What I Have Learned

One hope that I have when I think about working with children and families that come from diverse backgrounds is that I can make a difference and be helpful to them. I want them to feel comfortable around me, I want them to know that they can talk to me and confide in me, I want them to feel accepted, cared about, and loved. I want them to recognize that I will teach in a diverse classroom and that I don't look down upon diversity, that I feel it's important my students know about it and that I plan to incorporate diversity into my classroom and lesson plans/curriculum. I want my students and families to know that I understand culture, enjoy learning about it and that I plan on benefiting from each individuals cultural strengths and perspectives.

 

 

 One goal that I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is to provide a safe, secure, and comfortable atmosphere for my students and families; to teach my students that diversity is encouraged and welcome in our classroom. I want my students to know how important diversity is and I want to openly and freely speak about diversity in my classroom. I want it to be a topic we discuss often; I think it's important.

I just want to thank my colleagues for taking the time to read my discussions, blogs, and assignments and for allowing me to read yours. I have learned so much from all of you and I look forward to the few classes I have left here at Walden University and look forward to getting closer to the finish line. Thank you again my friends, I have enjoyed reading your blogs and discussions and I hope you have enjoyed mine as well! Best of luck in all your future classes!!

What Art Means to Me

What is art? Art can be many things. Art goes beyond just being pictures, painting, drawing, coloring, etc. Putting on make up is an art, hot rolling your hair is an art. Learning something new is an art. There are many arts. Art is history, it is expression, it's understanding and reality.  Anything that provokes thought is an art. People of different color respecting each other, becoming friends, being loving, realizing that our difference are what make each of us unique... that is an art.

Before we can love others, we must love our self. Before we can respect others, we must learn how to respect our self first. How we view other people, how we treat them and the relationships we choose to have our based on the decisions we make. "We attract people that are like us. Not just in terms of romantic, sexual/physical attraction. We attract them metaphysically - these people tend to turn up in our lives." (2013)

Reference:

Why you must first love yourself. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.tapping.com/articles/why-you-must-first-love-yourself.html

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

A few years back I was working in a preschool and I was in the 4-5 year old classroom. I had 15 children to a room by myself and I truly enjoyed my students and my job. One day I was working and I had laid out art supplies for my students to do an art project; it was a painting project of some sort. That specific day we had the state come in to watch us; they came in and didn't talk to us but just sat back and observed me and the children and we later got a grade based on our teaching performance and the way we worked with the children. During art, I liked to sit down at the table with my students and I would interact with them, help them with whatever they needed help with and we would have interesting discussions. One of the lady's from the state that was in our classroom that day was heavy set. Out of nowhere; very randomly, one of my students; Eden said out loud "Mrs Stacy, why is that fat lady in our classroom watching us?" Of course the lady heard Eden say that and she just smiled but I was completely embarrassed and I apologized to the lady. The other students in the class thought it was funny so they chuckled why my cheeks were red and I felt bad for the lady. I explained to the class in age appropriate words that there are so many different types of people in the world, some are skinny, some are heavier, some are short, some are tall and some are mean yet some are nice. I explained to them that we should not judge others based on how they look because it's whats on the inside that matters. On the dry erase board I made a drawing and came up with a story to try to explain myself better. I drew a picture of a skinny man and I drew a picture of a "fat" lady. I explained to the children that the skinny man may have been skinny but that he was bad because he did bad things and used bad words. I told them that the man  was mean to other people. I pointed to the heavyset woman on the board and I said this lady up here may be "fat" but she says nice words and does nice things for people. She is your friend. I let them know it wasn't nice to call people names because it hurts their feelings and on their faces up on the board I made facial expressions. I had a one on one talk with Eden about how it wasn't nice what she said and it was not acceptable and I asked her to apologize to the lady and she did. I feel like the messages that I communicated to Eden and the rest of my class was that there are many types of people in the world and that all of us are different and that we should accept people for who they are on the inside and not for what they look like. Looks aren't important. "A child's age is one of the most important factors in considering how to begin a discussion on any subject dealing with prejudice, discrimination or, more simply, the things that make people different. The most important thing to keep in mind is that it is never too early, or too late, to talk to children about respecting diversity." (LaRosa,2001)

An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child's understanding is to come up with other visuals to provide to the class that would better their understanding as children, to give them more examples, read them a story that talks about accepting people regardless of what they look like, create a curriculum that has projects and activities linked to the topic.

Reference:

LaRosa, C. (2001). Talking to your child about hatred and prejudice. Retrieved from http://archive.adl.org/issue_education/hateprejudice/Prejudice3.asp