What I Have Learned

I think about young children so differently than I did a year ago. It sounds a bit corny, but I hope that young children have an opportunity to attend school in a classroom that reflects diversity.  While diversity in general is important, it is even more important to represent the diversity of the children whose classroom becomes their home for many hours each week.  The importance of this has become clear to me because of my diversity learning.

However, before our classrooms can truly reflect diversity, early childhood educators need to be taught as we were.  A class or two in diversity needs to be required where teachers have an opportunity to interact, question, and reflect.  Throughout this course, I have grown because of the time taken to look back and understand (and admit to) my stereotypes.  Without this reflection, I do not think that I would have changed, because I entered my initial diversity class believing that I was not a biased individual.  So, for me, I think that early childhood educators need additional knowledge on diversity.  I’ll make an effort to include a bit of diversity into each of my workshops, because diversity education needs to be a part of everything we do in our classrooms.

 

For me, this class has been intense.  I have met many colleagues that were new to me.  I have shared a tremendous part of myself, and I thank my colleagues for giving me the confidence to share.  Your comments have helped me on my voyage of growth.  I am glad that I changed my specialization to diversity from adult learning; it has been a pleasure working with each of you.  Thank you, and I look forward to our next class together.

 

Dr. Kien, thank you for your extreme organization and patience.  Your notes regarding each week’s assignments were extremely helpful, as we knew exactly what was expected.  Due to my job, I need to work ahead, and you were patient with me, answering my many questions.  Your comments throughout the course have helped me grow and look at my own biases in a light that will enable me to be a better ‘me’ and a better early childhood professional.   Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Creating Art

 

 

Initially, I was going to color the paper to represent varying skin tones... period.  You can see my original idea on the background of this work.

However, although the colors reflected diversity, there was something missing... the children.  So, I purchased some people on cardboard, and I colored them and made clothes.  Each child represented has his or her own style, making them unique.

Then, after placing the children around the outside of the paper, it looked almost like a border, which was pretty awesome. 
Again, I felt something else needed to be there.  For me, the addition of the word "Friends" brought everything full circle.  Pelo (2008) stated in our textbook "teachers prioritize anti-bias, culturally sensitive teaching and learning."  This picture and the inclusion of the word "Friends" does just that!

I hope it makes you smile... I have the picture on the wall by my desk, and whenever I look at it, I smile.



We Don't Say Those Words in Class!

       
        The timing of this blog posting is perfect.  Just this week, I was conducting an observation of an after-school director.  Although not positioned in a regular class, Mr. Jared took over for a counselor in order to be observed.  This after-school program is housed in a community center where children are bused in from various schools.  Today, Mr. Jared worked with second grade students. 
        Even before I was escorted into the classroom, it was quite obvious that the majority of the students in the community center were African American.  By the time I entered the classroom, it was more than evident that I was the only white person in the entire building; I felt somewhat isolated.  I definitely was ‘different.’
         I walked into the classroom eager to observe Mr. Jared in action.  I have worked with him previously in an intro class, and I knew he would do an amazing job with his students.  Mr. Jared approached me, shook my hand, and introduced me to the class.  There were approximately 16 children, and they readily said “hello.”  Then, one of the girls (Jennifer) raised her hand and without hesitation, she stated “Mr. Jared, how come you didn’t invite a black person to watch you?  There aren’t any white people in the center.”  Visually Mr. Jared was in shock.  While I shared his shock, I immediately become interested in observing how he would handle this remark.  It was a perfect setting to compliment my learning. 

         I was disappointed, to say the least.  Mr. Jared told Jennifer that wasn’t a nice comment and apologized to me for Jennifer’s question.  At this moment, I felt more shock than after Jennifer’s question.  First of all, her question was totally legitimate and deserved an answer; she meant no harm by her first.  And secondly, Jennifer was not sorry for her question.  “Although children may not understand the full meaning of their biased comments, these can become the basis for more developed prejudice if adults do not respond to them” (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2008, p. 44).  Since I was a guest in someone else’s territory, I held back.  However, Mr. Jared’s lack of explanation was extremely important. 

       I wanted to help Mr. Jared explain about differences.  I wanted to answer Jennifer in a way that would give her question value.  I bit my lip and began writing.  During the interview portion of our observation, I was no longer able to keep quiet, and I shared some ideas with Mr. Jared.  I immediately suggested the use of puppets, and I believe, from my observation, that the puppets would involve all of the children (I actually used persona dolls in my own classroom all of the time).  In the media segment (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010), N. Spangler suggested that by using persona dolls (or puppets), there is a power of taking this tender topic and having it one person removed.  The doll (or puppet) actually becomes the children’s friend, and children will readily engage with the doll’s challenges.  As N. Spangler (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010) suggests, it’s not condemning them; it’s an extremely powerful tool that would work for Mr. Jared.

        Initially, he was defensive (which is not fitting for his outgoing personality!), but I would not let him continue to apologize.  He needed to hear me out, and then, the choices to make were his.  It was an interesting discussion, and I do not know if he totally understood.  But, he did promise to think about my ideas; that’s a starting point. 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Learning from another’s life story: Anti-bias in ECE settings. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6357/CH/mm/audio_player/index_week6.html

Derman-Sparks, L. & Ramsey, P. (2008). What if all the kids are white? In A. Pelo (Ed.), Rethinking early childhood education (pp. 43-47). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.