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

Welcome back!

This week in class we have been discussing children's literature and the underlying concerns and isms found either positively or negatively influencing a child's acceptance and understanding of others similar and different from them. This is another great step in our journey towards anti-bias education. Additionally, over the past few weeks we have been analyzing and learning more specifically about various types of diversity regarding race, gender, class, ability, and more. Therefore, our assignment calls for us to remember or recall a time when I or someone I know had quieted a child in class for pointing out someone's differences. We are to analyze the message this sent to the child being silenced, as well as an example of how an experienced anti-bias educator may have responded to this situation differently and more effectively.

This topic and scenario takes me back to my first experiences out of college within the field of education when I was working in a low-income school/district in the preschool department. I worked as a permanent substitute for the year in which I was half-time a classroom assistant and half-time a co-teacher between three different preschool classrooms in the building. I had the chance to work with a regular education class, as well as two inclusion classes of 3-4 year olds. During my experiences in this setting, I fell in love with Early Childhood Education and even more in love with Special Education, which inspired me to eventually go back to this program for my Master's in ECE. During my time in preschool in Lindenwold, I was working with an extremely diverse population. I recall several instances in which diversity was discussed in the classroom, treated as teachable moments when things came up; however, I also recall a few moments when children were silenced when the teacher was unsure of how to respond to the situation. For example, during circle time in one of the inclusion classrooms one morning, a young Latino girl asked, "Why does HE always act that way? He ruins our circle time because he doesn't know how to act like we do." She was referring to another young child in the class named Joshua who was extremely emotional and had several behavioral issues. He acted out in hopes to get any kind of attention as he did not receive much attention at home due to his mom being a single-mother trying to work and take care of three children under the age of 6. Joshua would constantly disrupt circle time and centers, often purposely, in order to have someone with him one on one. Again, any attention was good attention to Joshua. In this scenario, the teacher created an opportunity for discussion with the class, talking about how things can be challenging sometimes and how to deal with emotions when we become frustrated, to help show that it was not because he was a boy or because he was different from her (Latino female versus African American male) as this young girl was accusing and questioning. This was a wonderful way to help create understanding.

However, I had also experienced a similar concern in one of the other classrooms in which a young Caucasian boy and young Latino American boy attempted to ignore and remove another young Asian American boy from their play time. They refused to let him play with them as Daniel, the Asian American boy, frequently had meltdowns when playing with the other students because he would become fixated on one particular toy and had trouble sharing. He was being observed and tested to which we later found he was autistic and certain situations were extremely difficult for young Daniel. When encountering this situation, the teacher intervened to see what the problem was as Daniel was screaming and stomping while the other boys yelled for him to go away and said it's "because he doesn't share and doesn't play right like other kids do". The teacher responded by saying "Boys, we do not tell people they can't play with us because they don't play the way we like. He is playing with you. Thats enough" and proceeded to walk away and work with other children.

In the first scenario, the children had an opportunity to learn and grow, becoming more accepting and understanding of others by allowing them to discuss and relate to this child. However, in the second scenario the boys were quieted in their judgments and concerns and told to let him play and move on. This did not help the children in any way and could serve to enable an ism such as ableism within the students beliefs and perspectives. When the teacher in the first scenario took time to discuss and learn with her class, she was helping children to understand the importance of bias and how to overcome it. "This process empowers children to take action themselves by giving the message that responding to bias is important. It models cooperative problem solving and creates concrete suggestions for what to do," (Laureate Education, Inc., n.d.). If an anti-bias educator were in the room in either of these scenarios, the discussion would have taken place, as well as possible role play and stories to further the discussion and learning about such concerns and isms. I believe the first teacher acted as an anti-bias educator, which I had the pleasure and honor of witnessing and learning from continually throughout the school year. I believe the second teacher had good intentions but tended to struggle with ways in which to follow through in such "touchy" scenarios with the children. She would inconsistently address concerns such as this in the classroom with children but always wanted to help create and foster acceptance and tolerance in her diverse environment.

These courses are helping to teach me the ways to learn from such examples I have listed and to become more of an anti-bias educator myself. I love learning about how I can improve for the better and look forward to continuing on this journey!



References:

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d. b). Start seeing diversity: Physical ability and characteristics [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu.