Communicating Differently With Other Cultures

Yes, I find myself communicating differently with people from different groups and cultures. My communication with them would be on different levels because everyone do not communicate the same way. People express or show their communication through verbal and nonverbal skills and cues such as gestures, eye contact, facial expressions, blushing, body position, and tone of voice. I tend to communicate with my children and adolescents, colleagues, community members, co-workers family, friends, peers and etc. in a low language (slang) which is less formal when we are hanging out, but when it comes to a professional setting I try to communicate in a high language.

Based on what I have learned this week, the three strategies I could use to help me communicate more effectively with the people or groups that I have identified are: (1) Ask, (2) Listening,, and (3) The Platinum Rule. Ask, there is no better tool for effective communication. If something strikes you as funny or inappropriate, if you feel the other person is neglecting you or is offended, simply ask him what you can do to remedy the problem. Grievances are like silence- broken when they are spoken out. Listening can help your career, saves time and money, creates opportunities, and strengthens relationships. The Platinum Rule accommodates the feelings of others and you have to understand what drives people and recognize your options for dealing with them.

Television Show

The Brady Brunch

A television show that I do not normally watch was The Brady Brunch. At the beginning of the show I can see that the boy and two girls was excited about something because they came running in the house with their books in their hands screaming and yelling at this woman (mother) to tell her something that had happened at school and then they started singing. Their mother was happy for them, but the other boy had come into the house sad and she went over to see what was wrong with him and that is when the other three children started teasing him and making faces, then he yelled at them and the mother said something and then they stopped. The boy was still moping in bed when his parents came in the room. His parents was trying to see what was wrong with him. He was pouting with his hand on his face and frowning when he was talking to his parents, then his parents said something good to him and he got up and run out the room. His mother brought him a drum set and he was anxious to tell his football team about the news. The football team teased him and walked off.

When I watched it with the sound on, my assumptions was totally wrong because I had the characters mixed up when it came to playing football. It was Bobby that the parents encouraged to play an instrument and Peter was the one being teased by the football team and he was in the Glee Club (choir). Bobby's parents were regretting to buy him the drum set because of all the noise and he was distracting everyone. The daddy came up with a solution to put Bobby and his drum set in the garage in which he called it the studio. Deacon solved the problem about the boys teasing Peter for being in the choir when he told them that he sings and is he a sissy. He said matter of fact he has a group on their team and they perform when they not playing football. Peter didn't quit the choir and Bobby quit the drums and moved on to another instrument in which he didn't know how to play. My assumptions would have been more correct if I had been watching a show that I know well.

This experience was frustrating because I am not good with reading lips when the sound is off. It was very easy to comprehend when the sound was on. I learned that reading lips is hard and hearing and seeing is what make sense when it comes to gesture. 

Communication

I thought about a professor that I took several course under when I was attending Community College. She was on the Yearbook Committee in which she took pictures for it. Also, she was very involved in other organizations as well. She was serious when it came time for her to teach. For example, if she told us we had to take a test on this particular day, trust me, you do not have to remind her because she wrote down what she had told us. Most teacher would had forgotten about the test or reschedule it for another day. As far as extra credit was considered, she did not give it because she gave us two chances to take a test and pass it. You could fail every test that she had given, but if you did your homework and attended class like you were suppose too, then you could still pass. What makes her effective is that she spoke with confident and she knew the information for her classes without evening having her notes. I would model my own communication behaviors after her because she is an organized person who is involved with the community and is always willing to help people.

Professional Hopes and Goals

I hope that when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that they reach for their dreams and know that whatever they want to accomplish in life is possible. I want them to feel loved and never experienced the pain of  rejection or exclusion, but the reality is that we do live in a world in which racism and other forms of bias continue to affect us.

A goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is that professional knowledge and experience are important, but we must never forget how much we can learn from the families we work with.

I want to thank my colleagues for their personal beliefs, ideas, opinions, and stories that you all shared. I will take all of this new information and knowledge and use it for future purposes. I want to wish you all the best on your educational and personal journey in life.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The name of my family's country of origin is India.

One way in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family would be to do research on the country first in order to understand and access information. Next, I would explore personal and family histories. This process can lead to interviews of family members like the parents and grandparents about their beliefs and experiences regarding different groups in society. A third preparation will be to focus on building skills that enhance communication such as listening and observational skills which is essential. The fourth preparation would consist of me building relationships by communicating with the family about what I am teaching and how they can be involved, I will help them to meet and get to know other people in the community, and I will use multiple avenues to include families in what is done in school. Finally, I would invite family and community members to speak to the class or share a special skill.

I hope that these preparations will benefit both the family and I by gaining each others trust and participation while learning to comprehend new information easily.

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

My memory comes from when my mother was at Kroger's and witnessed these white people put their money in the soda machine and they lost their money. The white people went inside to tell the cashier  that they lost their money in the machine and they went right on and gave them their money back. When it was my mother's turn to get her money back, the cashier halted and hesitated as if my mother was lying about loosing her money like she was trying to still some money back from them that did not belong to her. She finally got her money back and stated to them that when white people steal it's called embezzlement and when black people steal it's called stealing in which it means the same thing, but embezzlement is a prettier name.

The specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity because the cashier gave my mother a problem with giving her money back, but it was not a problem with giving the white people their money back. My mother diminish equity because she did not have to make that statement towards the cashier even though she did her wrong first. I like the old saying that says two wrongs do not make it right. The feelings that this incident brought up to me was that the cashier treated the white people as though they were more important than my mother. Also, I felt as though the cashier believed the white people, but did not believe my mother because she was black and people always assuming that black people are known to lie and white people are truthful. My mother should have ignored them, prayed for them, turned the other cheek, and walked away in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity or the cashier could have just told my mother that I am going to give your money back and now I will go put a sign on the machine that said out of order so that this would not be a problem anymore.

Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

One example of a microaggression which I detected this week was microassault to my mother when she was in the hospital at The University Medical Center in Jackson, MS for her interventional radiology (surgery). We were the first ones to arrive in the surgery waiting area and my mother was nauseated and asked the nurse could she give her some medicine for it. The nurse said hold and let me go check with the radiologist. Meantime, my mother was being frigged and was giving them trouble by wanting to sit up on the side of the bed in which they could not let her do because she had been medication. Well, this white lady kept saying you can not sit up on the side of the bed, but I can let you sit up in the bed. My mother kept telling her I feel nauseated and I want to sit up on the side of the bed. She came over and lifted her head up in the bed and then she left to take another patient back to surgery. By that time the nurse came back and gave my mother her medicine for being nausea. We were sitting in there for about an hour or two and I noticed that two or three people was being taken back for surgery and I was getting impatience. After my mother could not get comfortable, she asked the nurse can she help her to turn over in the bed and the nurse said I can not, but you can pull on me and my mother said why not and the nurse said cause she is pregnant. My mother said well I do not want to to be strain on you and hurt the baby. So, the nurse said I will get some help and by that time her other teammate showed up and she asked him to help. He helped my father to turn my mother over in the bed. Meantime, while they were trying get my mother situated in the bed, the white lady from earlier came in and the nurse said they trying to get her in bed and she was telling the white lady how my mother was acting up, but the white lady humped her shoulders as if she did not care, but she was unaware that I was watching them the whole time why they were discussing my mother and when she seen me look her in the face, she tried to play it off by winking her eye at the nurse as though she was playing. I know she was not playing and was very inconsiderate about what was going on with my mother. I think the white lady was being races towards my mother because she was giving them trouble, but she was not intentionally doing it on purpose. My mother was just nervous and scared about her procedure because she did not know what to expect. When I observed the microaggression, I was getting mad and irritated because she should have handle the situation in a more professional manner.

My observation experience this week affected my perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people. I see that all three of them still exist today. It taught me that people can discriminate or be prejudice towards you absolutely for no reason at all even if you are sick. It made me realize that a person's expression can portray to be different from what you thought original. Also, it can reveal who they truly are when it comes to them interacting with others. Since I been at this hospital I have come in contact with a many of rude and stereotype people who do not mind showing how they feel towards you even on their jobs. They are so unprofessional and do not really care.