Professional Hopes and Goals

             I think that I would be very fortunate to work with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds.  I feel that it is very rare to have a true mixture of economic, ability, and race within one classroom.  In my classroom experiences, I have worked with either all wealthy white children, or all low-income black families, with the exception of one or two families within each program.  I would love to work in a school that truly allowed the blending of class and race to create a genuine diverse atmosphere.  I hope to one day be the director of such a preschool; one that draws in families that are interested in having an environment of diversity and getting to know other families that may otherwise be outside of their comfort zone.  I want to present a situation to families in which they can challenge their biases and raise their children to challenge the stereotypes that the world has presented. 

                Another hope I have when it comes to working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds is that I am able to take each child and family as an opportunity to learn, to expand my knowledge about other cultures and use it to make every child feel comfortable and welcome in my school and/or classroom.  Every child is unique and has different things to offer a classroom, as well as to my experience as an educator, and to my life.  I hope to take the time to get to know every child and their family.  I feel that it is my responsibility to make each child and teacher feel valued and important, and to be sure that their family culture and cultural heritage is reflected and respected within my classroom, by myself and the community. 

                I feel that there are many goals that should be set in the early childhood field in regard to diversity, equity, and social justice.  I believe that we, as educators, consistently focus on our students and making them feel comfortable and loved, but sometimes their families may go to the wayside.  There are so many different types of families; nuclear, foster, adoptive, interracial, gay/lesbian, single-parent, divorced; the list goes on.  I feel that we need to begin to focus on bringing families together.  Children will learn the majority of their biases and stereotypes from their parents.  If we work hard to bring diverse families together, or to educate our families on how others may be raised, we are likely to spread tolerance and respect.  If families are more respectful of one another, and learn more about each other’s family culture, children will be more likely to continue such habits into their adult life. 

                Lastly, I would like to take this opportunity to thank my colleagues for their contributions to this course.  We, ourselves, are a diverse population.  We come from various backgrounds and experiences.  We represent different cultures and careers, and yet we all have come together to create a community with the same goal; to better the lives of young children.  I am both honored and privileged to have shared such a life-changing class with a group of intelligent, articulate, and kind-hearted individuals.  This has been my favorite community to work with and I have had many thought-provoking moments with many of you.  In addition, I want to thank you all for voting for my blog!  I was so excited to have been recognized by my peers for my efforts, and have really enjoyed the feedback I’ve received throughout this program.  I hope that you will continue to follow my blog and that we can all keep supporting one another throughout our degree program.  Thank you again for all of your insight and wisdom you have bestowed upon me during this course.  I wish you all the best on your journey!  Happy teaching!

Much love,

Raina