Communication and Culture

In my opinion, I feel I have always been an effective communicator with all cultures. I have never felt as if I could not or would not communicate with someone because of their values, beliefts, language, behaviors, customs or practices (Gonzalez-Mena, 2010). However, before I began teaching, I did not realize the differences and beliefs of so many others around me. I have learned through courses here at Walden that I must be culturally sensitve at all times, and even if I fele uncomfortable, I need to embrace all cultures as well as celebrate them.

There are things we must take into consideration when communicating among cultures. I have never been uncomfortable communicating with anyone; however, I have always felt (because of my own upbringing) that you are to look someone in the eye when speaking to them. If you do not, that is considered disrepect. However, many cultures do not allow eye contact when communicating. Some cultures find it repsectful to actually look down or look elsewhere when being spoken to. This is a strategy I must work on as I need to understand and respect this. I am constantly telling my students to look at me when I am speaking. I must refrain from doing this as I do not want to cause contradictions among one of my student's cultures.

Gonzalez-Mena (2010) reminds us to be careful of our own non-verbal behaviors. Oftentimes, we are unconscious of these behaviors until we begin speaking to someone who does not fit our styles and beliefs. I will ensure I am not showing non-verbal behaviors that would make anyone feel uncomfortable or disrespected.

For all of us to be effective communicators, we must understand what culture truly means as well as how to teach children to embrace their own cultures. As educators, we must learn to never show any form of steretyping or disrespect as we are models for children. We want to show them how to be effective communicators while showing respect and empathy for diversity.

References



Gonzalez-Mena, J. (2010). 50 strategies for communicating and working with diverse families. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education, Inc.

O'- Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Communication Experiences - Week 2

This week, I pondered what show to record since I do not watch much television. However, while I was at the gym, I was watching a soap opera, Young and the Restless, with the sound off. I knew I was unable to record it at the gym; however, my husband has been watching this program since he was a tween. His mother watched so he continues to watch it, as well.

As I continued working out, I made notes on my Nook about the non-verbal actions going on. While I do not know names of characters with the sound off, I can clearly see this couple seem to not want to be around each other. They are sitting outside some place, and their bodies seem tense, locked on the seat they are sitting on. The man is sitting with his head down, close to his knees, with his hands on top of his head while the young lady is talking non-stop, using her hands and shaking her head. From what I am witnessing, these two are having quite a heated argument and do not want to be around each other. At one point, the man actually goes to touch the lady's shoulder, and she flinches and he jerks back. There seems to be more tension and a need to not be touched.

A second scene I observed was a family, mother, dad (I assume they are the child's parents) and a child. The mother and dad are hugging and smiling while watching the little boy play. The couple is very affectionate and do not want to remove their hands or eyes from one another. From what I am seeing, they are very much in love and adore their child. Several times, they look at this child with such love in their eyes. Finally, they scoop up this child and walk hand in hand talking and smiling at one another.

During this entire episode, I see many different feelings and expressions. I see tension, anger, and love and adoration. However, this is the very reason I do not watch soap operas; they are not how the real life operates, and oftentimes, it is quite comical because it is predictable. But, on the other hand, I enjoyed watching the communication with no sound on.

I made assumptions based on what I seen, and not what I could hear. I assumed, with the first couple, there was tension and anger, but I was very wrong. This man and woman are married, and are very much in love with one another. What I viewed as tension and anger was stress from a situation they did not know how to handle. They found out their child was bullying another child and they were so upset about him doing this and did not know how to handle the situation. If I would have been watching this show for a while, even with the sound off I would have known what was happening. Instead, I made the assumption that these two people literally cound not stand each other and did not want to share the same space whatsoever.

This was quite the experience for me as I thoroughly enjoyed watching communication take place without hearing any words. It made me realize just how important our non-verbal cues are. We must be careful, even with our body language and facial expressions to not send the wrong message to others.

 

References

 

Phelps, J. (2013). Young and the Restless, Los Angeles, CA.

 



Competent Communicators

As I reflected upon this assignment for this week, I thought about many communicators I have been around, including myself. I have taken into consideration the types of people I have witnessed communication going on as well as the messages given and received. I am amazed at the differences we all have when it comes to sending and receiving messages!!

O'Hair & Wiemann (2012) reminds us that competent communication is effective and appropriate for all situations, while ensuring evaluation and reassessing communication. We must always ensure we are communicating effectively, taking into consideration the situation and the communications, as well as showing respect and understanding.

When thinking about this type of communicator, I instantly have someone who, in my opinion, is an excellent, competent commuicator. She is always evaluating herself, ensuring she is communicating in the best way possible, as well as showing nothing but respect and understanding for all situations. She is one of my co-workers; she has taught me many lessons on effective communication, as well. She has never degraded anyone, or made anyone feel ill feeligns because of their different styles of communication. She is intune to body language, and can read what body movements mean, as well as one of the best listeners I have ever been around. She understands she cannot speak to parents and families the same way she would speak to her family members or friends (O'Hair & Wieman, 2012, p. 16). She has always been able to make sure she is always professional when talking with families.
Her morals are very high, and she always shows respect for famlies regardless of how diverse they are.

I have certainly modeled her communication skills because they are effective and professional, as well as allowing families to feel comfortable and at ease with me as their child's educator. Her communication skills always have goals for her children and they are conveyed to families, which in turn allows families to be secure knowing their child is being taken care of they are being informed.

References



O'- Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication. New York: Bedford/St.

          Martin's.

What I Have Learned......

 



Before my courses at Walden, I never really thought about diversity and the importance of embracing it. However, upon seeing the importance of embracing differences of everyone, I realize how important it is to reflect everyone in my classroom, even if I am not comfortable with it or do not agree with it. Because children spend more than half of their day in classrooms, they should feel comfortable and accepted, and each aspect of their life represented.

 

 

Because I did not think much about diversity before this course, I believe there should be workshops or classes that every teacher should have to attend just to learn the importance of embracing diversity. Through this class, I have learned the importance of self reflection, as it has helped me uncover some of my own discomforts I would have never thought about had I not taken this class. The knowledge I have gained has allowed me to be a better anti-bias educator as well as speak to my co-workers about the importance of diversity.

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your wonderful comments throughout this course. It has been very helpful in allowing me to see things from a different perspective. I have also enjoyed reading all of your discussions and blog postings as they have given me a great deal to reflect on. I hope to see you all in more courses together.



A special thank you to Dr. Kien as your words have also been constructive and helpful. Your course has been organized and thorough, and you have always been more than helpful to ensure we have a smooth 8 weeks. Your insight and comments to me have helped me see things from many different views. Because of your expertise and this course, I feel I am a better anti-bias educator. Thank you again!



Creating Art

I love this picture as I see everyone as happy and friends. I love how everyone is smiling and enjoying each other!!


 I love the differences in ethnicity within this photo!! It truly touched me seeing the differences of each face!!


I think this is one of my favorites because of the love each child is showing, regardless of their race or being in the wheelchair!

I am so thankful I have taken these courses at Walden!! I have learned the importance of accepting and embracing the whole child!!!!

We Don't Say Those Words In Class!!

 

What a great blog topic!! Before taking courses here at Walden, I never considered what an anti-bias classroom looked like, or what I would do to ensure my classroom was full of diversity. However, upon learning the importance of embracing all diversity, I consider everything I can do to welcome all children.

During the summer, I was told I would have a girl in my class that should be in the 6th grade; however, because she was in a wheelchair and was not able to talk or interact with other students, her mother requested she be in my class because we were always singing and dancing. At first, I was quite nervous, but then I welcomed the challenge I knew I would have. Why did I consider this a challenge? First, she was in a wheelchair, she did not speak, and she has one arm missing, and because I did not know how my 4 year olds were going to react to her, and what I was going to do to ensure she was welcome in my class.

During the first week of school, she did not come in as SPECO was getting everything set up for her in her room. However, she began coming in the second week of school. I introduced her, and we all said good morning to her. I remember one of my students took off running, began screaming and ran into my arms. At first, I was so shocked I had no words. I hugged my student and soothed her. I used this time as an opportunity to talk about differences and how we should always accept those differences. I explained to my students that she was just like anyone else, only she was in a wheelchair and couldn't talk. I explained to them how she communicated in different ways than we did, but we should always show her love and respect. I wanted my children to understand this and accept this, but I knew it would take some time. N. Spangler (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010) suggests we use persona dolls or puppets so children will bond and friend these puppets and begin to engage with them. Pelo (2008) suggest persona dolls can help young children respond to stereotypes with compassion. I wanted my students to show compassion and ensure there were no injustices being done because of the visual differences of my student, and by the 4th week of school, my students were engaging with her, hugging her, and talking to her daily.

I remember one of my students coming up to me and asking me why one of her arms were missing. I never once told her to "shhhh" or ignore her; rather, I explained to her, and the whole class, how she was made that way, and how we are all made differently, but how we all need to be accepted and loved regardless of how we look. Should I have silenced her or not elaborated, I feel I would have done injustice to all of my students.

As an anti-bias educator, I want to always ensure my students are not developing bias attitudes, and should comments arise, I want to stop this bias before it continues. "Although children may not understand the full meaning of their biased comments, these can become the bias for more developed prejudice if adults do not respond to them" (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2008, p. 44). Because these biases can continue for a lifetime, we, as educators, must do everything we can to ensure we are preventing stereotypes in our classrooms and with our students.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Learning from another’s life story: Anti-bias in ECE settings. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6357/CH/mm/audio_player/index_week6.html

Derman-Sparks, L. & Ramsey, P. (2008). What if all the kids are white? In A. Pelo (Ed.), Rethinking early childhood education (pp. 43-47). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

What a difficult topic for me this week! However, it has allowed me to think deeper about children's feelings about their family structure. Even with my difficulty with homosexuality, I do feel as if we need to make all children feel proud of their family, even if they are not the traditional family.

When I think of homosexuality and preschools, I believe it is not represented because it is such a taboo subject to discuss with people, especially young children. When I read the questions for this blog assignment, it prompted me to think about my own classroom and the books I have in my classroom library. None of my books represent families that are gays or lesbians. Many of my books do not show complete families; at times, some of the books actually only show a mother but no other family members. I also spoke with my school librarian, and there are no books that represent diverse families. Next, I decided to look at my kindergarten teachers' books, and the same applied. When I asked the teacher about this, she stated this is such a touchy subject, especially for such a small school. She stated she did not want to put her job in jeopardy as this is something that is not spoken of to young children (Y. Sanchez, personal communication, 2013). The preschools I have seen, as well as my own classroom, do not depict any type of family other than the typical family; a mother and a dad. I began thinking about dramatic play centers, and decided to talk to one of my friends that had been a preschool teacher for 20 years. She said she was always homophobic, and refused to talk about something she knew was wrong in the eyes of the Lord (S. Cardenas, personal communication, 2013). When prompted with the question of how this made children feel that came from homosexual parents, she simply could not talk about this type of family with her students; she could not teach something that she knew was so wrong, even if the child was not at fault for what type of family they were born in to (S. Cardenas, personal communication, 2013). I do believe schools and stores are focused on the heterosexual family, rather than the diversity of all families because of the discomfort it may cause someone, as well as the confrontation they may face from other families.

I am very uncomfortable with homosexuality because of my strong Christian faith; however, I never want a child to feel as if they and their family structure is not as important as their peers. Should I have a parent come to me with their concerns about someone being a homosexual or transgender teaching children, I would assure them a person's sexual orientation has nothing to do with their teaching ability, and their child is in no danger of being harmed by this person. Second, I would also remind them they are only assuming this person has this sexual orientation, and that making assumptions can certainly harm someone's reputation. I would also make sure I have research and articles on this very subject and go over this with parents. I would also stress to parents how important it is to talk about diversity and acceptance.

My daughter is in the 8th grade, and everyone has assumed one of her teachers is gay; it has never been confirmed. I have never thought negative feelings about him teaching my daughter because he is an amazing teacher, as well as being my daughter's favorite this year. I have never focused on this as I believe the person's sexual orientation has nothing to do with their ability to teach.

I am very thankful we can be honest and open throughout this course. While I know how important it is to make all children feel proud of their family, I find it quite difficult to discuss same sex parents. I am inclined to agree with the fact that early childhood centers avoid the inclusion of books that depict homosexuality as it is not what a typical family is made up of. However, I feel very torn as a family is made up of those who love you and support you. In the media presentation, it is discussed how it is important to discuss gay and lesbian parents so children can be respectful (Laureate Education, 2010). I believe this is important as all children need to learn to be respectful to all adults. My biggest concern, however, is how to accomplish this without offending all other families.

I think back to Tina, (Laureate Education, 2010) and her family never speaking of homosexuality. I never spoke about with my daughter as a young child either; it is just a difficult topic for me because of the discomfort I have with.


References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010).Learning from another’s life story (Video webcast). In EDUC 6357 Diversity, development, and learning.Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6357/CH/mm/audio_player/index_week3.html

 

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Start Seeing Diversity. (DVD). In EDUC 6357 Diversity, Development, and Learning. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2098819_1%26url%3D