Hopes, Goals, and Thank you!

One hope for the diverse families I work with is that I hope they each feel welcomed and comfortable in my classroom and with me.  I know this course has opened my mind and heart more than it already was and has made me aware of things I didn’t know existed in myself.

One goal for the early childhood field: Continue to educate the field on deep culture, diversity, social justice, and equity at all levels in the E.C. field and make meaningful like this course has done for me. Self Reflection is imperative. 

I want to tell my colleagues –THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart. All of your personal stories have touched me in some way and I appreciate your honesty and support through this course.  I leave you with this, my favorite poem:

The Hundred Languages of Children

The child is made of one hundred.
The child has
a hundred languages
a hundred hands
a hundred thoughts
a hundred ways of thinking
of playing, of speaking.

A hundred.

Always a hundred
ways of listening
of marveling, of loving
a hundred joys
for singing and understanding
a hundred worlds
to discover
a hundred worlds
to invent
a hundred worlds
to dream.

The child has
a hundred languages
(and a hundred hundred hundred more)
but they steal ninety-nine.
The school and the culture
separate the head from the body.
They tell the child:
to think without hands
to do without head
to listen and not to speak
to understand without joy
to love and to marvel
only at Easter and at Christmas.

They tell the child:
to discover the world already there
and of the hundred
they steal ninety-nine.

They tell the child:
that work and play
reality and fantasy
science and imagination
sky and earth
reason and dream
are things
that do not belong together.

And thus they tell the child
that the hundred is not there.
The child says:
No way. The hundred is there.

-Loris Malaguzzi
Founder of the Reggio Emilia Approach

Resources: http://www.chevychasereggio.com/poem.htm

Welcoming families from around the world

Welcoming Families From Around the World

I received word that I have a student coming from the country of Turkmenistan.  I know nothing about this country and to prepare, here is what I would do.

1)     Google – I would use the internet to get to know where the country is and general facts about the area and its culture.

2)     Once I feel confident I know a little about the country and culture, I would revisit my current parent questionnaire to make sure the questions are still appropriate to ask or if I need to ask more questions.  Typical things on the questionnaire would read: Tell me about your child: likes, dislikes, etc.  Are there any foods that your child is not allowed to have? If I need to call home or send a note, whom should I address concerns to?

3)     I would ask the family if they would feel comfortable sharing some of their culture with our class and if they had any items or pictures they could donate to our room.

4)     I would then let the families in our class know we are exploring other cultures and if they would like to share anything, we will be having an International day and there will be items in a center for the children to explore

5)     Last, I would ask my school social worker for list of community resources that my family may need to access while they are here.

These preparations will make me more knowledgeable about the culture my new family is coming from – giving me some insight to their lives before I meet them and also allowing me some topics for conversation when we first meet!  A parent questionnaire is essential because it can tell me things about sleeping habits, food concerns, and what holidays families celebrate. It is a quick resource for me and allows a space for the parents to tell me anything.  Asking the family to share things about their culture is something I already do and will [hopefully] make our new family and current families feel welcomed and valued In our classroom.  I think contacting the school social worker is important because they have a wealth of knowledge about the community and cultures that is sometimes untapped.  Having a personal resource is essential in making successful transitions. 

Resources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turkmenistan

Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

The Personal Side of Bias, Prejudice, and Oppression

• What memory do you have of an incident when you experienced bias, prejudice, and/or oppression, or witnessed someone else as the target of bias, prejudice, and/or oppression? Keep in mind that one can encounter such incidents in real contexts, including online environments, as well as in fictional ones, such as movies, books, television shows, and the like.

Growing up in a small town, everyone knew everyone. This was always good and bad… There was a family who lived down the street from us that was different. Different because they moved in around the time I was in 4^th grade, different because they smelled, and wore strange clothes (very outdated).  The children in the family were nice and really just tried to fit in but were always unsuccessful because some of their social skills were lacking and also because the dominant group was shutting them out – including me.  Kids always made fun of them for the way they talked (a little slower), for the smell, and the clothes they wore.  Amongst all of this – unbeknown to a lot of the other kids, their little sister was battling leukemia.  In one incident, a girl from our gym class was annoyed that she had to have the locker next to “C” who smelled and sprayed all of her clothes with a scented spray and then handed her a towel and told her to go wash in the showers. We all watched in horror and then laughed as “C” ran away crying. 

• In what way(s) did the specific bias, prejudice and/or oppression in that incident diminish equity?

All of the name calling and mistreating of the kids in this family diminished equity because by doing those actions, we all were saying that they are not equal to us for being poor, for looking different, and for not speaking as well. 

• What feelings did this incident bring up for you?

Now this incident brings up feelings of sadness, regret, and shame.  Then, I tried not to be the mean one by letting the others do the talking, but now I look back and think what bullies we were! How terrible we must have made them feel, and also how terrible for them to also be fighting a fight for their sister (who survived!). This family was going through a tremendous amount of stress and we contributed to that.  I wonder how different things could have been for them… I wonder if they even had running water in their house or if the parents had a washing machine for clothes…

• What and/or who would have to change in order to turn this incident into an opportunity for greater equity?

Most of the children on our school bus/our class at school would have to change.  I think the prejudice came from these children being very different from ourselves – they just never fit in as much as they tried. We would all have to be a bit more understanding of how it would feel to be the new kids or the odd one out.  Maybe teachers could have been more insightful and dealt with the bullying at school which could have helped outside of school as well. I am glad that now as an adult, I can recognize this sort of behavior and be sensitive to the situation and hopefully be able to stop it if I see it again.