them at all. I felt like I should have gotten the same score my mom and friend got because they got a low score that makes sense when it applies to me.

cultural diversity

I have found myself talking differently to people of different culture because in my town we don't see much difference with people. My town is all Caucasian people and a few African Americans but not many. I took a class while getting my Bachelor degree and a lot of the people in my class were of the Muslim culture and wore gowns and masks so you could only see their eyes. Me and the other Caucasian girls all judged them because they were different. I did eventually have to be in a group with them and found out we had a lot in common and we got along very well. It's sad that in this day and age, that if you look different you automatically get judged. The way I communicated differently was I tried using as small of words as I could just in case they didn't understand me. I took that assumption that they couldn't speak fluent English, and I was wrong. They were very intelligent. I now make sure to not judge a book by its cover, because it really could have made me not make friends in the class and I wouldn't have learned about their culture, which I found very interesting.

Tv show

I watched a new show called "resurrection" and it was on silent the whole time. I found myself trying to figure out very fast. I couldn't tell who was good and bad. It was very difficult. I could tell people were upset, but I didn't know why. The facial expressions were sometimes easy to read. When they raised their hands around you could tell they were angry. It was easy to see they were sad when they cried, however, I didn't know why.

I turned the volume up and then found out who the good and bad guys were in the show. I found out why they were yelling. I couldn't imagine being deaf, because I can't read peoples expressions that well. I find that people cant read my expressions either, because my facial expressions are very hard to hide, and then people tend to ask me what is wrong and I never know why.

thank you

One thing I want children and families to be able to do is always talk to me if they are feeling uncomfortable or judged in my classroom. I want it to be a place for everyone to feel welcomed and able to say anything they want without judgment.

A goal I am going to try to do is be more open minded to other people's culture and traditions. It is hard sometimes when you see a parent doing something to the child when it is not the same in our country.

To my colleagues, thank you so much for your stories on your blogs and the feedback you give me on mine. It has given me a lot more knowledge and insight about diversity and how to deal with certain situations if I ever come across it.

country of origin - Mexico

I am working in a child care center and a little girl from Mexico comes into my classroom. The first thing I would do after meeting the little girl and her family is look up the Mexican culture and traditions. When looking up Mexico, I learned there is no actual language for Mexican people. Most of it is in fact Spanish, but there are other kinds of languages too. I would learn about their religion to know in fact if I have any children in common with them. The internet said that "90% of Mexicans are Catholic". I would look up the Catholic traditions and what they celebrate to be sure I am not offending anyone. The next thing I would look up is how they live. I found that they enjoy having parties and celebrate things every chance they get. They also take family very seriously and are always there for their immediate family. This allows me to make sure I get to know the family and make them feel very comfortable in their new setting.
By doing these things, it will allow the family to feel welcomed into our classroom and see that their child is not being discriminated against and that we accept everyone regardless of where they are from.

discrimination

The incident that I have experienced is not really that serious but in my class the boys and girls have this idea in their head that boys can ONLY play with the superhero's and the girls can ONLY play with the dolls. They also will bring in stickers and if its ninja turtles the boys will not give them to the girls because they are girls. The girls do the same thing if they bring in princess stickers they don't give them to the boys. I have made sure, as the teacher, to have them share everything they bring in and making sure they realize that it doesn't matter what gender you are, you are allowed to like the ninja turtles if your a girl and your allowed to like princesses if your a boy.

This example diminishes the equity in the classroom because in their own simple minds they are discriminating against the genders in the classroom because of what they see on tv. They never see a boy playing with a doll on tv, and if they do, the boy is most likely being made fun of or questioned about why he is playing with the doll. It goes the same way for the girls playing with the boy toys. She is immediately thought of as a "tomboy" or she's gay because she likes things that boys like.

I have made sure that if they are playing something that they are letting everyone play regardless of what gender they are. I make sure they aren't saying anything mean to each other and I am always sending the message "gender doesn't matter, anyone can do anything they want to". I think the kids in my class have come to an agreement that everyone can play even if it confuses them sometimes why a girl wants to play dinosaurs or a boy wants to play house. I have made my classroom judgment free and they all are now playing and sharing nicely.

microaggression

I have recently observed microaggression by one of my guy friends who was being ignorant and was making wise cracks about me liking girls. He was saying "who wears the pants" and "you guys have your own president, right?' Things like this just shows how unaware our country is about people who like the same gender. No one is the same, no matter what they look like or who they like. I felt embarrassed for him and for myself because he said this in front of all my friends and I dont like having attention brought on me because of who I like. I also felt anger too because there was no need to talk about who I like and say dumb things like that.

This put a perspective on being prejudice to me because now I know how people of different race feel. I now understand why the African American people get all fired up about having rights and not being judged. I now understand that it doesnt feel good to be put down for what you look like or who you like. Everyone deserves an equal oppurtunity in life and shouldnt be judged on their own personal looks or gender that they like.

talking to friends about culture

I spoke to three of my friends. One of which is a gay male, and the other two are just my good friends.

My first friend said (gay male) that he thought culture is what you have in your life and what you believe in.
They think that diversity is when someone comes from a different culture then you and have different traditions.

2nd friend: Culture is where you belong and have traditions and different things then others.
Diversity is the difference in other peoples cultures and how everyone is different.

3rd friend: Culture is the place that you live and all the other things that go along in your life like gender, race or religion.
Diversity is the different things that make you who you are and what others dont seem to have.

I found that all my friends had a point in all their answers. They all know what culture and diversity is and what the difference between the two are. They know culture is where you live and diversity is the difference in people.

The thing I think that my first friend left out is that he does have a different culture and is diverse from others. He didnt say anything about being gay, of course he shouldnt have to, but I think to him he is normal and doesnt care if his culture is different from others.

I think by listening to all my friends definitions is that I have the same beliefs as them and that we all basically come from the same culture so it really isnt hard to understand where they are coming from.

three items

I think I would grab my phone, my photos, and my dog.

I think that my phone is a huge part of my culture because currently our culture is all about technology. My iPhone might show this other culture what else is out there in the world and might make them want to join the technological culture.

My photos are very important because it is a reminder of where I am from and what my culture was like.

I would take my dog, even though he's not really an item, but I couldn't just leave him behind. In my culture, a dog or any kind of pet is very important to us and you take care of them like they are your children.

My feelings on having to get rid of two of the three would be very frustrating and make me very angry. However, I would keep my dog because he has been a part of my family and you don't abandon family when things get tough.

I realized from doing this blog that it is very hard to choose just three things and its hard to pick the right things to bring with you to a culture you don't know anything about.