Competent Communicator

When I read the assignment for this week the first person that came to mind as a competent communicator is Randy Pausch. If the name is not familiar to you, you may remember his story. If not, I invite you to learn more about this highly effective communicator.

I first became aware of Randy Pausch when he appeared on the Oprah show and reprised a much longer talk he had given at Carnegie Mellon University where he was a professor. The talk was about reaching your childhood dreams. It was part of an academic tradition where professors were given the opportunity to give their “last lecture”, what would they say to their students if they were hypothetically going to die. For Randy Pausch it was not hypothetical, he had been informed by his doctors that he had months to live. Randy passed July 25, 2008.

The reason I would like to model my communication after his style is because he often uses humor to emphasize a point. He has great visuals to go along with what he is saying. He shares just enough personal information to make the story engaging, but not so much that you feel you had to be an insider to understand his point. He credits others for information they have shared with him. Overall he is a positive person. Lastly, like I so often do with my young students when the real learning is hidden in our playful activity, the lesson of his talk is not what it appears to be on the service. Pausch refers to this as a head fake, he includes several in the long version of his talk.

Below are the links to his talk.

Randy Pausch on Oprah http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVl8tj3Wf58

Randy Pausch -Original Last Lecture http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ji5_MqicxSo

If you have to time this to view the original, it is very inspiring as an educator!

Professional Hopes and Goals

My hope is that the children and families I work with can develop the same sense of how we will all find peace as the author of this poem. The author is a child!

HOW PEACE BEGINS

Peace begins with saying sorry.

Peace begins with not hurting others.

Peace begins with honesty and trust.

Peace begins with showing cooperation and respect.

World Peace Begins With ME!

--Halley Hall

Retrieved from http://favicons.blogspot.com/2012/04/poems-by-children-on-diversity.html

The goal that I would set is the creation of learning environments that would allow children to explore and develop their own ideas about not only the objects, but the diverse people they interact with also. My goal would be to have children learning in diverse environments where “isms” are challenged and respect for all is taught.   We have the opportunity in the field of early childhood to allow children to explore the issues of diversity, equity and social justice as the play and learn alongside children and adults that represent a variety of cultures. The goal would be that children form a world view that will allow them to challenge inherited bias and the influence of media. In order for this goal to be achieved anti-bias education training for all teachers would need to be a requirement!

Thank you to all my colleagues in this course. Your openness and willingness to share stories related to the many “isms” we have studied took courage and trust. Acknowledging how much we all needed to learn and supporting each other through this journey was invaluable. I believe we have the beginnings of a great support system as we bring stronger anti-bias education to our work environments! Thank you also to Dr. Dartt for her challenging questions and support as we all navigated this new learning environment!

Welcoming Families From Around the World

For this assignment, imagine the following scenario:

You are working in an early childhood setting of your choice—a hospital, a child care center, a social service agency. You receive word that the child of a family who has recently emigrated from a country you know nothing about will join your group soon. You want to prepare yourself to welcome the child and her family. Luckily, you are enrolled in a course about diversity and have learned that in order to support families who have immigrated you need to know more than surface facts about their country of origin.

The new family entering my early learning center is from Morocco!

Morocco is located in North Africa boarding the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

In researching this country to prepare for the families arrival I have learned the following…

1.      Moroccans are predominantly Sunni Muslims, but there is also a Jewish community so I cannot assume the faith of the family.

2.      Arabic is the official language, but French serves as the language of commerce and government and is widely taught. My student may be able to speak two languages already! There is also the possibility that English is also spoken as Al-Akhawayn, a private English- language university, that uses an American model was founded in 1993.

3.      Although education is free and compulsory through the age of 15, many children especially girls in rural areas, do not attend schools. Literacy rates differ between genders with males having the higher rate.

4.      Morocco for the most part is a patriarchal society, with girl and boys being raised much differently. Girls are shown more affection and are more closely monitored and disciplined.

5.      In Morocco lunch is the biggest meal of the day and shared with family.

The information I have gathered will allow me to greet and get to know this family without any preconceived notions. I am aware that their religion, language and education level may vary. Although Morocco is patriarchal, a modern Morocco exits, with women working outside the home. I need to meet the family to learn and understand its structure. I am aware that the educational expectations of this family may vary depending on the gender of the child. The information I have gathered will allow me to prepare my classroom and myself to provide as much cultural continuity between home and school as possible. Having 30 minutes for lunch instead of two hours, and eating with peers at the center instead of family is our first cultural conflict.

Reference

Stevens, G. M., Vollebergh, W. M., Pels, T. M., & Crijnen, A. M. (2007). Parenting and internalizing and externalizing problems in Moroccan immigrant youth in the Netherlands. Journal of Youth And Adolescence, 36(5), 685-695.s

U.S. Department of State. (2012, March 12). Background note: Morocco. Retrieved from http://www.state.gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/5431.htm

(This post was influenced by my oldest daughter who will be moving to Cartagena, Spain in Sept. to teach English for a year. She was very exited about where she will be teaching due to the Moroccan influence and its proximity to Morocco itself. After my research I share her enthusiasm!)

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice and Oppression

The memory I have of experiencing bias was shopping for wedding rings with my soon-to-be husband. My husband works in the service industry and at the time worked in the field. I was working in the ECE field. He had a customer that was a jeweler and his store was located in a very high end shopping mall.  My husband asked me to meet him one afternoon to look at the selection. We both went to the mall directly from work with little concern for what others would infer from how we were dressed.

My husband’s customer was cordial and happy to see us at his store. Unfortunately, his designs were not my taste. We decided to take the opportunity to look in other jewelry stores for wedding rings while we were there. Because of our attire, we were prejudged by most of the retail staff in the stores where we shopped. In several stores we were not greeted or asked if we needed help.

The assumption that we could not afford what they had for sale and therefore, were not worth waiting on, was made very apparent. I found that very interesting, as I am sure most of the employees in those stores did not have incomes higher than ours. Yet they treated us as less than, because of their assumption that their efforts would not result in a sale. We were unworthy of shopping in their establishment was the message we received, so we took our business elsewhere.  

Feelings of being less than or inferior due to economic status were brought to the surface for me. I was raised in a middle class neighborhood, but within the town I lived on the “poor” side of town. I had no awareness of this as a young child, but it became clear as I went onto middle and high school. The further I went in my schooling, the more neighborhoods were combined, and for some students, lines were clearly drawn according to economic status.

If I had been more self- assured at the time I would have requested service. That would have provided the opportunity to educate the sales staff that to make biased judgments due to someone’s dress is a mistake.  An overt statement would not have been necessary, just by the ability to pay for what I wanted would have sent a clear message.

Classism is based on the assumption that in order for one person to have enough someone else must have less, and the person with more is superior. We live in a very competitive society and believe someone needs to fail in order for other to succeed (Laureate Education Inc., n.d.). A lesson I have learned throughout my lifetime is to never assume someone’s economic status from the way they dress. Or in my case, the ability to pay for a special purchase after a year of saving!

A friend of my husband, who is also a plumber, shared a story of giving a customer a bill for his services. The customer replied “With prices like these you could vacation in the Bahamas!” To which he replied, “Am I not allowed to vacation in the Bahamas?” This remark was a clear example of classism. His microaggression was stating- In my eyes your job does not have the same status as mine, therefore not worth as much money and I should not meet you at my vacation spot because we are not equals.

Reference


Laureate Education Inc. (Producer). (n.d.) Microaggressions in everyday life [Video Webcast]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_550963_1%26url%3D