PROFESSIONAL HOPES AND GOALS

  
My hope is to establish an effective and collaborative relationship that will involve  sharing, flexibility, and a commitment to build and sustain open lines of communication and understanding. Listening carefully,
having an open mind, and reserve judgment between the families and myself are very important. Encouraging the children to appreciate and embrace their identity (who they are and where they came from) the more they will be able to move ahead with their heads up high with confidence.  Many families will have the same hope and dreams for the children as well as I do, therefore in order to achieve success working as a team is super important for the future.

 In our diverse society, working with families require paying very close attention to the children and families  individual value system. My goal is to be able to recognize and embrace the families by talking openly about each individual identity  that I know  will help in providing  a positive and rich environment for the children. Being culturally sensitive will make a world of difference in a child's identity. Children need to feel comfortable of their identity. Many children feel like they need to give up their identity to fit in. Working to promote self esteem is important.

 There are so many people to thank. I truly enjoyed our discussions and reading their blogs. I have felt that I grew as a person as well as a professional with everyone's opinions and critique.  Dr. Sheri thank you for those smiley faces. It brought me back to the first grade but this time in a happy place. Thanks to each and everyone of you I feel to complete. I can't wait to meet all you and thank you personally.

WELCOMING FAMILIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

 As we all know as early childhood educators, children come to school with a wild variety of experiences in reading, writing, and other literacy activities at home. Not only do we recognize differences and experiences, respecting them is key for a successful school year. While language is the most obvious differences bridging the gap between our culture should be a primary goal.

                                        BANGLADESH





 In my hometown I have seen that there are man families from Bangladesh. Learning about their culture can help both the families and me work together for their children.  Bangladesh is a country found in Southeast Asia, south of Bay of Bengal and mostly surrounded by India. Bangladesh is a very diverse country in itself. There many indigenous communities and their colorful culture.

     HOLIDAYS

Holidays plays a part of the overall school experience.  A few Bangladesh families do celebrate holidays like Christmas or Halloween. Because of the diversity of families can provide examples of their own unique traditions to which will hell recognize that and helps everyone recognize and respect that holidays not only personally important culturally but meaningful. In order to respect all our families we have a Harvest Ball Celebration. We have a field trip to either go pumpkin picking or apple picking. The curriculum involves many activities related to trees and the season of  Fall. Then we change towards the Winter season with our Winter Gala. The field trip becomes a nature hike and they are introduced to how trees change, the animals that hibernate etc. There is always a struggle with parents who become disappointed because there are no costume parades or Christmas play and if we do allow others get upset.

 MANNERS

Personal space is not as important as ours. Many Bengalis stand very close when speaking with someone of the same gender and touch is common. When you meet someone you say, "Salaam Aley Kum" which means "Peace be with you". In which you reply "Wa Aleykum As-Sallam" which means "Unto you also peace".
 

 FAMILIES

 

Extended families usually live together, and the children, especially the boys are expected to look after their elders. Grandparents are responsible for the children when the parents are away. The Bangladesh society is a male dominated society and are very protective of their female relatives. Women are discouraged from being outside after sunset and usually have a low status in society except for the upper class.


 

EDUCATION               

The education system is divided into 4 levels-- Primary (from grades 1 to 5), Secondary (from grades 6 to 10), Higher Secondary (from grades 11 to 12). The first level of education is comprised of 5 years of formal schooling. The second level of education is comprised of 7 (3+2+2) years of formal schooling. The third stage of education is comprised of 2-6 years of formal schooling (college).

In most slums in Bangladesh, access to education is limited. For those children who do attend school, repetition and drop-out rates are a challenge. Many children here work to support their families.  The biggest challenges is school absenteeism. Sometimes, when the children don’t show up, the teachers go to their homes and talk to their parents

 

Our purpose is to shape how our children see the world and each other. That is to include all the cultures of our students, it is sometimes easy to lose sight of this goal.

Finding innovative ways to embrace all cultures especially those that our society fails to represent is a powerful way for everyone to support children’s learning. This means our focus is to work with parents no matter what culture . And to reach our primary goal: the children.

 References

http://www.discoverybangladesh.com/meetbangladesh/education.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

SEXISM HAS NO BOUNDARIES

 Sexist remarks and attitude are not only for  older women here is an example how sexist remarks  sell t-shirts to  little girls. The Children's Place clothing store in NJ had to  pulled off their shelves after many parents responded in disgust. These T-shirts  said, "My Best Subjects" on top and has checks in boxes next to shopping, music and dancing. A box next to math, at the bottom of the list, is blank and underneath it says, "Well, no body's perfect. The message that these t-shirts send the stereotype that girls are bad at math. I lived in this clothing store when my girls were little. I was very disappointed.


RACISM AND FAMILIES

 

The commercial made by Cheerios that shows a biracial family was one that stroke controversy.
Thank you  General Mills for taking a stand and portraying an interracial couple in such a positive light. It is a refreshing change seeing that there are now a few  campaigns are starting to reflect  what our society actually looks like today.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCE
My daughters Karina and Ariana was in first grade, Ariana came to the car in tears. She shared with me that her teacher separated the classroom. One side were the Busy Beavers and the other side was the Lazy Cats. Karina was on the Beaver side and Ariana was the Lazy Cat. I remember walking out of the car and trying to stay calm, confronted the teacher. The teacher was shocked that Ariana took it to heart. I told her she needed not to single children out that way because of their academic achievements. Since then my daughters are doing very well in high school, I do see that Ariana feels that she has to prove herself academically.

Reading and keeping an open mind can help people embrace diversity for what it is. It's a variety of characteristics that creates each and every individual unique. If we can take the time to share experiences with others instead of listening to hateful, derogatory  remarks then it can start a trend of bringing equity for everyone.