Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

I admit, growing up a Caucasian American has granted me many privileges in my life that others do not have. However, I have experienced, and continue to experience -isms in my life. Growing up with a single mother, I was often ridiculed by children because I didn't have a dad. I was also made fun of because I lived with my grandparents. Kids would say that I was too poor to have my own house and made fun of my glasses and clothes. Because of this, I could never be one of the "cool kids." Now that I'm an adult and understand the way that the world works, I strive not to judge others and in turn, hope that I am not judged, as it is very hurtful. Even still, I experience -isms. One that comes to mind quickly is sexism. Being a woman in today's society is certainly much better than it has ever been before, but we are still not treated as equals. I mean, we get 77 cents to every male dollar for crying out loud! I experience sexism when going about my every day life. For example, a couple of weeks ago my cousin drove her car over to my house and said it was running funny. I checked the oil and discovered that it was almost completely out of oil. We drove the car to the closest store to buy oil, which so happened to be Target. I decided to go ahead and put the oil in the car in the Target parking lot, because I was nervous to drive it with it being so low. In the time that it takes to lift the hood and put oil in a car, I had three separate men come up to me and ask me if I needed help. While I appreciate the kindness, do I really look that incapable? Or is it simply because I'm a woman and we shouldn't know how to do things like that?

With all of that being said, it is obvious that I am affected when I experience -isms. It upsets me, outrages me. Sometimes I feel sorry for ignorant people and other times I'm just plain irritated. It is hard to experience these emotions and maintain a calm, typical demeanor. Therefore, I feel that should I experience these -isms on a daily basis and come to work with children, I feel that the children would definitely pick up on my emotions. The children might also feel upset, angry, or irritable. We all know that bad moods are contagious, and the last thing that we want to do is rub our bad mood off onto our children. Looking at this from the outside, I think that it is important that we talk about emotions with our children, as well as ways to manage our emotions. I think that by practicing these things inside of our classrooms, we will be better equip to handle these types of situations. Discussing emotions also teaches the children that we all have good and bad days, and that it is okay to feel however you are feeling, but that we just need to learn to deal with it appropriately. 

Observing Communication

This week we were asked to observe an adult and young child communicating in a real-world setting and reflect on the experience. For this assignment, I observed one of the toddler teachers, Mrs. Susie, and her interaction with the children in her classroom. Susie's classroom consists of 12 children, ages 2 - 2 1/2. She has a co-teacher that assists her during the day. Here is what I observed:

Ben and Alyssa, both two year olds in Mrs. Susie's class, were lined up outside, getting ready to come inside and wash their hands. Ben got restless and started pushing on Alyssa. Alyssa obviously did not like this and began pushing Ben back. They were going back and forth for a few seconds, pushing each other and squealing, when Mrs. Susie immediately intervened. Susie walked over to the children and took Ben's hand, leading him away from Alyssa so that he could not touch her. She squatted down to their level and spoke with both children, stating "pushing our friends is not okay because it could hurt them. If we put our hands on our friends, it should be to use gentle touches, like giving a hug. Ben, can you show me what a gentle touch looks like? Good job! Alyssa, can you show me what a gentle touch looks like? Great! Let's practice together, Ben, can you give Alyssa a gentle touch? Awesome! That is exactly the way we should touch our friends, through gentle touches. If someone is putting their hands on you and you don't like it, you should use your words and say "please stop - I don't like it!." Let's practice saying that. Great job Ben and Alyssa!"

Reflecting back on what I observed from Mrs. Susie, I can not think of one single thing that needs to be done differently. It is blatantly obvious that Susie is a master at what she does and using DAP language and techniques. Getting down on the children's level and explaining the situation were excellent. Having the children demonstrate what you expect of them and reinforcing it with praise, even better. I don't think that there is anything that Susie could have done to make the communication more effective. I am proud to have her as a teacher at my school.

Observing Susie at any given time is always a joy and educational for me as a young professional. It is very apparent that she is highly educated (she has a MA in family counseling and child development) and that she genuinely enjoys what she does. I feel that her communication with the children has positive affects on the children and helps to build up their sense of worth. She is constantly redirecting, modeling her expectations, and praising the children in her class. She celebrates little accomplishments and makes the children in her class feel important and special. She is an amazing teacher with superb communication skills. I constantly learn from her better ways of handling situations and often consult with her on situations that I find difficult. She is not only a teacher at my school, but she is a mentor for many.

Comparing my personal communication skills with children to that of Mrs. Susie, I can see that I do have some room for improvement. I sometimes do not show the level of patience that Susie has and try to always be mindful of that. I also strive to always maintain the constant, calming tone of voice that Susie displays. I am continually working on myself, trying to improve for the sake of the children that I work with every day.

Creating Affirming Environments: My Family Child Care Home Center

Louise Derman-Sparks & Julie Edwards, two early childhood professionals and anti-bias education experts, highlighted the fact that toys, materials, equipments, posters, and furniture all influence how children learn. An environment that is rich is anti-bias materials invites children to explore and discover, and encourages them to ask questions. Therefore, it is very important to celebrate diversity inside of the classroom. "What children do not see in the classroom teaches children as much as what they do see."

If I were to open up my own family child care home center, I would ensure that my center is very warm and welcoming to families. I would do this by having small, child friendly furnishings and warm, home-like touches. Having a family tree wall in the classroom would be a great way that I could incorporate pictures of all of the families in the center, while giving the children a place to see pictures of their families when they need some comfort.

Aside from incorporating photos of existing families, it is important to display pictures of diverse families as well. Posters of photos of different family structures and of families from around the world, including different races and clothing types, would be very beneficial to the children. Displaying different types of homes/houses around the world would be good as well.

I think that it is also important to show pictures of diverse individuals, such as individuals with disabilities, individuals of different races, individuals wearing clothing traditional to their culture, and individuals with physical differences. Children are more likely to ask explore and ask questions when information is given to them in a place where they feel safe.

The materials that I use in my family child care home center are just as important as the environment. Providing books on different topics and highlighting diversity are important because they not only instill a love of reading but also show and discuss human differences and similarities. Music is important as it incorporates the children's home culture while introducing new cultures. Dolls and puppets allow the children to freely explore racial diversity while dramatic play props, such as multicultural food and clothing, allow the children to act out roles and relationships. All of these things are equally important because they are exposing children to differences while allowing them to freely explore and ask questions in a non-judgmental environment.

One other thing that I would do in my family center is to celebrate as many holidays as I could, without diving too deep into religion. Too often children are only exposed to Santa Clause and I think it would be so much fun to research and celebrate Diwali and the Chinese New Year with the children as well.

To sum it all up, my family child care home center would showcase the families and cultures within my center, while highlighting diversity as well. The children would get the opportunity to learn from each other while discovering more about their own culture, as well as other cultures. Diversity would be celebrated in my child care center.

Source:
Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

What I Have Learned

Over the course of the last eight weeks, I have dove deeper into the topic of anti-bias education. I have been forced to evaluate myself to expose my own, personal discomforts and biases, and have made a plan to lessen those. I have progressed from Harro's Cycle of Socialization to the beginning stages of the Cycle of Liberation. I have been challenged and have learned from my peers. I have learned quite a bit about not only anti-bias education, but myself as well.

When I think about working with children from diverse backgrounds, which I do every single day, my hope is that anti-bias education will always be incorporated into their lives. I hope that they will always be exposed to differences and taught to accept and embrace others. I hope that they themselves will always feel accepted for their own unique characteristics. I hope that they will never be outcast or bullied, nor will tease others for being different. I hope that this generation of children will truly know what it means to love one another.

A goal that I have for the early childhood education field, especially in rural towns across the South, is to include anti-bias education into the every day curriculum. Having been born and raised in a small town in North Carolina, I have personally experienced education in this area. There is no diversity in these towns, as the population is strictly made up of Caucasian families. As if the lack of diversity isn't bad enough, diversity isn't talked about or taught. I did not go to school with an African American until I moved away from home and attended a university. While I didn't think anything of it, because I'm a very laid back person and don't have an issue with people until I need to have an issue, other people I know did because they were simply ignorant to the concept of diversity. While ECE does push anti-bias education, as I see it everyday in Raleigh, NC where I now live, I do think that more needs to be done in smaller towns where diversity is not such a common concept.

In closing, I would like to thank all of my peers that have assisted me in the completion of my assignments. Thank you for assisting me, challenging me, and offering your kind and encouraging words. Best of luck to all of you on your journey!

Start Seeing Diversity

This week we were asked to create a piece of art to represent what diversity means to us. I chose to create a photo collage that I feel embraces different ethnicities, races, religions, languages, cultures, and sexual orientation.

 

We Don't Say Those Words!

It is a common fact that children are very blunt little people. They don't really have a filter yet because they don't understand what is appropriate and acceptable to talk about and what is not. Children will talk openly about peeing, pooping, vaginas, penis'...really whatever is relevant and being talked about at that stage in their life. It is our jobs, as parents and educators, to teach children the appropriate time and place that things should be talked about. We don't want to scold children into thinking that anything is taboo to talk about because we want children to trust us and talk to us openly and honestly.

A few months ago, when visiting my family that lives out of town, I took my niece, Jayda, who is four years old, to the store to pick out a birthday present for her mom. As we were walking around Target Jayda noticed a significantly overweight woman and said, very loudly, "Look Cassie, that lady is not a pretty princess like you. She is just too fat!" Out of pure humiliation and panic I immediately snapped at Jayda and said "no ma'am, we do NOT say things like that! That is just ugly to say and not okay, do you understand me?" I mean, it was a pure reaming right there in the middle of Target. Looking back at the incident and reflecting on what I am learning about anti-bias education, I can see that I did not handle the situation as effectively as I should have. I think that it is important to teach anti-bias education to children so that they are familiar and comfortable with different kinds of people, thus eliminating the need to point out differences so bluntly.

Gender, Gender Identity, & Sexual Orientation

Gender, gender identity, and sexual orientation seem to be a touchy subject when it comes to the preschool classroom. Recently my school went through the environmental rating scales known as ITERS and ECERS. In preparation for this I printed out a variety of pictures for the classrooms such as female construction workers, male nurses, and gay and lesbian families. Some teachers came to me expressing concern with putting the pictures of gay and lesbian families on their walls. One teacher said "Cassie, most of our families are rich, white families and you know they are going to have something to say about these pictures." In response I told her that it was okay and if anyone had issues then they could come talk to me. In reality, no one complained at all and the children were really excited to see differences on their walls.

I think that homophobia and heterosexism definitely permeates the world of young children. If you walk into a toy store, such as ToysRUs, you will notice that everything is categorized with a hidden tone of gender roles. They place "girly" dress up clothes in the section with dolls and pretend cleaning toys. While they place "boyish" dress up clothes in the section with tonka trucks and nerf guns.

With regards to language, such as "sissy", "tom boy", etc., I can recall a tour that I did for a woman that came in a couple of years ago. She said that she has two girls that love to get dirty and are real tomboys and she would rather them be like other little girls who wear dresses and are seen rather than heard. I was so appalled to hear this come out of her mouth about her own children! I responded by saying that our school promoted individuality and embraced each other's differences; if she wanted a boarding school type of preschool then we were not the right fit for her.