Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

As an early childhood educator of adults, I am stereotyped a lot for my religion.  At conferences or in the classroom, individuals tell me that I do not look Jewish or talk Jewish.  What does that mean?  Is this something negative?  What does it mean to look Jewish?  Do students look at me differently when they find out that I am Jewish?  While my religious beliefs are, in fact, Jewish, I am still the same person I was before they knew I was Jewish.

Recently, I was presented the Keynote address at a conference for Methodist early childhood educators; it was a wonderful, rewarding experience.  Until… one individual wanted to know if I had converted.  Converted to what?  What did they mean?  Then, she shared that although she loved my Keynote presentation, she was surprised that they chose a Jewish individual to present.  My presentation was universal; it had nothing at all to do with religion.  While the early childhood educators all worked at Methodist preschools, they were early childhood professionals. 

         

Due to my own passion for what I do, I have learned (and am still learning) to move forward.  I do not know how I feel about being Jewish at this point, but my Judaism is a part of who I am as an individual, a wife, a mother, an educator, a friend, and so much more.  In my preschool (which was housed in a synagogue), children of all religions were accepted and welcomed; it just happened.   

I do not think that children or families have been affected by my religion.  At times, parents would question why we are accepting children of other religions into a Jewish preschool, and I was prepared to answer their questions.  In reality, the school was housed in a Temple, but it was not a Jewish preschool.  For the most part, families and most definitely young children accepted me for who I am.

I guess the only ism that actually impacted my work with young children was when I left the classroom to become a reading partner.  In my initial school, I was surrounded by African American or Haitian teachers.  I felt uncomfortable being White; I really did.  I tried to talk to teachers, but I felt like an outsider.  I felt as if teachers resented my coming into their school and working with their children.  They brushed me off, answering my questions with as few words as possible.  It might have been because I was intruding on their territory… or perhaps because I was a reading specialist… I do not know.  For me, I felt it was because I was White.

Looking back to that year, I still, to this day, believe it was a form of racism.  Now, I am another Head Start school where,again, my race is most definitely in the minority.  But I knew many of these teachers from my workshops, and I was welcomed with open-arms.  I adore these teachers; we value our similarities and differences.  Through our interactions, we have shared our cultures.  I have grown in leaps and bounds due to our interaction; it’s this type of learning that I hope is infused into every early childhood classroom.

Observing Communication

I went to the beach to read, and while it was not my intention, it proved to be the perfect setting for this week’s blog.  Since the wind, the sand, and the waves were blowing strongly, I was prepared to have the beach pretty much to myself.  It was in the 60’s, and in Florida, that is cold.  However, to my surprise, there were many people on the beach, including some brave young children in the ocean.  I plopped my chair down far away from the ocean where most people were situated.  I was content to read, highlight information, and breathe the sea air; in close proximity to me, it was quiet.  Then a mom placed her blanket extremely close to me (there were many miles of beach, but she chose a spot almost on top of me!).  Christopher (I heard the name a million times) was with her.  Mom quickly assured me that Christopher would not bother me, but she did not want him near the water; it was too cold (still lots of other alternatives on the beach!).  In spite of her assurance, Christopher and I became fast friends, smiling, and laughing.  My guess is that Christopher (not Chris) was 4 years old… maybe 5.

As I listened to the communication between Christopher and his mom, I am more convinced than ever that parents need to be trained how to listen and hear their children.  In the short time that I observed Christopher and his mother, I had to resist getting involved and offering advice; I wanted to invite mom to one of my parenting workshops.  She was trying.

Christopher and his mom were building in the sand.  There were buckets and shovels (enough for 4 children), but Christopher, obviously, preferred his hands.  Christopher (personal communication, March 20, 2013) told his mom that he was building a road for a car.  Then, Christopher picked up the red shovel and pretended it was a car.  Christopher (personal communication, March 20, 2013) told his mom that his car (shovel) was going really, really fast and was going 100 miles per hour.  I was pretty impressed that he knew the term “miles per hour,” but mom did not share my feelings.  Her frustration with Christopher’s creativity was obvious.  She informed Christopher (personal communication, March 20, 2013) that he was using a shovel and not a car.  (I believe that Christopher probably knew that!) 

In addition, mom (personal communication, March 20, 2013) asked Christopher a zillion (that’s more than a million) times to dig with the shovel instead of his hands.  The conversation continued along the same vein.  I wanted mom to step back and listen to Christopher.  Stephenson (2010) stated “stepping back means to relinquish your own agenda in order to hear other messages that often were not related to the questions that I had been considering” (p. 90).  Christopher’s mom did not hear his creativity or realize the importance of his play; she needed to understand the importance of listening... she was missing so much of her child’s growth.  In the media segment (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010), L. Kolbeck shared that in order for children to learn the art of communication, they have to feel listened to and seen.  I do not think that Christopher felt his creativity was valued. 

Obviously, I feel that Christopher’s mom needed to support his creativity.  It was the perfect opportunity for her to question Christopher about his car.  I was an outsider, and yet, I was fascinated by his play; I wanted to know where his car was traveling to. Christopher would have used his obviously great vocabulary to answer my questions. 

It goes without saying that I do not communicate with young children like this.  I love pretend play; it’s a part of everything that I believe in.  It encourages children to be children; hooray for Christopher!  I really like the creativity of pretend play.  Christopher and his mom, unexpectedly, reinforced the importance of my workshops.  Can you imagine if an early childhood professional insisted that a child use a shovel ONLY as a shovel?  Christopher was creative and inventive all wrapped up in one.  It would have been fun to write a book together about the adventures of his car.  Maybe, I could race him with another shovel (there were 3 others on the beach).  I wanted to be involved. I could have used Christopher’s excitement as a learning adventure.  That’s what early childhood educators must do every day in their classroom.

While I only read a few pages, Christopher and his mom will be a part of my blog forever.  I am glad that they believed the beach around me was the ideal place for a race track.  Looking back, I could not agree with them more.

 

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). “Communicating with Young Children” (Video webcast). Retrieved at https://class.waldenu.edu/webapps/portal/frameset.jsp?tab_tab_group_id=_2_1&url=%2Fwebapps%2Fblackboard%2Fexecute%2Flauncher%3Ftype%3DCourse%26id%3D_2652530_1%26url%3D
Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-year-old. YC: Young Children, 64(2), 90-95. Retrieved from the Walden Library using the Education Research Complete database. http://ezp.waldenulibrary.org/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=ehh&AN=37131016&site=ehost-live&scope=site

 

Creating Affirming Environments

        There was a time when I considered opening up a Family Child Care.  However, I wanted it to be very different than what was out there.  I know my limitations, so my Family Child Care was designed specifically for 2-and-3-year olds children.  My 2-year-olds had to be potty trained, so I’m counting on having older 2’s and 3’s.  With the implementation of VPK, I knew that the demand would not validate the inclusion of 4-year-olds.  Ideally, I would like to have 12 children, with another teacher.  Based on the area that I live in, I would expect the majority of the children would be White or African American.  However, I would gladly welcome children of all nationalities and religions.  My presumption is that the families would speak English only or English and Spanish.
      It would be extremely important for me that my home represent a school and a 2^nd home to these children.  I want them feel welcomed, valued, and special; I want them to feel safe.  While this atmosphere needs to be reflected throughout my home, it is of utmost importance that the initial area where they are starting their day reflects the children in my care and their families.  First and foremost, for the parents benefit, I would have a morning message board that would give each family a quick idea of something special that we will be doing today; this board would be next to our daily schedule.  In addition, there would be a white board near these boards where I could share important information daily with my parents.  Sometimes a simple “WOW!  We had a great day yesterday painting with plungers” would suffice, while other times I might remind parents “Tomorrow is Show and Share.”  Remind your child to bring something in that begins with the sound of the letter /t/ like truck.”  Prior to beginning circle time, or perhaps during circle, I would review the message board and daily schedule with my students.  In spite of this, there primary purpose is for their parents, rather than for the children (notice I said primary!).  In addition, I would like one small bulletin board for each student that goes together for one large bulletin board.  This board would be totally interactive for the families, who are encouraged to change the pictures or information monthly (if not more!). 

            In my preschool, we had a similar board, which was extremely well-received and used by each parent (even those families who were not involved with other activities; they interacted with this board!).  There was one board per child, and together, they formed a large rectangle.  We put a frame around the boards, so they were all connected like one extended family.  Parents put pictures of their families, cards, trinkets, candy wrappers (of their child’s favorite candy), and so much more.  It was wonderful; each board was as unique as their children.  As an added perk, the families could be heard talking about the boards and asking questions.  I know this would, also, work in a family setting.

      I would like to enlarge a picture of each child’s family; I would request that the family picture includes all family members, including pets.  Then, after we enlarged them, I would invite families to decorate frames with their children; they would bring in the frames, which obviously would go around their family picture.  In addition to these pictures, I would like to take pictures of people in the community.  Rather than utilizing pictures from google, I think it is worth taking pictures of our community’s mailman, garbage collectors, firefighters (there are some woman), librarians, etc.  In the past, I have had not any problem securing permission prior to taking and using such pictures, but of course, you never know.  I just think having the “real” people help a lot. 
           There would be a special large shadow box that would go on one of our walls,   Once a month (or every 2 weeks), another family could take home the shadow box, filling it will items that have meaning to their family.  The shadow box has to be specific enough to hold items of varying sizes.  I like this idea, because it assures that the items will remain safe; at the same time, I can easily remove them to share with the families.
            As far as toys and books throughout the Family Child Care, I would be very specific, choosing carefully.  First and foremost, the majority of the books in our home library would be books that we made together individually and as a group.  This will enable the books to represent the children who are part of my center.  In addition, I could easily put together a book that would meet a diversity need that we want to share with the children.  In addition, a continue the story book would constantly be circulating throughout our school; again, the topic of each book could encourage a positive anti-diversity curriculum.
            Next, similar to books, I like toys and dolls that we make ourselves.  However, Kaplan Learning has some amazing soft dolls that represent diversity.  This would be a priority to me when choosing games, dolls, and books.  In the same area of the toys, I would include several non-breakable mirrors, so the children can look at themselves and their friends, appreciating their differences. In this same vein, I would design classroom puzzles that reflect the children, their families, our community, or whatever area of diversity holds importance at this time.  I love making simple puzzles, and I don’t even use a puzzle maker… just a heavy piece of poster board, laminating paper, and of course, the picture.  I put each puzzle in a manila envelope, with the puzzle picture on the envelope… I number the backs of the pictures in such a way that if a piece is missing, I can easily figure out where it goes.  In addition, this simple procedure gives me the opportunity to design similar pictures for varying age groups; I just cut them differently. I can, also, make additional puzzles if I find that a group of children really like one puzzle. 
          Furthermore, it is imperative that all skin colors are contained within our box of crayons.  All too often, I believe that teachers pick bright red or yellow or blue paint, rarely putting out the black or brown paint (except if they are making zebras, of course).  It is important for children to understand that all colors are important and beautiful.  Black and brown would be offered on a regular basis.  Let’s not forget music and musical instruments, which I believe are extremely important.  I would offer a variety of music and together, with the children, we could make instruments representing various cultures.  In addition, I love the idea of giving each child an empty piece of cardboard shaped like a child, so they can dress it and add hair to represent who they are; it’s a great project for child and parent.