Adjourning a Team

One aspect of working as part of a team that I did not consider before this week's reading is adjourning. Every team goes through an adjourning phase whether it be in-depth reflection on the practices of the team or a simple "good-bye". Some teams I have worked on have had excellent adjourning periods while others could have been improved upon. The hardest team I had to leave was my fellow undergraduate students at Plymouth State University. I had known some of those people for four years, and worked with them in various capacities throughout our studies. The last project I worked on was a senior seminar capstone-like project with a long paper and public presentation. We worked for 3 months together on this project, really completing the bulk of the work in the two-weeks or so before the due date. After our final presentation was completed, my two group-mates and I had dinner together and talked a lot about our teamwork. Although it was a hard transition to no longer be working with them on the project or going to school with them (we all graduated about a week later), our adjourning seemed to help us feel more confident to meet the needs of team situations in the field.
Our comments during the adjourning were mostly positive- that we all had clear roles, we communicated well, and that our presentation was killer (except for my nervous stuttering!). What we could have done differently was discuss some of the hiccups in our team performance. For example, of myself, Rachel, and Kelly, Rachel and I made the bulk of the decisions about what entered the PowerPoint Presentation. This could have been more effective if we had made joint decisions. I also suspect that beginning really working on the project sooner could have been beneficial. Overall, I think we exhibited excellent teamwork, and this was reflected in our friendly and jovial adjourning period, and yet there were things we could have improved on to make our closure more effective. This was the hardest team I had to leave because I felt like we worked so well together and had such a shared vision for our project. 

Effective Communication within Conflicts

One conflict I have had in the recent past is families wanting me to have their child use the potty twice an hour or even more frequently than that. It is incredibly difficult to help a family potty train their child in this manner when I have one other teacher in a classroom with me with ten children. As much as I would like to support families in this way, it is often impossible to have children sit on the potty that frequently. This leads to a conflict with families in which I can use effective communication skills. One strategy I could use is part of the principles of Nonviolent Communication (NVC), which is that I could state what I wanted rather than what I don't want (The Center for Nonviolent Communication, n.d.). In this case, I would tell the family that I really want for their child to learn to use the bathroom and to take ownership of this skill rather than saying "well I really don't want to take your child that often because it causes me inconvenience". I could also use the NVC principle of connecting with universal human needs- potty training a child saves money, increases convenience for the family in the long-run, and satisfies a societal expectation of children around age three. These human needs are indeed important, and valuing them and identifying them helps to maintain that strong relationship. Saying "We can't do that, we don't have enough time" is a lot different than saying "we really value potty training, and we want all the children in the classroom to gain that skill, but it is difficult to have enough supervision to take your child that often". The second sentence conveys much more respect for the needs of the family. These are excellent strategies to support effective communication with families. What would you do if a family asked you to take their child to the bathroom every 30 minutes but you didn't feel you had enough staff or time to do so?

Reference
The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/

 

Communication Assessments

This week I completed three self-assessments for communication skills and had two other people complete them in asessment of me. One thing that really surprised me is that one of the poeple I had evaluate me had a much lower score than both my husband and I on the communication anxiety inventory. I had previously thought that everyone could read that I had some level of anxiety during my interactions with them, but apparently this person does not pick up on it. He is a father of one of the children in my classroom whom I also babysit. Upon thinking more about it, I realized that when I engage in communication with him, I am in a specific relational context.  I have known this father for almost two years, and so we have a very good rapport and have engaged in some conflict-resolution with one another with ease. This relational context also seems to influence his perception of my character. After all, our personal schemas and prior experiences affect how we expect others to behave (O'Hair, Weimann, Mullen, & Teven, 2015). The other person who filled out my assessments was my husband, and his anxiety score was comparable to the one I reieved during my own assessment of communication anxiety. I think this is because he sees me in other contexts than home and work. On the other hand, the father that I had fill out my assessment only sees me at work and in his home during professional interactions. What this tells me is that I am somewhat competent in professional communication because my anxiety is not apparent to those with whom I am working. Competent communication in the context of the workplace is critical for early childhood educators and I am pleased that this father does not read a lot of anxiety in our interpersonal communications.
One thing that did not surprise me during this exercise was finding that I was scored as "people oriented" by this father and myself. I know that I have deep concern for the feelings of others and I regard this trait as a professional asset. I am always seeking to serve, support, and empower the families of children in my classsroom and also my colleagues, and so their feelings and my empathy support me in this task. I was also not surprised that my husband scored me as content-focused because we typically do not engage in a lot of discussion about feelings but rather demonstrate concern for one another in different ways.
Reference

O'Hair, D., Wiemann, M., Mullin, D. I., & Teven, J.  (2015). Real communication (3rd. ed). New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Contextual Interactions

Interactions between myself and others vary depending on the cultural context. At home and with my family, I interact with people around me jokingly- it is not uncommon for someone in my family to call another member an asshole. Our lighthearted humor would not be appropriate for other contexts. In the workplace, I am careful to communicate professionally with everyone, which means that I use active listening, seek information, identify common goals, and more. In personal contexts, I am not as likely to seek more information about what the speaker is saying and I am less likely to reflect what I am hearing back to the speaker even though these are things I do in professional settings. Even communication within the professional setting depends on the cultural context; conversations with colleagues are very different than conversations with families. A spectrum of approaches toward communication with families and colleagues is necessary because each family and individual has differing values and culture. I had one family that had two very rugged young boys who played rough with one another. The family had no problem with their rough play, which is why when one of their children bit the other (which ended the play of course), my first words to their mother were "Henry got hungry today". Mom laughed, I apologized for the escalation in their play, and we moved on with a firm ground relationship. However, I do not think a similar choice of words would be appropriate for any family. Communication certainly relies on the cultural and relational aspects of the comminicators.
To be a more effective communicator, I will learn more about the cultures of families while avoiding a tourist approach to culture. Knowing the intersectionality that exists among cultural groups, I will use what I learn to help me understand mroe about the contexts in which people live rather than to apply this information to everyone of that culture I meet. For example, if I know that I have a Malaysian family starting in my program, I can read about Malaysia and the cultural practices of social groups there, but I cannot make assumptions about this family until I meet them and confirmed what I think with them. This will help me be a more effective communicator because I will have an idea what values this family may or may not have and I will be more knowledgeable when I seek information about them as a family.
I will also try to keep in mind what I have learned about empathy and its relationship to effective communication. I will try to go beyond identifying what other people are feeling by trying to put myself in their shoes and behave in ways that they would want their child's teacher to behave.
Lastly, I can be a more effective communicator if I stop sending mindless emails. I often respond to emails (from anyone) mindlessly without paying attention to how the words sound through text. I will try to stop this habit so that I can use effective communication even over the internet with families and colleagues.

Nonverbal Communication

This week I watched an episode of The Big Bang Theory with the volume on and with the volume off. With the volume off, I could tell that two of the characters were very frightened by a taller, muscular man. They cowered below him and ultimately came out of this man's apartment wearing only underwear. I also guessed that there may have been romantic attraction between two of the characters (which turned out to be accurate) because they made a lot of eye contact, seemed cheery while speaking with one another, and were together for much of the episode. I also inferred that one character was highly intelligent and baffled one of the other characters. She had a look of surprise on her face often after he spoke, especially while he was working in front of a whiteboard. It was quite clear throughout the whole episode that the main characters were all friends- they gestured to one another, smiled and laughed throughout their conversations, and seemed attentive while each was talking. It was easy to point out some of the comical aspects from the characters' facial expressions- at one point, one of the girls rolls her eyes while others grin, indicating a joke has been made. Proximity is also a factor here because the characters were a comfortable distance away from each other and yet close enough to signal a stronger relationship than a mere acquaintance. I tend to stand farther away from acquaintances than I do friends. I am interested to read about the ways in which my colleagues interpreted TV characters' nonverbal language.

I have seen one episode of The Big Bang Theory (a while ago), and so I already had a little bit of information about the characters. I think that a lot of my assumptions about what was happening in the episode were accurate because I was anticipating a comedy plot (which is what it turned out to be) and I also knew that all the characters were friends that live in the same apartment complex. Yet, even having very little information, it was easy to see that they were friends and that there was a conflict with this larger man. I also think that my habit of people-watching while in public helped me understand the episode because I often watch people interact with others without being able to hear them. 

Models of Competent Communication

When I think about someone in my life who demonstrated competent communication, I think of my professors from my undergraduate program at Plymouth State University. I had two professors in particular who taught early childhood classes and served the state of New Hampshire's early childhood field in varying capacities. These two professors went on to write a book together about technology in early childhood classooms (Cantor & Cornish, 2016). During personal conversations with these mentors, I realized that they seemed more inclined to listen to me than to provide their own perspective, and they modeled the idea of constructivist education (where children build on prior knowledge and learn best when they test their own hypotheses) by challenging rather than correcting errors. They were also both excellent facillitators of deep conversations about culture and priviledge. In particular, their skills at nonverbal communication and at reflecting and active listening were fundamental in their demeanors as 'good listeners' and effective communicators. As university professors, these are two great examples of people that I can model my own practices after. I eventually want to teach college courses, and their techniques for facilitating classroom discussions and for providing constructive communicative feedback on assignments are great models. One thing I remember that was very successful from their courses was the notion that students should use metacognitive strategies within their writings which in turn helped the classroom discussions become more targeted, focused, and cognitively appropriate. When students think about their own thinking, it is possible to recognize the many alternative perspectives to your opinion and, in turn, communicate with peers in classroom settings to improve our practice. These are just some of the specific ways my professors were excellent communicators and ways I can model my practice (in university classes) after their strategies.

Reference
Cantor, P. A., & Cornish, M.M. (2016). Techwise infant and toddler teachers. Charlotte, N.C.:Information Age Publishing. 

Final Notes on Equity and Diversity

One hope I have for all young children is that they develop a sense of tolerance toward diversity and learn to accept one another. I think that this is the only way our world will move in a more positive direction. In our Nation, it is critical that we help young children learn ways to be successful in a diverse society, and becoming comfortable with human differences is one way to encourage children to do that. I think a great goal for the early childhood field is to have every early childhood professional required to attend one professional development seminar on diversity and equity in the early childhood field every year. Over the last eight weeks, we explored how lack of knowledge or competency in terms of anti-bias education can do a disservice to young children. Requiring all professionals to begin their anti-bias journey through professional development is one way we can move our field in a more positive direction.
I want to thank all of my colleagues for your insights and sharing over the past eight weeks. It has been so valuable to hear all of your perspecctives and experiences and to relate them to mine. Learning about the ways other people live can help us develop a broader perspective, even when we listen to and have support from our own colleagues. I hope that we can continue to hold open lines of communication with one another as we move along in our program.

Welcoming Diverse Families

If I had a family coming into my classroom from a country that I was not familiar with, there are several steps I would take to make sure that I am providing a high-quality and culturally-sensitive environment for this child and their family. If the child was from Guatemala, I would first do a quick internet search about Guatemala. I would want to know about the financial and economic resources of the country and what social classes exist. I would also want to know about the attractions, the climate, and other variables. These may seem insignificant, but small details about a child's family may be helpful. A family from a warmer climate, for example, may not appreciate the extremes in temperatures here in New Hampshire. There are also specific licensing regulations about clothing, so these would be important things to know if the family had not yet purchased winter gear. The next thing I would do is make sure I have a thorough interview with the family in a format that they understand. This may include using an interpreter and would involve the family and I having an open-ended conversation about their child and their family characteristics. This would also be an opportunity for the family to meet me, get introduced to the program, and have any questions they have answered. Another thing I would do is research the religions most prominent in Guatemala. This would be useful information because it would help me to be more aware of what culturally I might expect from the family. Finally, I would want to ensure (and ask specifically) if I was pronouncing each word correctly, including the child's name and the name's of the family member. Depending on the age of the child and the strength of my relationship with the family after our first meeting, I might ask the family to translate a few words for me in their language, like "mommy" "daddy" (or some variation) and "grandma" or "auntie" or "all done". The age of the child and his or her language skills are very important here because it influences what kind of communication you can have. These are the things I would do to begin a relationship with a family and child from Guatemala and have a basic understanding of their culture so that we can begin our journey onto a strengths-based firm-ground relationship that works toward mutual goals in order to support the child.

Oppression

When I was doing my undergraduate program for early childhood education, a professor of mine told a story about a child in her daughter's fifth grade class. The fifth grade class had gone to a local children's science museum for a field trip. The field trip permission form stated it was a science field trip. My professor's daughter enjoyed the trip, but one of her classmates suffered a sense of oppression because of one of the trip's activities. The museum was offering a special exhibit that day; a cow, and a discussion on the milking of cows and their uses for beef. One of the children in the classroom was Hindu- many Hindu's view the cow as sacred. The child went home and discussed the experience with her family who were quite upset- they had not consented to a farming experience at the museum. This is an example of the dominant culture not taking into consideration the experiences of other people and of early childhood professionals lacking the skills and dispositions to function well in a diverse classroom setting. The teacher assumed that this would be an appropriate activity for all the children, despite knowing that one of the children was Hindu. This incident diminished equity on many levels by taking a sense of control and cultural pride away from the Hindu family. It also demonstrated to the other children that their culture is dominant and that it is acceptable for people to eat cows. I was saddened for the child in the story that may have been confused or afraid of what she was seeing. I do not know the specifics of the situation, but I equate it to a Catholic seeing Mary in a television sitcom. If I was the parent in this situation, I would be furious. It is easy to see how microaggressions occur in daily life and how they work to segregate society into dominant and non-dominant cultures. I think this situation would not have happened if the teacher had training in anti-bias education and had a basic knowledge of Hindu culture.

Microaggressions

This week we have been tasked with identifying microaggressions in our environment. I found two microaggressions over the last week. The first was from my employer, who is a man. He had recieved a large package at the bottom of a doorstep which leads to a long flight of stairs. I am his nanny, so I instinctively grabbed the package to try to be helpful. He said "no, no, put that down" and I said "why?" and he said "it's too big for you". I know that my boss was being well-intentioned and trying to be considerate of me, but I have to admit being offended and feeling as though it was a microaggression because of my gender. I think he was implying that because I am a woman, I am not strong enough to carry the package or that women should not be expected to do heavy lifting. The package was not at all too heavy for me. This microaggression was very surprising. I have known my boss and his family for about a year now and have been working very closely with them for several weeks. I thought that culturally, our views were very similar and I found it discouraging that he made me put the package down. I almost got the sense that he thought lesser of me because I am a woman, which is surprising because he and I have always had a strong professional relationship. I thought that our views were strongly aligned with each other, but this certainly proves the intersectionality between and among cultures. The second microaggression was when I was working with a friend on her Jeep. She is very handy with cars and she and her husband do all the work on their vehicles. We went to a parts shop for some brakes and rotors and my friend vaguely knew the clerk. The clerk went to high school with her husband. She ordered the parts and the clerk told her "When Trapper [her husband] changes these, make sure he uses (car lingo that I can't remember)". The clerk had implied that my friend's husband would be changing the brakes and not she and I. This is again an example of a sexist microaggression because it felt like the clerk was disempowering us to work on her vehicle because we are women. While the man was right about me (I know nothing about cars), I spoke with my friend about the issue and she agreed that he had committed a microaggression and made her feel discouraged.
What I am realizing about microaggressions is that I think society is relatively desensitized to them. Sometimes we commit them or are victims of them and do not really even think about it. As educators, this is alarming because it is critical that we respect and nurture the home culture of all young children in our programs. Microaggressions are an important topic of discussion in early childhood teacher preparation programs.

Culture

This week I spoke with three people I know and asked them to define culture and diversity.

"Diversity means that there are a lot of different ways to live and that many people can live together with different ideas and morals and can help one another be more tolerant. Culture is the fuel behind diversity, it is essentially everything you do- all your behaviors, your values, your food, your traditions" (M. Night, personal communication, 27 May, 2017.

"Culture means the way you were raised by your family and by society, it defines you as a person. It includes things like the way you dress, your gender role, the food you eat, and how you raise children. Diversity is the idea that everyone has a unique personal culture and, in any area, there exists a level of diversity because of the people that are around you" (R. Hill, personal communication, 27 May, 2017).

"Culture stems from where you live geographically, your ethnicity and family history, your likes and dislikes, and more. It just means the way you live and how you navigate through society. As a teacher, I see children's cultures come out in their play on a daily basis. People sometimes think that children do not have culture, but in fact, they are learning culture by learning ways to behave and think. Diversity means that everyone has different values and ideals about how to live" (R. Frazier, personal communication, 27 May, 2017).

In our course, we have studied culture to mean the ways in which you live your life, including your behaviors, your values, your social identities, and more. My three contacts this week touched on each of these points, noting that culture means the way you live, demonstrating how "everything we do and think is related to culture" (Laureaute Education, Inc., 2011, 0:24). Janet Gonzales-Mena describes a set of unconscious rules that govern us and that are learned and inherited by the people around us, including perspectives, beliefs, world-views, food, music, customs, literature, and more (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). Additionally, Smidt (2013) demonstrates culture as highly visible in the early years in the ways that children play and take on roles, something that Frazier discussed during my interview.

Some things that my interviewees did not discuss are things like raising your own children, clashing of cultures, dominant cultures, cultural alignment, and culture loss or cultural tension. Even when I spoke to an early childhood educator, Frazier did not mention any kind of issues that have arisen in recent years about cultures in the United States. Derman-Sparks & Edwards (2010) detail the challenges of the early childhood educator (and of parents and families) to help children maintain strong ties to their family cultures even when it does not align with a dominant culture.

What I am realizing is that people in dominant cultures may not have a lot of knowledge about the difficulties of raising children in today's society and helping them maintain strong social identities. For me, this is important knowledge to have because I eventually want to teach professionals in the early childhood field. Many professionals that choose to embark on careers in early childhood may not be aware that they are strongly aligned with a dominant culture and may not know the ways in which having this priviledge has changed their perspective. I hope to help new and young educators learn more about cultural loss and how to support family cultures in the classroom.

References

Derman-Sparks, L. & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, D.C.: NAEYC.

Laureate Education (Producer). (2011). Culture and diversity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu
 
Smidt, S. (2006). The developing child in the 21st century: A global perspective on child development. New York, NY: Routledge.

Three objects

If there was a catastrophic event and I could only bring three objects with me to my new destination, I would bring my wedding and engagement rings, a dolphin figurine my mother gave me, and a glass Ball jar from the 1950's that my father-in-law gave me. These items are representative of my culture because each of them has a significant meaning to my past and my life.  The first item, my wedding rings, mean a lot to me because they represent the promise that my husband and I made to one another and they identify him as one of the most significant and supportive people in my life. These rings are important to me because they help me remember that I am supported and loved. Culturally, they represent my ideals about marriage and living a life together with a partner. Second, the dolphin my mom gave me, represents the love as a family we have for each other. For some reason, when I was very young, my mom (who is not my biological mom) began using dolphins to symbolize our family of two. We had pictures of two dolphins together a lot and we also had figures of two dolphins together. To her, these statues and photographs represented her and I. If I had to guess, I would guess that the dolphin is symbolic of swimming together and valuing intelligence and serenity for her, and this is how I would explain it to someone. Finally, the Ball jar that my father-in-law gave me represents the only family history I identify with, which is the history of my husband's family. As an adopted child, I never truly identified with either of my families until I was married, and then I aligned myself closely with my in-laws. The Ball jar was found by my father-in-law underneath the foundation of their house, and it is suspected that it was used for canning by my husband's relatives. It reminds me that my husband's family were farmers and worked hard for their food and living and that they were determined laborers. These three items are truly representative of my family's culture.

To be honest, I have never been a materialistic person, and if I was told that I could only keep one item, I would not be very upset. I would choose to keep my wedding/engagement rings and get rid of the jar and the dolphin. What is important to me is that my children hear the stories of their family rather than have concrete objects to remind them of their heritage. Since my heritage and culture is different from that of my birth family and my adoptive family, it is not very upsetting to me to lose touch with the objects that represent my own culture. I am satisfied with having memories of these objects instead, but I do understand how upsetting it might be to someone who held a strong attachment to objects to be told that they could not keep them.

This assignment has really made me aware of cultural differences. I suspect that many of my colleagues have items from their family's histories that they would choose to bring with them, and this highlights the diversity that is seen among even citizens of the same nation. While objects are not important to my cultural perspective, I do recognize the importance of objects to other people. I also remember looking at an article with pictures of Syrian refugees' belongings; many of these people carried only a backpack with toiletries inside to help them journey from  Syria to their destinations. I do not remember the location of this article, but if I find it, I will definitely post it to our doc sharing board. I do not think that many of these refugees carried with them cultural objects, but rather survivalist essentials.

Wrapping up

Over the past eight weeks, my knowledge about research has expanded and made me feel more confident as an early childhood professional to be a competent and informed consumer of research. I have recognized the importance of research in its many varieties to the early childhood field. I now realize that there is a vast amount of information that can be gathered using research including people's ideas about things, statistics, information from the past, generational or cohort information, information that informs further research, and so on. I also have made the connection between pairing what the researcher wants to learn with what methods the researcher chooses and how different methods can provide different types of information and carry their own specific limitations. Further, I realize that ethics play a major role in research, but that ethics play an even greater role when the research is about or on young children. There are historical examples of deception, abuse, and even exploitation of young children in research projects which illustrates the need for researchers to utilize institutional review boards (IRB's) which will compare their proposal with current ethical and procedural standards. Research ethics is not only about the types of actions that are performed on or with children and their families but also deal with the location of the study, the logistics of the data collection, and the amount of information available to consumers of the research about the participants (privacy and confidentiality included). Despite the wealth of knowledge I have gained over this course, I feel much more confident in my ability to understand the nuances in research designs and have the ability to read complex research with comprehension. I also think that my future courses at Walden will become easier as I am now a more efficient reader of research. I encountered few challenges in this course other than having difficulty finding research of the type I was seeking- it is sometimes hard to discern the research methods of a study from the title, and looking into the methods takes time and practice to identify what type of research method is being used. This was the hardest part of the course for me. As an early childhood professional, I feel more empowered to teach other adults about research and its significance and complexities.

The European Early Childhood Education Research Association

I looked through the website for the European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA) and found a lot of similarities between research being conducted in Europe and the topics that I have found in recent research in the United States. I also noticed that topics from my undergraduate and graduate studies are ones that also seem to be in the spotlight in Europe. The last several EECERA annual conferences have had focuses on birth through three early experiences, diversity in classroom settings, and early relationships (EECERA, 2016). I think many of my colleagues agree that these are significant timely topics in our field here in the United States. I was surprised to note that these conferences, all serving one organization, take place in many different countries. I wonder how cohesive the early childhood education culture is across European nations and how the EECERA manages these nuances in their literature and professional development opportunities (EECERA, 2016). I think this simple fact suggests a universality of the basic principles of what is known of child development and quality early experiences; despite cultural differences across nations, underlying themes of how children learn can be applied in all or most contexts. Similar to the United States' association for the education of young children (NAEYC) and other organizations (the Division for Early Childhood, Association for Childhood Education International), the EECERA has a Code of Ethics that applies to those professionals working with young children (EECERA, 2015). The topics of their Code of Ethics, too, mimic those that we have discussed in class and those that we would hear from in Institutional Review boards. They include confidentiality, informed consent, participants as subjects versus objects, and more (EECERA, 2015). Again, the underlying theme is a universality of research principles and ethical guidelines for treating children. Perhaps this universality stems from international organizational influence such as the UN Convention on the Rights of the Young Child which penetrates cultural boundaries in one unified document (Mac NAughton, Rolfe, & Siraj-Blatchford, 2010). 
References
 European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). (2015, May). EECERA ethical code for early childhood researchers. Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/custom/uploads/2016/07/EECERA-Ethical-Code.pdf

European Early Childhood Education Research Association (EECERA). (2016). Previous conferences. Retrieved from http://www.eecera.org/conference/

Mac Naughton, G., Rolfe, S.A., & Siraj-Blatchford, I. (2010). Doing early childhood research: International perspectives on theory and practice (2^nd ed.). New York, NY: McGraw-Hill.