My hope is that the children and families I work with feel comfortable with who they are where they can share different aspects of their background no matter their culture. Children need to feel that it is okay to be themselves without being ridiculed. Families need to feel their children are able to express the culture in a safe environment. By having a diverse classroom presents the opportunity for the children to learn about different ideas around the world. In turn, our children would be more of a well-rounded thinker in order to contribute additional ideas to an evolving society.
My goal is to become a socially diverse individual. I need to experience more activities of different cultures and inquire about the reason the people participate in the activity. I would like to get a deeper understanding of why different cultures eat the types of food they do. I believe that will give me a better understanding of how those families lived and what they needed to do to survive. I would also like to understand why the culture wears the type of garb I see. It will give me a better understanding of the type of climate they are accustomed. I plan on taking the information to become less judgemental. When I see a child that does not have an appropriate coat for the "cold snap" does not necessarily mean they do not have the financial resources. It may mean they are not familiar with the climate in our community. It will help me see each family uniquely instead of being judgemental.
Thank you colleagues and Professor Tammy for all of your encouraging words and support. I look forward to the continued opportunity to grow together professionally. Thank you for sharing your personal experiences. It helped me realize I am not the only one finding my way in a society which is not always supportive of our cause.
Thank you again & Good fortune in all you do!
"It takes a village to raise a child." -African Proverb-
I love your hope of each child feeling comfortable with themselves, we should all strive to help our children feel comfortable, respected, and loved for who they each are; wonderful, unique human beings. Thank you Rohzawne for sharing your stories and experiences, I feel fortunate to have learned so much from each of my colleagues. Best wishes!!
ReplyDeleteHi,
ReplyDelete"It is okay to be yourself, you don't have to be me, you are yourself and I like you the way you are". This seems to be the lesson from this course. I love the way you stated it clearly that children needs to be comfortable with who they are and are not afraid to get ridiculed. Families need to feel that their children are safe. I hope that truly we can continue to be change agents to make this dream a reality. Please keep the hope alive.
Rohzawne,
ReplyDeleteSomehow, you might have created two blogs...anyway, I love this blog too. I assure you that if you came to California, you will learn diversity and you would not even have to leave the country. Diversity is so intense here, sometimes I think that I am in a foreign country. Just the other day, I went to the doctor to get some glasses and a family was speaking Spanish, they were loud and all of them were talking at once. I screamed out loud "stop! is this Spain, or what" this was a micro-aggression on my part, but I was just frustrated and the lady glared at me and she looked as if she- herself was having a flashback of being in her country.
Rohzawne,
ReplyDeleteIt has been a pleasure to read your insights and learn from your unique perspective. I am also grateful we went on this journey together. Best wishes and I look forward to working together in the future!
-Angie
Wonderful post this weeek I hope you achieve all of the goals you have set for yourself. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteRohzawne,
ReplyDeleteIt's wonderful that you mentioned both children and families as needing to be comfortable with who they are. Often I get caught up in the understanding that children should be comfortable, and families need acoomodations to make accessibility an option, yet I forget to stress how important it is for families to be 'comfortable' as well.
Great post