Microaggression

Although I had a harder time thinking of specific examples of microaggression that I've witnessed this week, but many times I have seen acts of microaggression between children in the classroom, similar to the examples seen in the readings from Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). I remember one time in our small full day Kindergarten classroom when two girls wanted to play "house" in the dramatic play center. When one of the young boys also wanted to join in with them in their play, the other boys in the class said "Oh, Rosbin wants to play with the girls!" You could see in his face that their comments triggered a concern in his mind as he made a defensive comment like "I'm not a girl!", but he continued his play with them and didn't seem to mind what the boys thought. Thinking back to that scenario now I can't help but wonder how this experience is effecting his opinions of himself within his group of peers and the identity he is forming. In the same classroom, 9 of the children were white and only one had come to the country recently from Guatemala and spoke Spanish as his primary language. He was a very eager student, willing to learn, especially the English language, and very interested in showing his abilities and interests to his teachers and classmates. He always wanted to be seen and part of the group, often making up stories about having siblings or pets at home to feel welcomed by his peers. I think after a while the other children caught on to his elaborate storytelling and began to seclude him from play, didn't want him to sit with them at lunch, and didn't want to include him on the playground. Now, Rosbin's personality accounts for a great many factors, including his family culture and dynamics. The other children in the class might not be specifically targeting his cultural background when they criticize his character traits, but they are creating a negative barrier between themselves and Rosbin that has and will continue to effect his development in many ways.
I once recall being a target of microaggression when our ice cream supplier delivered to our location one hot afternoon last summer and, although we had never met before, I happened to be the only person nearby to open the snack bar and sign for the delivery, so I introduced myself as the director and offered to help. He didn't like that. He immediately asked for my husband, who he had previously been in contact with, and when I said he wasn't available he was extremely standoffish and rather rude that I was the person he had to deal with at the time. I felt as if my being a woman was extremely displeasing to him and that he was offended and annoyed to have to work with a lesser person because of my gender. Overall my emotions were surprised, offended, confused, and building up to defensive against his behavior.  
Both of these experiences have shown me that discrimination, prejudices, and stereotypes can place a huge affect on individuals and groups of people who are targets of either intentional or unintentional microaggression. Although I was rather startled by this delivery man questioning my capabilities, I can only imagine that having to deal with forms of microaggressions on a daily basis would become exhausting physically, mentally, and emotionally.
References 
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J.O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves.Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Culture & Diversity from Three Perspectives

The first person I asked to give me a personal definition of culture and diversity stated that culture is a combination of ones family, beliefs, history, and race, and diversity is the differences that people bring together to make up our society. A second person I spoke with focused their definition of culture and diversity specifically toward ethnicity and racial differences between various groups of people, and traditional values that people portray within a set group. Another person mentioned that culture was largely made up of relationships and the social environment that a person is raised and lives. They summarized diversity as the social variety of the differences that individuals and families possess and share as a whole.
These three perspectives on culture and diversity have some similarities as well as some different viewpoints on the topic. The first and third definition provided a more broad definition of the words, listing multiple characteristics such as race, beliefs, history, relationships, etc, and how these characteristics make our society a diverse people. Many of these cultural characteristics were shared by Gonzelaz-Mena as the melting pot of life aspects that make up who we are as a person (Laureate Education, Inc., 2011). I tend to agree with this idea that culture is so personal, so independent, but that's also what gives our society its diversity. The second definition was a bit more focused on the ethnic aspect of cultural identity and how our vast races make our society to diverse. After just having spoken with three individuals that I know, it's become more clear that culture and diversity is personal and is thought of very personally as well. Our opinions are defined by our own culture and experiences, which will in turn also affect how we view others. I feel that we should always be open minded about our neighbors and willing to learn more about the various cultures that make our world so diverse.
References
Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Culture and Diversity (2011) [DVD] Perspectives on Diversity and Equity. Baltimore, MD: Author.
Ngo, B. (2008). Beyond “culture clash”: Understanding of immigrant experiences. Theory into Practice, 47(1), 4–11.
Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database.

My Family Culture

If I were being moved to a foreign country after a catastrophic event, the first small, personal item I would bring with me that represent my family's culture would be a photograph of my family. One particular photograph that comes to mind was taken of my entire family at my wedding. I would explain to the people of the country I would be traveling to that this photograph is a physical reminder of my loved ones that helps me to keep them in my heart and my mind when I cannot be with them. Pictures and imagery are such a huge part of our culture, from old family photos to everyday digitals on Facebook. I know I enjoy keeping many memories through photo reminders. I would also bring one particular family heirloom that was handed down to me from my great-grandmother, a small Catholic Bible. I received this Bible from my great-uncle when she passed eight years ago and truly felt honored that she would want me to have something so dear of hers. This special heirloom handed down to me has significant meaning and an item that I hold very dear. The third item I would want to bring is a old tile mold that has the name of my grandfather engraved in the stone. He played a major role in building our current town and the local tileworks factory that is well-known in the Bucks County, PA area. This particular mold was used by my grandfather to mark his work and was given to my mother by the tileworks foundation as an heirloom when he passed.
If I was told that I could only keep one of the three items when arriving in this new country, I would absolutely feel torn as to which item I would bring, especially if I didn't know what would become of the other two items that are so important to me. Thinking about each one, I think I would end up choosing the Bible given to me by my great-grandmother. This Bible not only has strong reminders of her, but also of other family members and memories, not to mention they hold God's spiritual guidance to get me through such a trying time.
Overall, thinking about this hypothetical scenario has made me realize even more that culture is so much more than skin deep. It is a typical conception that culture is race, ethnicity, or where you come from, but culture is also about relationships, memories, and family values that you grow old with.