Perspective on Diversity and Culture

For this assignment I decided to ask my fellow preschool teachers for their help.  The preschool team at my school is diverse and represents a range of nationalities from Africa, Puerto Rico and The United States.

Each of my coworkers gave their perspective on what defines culture.  Each focused on their beliefs that were passed down through generations.  One person did include in their definition of  culture to include school, work or church. Another teacher stated, "culture is ones beliefs about religion, politics etc.  How one is raised with the those beliefs to function productively in society."  From an early childhood perspective my co workers did mention that culture for children is learned from the people that they come in contact with.

My co worker that is from Sierra Leone, started to describe the differences she has seen between her culture and here in the United States.  She describes the work ethic and different "principles" as she has seen. She also describe the role as a woman in her culture.

My co worker that is from Puerto Rico started to compare the similarities between the her culture in Puerto Rico and Sierra Leone.  In my opinion, they sound very similar to hear in the United States.

The teachers did realize that we were only teaching the surface of culture.  That we were not teaching  in depth  about the children's culture. I believe that this is something that we as educators must learn about too.  At that time we planned on discussing what can we do to give the children a deeper understanding of another person culture.  

One co worker's definition of diversity is " A group of people that come together for a specific/ common goal.  The people come from different ethnic groups, beliefs, religions, social and economic status."

From this assignment I learned that as an early childhood educator we must learn to examine the deep culture of individuals to gain a better aspect of the way they function in society.  Also, to remember that children learn first from their immediate environment. It is our job to nurture the children and respect their family differences and also for us as to learn more about too.

My Family Culture

Three small items that I would take with me to represent my culture would be a picture of my mother, my bible, and my grandmother's wedding ring.

I would take a picture of my mother because I would never want to forget what she looks like, mainly her smile, and the values that she instilled in me. 

I would want to take my bible because I know that I would need it for strength, guidance, and because I have important information written inside of it.  Such as, my family history, articles and special scriptures that I have outlined.

Also, I would want to take my grandmother's wedding ring.  My grandparents mean a lot to me and they were married for over 50 years.  Her ring is the representation of their love. Their love would remind me of the wonderful memories that we shared. 

If I only were able to keep one thing it would have to be the picture of my mom.  Even though she has passed away over 30 years ago, her picture still reminds me of the unconditional love she gave me and I believe that as long as her picture is with me we are still together.  

This assignment actually became emotional for me at the end because I would not want to lose my mom picture.  I realize that I would never forget how much she loved me and seeing her smile makes me feel strong.