In my role as a Family Advocate, I work very closely with the families from different culture in our program. It is very important for me to understand diversity and become culturally competent in order to provide a better and more effective way to the families. Understanding cultural differences will help me better understand and communication with the families that avoid conflict and misunderstanding. I have a different perception to look at cultural values and am aware of my own assumptions, values, and biases. Become awareness of diversity leads to appreciating of families and their unique backgrounds that also to increase the quality and efficiency of services that producing better results. As we become a more diverse society, it is important …show more content…
Our beliefs and values are learned through our daily interactions with in the family and learn through our exposure to the larger world. In the class discussion, we have shared that the same group of people may not share the same culture or belief, or vice versa, people from different group may share the same values or beliefs. It deepened my knowledge and understanding of myself and others when I read The Inner World of the Immigrant Child by Cristina Igoa. The book tells the experiences of immigrant children must navigate life to an unfamiliar environment and faced problems in adjusting to the new culture, place, and time. A teacher tries to understand the inner world of immigrant children to create a learning environment that meets with the feelings of the students and their needs. The stories reminded me of the time I came to U.S. I felt the challenges of isolation, vulnerability, helplessness, fear of ridicule, feeling of hopelessness. The uprooted have great effects on both the child’s personal life and in their life at school. Unlike immigrating adults, children are less likely to anticipate and prepare themselves for the changes, and are quite unprotected against everything new and strange to which they will be exposed. That means children need a lot of support in order to replant themselves again. Educators can create a learning environment that respects diversity to help children’s adapt to unfamiliar surroundings. Teachers can do a great deal to help students succeed in