Perspectives on Diversity and Culturey

From the three people I interviewed, their definition of culture were different. However, each person described diversity as to having some variation. 

Younger Sister -Nigerian American

My definition of culture is the way a group of people share commonalities. How they perceive things, think, react/respond, and associate with themselves, others, and the world.

Diversity is when a variety is present. When different people and races are together in one area or location. It can be when you have different traditions, cultures, and ways of living are merged, combined, or together.

Older Sister-Nigerian American

Culture is a way of life that represents a person or a group. Culture does not have to be a permanent way of life, however. One can choose to embrace another culture outside if his/her cultural background.

Diversity is the product of mixing people of different cultural backgrounds. Diversity works best when the various cultures are able to appreciate the other.

Colleague -Israeli/Syrian/Irish Female

Culture to me are different ways of.living due.to traditions, the environment and sometimes religion. I think all these factors contribute to different cultures.

I think diversity is variations of different people, places and things.

From the definitions I received there were a few aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied so far. Those aspects are a person's thoughts, reactions, associations with others and the world, way of life, tradition and environment. These aspects of culture and diversity are all ways some individuals may choose to identify themselves. My younger sister defined diversity as ways of living that merged or combined. Similarly Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) described culture as a sense of connectedness. 

One aspect of culture that we have discussed that was omitted from the responses was family culture. Louise Derman-Sparks defines family culture as how a particular family is in the world, the rules of their behavior, the family’s beliefs, values, goals for their children and parenting (Laureate Education, 2011). None of them seemed to touch on the fact that culture also represents family. They each mentioned traditions and culture as a way of life. I believe that not understanding someone's family culture can play a role  in understanding that person's way of life and or thinking. 

Hearing my sisters and colleague's definitions of culture and diversity allowed me to take a step into their views on the topic. Their definitions coincide with my definition of culture and diversity. It was interesting to see that my sister's responses were similar. None of their answers were wrong, but each was unique. I have come to a better understanding that people do have an understanding of what culture and diversity is; none of them hesitated to give me a response. I was glad that they do have an understanding and that they were all open minded. 

References 

Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children      (NAEYC). Retrieved from:             https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2F webapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2817       923_1%26url%3D

My Family Culture

Wow! If this catastrophe happened to me I would initially be devastated. To leave a place i call home to a brand new place with a culture entirely different than my own would be sad and overwhelming. Nonetheless, I would be very grateful to at least have my family with me.

The three items I would take with me would be my wedding album, wedding DVD and iPod.

I would bring my wedding album because it was a very special event with all my family and friends. I had two weddings: A Nigerian traditional wedding and a traditional church wedding and reception. The pictures will remind me of that event and some of the fun things we do in my culture. I would bring my wedding DVD because it's another reminder of the day my life changed. Hearing my family and friends and seeing their joy would always remind me of them. Seeing the Nigerian dancers would be another reminder of my culture. Lastly, i would bring my iPod because I love music! I have all types of music especially the music from my country. Listening and singing along is calming and soothing especially during rough times.

Clip from my wedding: Me & husband are in purple headties in middle

If I were told that I could only keep one item out of the three I would be very confused and upset. It would be very herd to decide which item to keep since they are all very dear to me and are filled with memories. Each item has a different meaning to me, but they all represent me. To not hear songs that I love would be sad. To not have photos and videos of recognizable people would be heartbreaking. I am not sure that I would be willing to give up two items.

It was very hard to even choose three items. I had to look around my house and there were so many things that I would want to take with me. From this exercise, I was reminded of what my family and friends mean to me. It also reminded me of my love for music. I do not go a day without listening to music. Not having my music or ability to at least see the faces of those I love would bring tears to my eyes. All these three remind me of who I am and where I come from.

When I Think of Research...

This course has taught me much about research especially in the early childhood field. From this course I have come to an understanding about the importance of research in the early childhood field. Research helps us understand past and current trends in the field. Research explains issues in the field we may have little or no understanding of. From this course I have also gained an understanding of the steps taken to design a research project. I have learned about the different types of research designs as well as different research methods.

My ideas about the nature of doing research have changed in a few ways. Before this class, I did not know how much time, thinking and planning goes into conducting research. I thought research was much simpler than I came to realize.

When it comes to planning, designing and conducting a research I learned a lot. I have learned the importance of developing a research question. I have learned different instances where you may or may not need to use random sampling when selecting participants. I have learned what it takes to make a research valid. I have also gained a better understanding on the importance of consent especially concerning research with children.

The most challenging part of this research journey was choosing a subtopic and research question. From the beginning of the course, I knew which topic I wanted to research; however, the difficulty came after selecting subtopics. My general topic was autism. I then decided to focus on different development skills in Autism. When I finally selected a subtopic I had to narrow it further down; which I decided to be cognitive skills. My next challenge came in deciding what about cognitive skills which drew me to language development and sentence formation. Once I figured this all out, I thought I had a good research question based on what I have learned. However, my research question was too basic. I changed it a few times but it was still not great. I met this challenge by taking suggestions by Dr. Dartt and re-reading how to form a research question. Dr Dartt helped me greatly with this challenge.

From this course, as an early childhood professional I will look to research, but not conduct research. I have come to understand that research is not for me. I know that it is important to know what research is being done in the early childhood field and use research when needed. However, in the future I do not plan on conducting any research projects.

Lastly, I am grateful for this experience. It was a challenge at times, but I have learned a lot especially from my peers. Thank you everyone and I wish you the best as you continue this journey in obtaining your Masters in Early Childhood Studies. 

Research Around the World

I chose to explore the Early Childhood Australia website. The link for the website is http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/. I chose this site because I do not know of any current issues or trends in Australia. I also wanted to see if there are any similarities between Australia and America. Their mission is to advocate for the rights, quality and equity in issues concerning children from birth to age 8. Early Childhood Australia is also the national umbrella organization for children’s services in Australia.

I clicked on the tab early childhood news to find current research topics in Australia. I found one article titled, “Fair, inclusive, quality education every child’s right; Early Childhood peak bodies welcome increased support for children with a disability”. This article discussed that quality early education and care is a right for all children. The article discussed how support should increase so that children with disabilities will be able to benefit from a quality education. I also explored the Every Child Magazine section of the website. I read an article on asthma and asthma management. The article was more of an information resource for families. The symptoms of asthma were discussed as well as the Emergency Asthma Management which provides directions and risk reductions for those with asthma. The article also discussed ways Australia can become more Asthma friendly.

It was very interesting exploring this website. They had a wealth of information available. They have a section called Early Learning Series. Here you can find resources to enhance learning for young children whether you are a parent or caregiver. They had so many different resources organized by topic including promoting positive behavior, confidence and coping skills, fussy eaters, sensory learning and math to name a few, there are much more topics. I clicked on the sensory learning topic to read more about it. I actually thought that the information was free so I was a little surprised to find out that you have to purchase the information on sensory learning or any other topic; however, they do provide sample chapters.

I randomly came across the Early Childhood Australia position statement on Children of Asylum Seekers. The position statement mentioned that half of the world’s refugees are children. The paper discussed that many refugee children enter Australia legally and illegally. They listed a list of principles and recommendations which should be applied to support the interests of refugee children and asylum seekers. One recommendation I liked is that these children should be allowed access to the same education that Australian children receive.   

For those who would like to stay updated with the organization they have a newsletter called the Voice which you can subscribe to for free. They also have their magazine Every Child which you can subscribe to as well but for a fee. 

Reference:

http://www.earlychildhoodaustralia.org.au/

Research that Benefits Children and Families—Uplifting Stories

My beautiful flawless sis!

I know of a positive benefit of research. Research has affected my family in a positive way. Research has helped my family to figure out a chronic skin disorder my younger sister has. When my sister was a child, she had the clearest most beautiful skin out of me and my older sister. We were secretly jealous of her flawless skin. However, when my sister started high school, her skin was not so flawless. Her hair began to fall out, she became itchy all over, and she started to get bumps and blotches over her skin from head to toe. My sister and family were devastated; we had never seen this happen before. We took her to so many doctors and no one could tell us what the cause was. So my sister began to do her own research by studying her symptoms. My older sister (a pharmacist) did her own research as well to see if any medications she was taking could have caused this skin disorder. One doctor performed an allergy test which yielded no results. We conducted our own research and had her eliminate certain foods and drinks from her diet which helped a little. After talking to different doctors, reading different books and typing her conditions into Google my sister figured out that she had Psoriasis and Eczema. She was able to get in contact with a very good dermatologist who confirmed her conditions. Her doctor was very amazed that no one else knew that it was Psoriasis and was proud of the research she has done. My family was very relieved once this was found out and my sister was able to start receiving treatments. My sister continues to research her condition and continues to discover something new about Psoriasis. If we all gave up we would never know what condition she had and she would not have the ability to start treatment on time. Her skin is not as flawless as it used to be but with much care she is getting there and she is still beautiful to me! 

My Personal Research Journey

I chose the topic of Autism for my simulation. When I graduated from college, my first job was an internship at non-profit Autism organization. I interned for 3 months then begin to work part time as a Programs Coordinator. Before this job, I only knew of the term Autism and maybe about one symptom. However, I began to learn a little more and had the privilege of meeting wonderful children and families. After a year and a half I decided to get a job in the early childhood field. I still wanted to do work with Autism but wanted to get my foot in the door of early childhood as well. About a month ago, my former boss asked me to join the team again for a school the organization is building for children in Ghana with Autism. I gladly joined and was interested in getting back to working on the issue of Autism. I chose Autism as my simulation topic to learn more and start back where I left off.

This week I did a research chart on understanding research. The more assignments I complete each week, the better I understand what research truly entails. I have come to understand that research is more than just reviewing an article or a book. Research starts first from understanding and analyzing the journal, article, or book and checking for its quality and credibility. Although I an understanding how to first go about research, I am still a little worried that the information may be overwhelming. I guess the best thing for me is to review what I learn each week and begin to apply what I learn. I will also seek in my colleagues and professor if I am ever confused or frustrated. 

Building Research Competency

Starting my fifth class on my journey to receiving my Master's.
Excited to learn and share once again!!