One hope that I have when I
think about working with children and families who come from diverse
backgrounds; are how
to be culturally competent and respect different cultures and their ways of living.
I want to have an ability to understand and to honor those differences. This
has to be an everyday practice for educators to demonstrate an ongoing
commitment, to developing their own cultural competence and in the process with
families and communities. Educators have to view families as a central unit to children’s
sense of being and belonging in order to be a success in lifelong learning. As
educators of children we need to help children to learn about and how to except
others from different cultures as well.
One goal I would like to set
for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and
social justice; are for all children and families to have a sense of belonging,
experience and affirmation of their identities and cultural ways of being. All
children must have access to participate in the education they need to become
successful and contributing members of society (Derman-Sparks, & Edwards,
2010).
To
Dr. Snider,
Thank
you for a very soul searching and amazing course. In racism we all think we
know about the content of this subject but, I have found I needed to learn so
much more on the issues of diversity, equity,
and social justice. This course explained it better.
To my colleagues, I have chatted
with for 8 weeks and have learned how dedicated we all are to love teaching
children of all cultures. I thank you for your support and hope to see you all
again in future classes
.
.
Hello Kathleen,
ReplyDeleteYou have a great idea in pursuing your goal in the early childhood field. Young children should feel a sense of belonging and who are better to give it to them, qualified educators in the early childhood field. I enjoyed reading your post and good luck in your future course.
Ida
Kathleen, you are absolutely correct. Professionals must take the step first to cut out prejudices and biases in order to set an example for the children who are in our care. I am in favor of your goal that all children have access to the education in which they need.
ReplyDeleteThanks for a wonderful class, I have learned a lot from reading your blogs.