Multiculturalism in Early Childhood Education
I am willing to go to extraordinary measures to ensure that I am providing each individual child in my classroom with a great learning experience. I believe that all children can and will learn but have different abilities and styles of learning. I will foster opportunities for children to exhibit their own diversity and learn to appreciate that of other peers. When allowed I will take my classroom on field trips to visit museums, organizations, and restaurants that display different multicultural traditions and ways of daily living. Children’s parents will be allowed to come in and talk about a subject that correlates with what we’re doing in our curriculum to infuse diversity into our lesson plans. I anticipate that it may be somewhat of a struggle to indentify the most appropriate way to teach each child according to their cultural and individual learning styles. To ease this transition I will attend any seminar or learning conference available to better educate myself. I will also ask parents for their advice as to what will benefit and help their child succeed in class. Cultural awareness is the foundation of communication and involves the ability of standing back from ourselves and becoming aware of our cultural values, beliefs, and perceptions. Being culturally aware is not easy because culture is not conscious to us. We learn, over time to behave and do things in a certain way because of our experiences, values and cultural background. We operate at an unconscious level. My goal as an Early Childhood Professional is to foster a desire in my students for them to be exactly who they are and to celebrate their culture. This can be done through music and dance. I will ask children to bring recordings of music that their family enjoys. I will teach them songs and dances from different cultures around the world. Eventually, children will realize that everybody loves to sing and dance, but have their own way of doing it. I will talk with them about the