Ktantanim Balev

  As I think about working with children and families who come from a diverse background, I hope that they will feel connected and welcome to my classroom’s family. I am passionate and committed to supporting children’s cultural identity and introducing them to diverse cultures sensitively and respectfully (Derman-Sparks, 2010). I want to collaborate with colleagues and interact with a diverse population in my community to learn more about the cultures among us. My goal for the early childhood field related to diversity, equity, and social justice is to raise awareness for an anti-bias curriculum among each state’s education department. Offering educators professional growth opportunities, raise awareness of anti-bias education and foster understanding of cultural sensitivity in each program. I want that anti-bias education becomes the norm in every classroom, allowing all children to feel valued, respected, and proud of their heritage and who they are. Also, I would like to thank ...

As I reflect upon my growth during this class, I would like to thank all of you who shared this journey with me. Through our weekly discussion boards, I had the opportunity to put into action the knowledge and skills I gained in this class, practicing my cultural sensitivity, communication skills and enriching my wisdom through your professional experiences, expertise, and distinct points of view. Thank you for your contribution to my professional growth. I wish each one of you much luck in the future, and I look forward to collaborating again in the future! Toda! (Thank you in Hebrew) Ilana

    The place of the new family of origin that I chose is India. The ways that I will prepare myself to become culturally responsive to my new family's arrival are: Researching the family's origin before their arrival, learning a few essential words in the native language, for instance, welcome to the school. Considering India has distinct dialects within its regions, I will consider this aspect. I will contact the family before their arrival, introducing myself asking them how to approach them. For instance, In Israel, we communicate with each other on a first-name basis. We do not use a more formal approach like Mrs/Mr. This aspect is vital as it portrays respect. I will contact my professional colleagues to check if they had a previous interaction with India's families to get more in-depth insights into the culture. However, I am aware that every family is unique and can differ from other families within the same culture (Derman-Sparks-2010). After educating myself on th...

This week I started watching a television show on Netflix named Gentefied. The show focuses on a family whose cultural background is Hispanic living in a neighborhood of diverse cultures.  In the show, the family members are experiencing constant prejudice and oppression. For instance, in one scenario, the chef or the restaurant owner treats his kitchen's prepping employees with continual disrespect, as the employees accepted that oppression and attitude.  In another incident at the restaurant, one of the cousins defended his kitchen's employer's friends. He stood up for his and their's dignity and beliefs and ended up thrown out of the restaurant. What stood up for me was during one scenario, two of the main characters, Ana and Joseph, entered a bank to withdraw money, using their cousin's credit card. When one of the bank's representatives approached them, Ana told Joseph, "Use your white voice." I was stunned and saddened, watching the Internalized ...

    Reflecting upon my personal experience regarding the last stage of team development (Abudi, 2010), I feel that two main aspects affected my feelings after adjourning the group. The first aspect related to the interpersonal relationships I formed in the group, The clique (O’Hair et al., 2018). Establishing professional relationships is essential in my career, as it may open professional opportunities and expanding my points of view on professional topics.  The second aspect regarding the last phase of adjuring the group (Abudi, 2010) was the lack of time and appropriate planning. We did not have time to summarize our process, challenges, and success of meeting our goals as a group (Abudi, 2010) and having time to say appropriate goodbyes. Every team meeting is an opportunity for professional growth, as we establish the different stages of our team building differently. For instance, in some groups, the Forming stage (Abudi, 2010) was short, and we quickly moved to the ...

   Mutual respect is an essential key for positive communication among people in any relationship. When conflicts arise, I do my best to approach any encounter as a productive conflict (O'Hair et al., 2018) using empathy, respect, and honesty. Since I decided to dedicate this year to my grad studies and take time off from my work, conflicts mainly occur with my close family and friends. According to the Center for Nonviolent Communication (NVC) (n.d.), using awareness, empathy, and vulnerability will foster compassion and support productive conflicts (O'Hair et al., 2018). For instance, I always acknowledge the other person's feelings first. I do it with my students and with adults as it portrays empathy and care. I also use my knowledge of a person to lead the way to approach the conflict. For instance, during a clash between my husband and me, I know that I need to allow a few minutes to process the situation and analyze the problem from both points of view, as it reflect...