What I have Learned

 

 

One hopes that I have when I think about working with children and families that I can teach them to respect and to treat everyone equally. I would hope that I could teach the children that even though we do not look, act, or have different ways we live that we all are and want the same thing in life, to feel accepted for who we are. That being different is what makes them and others unique. I also hope that just because someone comes from a different background that I do not judge them unfairly. Children are the hope for the future and I want to be the one who starts them off in the right direction.

 The one goal you would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is that all educators especially teachers in the ECE field is that they all should have taken classes on all these issues. If we can learn and teach ourselves how to deal with these issues than we can teach these to our children the world would be a better place.  I would like for the whole Early Childhood field to accept people for who they are and to urge them to promote anti-bias curriculum equality for all.

Finally has these 8 weeks come to an end I would like to say Thank You to Dr. Kein and all of my colleagues. You all have made this course a very informative learning experience. I have learned much about myself and how to work and teach anti-bias and diversity to my students. I could not have made it through this course without all the encouragement and the wonderful ideas from the discussions and blogs. I wish you all much happiness and luck has you continuing your life journeys.

 

One

 

 
 

 

 
 
 

Seeing Diversity Art

"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

I can remember a time when I was grocery shopping and had my grandchildren with me. My grandson William saw a man from Burma and he asked why the man was wearing a long sheet. I quickly bent down and told him to please not say that to someone. I told the gentleman that I was sorry for what he said. Than he did something that totally surprised me, he explained to him why he wears clothes like this sometimes. He told him that was how men in his country sometimes wear these garments. My grandson looked at him and said that he was sorry and thanked him for telling him that.

I think that the person responded very nicely and did a great job of not making my grandson feel like he totally did something wrong. Later I talked to him about not saying things or making fun of people who are different because he would not like someone to make fun of him.

As an anti-bias educator I would talk to them about the different cultures and how people dress and do things differently than we do. We are all the same; we are all different understanding more about feeling proud of their own culture and learn respect for others” ( Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 67). I would do this by picking a different culture to teach about monthly so they could get a good understanding. I would also do this about people with disabilities.

Sparks-Derman, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-Bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington: National Association for the Education of Young Children. p. 67.