Diverse Family Experiences

As I read through Chapter 3, I was reminded of how diverse families can be. Whether discussing varying religious factors, different cultural expectations, or various disabilities, family life is impacted in some way; there is really no question about that. First, families come from all different religious affiliations. Religion is often how individuals make meaning of their lives, and we need to be respectful of this. The specific religion practiced within a family may affect how interaction/participation is viewed, how holidays are observed, what kind of food is eaten, and how gender roles are portrayed. Second, cultural expectations may look very different, depending on various ethnic groups. Families will more than likely have differing

Diversity in American families is continuously growing. Today, there are families with two mothers, families with a white father and an Asian mother, families containing many or no children. The diversity of families is becoming wider with more acknowledgement and acceptance in people and their beliefs. Before when discussing a family, one would describe it as a mother and father married with a child or two; today, the word family describes something much bigger than what was taught in the past. When the word family comes to mind, the generic American family is no longer the only thing pictured, rather a single-mother and her son is pictured laughing or a Hispanic woman and her African American husband is pictured walking their dog. The image of a family is no longer compacted into a single idea, rather it has taken many forms containing

The concept of a family is based on a foundation of heteronormative, able-bodied house unit that completely disregards family units whom include members with disabilities. Family is a construction of belonging, in which people believe they are already given a place where they will belong and cannot change. In the disability community, the word “family” can either be seen as the site of “nurturance, narrative, and theory building” or “potential sites of repression, rejection, and infantilization” for those with disabilities (Adams et al., 81). For a person with a disability, there are more complexities that are attached to their family life. A more precise definition that came from Keywords For Disability Studies stated that “families are social

The screaming, the crying, the fighting, was never ending. Some would last only hours and others would last days, but they would all end with threats of divorce and a finger aimed at me. My parents came from two completely opposite cultures; one is from Syria and the other from Mexico. As you can imagine, growing up in a culturally diverse household isn’t easy. My brother, sister, and I spend our lives trying to find the perfect balance between the two and continually fail. You can’t learn Spanish without learning Arabic, you can’t prefer one dish over another, you can’t even choose your religion. It has continually frustrates me how my decisions on certain aspects of each culture upset them both.

I am the daughter of two mexican parents that migrated to the United States to provide a secure future for their children. My parents never had the opportunity to attend school past the third grade. My mother first migrated to Mexico City at the age of thirteen to financially help her family and my father migrated to the United States at the age seventeen to help his family financially. Having to work in the fields at a very young age, my parents knew they wanted to provide better living conditions financial stability and an education for their children. In my parents culture, women are not the ones to attain a higher education and are encourage to be housewives only. It came as a shock to my parents when I was determined to go to a university,

In this video, a woman discusses the building of partnerships with families of culturally diverse backgrounds. The video begins with the explanation of how families are interconnected, and what affects one affects them all. Family members may experience a wide range of emotions, and go through the grieving process when a family member is diagnosed with a disability. The time at which they can adjust to this major event varies, certain members may have a stronger reaction than others. The way at which they react will also likely vary, siblings and extended family having a possibly different reaction than parents.

Many years ago children and families were influenced by the mold of the ‘Dick and Jane’ books. The traditional family portrayed in these books played a crucial role in shaping how society viewed what made a family. Which often meant a dad who went to work and a mom that stayed home to cook and care for the kids ("Dick and Jane: Illustrations of an American Education," 1998). In the 21st century, there is a more diverse view of families that includes many different types of families (Walsh, 2012). As a result the author feels that teachers are changing the way they conduct their classrooms to be more inclusive of all families and to help students feel at home.

I am able to follow a developed mission statement within my school that embraces diversity. I’ve learned the various approaches to working with families and children of diverse backgrounds. I've also developed the skills to provide services to families and their children or direct them to the proper person. I understands the role of the family as the central to the development of a child. Establishing a positive communication and relationships with families for the sake of the child is key to working with any family. Being able to acknowledge and value similarities and differences in the varying cultures and structures of families I’ve encounter in my years of service has helped me to grow as an individual. With maintaining confidentiality

I have had the opportunity to be a student, teacher,and teacher. Seeing eduction from these perspectives gives me an advantage in relating to students,teachers, and parents. I have co-taught in classroom as a special education teacher. I have worked in various roles as an instructional leader and working with Title 1 teachers in collaboratively developing a co-teaching model to implement research based interventions to implement the RtI process at grades K-8. I added general education to my repertoire when I became an elementary principal. These experiences give me an overall perspective of education and that allows me to see the values and skill sets that different teachers bring to all our students. Each teacher and staff member brings

Based upon my personal experiences and those of some of my friends, I do feel the developmental outcomes of children of diverse parents are different than those who do not have diverse parents. When it comes to unmarried parents, they are more likely to face economic hardships, because unwed parent often did not plan for children and are not in the best financial situation to raise a child. When it comes to interethnic or interfaith families, there could be situations that arise that put the parents against one another when their religions or ethnic traditions clash. For instance, my mother an Evangelical Christian and my Father was Roman Catholic, had a major disagreement on whether or not I was to be baptized in a Catholic church after my

My family and I have always lived in a minority community. Our family consist of six

I believe it is important for all students to feel engaged and interested in the lesson being taught. In order for this to occur, teachers must make a conscious decision to think creatively in order to infuse different cultural topics within a lesson. Because this will be my first time leading out a large group of students, I believe it will be a challenge understanding how learners construct knowledge and promote knowledge construction. In order for me to effectively infuse multicultural issues within a lesson, I have to be aware of how my students will perceive the information. As I observe more classroom and begin teaching, I am hoping that I will be able to overcome this

I possess a diverse background of experiences that I bring with me to the classroom. I lived in Wheaton, Maryland until the spring of third grade. I was immersed in diversity at school and in the community. Additionally, my family engaged in frequent weekend trips to Washington, D.C. We frequently visited the Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo. My family lived in a lower middle class neighborhood. At one time, a family that had defected from the Soviet Union lived next door. I had been exposed to a myriad of different cultures and ethnicities by the time I was eight years old. In general, I had been taught to value this diversity, although particularly my father held some stereotypes and prejudicial beliefs. In 1980, my family moved to rural Spotsylvania County Virginia. During this time, the area was predominantly White and African American. There was very little diversity and the majority my peers had never travelled outside the county and the neighboring city, Fredericksburg. My parents grew up in rural Ohio. My father was the son of a tenant farmer, and my mother’s father engaged in a variety of agricultural industries. My father served in the United States Navy during Vietnam and this experience led to upward mobility. When we moved to Spotsylvania, our family was considered middle class. While the majority of my public school experiences occurred in a relatively homogeneous environment, my experiences following public school were more diverse. The most diverse

When my mother got married to my Stepfather my family’s life was transformed tremendously. My siblings and I went from living in a low-class poor neighborhood raised by a single Mother, to living in a two parent household in a diverse middle-class community. Adapting to a multi-cultural community sent us into a culture shock and was quite challenging. Our family was not accustomed to residing in an area where ethnic minorities was the lowest percentage of the population. My siblings and I had been exposed to diverse individuals when we were out in public with our parents however, we never interacted and lived among people of different cultures and ethnicities.

I vividly remember and most appreciate professors that connected theoretical content of a lecture to their daily practices and experiences. Professors that shared experiential knowledge, allowed me to gain deeper understanding of the content and practical applications. This combination allowed me to quickly implement new practices in my classroom early in my teaching career and tools early in my management career. I hope to be a higher education educator who makes experiential connections and adds a practical dimension to my classes through the incorporation of real-world experiences. I believe this will allow future teachers to walk away with practical tools and knowledge to better provide students with a 21st century education. Providing experiential and theoretical knowledge will support teachers’ professional and academic growth by increasing their overall knowledge.