Investigating a Cultural Practice: Early Childhood Education Through the Lens of the Latino Culture Essay

Cultural practices as the crucial constituents of everyday life shape people’s experiences and perception of the world around them, defining their future development and their choice of interactions with their communities. Viewing the subject matter from a personal perspective, I can attest to the fact that the cultural background of an individual defines their career choices, as well as the overall course of development, o a massive degree. Namely, the Cuban culture in which I was born and brought up glorified the idea of motherhood and the related experiences, emphasizing the importance of the nourishing, supportive, and formative role that a mother plays in a child’s life. As a result, when exploring career possibilities, I selected the one that aligned with my beliefs and philosophy most, namely, that one of an early childhood educator.

One could make an argument that the focus on the role of motherhood in the Cuban culture may restrict women’s opportunities for career development. On the one hand, the specified statement makes certain sense since I have been brought up in an environment that lauded motherhood and chose the career that allowed me to explore my willingness to nurture and support others. On the other hand, my engagement in the issues associated with childhood learning and development has allowed me to explore the issue at hand from academic and scientific perspectives, thus subverting the perception of a woman’s role being relegated to that one of a mother and a wife. Instead, women are provided with an opportunity to gain agency in their professional development by exploring the options for guiding others.

Thus, the cultural practices of the Cuban culture offer extensive support for the development of a career for a woman. Namely, due to the huge significance that a mother plays in the Cuban culture, women can exercise their educational and career opportunities by considering the roles of leaders and educators (Lisocka-Jaegermann 2). In my case, the responsibility of an educator provided me with a chance to gain leadership skills and significant

One could argue that the task of working with young children and providing them with the bare minimum of knowledge needed for their further development does not speak volumes of professional agency and growth. However, the assumption that an early childhood educator does not have credibility as a teacher could not be further away from the truth. On the contrary, as a teacher in the preschool setting, I exercise my ability to affect the crucial stage in a person’s development, namely, the formative stage at which they develop critical thinking skills along with the ability to converse with others. In addition, I developed the skills of a mentor and a coach by supporting the students and giving them an opportunity to develop agency and independence in the learning process.

In this context, the issue of providing nurturing and support to young learners during a pandemic should be mentioned. For an educator, the changes that have occurred to the learning process have been very noticeable. Although digital learning tools such as Zoom have offered rather decent substitutes for offline teaching, educators have been left without several essential tools for providing learners with the required information, controlling their cognitive development, and introducing appropriate measures in case of need (Lowenthal et al. 387). Namely, the process of identifying the causes of misunderstanding a specific issue, failing to meet the set standard, and gaining a particular literacy-related skill has become significantly more complicated since a teacher may fail to locate a problem in children’s perception of the school material immediately.

Therefore, as an educator and an expert highly interested in students’ success, particularly, in developing early literacy skills, I am highly concerned with the specified issue. Although tools for controlling the process of knowledge acquisition can be introduced into the learning process, certain hindrances in locating developmental issues instantly will remain in their place (Brammer and Clark 453.). It appears that changing the teaching approach toward splitting students into smaller groups so that I could work with each individually while the others are busy completing the other part of a group assignment is the most effective method of managing the specified educational issue in the current setting as the COVID-19 issue remains a part of everyday reality.

In addition, as an educator, I am hugely interested in communication with parents. Since students have to be homeschooled, their parents have started playing a much greater role in their education process, which is a rather positive change. However, being oblivious to some of the problems that the lack of educational skills and professional knowledge may cause, parents may make mistakes that will hamper their children’s learning and development process. Therefore, as a teacher and a mother, I am concerned about the lack of teacher-parent dialogue.

Overall, the Cuban cultural practices, namely, the focus on the importance of motherhood and the related qualities and skills, such as the ability to nurture and educate, have contributed vastly to my professional development and relevant career experiences. Having gained a sufficient amount of competencies after working with preschool children and exploring the opportunities of early childhood education, I feel that I have become an accomplished expert.

Works Cited

Brammer, Steve, and Timothy Clark. “COVID‐19 and Management Education: Reflections on Challenges, Opportunities, and Potential Futures.” British Journal of Management, vol. 31, no. 3, 2020, p. 453.

Lisocka-Jaegermann, Bogumiła. “Debates on Women and Femininity in Cuban Santería: Postcolonial Interpretations.” Studia Religiologica, vol. 52, no. 3, 2019, pp. 1-8.

Lowenthal, Patrick, et al. “Thinking Beyond Zoom: Using Asynchronous Video to Maintain Connection and Engagement During the COVID-19 Pandemic.” Journal of Technology and Teacher Education, vol. 28, no. 2, 2020, pp. 383-391.