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.

 

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.

Gender, Gender Identities, & Sexual Orientation

          Throughout my Walden journey, this is, indeed, the most bazaar blog that I have written.  The events are unbelievable, although real.   Read on, you’ll understand.
          I went to our neighborhood Toys R Us store, with a specific agenda in mind.  Immediately, I headed for the section where they had doll houses, looking for portrayal of families.  There were many [and I mean many] choices of miniature dolls.  Most of the dolls were sold in groupings, representing a family.  Amongst the choices were heterosexual families with varying amounts of children.  It was interesting that none of the choices of dolls were mom, dad, and child; there were, at least, 2 children, and most, although not all, were one of each sex child.  Then, there were additional miniature children dolls that could be purchased separately.  I did not, however, see specific small dolls that would enable the child playing to have a family with 2 moms or 2 dads; a child could, however, utilize only 1 parent doll to represent a single family head of household.  Some of the groups had dolls resembling a grandmother or grandfather, which was nice to see.  While I would never have given this much thought (which is a problem), I am flabbergasted at the packaging of these minatures.  The implication is that most families are represented by heterosexuals.  I can just hear a little girl, who lives with 2 mothers, picking up a package of dolls wondering where the other mommy is.  
        Then, frustrated, I went to examine their children’s book section.  As I searched through the books (most of which I was familiar with), I did not find any books that represented homosexual or heterosexual families.  Dora was in a majority of the books, although I did not see her family in any of the books; a little girl in the store told me that Dora’s mommy had twins.  This would lead me to believe that Dora was a part of a heterosexual family.  There were many of my favorites, such as “Brown Bear, Brown Bear, ““The Very Hungry Caterpillar,” and “Cordouroy.”  In Cordouroy, we do meet Lisa’s mother, but the rest of her family in not visible. 

          I felt the books were limited and not a good representation of what is available for children.  So, I went to the library to visit the children’s section.  I asked the librarian, A. Front, if she has any specific books that represent homosexual families.  Instantly, A. Front told me that that they used to have one book, but it was pulled from the shelf (A. Front, personal communication, January 20, 2013).  She went to the shelves and found the book, “Uncle Bobby’s Wedding” by Sarah Brannen.  Quickly, A. Front informed me that I could look at the book quickly, but it should have been removed; a parent complained (A. Front, personal communication, January 20, 2013).  When she saw my disbelief, she told me to check the internet, because it happened in New York and made the papers.  (A. Front, personal communication, January 20, 2013).   Quickly I read the book, eager to get home to see what this scandal was all about.  The book is about 2 male guinea pigs, Bobby and Jamie, who are getting married.  Bobby’s niece, Chloe, wonders if she will still be Uncle Bobby’s favorite niece once he is married.  Definitely, the message of homosexuality is shown in a positive light, and the author meshes that nicely with Chloe’s feelings. 
            Believe it or not, I did find the article; can you even believe this?  “A local resident complained about the content of the book in September 2012; the book was pulled from the shelf, although the Director of the Brentwood Library has yet to decide whether to permanently remove the book from the library’s circulation” (Seth, 2012, para. 1).  There were similar articles, including mention of a similar situation in another library in July 2007.  I was curious as to what happened to the book.  I called the Brentwood Library, and the book is no longer available from the library.  Guess that says it all!
            With all of this said, what would I say to a parent who did not want a similar book in an early childhood classroom.  I would explain the need to promote diversity in their classrooms; parents need to understand why this is important.  If teachers hand choose the family structures that they will discuss, a child will definitely be left out.  I admit to not feeling this way previously, but I think this book has as much right to be on a classroom shelf as a book depicting 2-white parents or 1-black mother or… I even really liked that the author chose to use animals, rather than a particular race.  If the book is in a preschool classroom, it is not stating that same-sex marriage is the ‘right’ thing, but it is an option and a reality in our world.  Children do, in fact, live in families with 2-moms or 2-dads.  It is our job to make these children feel safe, rather than different.  In a taped interview (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010), T. Reynolds shared that her family never talked about homosexuality.  I believe that this is the case in many preschools, too.  However, is a little girl living happily in a family with 2-dads any less important, or valuable, than a little girl living happily in a family with heterosexual parents.  I do not think so. 

 Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer).  (2010).  Learning from another’s life story (Video webcast). In EDUC 6357 Diversity, development, and learning.  Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6357/CH/mm/audio_player/index_week3.html

 Seth, J. (2012). Book pulled from library shelves: Follow-up story and interview with author.  St. Louis Community Activism Examiner.  Retrieved from http://www.examiner.com/article/book-pulled-from-library-follow-up-story-and-interview-with-author