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.
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading about your experience and agree that we must address remarks that children make. As teachers we have an important role to play in helping children understand differences. Sometimes it is hard to comprehend exactly what to say but a wonderful gift that we can give our children is “talking openly and listening without censure, we can learn about our children’s concerns and help them find connections between larger social issues and their own life experiences” (The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, 2013, para. 5).
Reference
The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights. (2013). Talking to our children about racism & diversity. Retrieved from http://www.civilrights.org/publications/reports/talking_to_our_children/
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI agree that children, and adults, should be respectful and address others by their name and not their race or ethnicity. Also, even though in this situation the girls did speak Spanish, it is important that we do not engage in or encourage stereotyping with regard to where a person is from or the language they speak because of their descent. I say this because last week my third graders were learning a song in Spanish and English. In one class, a student said that a couple of the Hispanic students (they called them by name) in the class could help us with the Spanish if we had any trouble. Before I could explain that this was not necessarily true, one boy raised his hand and shared that even though he is Hispanic, he was born here and did not speak the language fluently. He said that reading and speaking some Spanish was challenging for him as well. I thanked him for sharing that and then elaborated on what he said a little more. It is important that we, nor our students, make assumptions about the backgrounds of others. If we do not know, we must ask. Thanks for sharing!
Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI think you responded appropriately to the child in this scenario. I think it is also important to point out that Spanish is not a bad word, rather you want the child to use the person's name instead of language she may speak. Also, I've learned through this course that it is important to question children when they say such comments. It is important to ask why they think something or what made them say something, as this will provide us with a better understanding of the child's perspective on the particular issue. This is something I need to work on, as I usually respond with an explanation or corrected response. However, I, first, need to ask the child about what he or she said.
Hi Elizabeth,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post. Like you, I am still learning how to become an effective anti-bias educator. However, I believe your response in the experience you described was very appropriate. I’m not sure if your Assistant’s response was totally appropriate, but I admire her for jumping in and saying something and not letting that teachable moment pass. I think you jumping in and expounding on what the Assistant said, increased the children’s understanding of how to be more respectful of differences in others. Just as you indicated in your post, the children may not mean to be hurtful; they just don’t know any better. You and your Assistant did a good ‘tag-team’ job of teaching your students better in that situation.
I too have heard that from my students, and to be honest I'll just tell the students that's nice, but since reading your post I need to explain why it's not nice. thanks for sharing this, this is something that I will personally work on. thanks again
ReplyDelete