Practicing Awareness of Microaggressions

 I remember when I was younger we were at a park and my grandmother was talking to another parent in Spanish and the child automatically assumed I spoke Spanish and started talking to me. I told them I didn't speak it and their parent gave me a look and said you should know the language since your family is from the Dominican Republic. It made me feel embarrassed that I didn't know how to speak Spanish. I knew my grandmother didn't teach me so I wouldn't be confused in school, but for anyone to assume you should speak a language based on where your family is from is wrong. I have lots of friends who don't know how to speak their families native language.


Through the learning this week it showed me how people are so quick to judge other's without knowing them. They make assumptions based on skin color, religion, and their preferences. People need to meet and get to know other's before they pass judgments and label them.

Perspectives on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment, I asked a coworker what does culture mean to him? His response was culture to him is people with different beliefs and customs. I also asked him about diversity and he stated people of different backgrounds, such as race, religion, etc. The second person I talked to was my mother I asked her the same questions and her response were similar. The third person I asked was a friend of the family, they answered differently, with culture they stated a person's right to express their beliefs and customs. Their response to diversity is people of different origins.


By their answers I can understand his examples for both questions. Culture does come from beliefs of a person's upbringing that they pass down to their generations. some of their  examples of diversity is the same thing I think of when I hear it. We all are diverse when it comes to race, gender, etc. I think its important to know how other people think of the examples and what it means to them. With that being said you can understand what they are thinking and go into depth more of their reasoning for their explanation.

My Family Culture

A major catastrophe has almost completely devastated the infrastructure of your country. The emergency government has decided that the surviving citizens will be best served if they are evacuated to other countries willing to take refugees. You and your immediate family are among the survivors of this catastrophic event. However, you have absolutely no input into the final destination or in any other evacuation details. You are told that your host country’s culture is completely different from your own, and that you might have to stay there permanently. You are further told that, in addition to one change of clothes, you can only take 3 small items with you. You decide to take three items that you hold dear and that represent your family culture.



The items I would take is our photo album, birth certificates, and my mother in laws silverware, The reason for these items is to have a blueprint of our lives from start to present. The photo's will serve as a reminder of our life before the catastrophe incident and keep us grounded as we continue in a new environment. The birth certificates to show our uniqueness, the places we were born and our identity. My mother inlaw's silverware is the only thing we have that represents her in our lives. We use it at every Holiday dinner and special events. Its a tradition me and my husband have develop and will continue to pass down.


I would be very devastated if we couldn't bring all items, they all mean so much to my family that it would be so hard to choose. By doing this exercise it really made me think about the traditions me and my husband has developed for our family. The way we were raised and the cultures we were exposed to have somewhat made it to our small family along with some new things we developed as husband and wife

When I Think of Research...

What insights have you gained about research from taking this course? after taking this course it open my eyes up to the different research formats that are used when doing research projects.

In what ways have your ideas about the nature of doing research changed? After seeing all the different formats that we can use to do our research with it makes it seem so much easier and less complicated when it comes to recording the results.


What lessons about planning, designing, and conducting research in early childhood did you learn? I learned that you need to have a plan in place to start your design for your research project or it will be hard to form all of the facts together.

What were some of the challenges you encountered—and in what ways did you meet them? When doing the research I had issues with the children not wanting to participate, I made it fun by turning it into a game which they were more pleased with.

What are some of the ways your perceptions of an early childhood professional have been modified as a result of this course? With being a early childhood professional, more goes into just making sure the children are cared for. We also need to make sure the child's social and emotional skills are being met and that family is involved as well.