Awareness of Microaggression

Awareness of Microaggression


Describe at least one example of a microaggression which you detected this week or remember from another time. In what context did the microaggression happen? What did you think and feel when you observed the microaggression or when you found yourself as the target of a microaggression?

Almost 2 years ago I was working with my assistant teacher at school. The majority of this school were white women, me being one of two black women. Her and I had grown to be pretty close. We cracked jokes back and forth, had fun at work often. One day she was calling her husband on the classroom phone during nap time and I told her to tell him I said hi. She repeated to me what he said which was, "what's up nigga". I was completely stunned but did not want it to be awkward between us. I was so confused in my feelings. I wanted to retaliate, I want to be so angry and go off on the both of them. It really bothered me. I went home and told my boyfriend and he was not too thrilled about it and another co-worker did not like it either. I ended up expressing my feelings to the assistant director and she said that I should definitely say something if not, she would handle it. I ended up talking to my assistant teacher about it and she expressed her sincerest apologies explaining that he did not mean it in a negative way. This microaggression was in the form of a microinsult. I say both because being that he is a white man and me, a black woman he knows my history and his and that word packs such negative power coming from a white person, especially one that I don't know that well. I lost a little respect for him that day.

In what ways did your observation experiences this week affect your perception of the effects of discrimination, prejudice, and/or stereotypes on people

Well, today another black man was shot in the street that was unarmed and intended to cause no harm (at least to my knowledge). Observing the world around me the dominant culture has no real clue as to the things they do that cause harm to inferior culture. Just the other day a white man here in Memphis tried to rob a lady and the police did NOT shoot him. Everyday my culture, my people experience all of these microaggressions in one way, shape or form. That is what I have observed this week.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture 

Every answer that was stated in my interviews were basically the same. Of course the basics were covered such as religions, races and backgrounds. 

I interviewed three friends and their response to the questions were all rather similar 

Response 1- Culture part of a group that think/believes the same things. Diversity: many different people of all backgrounds who have different cultures

Response 2- Culture is the environment you were raised in. Diversity: is a mixture of culture, race and religion.

Response 3- Culture is a combination of beliefs and traditions that help shape who we are as a people  and our way of life. Diversity: is the many different types of cultures, backgrounds, races, religions, gender, etc. 

Aspects that were omitted were things such as disabilities, language, socioeconomic status, etc. 

Looking at those I know and love response to the questions shows just how limited our view is on what culture and diversity is. We never really take the time to look beyond the surface. Which affects how we connect with with adults, children etc. Its shows how much we know or what we consider to be our culture and what diversity is. I really want to understand more about what my culture actually is and look beyond the surface in my life and those that I serve. 

My Family Culture

My Family Culture

The three items I would have for my family would be a battery operated radio so that we can get updates on the that catastrophe and information about where and how we should evacuate. Another item would be flashlight so that we could see where we are going in case it gets dark while we are traveling or if we have to travel by foot. Last supply I would take would be water to drink and/or clean food, clothes, drink etc. with. If I had to keep one personal item and had to give up the other two it would be the battery operated radio. I would feel uneasy about it of course, but at least the radio can inform me about what is going on around me. 

This exercise helped me to realize that I need to work on my survival skills and goes to show that this new culture would not know what to do if a true catastrophe struck. However, I think that when my culture is in a fight or flight situation we always find the fight in us. Its embedded in who are based upon our history of oppression. We have always fought and still are. 

When I Think of Research

When I Think of Research

In this course I have learned that research is ever growing, ever learning. It never stops and no one research hold the absolute correct answer to an issue. How can it? People are forever changing, the world is forever changing. What research does is provide a number of solutions to one problem during that moment of time in the world. My entire outlook of research has changed and my predictions were correct. Research can be quite difficult and even when it is a subject you are passionate about. Frustrations can kick in. Research is not for the weak and it is definitely something that you embark on with a true passion for the problem and the resolve. When conducting research it takes a lot reading, doing the same thing multiple times, refining questions, finding the best way to research etc. Some of the challenges I faced were, obviously, frustration and boredom. I honestly knew this would happen since I do not have experience reading so much information with numbers and so on. Frustration sat in when I was trying to form the research question. I just could not seem to get my wording together, but finally at the end I got it and that was an awesome small win for me. Reading so much information in a short amount of time with background information, a list a mile long of references and then researching those references along with reading the same information over and over again allowed boredom to set in. Which is why I stated earlier that you must have a heart for the problem and the resolve. My passion for answers is what guided my through and every time I hit a "boring" moment, I remember why I was doing this research. My perception remains the same that the fact of the matter is that early childhood professionals are some the hardest working, selfless people I know and it I can seem to be unrecognized at times. 

Research that Benefits Children and Families Option 2

If I possessed the means and knowledge to conduct my own research I would conduct a study on childhood obesity in low-income areas, how to prevent it and how it could help those low-income communities in a positive way. As we know childhood obesity is a growing epidemic and a lot of early learning programs are beginning to take the initiative to introduce healthy foods to the students they serve. What I would I like to do is to speak with families and learn their concerns with healthy foods (i.e too expensive, not enough tasteful options, time consuming, etc.) I would find out what is the reasoning behind buying unhealthy foods, where does the relationship with food stem from, or do they simply not know what to look for or what is considered healthy. Bringing families in together and teaching children and their families about healthier options, building a better relationship with food could be something that connects school and home, a consistency children need. Families can see how the school cares and build a great partnership, thus bringing a positive change to the community and families.

Your Personal Research Journey

The topic I chose to further research is High Quality teachers with the subtopic being compensation. Prior to this course I had already began research on the compensation of teachers across the country then narrowing it down to just my state. The reason being is that I have had experience working in the field and the pay is not all that great, especially if you are trying to provide for a family. During my time working in preschools, this was one of the topics that came up in the break rooms a lot. While teachers loved what they did, they couldn't understand why their pay wouldn't increase, even with them gaining more education it didn't seem that raise once a year was barely budging.

With me having experienced that and knowing what I know now, I have decided to help make a change in that specific area. One way in doing that is finding organizations that share the same cause. I came across one of NAEYC's programs, called Power to the Profession. It's a national collaboration to define the early childhood profession by establishing a unifying framework for career pathways, knowledge and competencies, qualifications, standards and compensation. I am still researching ways to get involve, but that is a start.

Also, I look up salaries through indeed.com which has all preschool positions and the national average salaries of each position. I also found a site that had a list salaries for preschool teachers in the TN area.



Resources

http://www.indeed.com/salary/Preschool-Teacher.html
http://www.naeyc.org/profession
http://www.earlychildhoodteacher.org/jobs/tennessee/

Final Blog

Unfortunately, I was not able to get in contact with an international contact person. However, I did enjoy the alternate assignments and gained a lot of information from them. I even got to explore of the site I suggested which was Education Week. I absolutely loved sharing what I learned and learning from my colleagues as well. Learning about other countries and their early learning field has been disheartening, yet humbling. While some countries certainly take pride in their teachers and the field there were countries who were seriously lacking in resources. It is something that would make you grateful for what we have and to see it is not that bad, however, improvements are always great.