Expanded Learning

“I think... if it is true that 
there are as many minds as there 
are heads, then there are as many 
kinds of love as there are hearts.” 
― Leo Tolstoy, Anna Karenina

I have learned so much about myself these past eight weeks, some information shocking in terms of biases that I had developed through hearing my own parents talk about other people and some insights regarding my own behavior as it pertained to those hidden biases.  Even if those thoughts are not verbally shared, one is still has bias and prejudice and until that is recognized one cannot move ahead to interact and work with individuals who are culturally, racially, linguistically, and sexually diverse.  I am working on getting to the root of those feelings I have as well as examining past and present behavior to see if my ideas have impacted other people in an adverse manner.  I hope to be able to free my mind of these types of negative thoughts and biases so that I can improve in my work and improve in my relationships with children and families.  With that said I must ask questions and do my homework if you will about people who are different so that I can gain greater understanding of their story as well as dispelling my own biases.

 

In terms of the early childhood education field those same principals apply and I would like to create a program for people like myself as well as teaching teams to have a safe environment so as to share their feelings and ideas about culturally diverse populations.  We need to be able to say to staff, “It is okay to have these thoughts, but it is not okay to act based on those biases”.  I would like to then assist staff with identifying important methods to working with families with diverse backgrounds. 

All of you have helped me grow and thrive during our time together; you have afforded me the opportunity to share personal information about myself and you have never judged me.  I have also learned much about all of you and have been able to gather from you useful, practical information that can be put into practice immediately.  I wish all of you the very best, and I look forward to future classes with all of you.