What Have I Learned

One hope that I have with regard to working with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds includes the hope that they are being listened to and that their needs are being met. Many times helping our diverse children and families just takes listening to the family members and carrying through with the things that they may need to help their child be successful. Little things can make a big difference in a child’s learning environment and out diverse families are no different.

One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field that I work in, related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice includes trainings for teachers for anti-bias classrooms. Every year we have trainings on so many different things and they are important, but one thing that we have never had trainings on or even had someone come and speak about is an anti-bias classroom. I believe that all teachers would benefit from an anti-bias workshop and they may even find someone to help support them in trying to make their classroom a better place for all their children.

As always it has been great working with all of you, you have been a great support to me through this class. I appreciate all the responses and comments they have helped me look deeper and think harder. Thank you so much for everything and I hope to see you all in the next class on our journey!!

 

Creating Art

When I first read this assignment I knew I wanted to paint something, I have been painting for as long as I remember but I haven't painted anything this size in almost 15 years. When I began I thought I might paint some children doing something or several different children of different cultures. But when I paint it just kind of comes out and when I started with the sky I just kept going with the colors and then the outline of the castle. I also love history and have always wanted to visit an old castle, but my thinking for this painting went deeper than just a love for history. The purpose for the castle is to show that even people who live in the most wonderful homes deal with issues whether they are a target of racial issues or the cause of it. One does not have to be poor to be a target of any type of biases; and just because one has money does not mean they are not racist. The same can be said for children of abuse and the abusers. The bright sun behind the castle is the dawn of a new day; the dawn of understanding biases and how we can make the world a better place for the next generation of young children. The dawn of a new day is passed due; that is why I chose the dark colors, but there is still hope in the brightness. It is a new day for me and I intend to continue forward with my learning and teaching in an anti-bias classroom. Even after I finish this course, this degree, I intend to continue to grow and learn so that I can help in the development of our children so that their future may be brighter than the sun.

“We Don’t Say Those Words in Class”

This is unbelievable, this just happened in my classroom today. We were eating snack and waiting on a few children to join us so that we could finish and clean up to go outside. I turned to my assistant and ask “who are we waiting on?” when all of a sudden a little voice at the table on the other side of me said “we still waitin on those Spanish girls”. So at first I was frozen and all I could think was I can’t believe she just said that, but then I heard my assistant say, “did she really just say that?” I said yes, she did. Before I could respond my assistant said “we don’t talk like that in this class, they have names use them. But then I jumped in and added “A, yes they do speak Spanish because they are Hispanic, but when you say it like that it is like you are calling them names. Do you like when people call you names? No, it’s not nice and it hurts their feelings, they can speak two languages and it is sometimes hard for them to understand everything. We need to try to help them; do you think you can do that? Good, because you all are special in here and I love you all the same.

The message that might have been communicated to A by my assistant is that yes it was wrong, but she might not have understood why it was wrong. She only told A not to use those kinds of words in our class. She did not explain further for clearer understanding. A did at first look confused and hurt herself and this may be because she has heard this term used by others around her and she did not know that it is not all right to use.

 

I am not completely sure if my response is totally anti-biased, I am still learning; however, I do believe that after expanding on what my assistant said she did understand more as to why it is not okay to talk about the girls like that. I do not believe that she meant to be hurtful; I just think that she did not know any better. I hope that by explain about the girls and that they are Hispanic and that they do speak two different languages, but that is a good thing that A will think before she makes another comment like that about the little girls in the future. I understand that children this age are “confused about racial group names and actual color of their skin” (Pelo, 2008). But I was hoping to help them obtain some understanding that different does not mean bad. I also believe that the other children listening understand a little more also, so this was actually a good moment for understanding to take place for the entire class not just A. I wanted them to know that just because they are different does not mean I love any of them more or less.

 

Pelo, A. (Ed.) (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.