CULTURAL COMMUNICATION

I communicate with many people of my many walks of life. With my nurse friends we have our own jargon others would not understand. With close friends, I tend to use low language with slang words which we both can understand. Examples are "word", which means the truth and "school" which means to teach a lesson to someone. I am able to be informal with them. I have friends that are Filipino, Asian, Hispanic, Italian, East Indian etc. Close friends and occupational friends are the closest people to me and we understand each other because of our similarities communication is understood fully. Perhaps being more of an active listener will benefit me sometimes because I tend to speak more than listen. This would make me a better communicator with them. Supervisors at work who are sergeants, lieutenants, and captains. I use standard English with proper grammar with them. I can call it politically correct language. I have a tendency to speak low. One strategy is to speak louder, capture my audience and interact fully with them. I sometimes have to speak to Non Native English speakers. I use simpler words, which are easier to understand. I also use accommodation by changing my style of communication to adapt to them. For example when I worked in the Pediatrics ER, I would say "amarillo libro" which means yellow book for immunization book. Eventually I would say "tarjeta vacuna" which means yellow card and the parent would understand fully. One strategy I can use for Non Native English is to look out for non verbal cues if there is an interruption in communication. It helps to be aware of non verbal cues as well as verbal cues.

VERBAL AND NON VERBAL COMMUNICATION

I decided to watch an episode of L.A. Hair. This show revolves around a hair salon for celebrities in Los Angeles. There are 8 main characters who all work for the salon. There are different ethnicities and genders. Everyday a different group of clients come in to get services. The communication I observed was smiles, eyebrows raised, touching, rolling of the eyes, grimacing and direct eye contact. I could see which personnel got along with the other personnel.

I could tell from facial expressions if the conversation was pleasant or not. One client was verbally insulted and the look of anger on her face was clearly understood. When I heard the conversation, I could clearly understand why she was grimacing. The hairdresser spoke negatively about her dandruff. I believe my assumptions would have been correct if I were a regular viewer of this show. I find that even in relationships that actions speak louder than words. By just observing you can see that a person is happy, sad, angry, tired, grouchy etc. I am very intuitive when it comes to observation I think in part to learning nursing assessment, so I see and notice everything that others don't see. It annoys some people, but to me I think it is a perk........Reference www.wetv.com/shows/la-hair/episodes/season-3 Season 3 Episode 1: Chair Battle Royale

COMPETENT COMMUNICATOR

Upon reading about the blog assignment this week. The first person who cam to mind was Mrs. Michelle Obama, the wife of the President of the United States. She speaks with such ease to crowds each time I hear her speak. Whenever Mrs. Obama speaks, she has my full attention. She has the ability to engage her audience completely. I googled her speech techniques and ran across an article "Michelle Obama's Speech: Poise, Passion, Presence". Those are all the features that I witness. She is poised, has clarity, no signs of anxiety, has passion in her eyes and in her tone of voice. She is also very present. She is concentrating on the audience she is trying to reach. All these factors make her communication style admirable to me. The warm smile and eye contact express her interest in the audience. Ye I would want to model my own communication behaviors after her. I tend to get nervous when speaking in front of large crowds. My voice starts cracking and then it gets low to a whisper. At least that was the experience 20 years ago in an Oral Communication course. I wish I showed some of the same poise that she does............. DiResta, Diane. (2012,Sep5). Michelle Obama's Speech: poise, passion, presence. Knockout Blog. DiResta Communications, Inc. Retrieved from www.diresta.com/michelle-obamas-poise-passion-presence/

PROFESSIONAL HOPES AND GOALS

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that they receive a non-biased, quality education equal to every other child in the classroom. The color, religion, culture shouldn't correlate with the education that they receive. I hope the parents get to have dialogue with the educator on a continuous basis so that they have full understanding of the curriculum and protocols. One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice is that cultural diversity forums be scheduled at least three times a year for colleagues to confer and gain knowledge and awareness from each other. Thank you to my colleagues for your supports, comments and enlightening. I have learned so much in this course that I definitely will take from this experience. Good Luck in all your future classes. Keep striving!!!

WELCOMING FAMILIES FROM AROUND THE WORLD

Denmark is the name of my family's country of origin. In Denmark schools strive to provide children with academic skills, general competencies and opportunities for diverse, personal development. They also facilitate an atmosphere of equality and freedom of spirit. The world famous Lego building toys are from Denmark. If the classroom doesn't have any, I would invest in some for the classroom so that the child will have something familiar to play with. In Denmark children spend 3-4 hours per day outside tending to forests, gardens and playing. I would allow outdoor time to plant gardens. Denmark also also encourages the children to choose with what to play and with whom to play with. I would allow the children in class to have free time to do what they want for a little while. This will enforce there abilities to make choices. Denmark believes in Vygotskys's theory that social interaction fosters cognitive functions. Parents will be invited to the classroom and have one on one meetings with the educators to discuss the curriculum. Early childhood educators in Denmark value parent-child-educator interactions. I will continue to instill the importance of this vital communication. In keeping up with Denmark norms hopefully the transition to American education will be a smooth one for the child and the family...........References: www.eupedia.com/denmark/trivia.shtml www.oecd.org/education/schools/2475168.pdf pure.au.dk/ws/files/815/critical_perspectoves_on_danish_early_childhood_education_and_care_pure_.pdf

THE PERSONAL SIDE OF BIAS, PREJUDICE, AND OPPRESSION

I was 29 when I watched a movie called "Do The Right Thing" in 1989, with shock and dismay. This movie revolved around a hot summer in Bed-Stuy Brooklyn, which is 90% Black. The story centered on an Italian pizzeria where all the Blacks spent their money. In this establishment, all the pictures on the wall were famous Italians. There on the walls were Frank Sinatra, Rocky Graziano and Tony Benett among others. The Blacks thought they should be represented on the walls too since they were the ones spending their money there. Sal, the owner, fought hard tooth and nail by saying no, it was his shop and that he could decorate the shop anyway he wanted to. One day all the tensions exploded. There was a brawl in which the pizza shop was destroyed by the Blacks. The owner and his sons were fighting against the Blacks also. A key player in the neighborhood and a neighborhood fixture Radio Raheem was killed in the melee by the cops. This movie diminished equity by the refusal of the owner to display any Black people on his walls. The feelings I felt went from rage to sadness that this incident could've been avoided. On one hand it was the owner's prerogative to put what he wanted on his walls. On the other hand tensions were rising and to keep the peace, one picture on the wall may have satisfied the need of acceptance by the neighborhood. The owner would have had to make the change. It was his opportunity to do the right thing. Reference:

Do The Right Thing. Retrieved from http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0097216/

PRACTICING AWARENESS OF MICROAGGRESSIONS

I experienced a microassault once in a bank. There were at least 6 people on line. When it was my turn the teller looked at the next person in line and said "How can I help you?". For a second I thought I was living in the twilight zone. I am not a small person that someone can overlook. I was in a little bit of a shock for about 30 seconds. After that period I said "Excuse me, but am I invisible? I was standing next in line!". The teller acted like she hadn't even seen me standing there. She tried to laugh off the matter. I was born and raised in New York. As a minority, being African American, we do not put up with racism too well. Some of my counterparts that may live in other regions of America may fear being outspoken but we do not. After that she acknowledged me but I am sure if I was some type of docile, introvert she would have skipped right over giving me any kind of customer service. I felt outrage, it really doesn't take much for me. I dislike inequality and unfairness, for anyone. I have spoken up for other people also when I see something being done unjustly. It didn't matter what skin color they had, if they are being treated poorly, I will bring their attention to it. James Baldwin stated in one of our articles this week that "the messages of racism teach that the lives of racialized peoples are dispensable and disposable, that the work of racialized peoples is less valuable, that the thinking of racialized people is less useful, that the concerns of racialized peoples are trivial" (Mables & Mables, 2010). In that moment the teller made me feel devalued. After a brief and to the point chat, I hope she learned a lesson that you cannot treat or mistreat people in the way that she did. Reference Margles, S., & Margles, R. M. (2010). Inverting racism's distortions. Our Schools/Our Selves, 19(3), 137--149. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database: http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=51372248&site=ehost-live&scope=site