Observing Communication

I often watch and listen as my eight-year-old son, Cutler, and my husband have conversations about a variety of different topics.  My husband does a great job of listening to Cutler and getting his ideas and perspective about different situations.  Many times when Cutler wants something or wants to do something my husband will not say no right away but will give Cutler a chance to explain why.  I watch my husband get on my son’s level, stop what he is doing and really listen to Cutler.  “Listening is the process of recognizing, understanding, accurately interpreting, and responding effectively to the messages you hear” (O'Hair & Wiemann, 2012, p. 158).  I see Cutler’s satisfaction and eagerness to explain what he is thinking.  I can tell that Cutler really appreciates his dad’s willingness to be a good listener and I can see how it encourages effective communication between them.

My husband also does a good job asking Cutler questions.  He really challenges Cutler’s thinking about different issues by asking questions and encouraging Cutler to look at ideas from different perspectives.  One of the recent conversations I observed was when Cutler and his neighbor friend across the street wanted to have their own yard sale.  Instead of saying no right away my husband took the time to listen and ask questions about their idea.  My husband also did a good job of educating the children on what a yard sale actually involves and how much work goes into doing one.    

There are times when I need to practice my husband’s communication skills.  I know I need to be more patient and truly listen to my children instead of saying no to an idea right away.  My learning this week has reinforced the reasons for needing to be a better listener.  I also need to make sure I give my children a chance to really express their feelings and ideas before responding to them.  I know I do a much better job of this at school but I also want to be an effective communicator with my children at home.

Reference

O'Hair, D., & Wiemann, M. (2012). Real communication: An introduction. New York: Bedford/St. Martin's.

Creating Affirming Environments

“An environment rich in anti-bias materials invites exploration and discovery and supports children’s play and conversations in both emergent and planned activities” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 43).  In my family child care program I would have a sign-in area where the parents sign the child in each day.  I liked Adriana’s idea of having an area in that sign-in where parents can say how the child slept the night before or any concerns they have about their child for that day (Laureate Education, 2011).  This helps the teacher get a better understanding of the child’s home environment and gives parents the opportunity to share how their child is doing at home.  I would include a schedule for the day’s activities.  I liked Adriana’s scheduled that included pictures for the children and parents to see (Laureate Education, 2011).  I would include pictures of the children and families from my program, which would help children, and families feel more included and involved in the program. 

I would of course have a variety of anti-bias materials.  I would have a book area with a variety of books that displayed all types of abilities and similarities and differences.  I would have a dramatic play area with a variety of clothing, food, dolls and toys.  I would have a block area with a variety of blocks and Legos.  Also there would be a variety of wooden people who came from different races with a variety of different abilities.  I would have an art area with many types of art materials.  I would have a writing center with a variety of writing materials and puzzles.  I would also have a listening center where children can listen to books and different sounds.  I would have a texture table that would include materials consisting of different textures.  All of these areas will be changed up depending on what our area of focus is for that week.

I liked Adriana’s idea of a special place for children to express their emotions (Laureate Education, 2011).  I would have an area in my program where children could go when they were have big feelings.  This would be a place where children could learn how to calm themselves down and talk about their feelings.  My program would also be covered with pictures of the children attending my program.  Children love to see themselves and their friends in pictures.  “Relationships and interactions with children and families, the visual and material environment, and the daily curriculum all come together to create the anti-bias learning community” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 51).    

References

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

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Welcome to an anti-bias learning community. Baltimore, MD: Author

What I Have Learned

As I work with children and families who come from diverse backgrounds I hope they feel acknowledged, accepted and included in my classroom.  I hope they see my desire to want to learn more about their backgrounds and incorporate that into my classroom.  I hope they feel confortable enough to be open and honest with me and willing to work with me to help educate their child. 

I believe it would be beneficial for the early childhood field to provide more professional training related to issues of diversity, equity and social justice.   This would be helpful for all professionals but especially for early childhood educators who do not see a lot of diversity in their classroom but need to be aware of it and educated about these issues.  My goal would be to encourage my school district to provide more professional training related to diversity, equity and social justice.   

Thank you to all of my colleagues for your great work during this course.  I have enjoyed reading the discussions and learning from your experiences and sharing of great information.  It is always interesting to hear what other people are thinking about different issues.    

Creating Art

This art represents the importance of having a strong support system around a child.  Love is in the middle because every child needs unconditional love and everything else helps support the love.  I traced my daughter’s hands to surround the love and then placed important components in each hand.  Children need support, encouragement, acceptance, teaching, education, learning, help and forgiveness.  Having a strong support system from birth throughout one’s life is important for a child’s healthy physical and emotional development.  

We Don't Say Those Words in Class!

 “Although children may not understand the full meaning of their biased comments, these can become the basis for more developed prejudice if adults do not respond to them” (Pelo, 2008, p. 45).  I know there have been many times when I have not responded appropriately to a child’s bias comments.  This definitely happened more prior to being a preschool teacher.  I cannot think of a specific incident but I know when my son was younger there were times when we would see a person who was extremely heavy and my son would comment “Look how big that person is!”  These comments always made me feel uncomfortable and I definitely did not want the person to hear my son say these comments.  My first response to my son would be to try and silence him.  I would tell him to be quiet or that is not nice to say.  By handling this situation in this way I was probably portraying to my son that it is not okay to talk about people’s different sizes and it may have made him feel like I was not acceptable of people that were a bigger size. 

I enjoyed hearing the response from a teacher in this week’s media segment.  When a young girl mentioned she did not want to be friends with someone because they were fat the teacher responded, “People come in many different shapes and sizes.  I have friends who are fat and friends who are thin.”  I like how the teacher used herself to portray an example of acceptance of all different sized people. 

One suggested guideline by anti-bias educator Eric Hoffman for responding to children’s curiosity that stood out for me was “Always respond – If you do not know what to say, explain that you want to answer but must first think about what to say.  Get back to the child with your response by the next day” (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p. 33).  I think this is very important to remember.  I know there have been times when I have responded inappropriately to a child’s comment and I believe if I would have taken the time to really think about my response I would have handled the situation better.  My response would have been a much better teaching tool for the child and for myself.  I need to remind myself that it is okay not to have an answer right away.    

References

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

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

Pelo, A. (Ed.). (2008). Rethinking early childhood education. Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

Gender, Gender Identity and Sexual Orientation

Children’s books, movies, toys, stores, schools and the culture of early childhood centers are largely heterosexual.  In books and in movies the parents are almost always a man and a woman.  Girls are the princesses and boys dress only in clothes that would be considered boy clothes.  If you viewed most children’s books, movies, toys and schools you would believe a relationship should be between a girl and boy.   You would think girls like pink, purple, dolls, and Barbie’s.  You would think boys like guns, superheroes, trucks and dinosaurs.  In reality my daughter’s favorite color is blue and the child in my preschool who loves dinosaurs the most in a wonderful little girl.  In stores the toys are usually separated into boys toys and girls toys by having a boy isle and a girl isle.  When my daughter was two years old she wanted Spiderman underwear because her brother l oved Spiderman and so did she.  I ended up having to buy her boy’s underwear because they did not have Spiderman underwear for girls.  My daughter now wants superhero underwear and I am afraid I will probably have to do the same thing.  She of course also loves to wear her Frozen underwear!    

I believe it can be very difficult to address gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender issues in an early childhood center.  I know I currently have parents in my preschool that would adamantly refuse to have books in the preschool that depict gay or lesbian individuals or families.  These are strong Christian families and it would be difficult for me to go against what they believe.  I currently have a student who comes from a strong Christian home and this student has said before during play or conversations with students that God does not say it is ok for boys to marry boys or girls to marry girls.  I do not feel I have the right to challenge the religious beliefs his family has taught him.  On the other hand if I had a student that came from a family who had parents that were gay or lesbian I definitely would do all I could to make that child feel welcome. 

A few years ago I actually had two sisters that were one year apart.  When the older sister was in my preschool the mother was pregnant and in a relationship with the father.  When the younger sister was in my preschool the mother was in a relationship with another woman.  The child referred to her mother as her mom and to her mother’s partner as her dad.  I believe the child was very comfortable with the situation and comfortable in our classroom regarding the situation.  Even thought this was the life this little girl lived I believe she felt accepted in my classroom without me having to educate the other children about the issue of gay or lesbians.  Both of these girls still come back to my classroom regularly at the end of the school day to give me hugs goodbye! 

This is one subject I have a difficult time believing it is my right to educate my preschoolers on.  All families believe differently and have different expectations on what they want their children to know about this subject and it is difficult to know what is acceptable to teach.  I definitely would not shy away from the subject if there was a situation concerning this issue in my classroom but I also do not specifically teach about this issue.  In my preschool we currently have no books depicting gay or lesbian individuals or families and if I did have any of these books I believe it would definitely create a problem from many parents.   

Blog Assignment 6

The team I participated on that was hardest to leave was my basketball team I played on in high school.  In seventh grade my family and I moved to a town of about 10,000 people.  From that time I started playing basketball with a group of girls.  We continued to play together until we graduated high school.  We did not win any championships or anything but I spent a lot of time with this group of girls.  We spent many hours working together on our basketball skills at practice and a variety of camps.  We also spent many hours together outside of basketball.  We had the opportunity to travel together and form strong relationships with each other.  We watched each other grow up and mature throughout the years.  I felt many emotions when the basketball season was over my senior year.  A part of me was excited for the new advantages that were ahead for me but I was also sad because I was not going to have these same experiences with these same people ever again.  I guess graduation was the closing ritual for this group of girls but it would have been fun to take a trip together before we all went our separate ways. Now with Facebook I am able to stay in touch with many of these ladies and I enjoy seeing their families and what they have done with their lives. 

I believe the hardest groups to leave are the ones where you have made close relationships with the group members, you have worked hard together to meet accomplishments and you have been a part of the team or group for a long time.  I imagine I will adjourn from the group of colleagues here at Walden by posting thank you and well wishes on their individual blogs.  I believe adjourning is an essential stage of teamwork because it brings closer to the process and experience.  It allows people to acknowledge their group accomplishments and look forward to what is in store for each person in the future.