I believe President Obama is a competent communicator.  He’s confident and speaks with conviction.  His charisma gives him the ability to captivate a diverse audience.  He doesn’t focus on impressing people with big words or complex sentences he makes a point of simplifying his message and always states what he thinks or would do, by stating this is what I think or this is what I would do.  Communication is not just what you say, it’s about how you say it.  The key to President Obama being an effective communicator is simplicity.  Developing excellent communication skills is absolutely essential to effective leadership.  Napoleon Bonaparte use to tell his secretaries, “Be clear, be clear, be clear.”

 

 

Professional Hopes and Goals

Professional Hopes and Goals

One hope that I have when working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds that I am too support the learning of all the children in my classroom regardless of their families cultural, language, race, social class and/or special needs and any other dimensions of diversity.

Due to the increasingly number of children with home language other than English in early childhood classrooms, the one goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is a required course in ESL for all early childhood educators in order to learn and/or gain a better perspective about ESL in which I believe will help when implementing classroom instructions as well help eliminate the ongoing academic achievement gaps between White and non-White students.

 I’d like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues, through your shared knowledge and wisdom over the last several weeks, I’ve gained a new perspective on how to deal with specific microaggressions behaviors that I have encounter over the years. This has truly been in inspiring course.

Welcoming Families From Around the World

Welcoming Families From Around the World

The family’s country of origin, I decided to choose is Puerto Rico.  The five ways in which I will prepare myself to be culturally responsive towards this family is first I would commit myself to getting to know the student and as well as his family both academically, socially and emotionally.  I would learn about the family’s culture and interest and ask questions and talk with the parents.  I would also make home visits and create opportunities for the students to share and celebrate their family traditions and cultures; create a classroom learning community by encouraging the students to care for one another and be responsible for each other inside and outside the classroom; design lessons plans with the students in mind; and last but not least understand my own cultural identity by examining my own cultural behavior patterns, especially when it comes to classroom management and discipline.  And most importantly be myself with my students by being honest, caring and human.

 

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

As a child I can remember traveling from California to South Carolina by car with my family, my father was in the USAF, and my mother insisted that he wear his uniform while traveling.  It was late one night, and we were traveling on a dark dirt road in South Carolina on our way to my father’s home town, when my father had to stop in the middle of the road, because there was a truck with the headlights on parked in the middle of the road.  When my father stopped the car, I could see my mother clutching onto my father’s arms.  Three white men approached our car and told my father to get out of his car, when they saw that he was wearing a military uniform, they said “nigger that uniform just saved your life”, and walked off.  That’s been many years ago, and I still remember the fear my mother’s eyes and the way she held onto my dad.  She later told him, that’s why I told you to wear your uniform, just in case when ran into any kind of trouble.   Growing up in the South in the 1960’s it seemed as though prejudice and oppression was a way of life.