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.

conclusion

The insights that I have gathered from this class is always look for more the one study about a topic. The more studies the better research data I will be able to gather and decide what is the truth for the topic that I want to know about. The ways that doing research has changed because I now know about the triangulation and all the different types there are and what each means and the best ones to use for what type of research. I learned that you must always talk to the parents and develop a relationship with them and their child before doing the research project. It is always easier when the child trusts you and allows you to do your experiment. It also helps that you have a back-up plan just in case the project doesnt go as planned.

My perception on early childhood teachers are that you must gain the child's trust and they will do what they want you to do. Teachers must always communicate with the parents and the children, communication is very important, especially when you are a teacher.

research in australia

play quality - educated superheroes and princesses
secure transition - making children feel comfortable and secure
stories from the heart - connecting children with stories and our earth

It was very interesting that their are so many different research topics in the world. It's also surprising that we have a lot of the same types of research, and it would be very interesting to see the different results compared to Australia and the USA.

I also enjoyed looking at the website and looking at their childhood news and seeing what they do in their classrooms in Australia.