TV Show

   The television show I had chosen to do this assignment was Leave It To Beaver. The show stars Barbara Billingsley, Hugh Beaumont, Tony Dow and Jerry Mathers. The reason why I chose this show was because I had never seen the show before and I wanted to select a show that was wholesome for the family.
    With the sound off I was able to see the characters smiling which shows me that the family is friendly. I also observed that the wife stays at home and waits for the kids and husband to come home. The wife is always properly dressed. The parents show concern for their kids and also show them when they are proud. The family always sits down together for meals.
   When I had gone back to watch the show with the sound on, the assumptions I was able to make is that it is family show that shows family values. It also teaches you a lesson. In this particular episode I was able to pick up on the moral of the story and the plot even though it is not a show that I normally watch. The plot is about the importance of being a good team player instead of acting like you are the only player on the team and because you feel that your are the best, practice is important. Beaver (played by Jerry Mathers) scores the winning touch down and since he played so well one week he feels that he does not need practice and skips out on practices all together. The coach calls the house and tells Beaver that since he missed practice he is not able to play in this Friday's game. Beaver becomes upset and attends all practices and stays late to make up for the practices he has missed. He also learned to be apprectiative for what he has instead of having a swollen head.

Competent Speaker

  In life we all have role models, people we look up for guidance and those who have touched your hearts. One person in my life who demonstrates competent communication  is a woman who I am proud to be named after and whom I am proud to call one of my best friend's (besides my husband of course) my mother, Darlene. My mother has always been and is a strong woman who stands up for what she believes in and has always gone out of her way to stand up for her children. Growing up my mother was the one who always fought for our rights in school.  If a teacher had made us feel dumb she would go to the school and talk to the teacher and the principal. My mother always made sure that we knew we were not dumb and that we can achieve anything if we set our minds to it. My mother always made sure that we never gave up on our dreams and goals. If we needed help with our homework she always helped us out. My mother always attended the parent-teacher conferences and when we had problems in school my mother always knew who to talk to to make sure that we were being treated right. I have learned many things from my mother over the years: I have learned to be assertive when necessary and I have learned to stand on my own two feet. I have also learned how to be a good wife and when I have children I hope that I can remember how well she raised me so I can pass this on to my children.
     Yes, I would definitely want to model all of communication behaviors after my mother because she has done a great job of teaching me the importance of standing up for myself and how to never take things for granted. She has taught me to always accomplish my dreams and never let anyone talk me out of doing things that are important to me. My mother is a great role model and one of the most influential people in my life and I really do not know what I would do without her.

Professional Hopes and Goals

   One hope I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is to get to know my students well and to also learn about their backgrounds. For example, if I had a student who is deaf or hard of hearing I would take Sign Language and teach the class how to sign simple words and phrases in order to make the student feel more comfortable. I feel that is important for all children to feel comfortable in the classroom and that each child is treated equally.
  One goal I would love to set for early childhood field that relates to the issues of diversity, equity, and social justices is that I want to teach my students about other cultures and other ethnic backgrounds. Even in the year 2011 Racism is a big issue and I feel that in order to have a better control of racism we need to teach childen how to love one another and how to not judge people by what they look like or by the color of their skin. We need to teach our children how to get along and that it is acceptable to be different because that is what makes us unique. We need to treat each other as equals intead of thinking that one race or one gender is superior.

   Thank You Letter:

Dear Friends,
  I want to take a few minutes to thank each and every one of you for contributing to my blog each week. I had learned so much from all of you. I feel that my educational experience has grown because of the things I have learned from my friends. I want to wish all of you the best of luck and I know that each and everyone of you will be great teachers and advocates for children.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

   The name of the family I have chosen to work with is from the country of India. The family has been in the United States for a month and even though they were taught English at the University they do not practice their English skills a lot.
   The five ways that I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive to the family are:
1. Do research about the country of India to see what their education system is like so I can find out if the child is behind the rest of the class, ahead of the class or right on schedule with the rest of the class.
2. I want to learn about the culture as well as places to see in India. I feel it is important to know about all my students and to teach my students about other cultures so they have a chance to be friends with each other and accept each other for who they are.
3. I want to learn a few simple words such as hello, good bye and door and teach these words to my students. Communication is very important in education. I remember a friend of mine who taught special education knew that she was going to have a deaf child in her classroom and had studied sign language during the summer so she would be prepared to teach her students simple signs such as door, hello, goodbye and lunch.
4. I want the parents to be involved in the school and to volunteer as much time as they can in the classroom. If possible I would like the mother and father to be able to practice their English skills so they can seek employment. I feel it is important for the parents to feel comfortable in the United States as well as their daughter.
5. I want to learn about the Hindi religion and the traditional holidays they celebrate. I also want the parents to know that if they would feel more comfortable with their daughter taking her religious holidays off from school that she will be permitted to. I feel that all religions need to be celebrated and that all children should be involved in class activities. It is not fair to mistreat any of your students nor is it fair to leave them out.

The way I hope that these preparations will benefit both me and the family is that I will learn something new about another culture and be able to pass this knowledge on to the rest of my students. I feel that interacting with my students and the parents is important because both myself and the parents are the teachers in their child's life and the things that the children learn in school needs to be reinforced at home.

The Personal Side of Oppression

I remember working with college students who had disabilities. One student that comes to mind is a former student and friend Ceasar. Ceasar is a very bright student who has sight in his left eye and very limited sight in his right eye.  In spite of not having the best vision in his eyes, he had a strong vision in his mind to prove to himself that he could take the hardest classes and get A’s in all of them. This was a high goal he had sent for himself. He had gone to the Counseling Office and told the counselor to sign him up for Chemistry, Calculus, Second Year Italian and First Year Japanese. The Counselor told him that these were hard classes and since you have a disability there was no way possible you could pass these courses. Ceasar told the counselor I know I can do it if I believe in myself and if I do fail in the process, it will be a learning experience. Not only did Ceasar complete all his courses but he did get straight A’s. After he received his report card he went back to the counselor and said, remember me, I am the student who was told by you that I would never pass my courses. Take a look at my report card and see what grades I have received.  Ceasar left the office by saying, never tell me again I cannot do something because I will always prove you wrong.

                The way that this had diminished equity was that the counselor had assumed that just because Ceasar had a disability that Ceasar could not handle a hard work load and that people with disabilities are sometimes seen as being lazy. Ceasar proved that just because someone has a disability, it does not mean that they cannot accomplish anything. All a disability is an obstacle that someone has to jump over in order to become successful.  Ceasar took the words that the counselor told him and set a goal to do well and he did exactly what he set out to do.

                When Ceasar told me what the counselor had said that those were hard classes and that Ceasar would have a hard time passing them I was upset. I could not believe that a counselor who is supposed to guide students and help them achieve their goals would be heartless and tell Ceasar in essence that he could not pass these courses. Ceasar is a smart person and he knows his own limitations. I was proud of Ceasar because he listened to his own mind and his heart. I was also proud that he had done so well in his courses. I loved seeing the counselor’s face drop when Ceasar presented him with the report card with straight A’s.

                I feel that if anybody should change it should be the counselor. The counselor should not have assumed that just because Ceasar had a disability that Ceasar did not know what he was doing. Ceasar knows his limitations and he loves a challenge. Ceasar is not the type of person who backs down on a challenge and he is not a quitter.  The counselor needs to do a better job of supporting his students and believe in his students if he expects his students to succeed.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

   One of the microagression's I have personally experience is the being a minority. Even though I am a white woman, I was seen as a minority at my high school because my high school consisted of blacks and hispanics. I can understand how Alejandro feels about being a minority because when I was in high school I was a minority myself. At most times I felt left out because there was nobody of my same race attending school. It was also hard for me to apply for scholarships because most scholarships were for hispanics and blacks only.
One incident I remember clearly when I was in high school was that I was told I could not apply for the Summer Bridge Program because of my race. The program was offered to high school students who came from minority families and also would be the first generation to attend college. I really felt bad because I had wanted to get into this program because I felt it would have better prepared me for college. I was the first generation to attend college in my family, but because I was not black or Hispanic I was not eligible. It had really hurt my feelings because I felt like I was being discriminated against. I also felt that it was unfair to discriminate because I was an excellent student who was taking Advanced Placement courses in preparation for college. I had wanted to attend college to make a better life for myself. I feel if I had been in this program I might have attend college earlier in my life and might have a career by now.
    The ways that my experience has affected my perception of the effects of discrimination,prejudice and/or stereotypes is that people should never be judged by the outside, but rather what they have on the inside. This weeks scenarios have taught me to always choose my words carefully so I do not offend anyone. From personal experience I know what it feels like to be discriminated against and I can tell you it hurts. I also learned that it is important to teach my children and also the children in my future classrooms to like everybody and to always be nice to each other. I need to show them how to not judge people and accept them for who they are instead of trying to change them.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

I had the pleasure of interviewing my two aunts and a friend of mine who is from the country of India. I had learned a lot from these three great women and want to share with you their view points as well as my view points.

  The first person I interviewed is Eileen.When I had asked her to define culture she had defined it as language, arts, thoughts, spirituality, social activities and Interaction with other people. All these words put together are needed in order to define culture. One needs lanuguage to express themselves, one needs arts in order to appreciate what is around them, one needs to be able to think about issues and how they affect them, one needs spiritaul guidance and religion to help get through rough times, we need social activities and to interact with other people so we can learn from them and be able to communicate with others. She had defined diversity as being accepted for who you are and to respect others for who they are and not change your values and beliefs just to please others. On the same note, it is not acceptable to change other people's beliefs and values so they can be the same as you.
 
The second person I interviewed is Carolynn. She had defined culture as it defines who we are and what we believe in. Culture is defined in language, arts, thoughts, religion, and interaction with other people. She had discussed how the school she works at teaches diversity. As a pre-school teacher we teach the three and four year olds the importance of liking everybody and not to judge people for what they have on the outside, but rather what they have inside of them. A person's inner beauty is more important. We teach the kids how to learn from other cultures while still appreciating who they are. It is acceptable to be different because everyone is special in their own way and that there is only one you.
   
   The third person I interviewed was Varuni. She is of Indian descent (the country). In our culture religion and family play a big role in our lives and the importace of family history is also important. The older generations pass down their knowledge and wisdom to the future generations. We have respect for our elderly and for family. My definition of diversity is that we are learn from each other and we all have history to share. We are all unique in our own way, but we still seek advice from each other. I was born and raised in the United States and have been taught my native language of Kannada as well as English. I also celebrate my religious holidays as well as the American holidays. I feel that by celebrating my religious holidays as well as American holidays it has taught me about repecting and appreciating both countries.


The aspects of culture and diversity that I have studied that are included in the answers I have received are: religion, language, interactions with others and politics. It is very important to know who you are and what your beliefs are. Lanugage helps us communicate our thoughts, ideas and our points of view. If one did not have communication skills it would be hard to stand up for what we believe in our hearts is true and to be able to share our thoughts with others. Religion (Spirituality) is also important because we learn things through our religion and our spiritual leader is the one who guides us in our lives. If we did not have religion I feel that we would not have the proper guidance in our life nor would we have an afterlife. For diversity I feel that all three people I interviewed believe that we are all different in our own way and that it is acceptable to be different because we are all special in our own way. This world would be boring if we all felt the same way about issues, had everything in common and if we all had the same religious beliefs. We all need a little variety in our lives.
    No aspects were omitted in any of the definitions. Everyone defined the words similar and had also added a few of their experiences.

  The way that the others way definitions of culture and diversity had influenced my decision is that language, spirituality (religion) and social interactions with others are all equally important. I had always believed that language and spirituality are important, but before asking these three great women about their views on culture and diversity I never thought about the importance of interacting with other people who have different interests than you do. I guess it is great to have friends who have different interests than you do because you can learn from them.