PROFESSIONAL HOPES AND GOALS

First I would like to thank all of my classmates and our professor for such a great learning experience!  I look forward to learning/working with those who are on the same specialization track as I am in the future.  For everyone else, best of luck in your future endeavors!  It is always a pleasure to get to know/see how others think feel as well as learn from each other’s experiences.

As this course draws to a close, I have revisited my original goals chosen during the start of our reflective journal as well as those I wrote during the end of the reflective journal assignment. 

Professionally as well as personally my hopes and goals for the future include, but not limited to:  continuing finding ways to further my understanding of diversity; continuing finding ways to better understand the role that our social identity plays in our lives; and to put this acquired knowledge (both from this course and what I learn in the future) into practice (i.e. professionally and personally).

These are categories that I know I need to continuously work on in regards to changing demographics and diversity.  It is so important to make sure everyone feels respected and included in their community and with their child’s education.  I say this because as the demographics and diversity change in my child care and community, so must I.  Fortunately, working with exchange students has really opened my eyes to this issue and allowed me to understand that I can keep growing and learning along with the families/students/community.  The students are always willing to educate me on their cultures, customs, etc…  All I have to do is ask.  If I do not know something I make sure I ask the families to educate me.

According to Santamaria (2009), challenges inherent in serving multiple students with diverse needs (i.e. academic, cultural, linguistic, socioeconomic, etc.) have been the preoccupation of educators since the identification of academic achievement gaps in research studies and by school districts (Santamaria, 2009).  In order to be an effective educator, regardless of what field of education we are working in, we need to be culturally competent communicators.  According to Le Roux (2002), education is not just about understanding the curriculum and achieving good grades.  It is also about teaching and learning about values, assumptions, feelings, perceptions and relationships (Le Roux, 2002).  

The goal I would like to see set for the early childhood field in general is that each educator/administrator/politician involved in the early childhood field be exposed to mandatory courses/workshops in order to address diversity, equity, and social justice.  I also would like to see some type of plan put in place when each of us has to take the time to look at our own biases.  It is very important to look at our own biases as we have learned in order to make sure we can ask the questions needed to educate ourselves as well as make our classrooms, child cares, etc… the best environments for learning that we can.  If we do not address these attitudes/biases, we will not be able to establish an environment that is welcoming for everyone.  Educators, as stated above, must genuinely examine their attitudes and assumptions not only about diverse cultures but also about the diverse types of families the children live in.  These attitudes and assumptions will not allow us, as educators, to reach the point of genuine openness to others and therefore, not make our classrooms/child cares an inviting place for others to want to become involved.  Also, once we examine our attitudes and assumptions, it allows us, as individuals as well as educators, to feel comfortable in asking questions and finding out answers from others in how to improve our programs, curriculums, etc… (Gestwicki, 2007).

References

Gestwicki, C. (2007). Home, school, and community relations. Clifton Park,

          NY: Thomson Delmar Learning.

Le Roux, J. (2002). Effective educators are culturally competent

          communicators. Intercultural Education, 13(1), 37-48.

          doi:10.1080/14675980120112922

Santamaria, L. J. (2009). Culturally Responsive Differentiated Instruction:

          Narrowing Gaps between Best Pedagogical Practices Benefiting

          All Learners. Teachers College Record,   111(1), 214-247.