As we near the end of our course (6164), a
professional insight that I has become more relevant for me is the growth of
diversity in ALL areas of the world (some areas are just more prevalent than
others). My hope is that professional educators
would take a more dominant role in helping children and families with their transitions
and means of acceptance of a culturally diverse and just society where everyone
is truly treated as equals. I would love
to see us take an active role in learning more about our new children and
families before they begin our programs.
I believe that this will show our families that it is our desire to help
them and learn more about them in order to become a larger whole instead of
trying to make them be like us (our/your culture); or not accepting them because
they are not like us. They are NEW
families to us, NOT DIFFERENT!
I think that a very good goal to set would be one
that would mandate us to learn more about other cultures so that different
becomes knowledge. Finding ways to had a
little bit of another culture to our curriculums in ECED programs would be a
great start. I am not speaking of just
adding photos and books; but actual lifestyle differences. A good example would be to change our menus
(in our programs) to authentically represent the foods, eating styles, and
settings of other groups of people (i.e. Italians, Cubans, Africans, etc.). Maybe start by taking 2 to 3 days out of
every week and changing the meal plan and the lesson plans to reflect a
different culture for the day. Just a
thought!
I would like to take this opportunity to thank my
cohorts for all of the comments, questions, and discussions throughout the
class. Each of you have added an
inspiration of some sort to my life and my journey. May we, K.I.T (Keep in Touch), and continue
to work together in hopes of a better future for our children.
Be Blessed in Your Journey!
Amelia Wilson
A Mother’s Wish, LLC
Small steps are a great beginning towards change! As we have learned, we cannot solve all the problems. It has been a pleasure working through this course together!
ReplyDeleteHi Amelia, thank you for sharing your post. I really enjoyed reading it. I agree with you about your goal, and being mandated to learn about different cultures, I couldn't of said it better. It will give us as educators a better knowledge of the diversity of cultures of families and children that we work with. It has been a pleasure to working with you in this class. Looking forward to seeing you in the next class, as we continue our journey.
ReplyDeleteRoxanne