Week 8

One hope that I have for working with children is that I can remember to consider their family/home life and backgrounds. I tend to generalize with my students with all of the craziness that a school year brings. When I have students with not so good behavior, I immediately think about how bad they are and forget to consider where they're coming from. These past few days, meeting my new students, I was better with that, and reminded myself that these students may have things going on at home that I don't know about. I think it's important to remember that and get to know them and their families.

One goal for the early childhood field would be to continue to work anti-bias curriculums into classrooms and centers, teaching children to be anti-bias and helping teachers handle bias/discomfort situations. I think this would truly help make our future and our world a better, more civil and understanding place.

I'd like to thank all of you for your kind words, feedback, questions, comments, and just sharing of thoughts, ideas and opinions. As always, I love learning from you and with you! 2 more classes to go!

Diversity Poem

Hello all! Not my best but it will do... Here's what I've learned about Diversity:

Diversity

We all feel joy,

We all feel pain,

We all are different,

Yet all the same.

Some come from broken homes,

Some walk the streets alone.

Some live a healthy life,

Some don't have to live in strife.

No matter our skin color, religion, or town,

We all help make the world go round.

We're human beings and it's easy to see,

I'm like you and you're like me.

-Caitlin

We don't say those words!

• A time when you witnessed an adult (or yourself) reprimand or silence a child after he or she pointed out someone they saw as different (e.g., "That lady talks funny," " That man only has one leg!" "Why is that man so pretty!"). Include what the child said and what the adult did or said in response. (Note: If you cannot think of a specific time ask a friend or family member.)
• What messages might have been communicated to this child by the adult's response
• An example of how an anti-bias educator might have responded to support the child's (or classroom's ) understanding

I was recently having dinner at a friend's house when her husband began to explain how their little 4 year old girl called a lady "fat". They were at Chic Fil A and the little girl noticed the lady at a table near them. She began to tell her dad, "look at that lady! she's big! she's fat! why is she fat daddy?" The dad, feeling embarrassed began to motion a cut it sign, where you take your hand across your neck as if to say "cut it out" or "stop". The little girl didn't understand and continued asking. Finally he said, "honey stop it and be quiet and eat." He explained that by this time the woman was angrily looking at him and he didn't know what else to do. 

I think the message communicated was that the word fat is a bad word, or that talking about someone being fat was a bad thing. I can understand the embarrassment, you never want your child to call someone that kind of name, but at the same time, being four years old, she was just explaining what she noticed and being honest.

This has happened to me during a class discussion about a robin character. The little round robin was round, and we had to use other words to describe it. Some kids said chubby, others, said fat, chunky, etc. One little girl became very upset and explained to the class that it's rude to use the word fat, and you should use a nicer word. We discussed how that word could hurt feelings, and that maybe we could say large or big, or even round. As an educator, I think it's difficult sometimes to explain to children that some words hurt feelings even though you're using them to describe something. Children naturally and honestly describe things they notice, and when it happens, I think it's important to acknowledge it and move on, and at times you may have to discuss more deeply.