Communicating Differently?

The idea of culture, diversity, education and perception are all relatively “old” concepts for me as a educator. However, the in-depth look into each portion has shown me new light. I find myself constantly aware of who I am speaking with, but not because of their race, gender, religion, sexual orientation, or political affiliation. It’s because we speak about our differences and I am aware of how my words can hurt others without even thinking about it.

I find that I do not speak different with people of different cultures but I may be more inquisitive during communication with people of different cultures. For the last two weeks I have been focused on how I communicate with others and I noticed with the majority of older people I am using polite phrases more often. I am constantly aware that I do not want to disrespect anyone that is older than myself or that has more experience within my field or company.

Strategies to communicate more effectively are easy enough to come by. I believe that every person can work on themselves and how they communicate. I find that I need to be a more active listening and participant in communicating with colleagues within my association. Another strategy that I will use is to develop appropriate knowledge. I will spend time learning of different cultures and learning others communication codes. The third strategy I would use would be to develop motivation. “A competent communication wants to learn and improve.” 

Assumptions in Communication

The show I chose to view was Rookie Blue. I watched an episode a couple years ago when it first came on the air but I have not viewed one since.

I chose to view this past week’s episode. I recorded on the DVR and replayed without sound. I must say the communication used in this episode was more non-verbal than direct verbal communications. After viewing this episode I realized how much we as educators and people rely on non-verbal communication throughout our lives. There are a couple police officers who I believe to be in relationships because of their body language. There are a couple that are friends and a couple that do not like each other. There are two male police officers who seems to be having a tension between them.

The officer with the tension between him and other fellow officer seems to be having a rough time with addiction. He is seen speaking with a dealer (based on the materials this actor was given). He seems upset and anxious with his tense shoulders and jumpy behavior.

After I viewed the show with sound, I was incorrect on the relationship between a detective and one of the officers. It seems from their conversation they are no longer a couple. Although non-verbally the sexual tension is still their between them.

If you were to watch a show you knew well the assumption from non-verbal may have been much closer because you would know the relationships between the characters and the plot as the storyline grows.

My experience and insight from this exercise is that we as humans need to be more careful about how we make assumptions of situations without knowing all of the facts. This is especially helpful in early childhood education while dealing with different families with many different cultures.  

Communication with Others

One person in my life who can communicate effectively is my boss. He is the executive director at the community center and is able to hold a full conversation with anyone that walks into the building. He communicates with everyone effectively because he observes the situation before beginning to communicate. He uses body language and verbal communication to form a cultural context for the discussion. 

In my short time working with him I have already began to mirror some of his habits for communication. For example, I am willing to be flexible with my behaviors to ensure my communicator is comfortable in the nature of the communication. This helps when speaking with staff and families.  

Our Hopes

When thinking about my hopes, I am faced with a struggle. I am very fortunate to truly enjoy working for the company I work with and to enjoy my co-workers presence. I hope that in my career working with children and families from diverse communities I am able to offer some support and education to parents and guardians about the importance of school readiness and provide the best rated childcare center in the capital district within the year.
One goal that I have set for myself is to include training for my staff members on issues of diversity, equity and social justice. This is to ensure a cultural  competent staff and accepting atmosphere. This goal is set on a one year plan.
I wanted to thank each of my colleagues throughout this course and program. We are fortunate to work and study in a field that works hard and strives to provide quality education for young children. Allowing our communities to strengthen through our work. Great job everyone!

Family Origin and Welcoming Different Family origins

Looking as a childcare provider/school worker a new family has arrived in the office. They came over from Pakistan.

The first thing I would do when learning of the new immigrant family would be to research their home country and city. Learning about the language and traditions of their country. I would also spend time learning about the climate, agriculture, and sports/music. The second thing I would do would be to learn a few simple phrases in their primary language to show them respect to their culture. I would try to line up a translator to ensure communication between myself and the family to ensure proper care for their child. I would try to prepare a welcome packet for the family of all important information so they have it in writing as well as take the time to explain the policies of the center. The last thing I would do would be to set up a meeting with the child's teacher and all over staff to ensure a cultural responsive atmosphere upon the child's arrival.

I would hope that this preparation would allow for the teachers to learn more about the family they will be working with and for the family to feel welcome and invited into the early learning community. Coming to a new country must be a bit scary and having a welcome environment for their children would put them at ease to immerse themselves into the community.

Microagressions

In my time as an educator I have been faced with many different cultures and situations. This week being a short week, I had less students and less things were happening. However, one major microagression that I saw was with two students. After the beginning of our program they spent some time arguing over some toy but as the fight continued name calling began. At this time one of the students was sent in to see me regarding what they said. I was a little confused, as an administrator I don't normally deal with name calling situations. This is when I found out the student called another student "White Girl." Now this other student is lighter skin but not white. The little boy didn't understand what he said wrong, he is 7. 

I was a little hurt by the comment, as he used the term as a form of negative name calling. He obviously heard someone say it but he didn't understand what he said wrong. 

My observations within programs is that parents perceive the program and staff in a certain way. Stereotyping their behaviors and actions. Most parents will walk into a situation in attack mode to counter any prejudice they perceive. 

My Family Culture

The challenge of uprooting your life and being evacuated to another country with a completely different culture is a difficult task to swallow. What's even harder is choosing just three items to take with your family? Just three small items to describe your culture.

For my family there is an important point to make, besides the human members we have three pets. These are included in my family, not the items we would take. I think this is an important point to make because these animals are not just pets but family. Lucky (dog), Thomas (cat), and Izzy (cat) are all additional members with my fiance and daughter.

For our family, one of our photo books would need to come with us. This would be needed because it holds precious family moments and photos of our departed dog, Cinnamon. The second small item we would take would be one of our laptops. We hold most of our photos on the laptop and even in third world countries you can find locations that would allow for the use of computers. Our laptop/tablet would also allow for the communication between other family member through video (when accessible). The third item is more difficult to come up with, there is just so much that we use on a regular basis that describes our culture as a family. But it would probably be a kindle/some books for our daughter. We are both avid readers and love to read to our daughter. Without that, I think our lives would be disrupted.

Our photos are important because they show our families history. This is important to me because each family holds different experiences in a different light. Our adventures and big moments are the most important to us, this is shown through our photo books. COmmunication between our extended families is very important to our small family. I come from a loud Italian American family that is connected through many generations, where my fiance has a very large extended family of first cousins and aunts/uncles. Keeping in touch is important. Literature is important to us because it shows how important learning is to us as a family.

If someone told me I could not keep all the items upon arrival I would be very upset and frustrated. Unable to live where I wanted with my family and being kept from our extended family in a culture unlike our current one would probably break my spirit if I was told I was unable to keep what little I had left.

This exercise taught me that there is a lot that we could live without but the few items that mean the most I would not part with, but the most of all is keeping us all together.