CREATING AFFIRMING ENVIRONMENTS

       As I look out the window of my 30th floor apartment at highways, jam-packed with vehicles sided with more towering cement with windows and make-shift dwellings tucked in, with a play area where the children are only to play on the paved and tiled spaces with clear 'Stay off the grass' signs, the stuff of this picture seems far away.. I can, however, provide the multinational, multi ethnic, 'multi-differing' incomes, multi-lingual and probably multi physical, emotional and cognitive strengths population. So other than the back yard, I am ready to go.

       To prepare my apartment (YIKES), I would start by ensuring the children who are planning to  attend are represented (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). If possible, I would obtain pictures  of their immediate and extended families. Pictures of their countries  and animals for the cultural wall. I like the idea of having the children bring in artifacts of how they and/or their parents would like to represent their background (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Perhaps I would open the class by representing my heritage. Then in the following months invite  families to work together to build a representative table.  The work areas could  include matching of different occupations or tools specific to some of the countries. Also it would be good if the families could share toys specific to their countries. Some of my families use necklaces and bracelets as teething rings, for example,  that the child continues to wear until older. These sorts of things could be included .

     I would have dolls that represented different shades of skin and persona dolls that could also represent  differences that are not yet in our student body (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). I would ask the families about household tools that are specific to their family and look to replicate them in the class. To represent the different cultures, I would take a month to use recipes from each area for snacks and lunch. Because the school is in my home, I can invite  parents in to help prepare the food, if possible.

     I would make a  of a collection of music specific to the families represented and another for dances. I will have asked for some specific first language words for each child, like greetings, names or familiar instructions and have these posted in the respective areas. i.e. greetings at the door, food requests in the kitchen, etc. I would request books in the child's mother tongue and invite members of the family to share them when they can in Circle. This could also be a time to teach some basic language and songs.

     Once the children are settled we would look to see who is missing. This discussion could be fostered by their taking photos while out and about or on vacation or shopping, etc. The assignment could be what kind of work do you see that you do not see in our classroom or are there people who look different than we have shown in our class. We would work together to make our school, a place they could see themselves and feel welcome.  

     Another idea that seems very doable is to contact a pre-school in their home country and have visits say every two weeks. Each school could share about their lives, share what the weather is that day, where they went on the weekend, and what they ate for lunch, for example. We would support these visits with research  and reading books.

     Because I will be in this apartment complex, we can be a part of the community events and perhaps design a few of our own. If children were included from outside our gates, it would require some sort of subsidy, perhaps partly from the tuition of the children who live here in affluent homes. This would have to be agreed upon among the parents, whatever over-seeing body I would require, and me. However, the eye-opening gains and life skills learned could break some of the 'difference' walls that now divide us.

As I come to the end of this thinking page, it seems more a possibility. I am learning that when our eyes are opened to what is around us, doors of opportunity open.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-Bias Education. Washington, D.C.:

            National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

 
  
   

What I have Learned or am in the process of Learning

                                                               HOPE 
   
Welcoming                 Open            Accepting 

                                   Loving

     Sharing               Growing           Curious  

                                  Together...
          
                                 GIGGLING


Learning-friendly
     Color-friendly friendly
           Multi-generational-friendly
                Play-friendly  
                                          Investigation-friendly
                                 Freedom-friendly

                                 Hugging

May my world - friendships, acquantances, school - be clearly defined by these actions and attitudes.


A goal for me as an early childhood educator is to turn thoughts toward the child. The world is full of theories, rhetoric and words from high places. All of us need to stop and see it from the individual child's perspective. As we plan curriculum we think about entry requirements for Primary schools. This is a worthy goal but we need to keep an eye on how it is working for each child. I need to remind myself and those I have influence with that this is not just a soft cuddly time and the real work begins later. We must give to these infants, toddlers and young children that very best we have and not throw away these critical developmental years and hours.

To help spread the news that we are responsible now.

A brief but huge thank you for each of you in Group 1. Your blogs, posts, comments and resources have added to my understanding of diversity both for this course and in life.

I am taking the summer off. But I hope to join up with some of you later.

If not, I wish you all the best in your professional and personal endeavors - making this world a better place one little body at a time.

Start Seeing Diversity - A Song

WE ARE THE CHILDREN 'ROUND THE WORLD
(Inspired by EDUC 6357 and Louise Derman-Sparks)

(Refrain)
I am   You are    We join together
I am   You are   We join together
I am   You are    We join together
We are the Circle 'round the world.

Blond hair   Black hair   Curly hair and straight hair
Long hair, short hair and no hair at all
We are the Circle 'round the world.
Brown skin, white skin, black skin and yellow skin
All of the shades in between
Tall, short, fat, thin and medium
We are the Circle 'round the world

Refrain
    
Families, families We all have families
The place where we love and we belong
Families, families different but the same, well
We are the Circle 'round the world

Hand in hand  Step by step
Mind with mind   Heart to heart
We can build and change and we can CELEBRATE!
'Cos we are the Circle 'round the world.

Refrain

(Bridge)
No matter your language
No matter your shape
No matter the day you say your prayers

No matter your goods
No matter your bads
No matter the differences we share
We can make a Circle 'round the world.

Refrain

Have not tried this out with an audience yet, so not sure the tune works. However, it could also be a rap with refrain sung to whatever  tune makes your feet skip!

We are sharing some heady possibilities this week!  It is in the heart of the child that these can be born and brought to light.

Because they can be the circle that unites around the world.

Support and Counter

The title of this blog comes from Start Seeing Diversity: Physical Ability and Physical Characteristics (Wolpert, Laroche,Rasmussen, Committee for Boston Public Housing, & Redleaf Press, 1999 a). This is my role as an educator for young children as well as a colleague to peers. And as was the case on the video, I did not have an appropriate response.

The incident took place in the Primary class where children are between 3 and 6  years of age. I was in the room to borrow a table for a keyboard after-school class. A student asked the Primary teacher why she was so fat and I was not.

This is a topic I am senstive about  and have not come to terms with. My immediate response was, 'What look at my big bottom.' and I was thinking 'How rude. Did your parents teach you no manners what so ever!'.

However the Primary teacher said, 'There are many different kinds of people. Some have black hair like you. Some have red hair like me. Some are thin. Some are medium and some are fat. Everyone is interesting.'

Good answer! She remained calm and matter of fact (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010). Gave the child something to identify with - hair (Wolpert, Laroche,Rasmussen, Committee for Boston Public Housing, & Redleaf Press, 1999b).

As I look around our school the issue of body shape is not addressed. I live in an Asian country where tall and big people are an oddity. To many Chinese even a small or medium foreigner can seem 'fat' or their euphenism 'strong'. However as the country is becoming more affluent, especially here in the capital city, there are larger people about. Especially among children.

As teachers we have looked at this as a health issue as well as the cultural practice of feeding children even after they are full. What we are missing is finding a place for all children in our classrooms.

This incident was not followed up on. But had we, positive pictures of all sorts of pictures doing activities with which the child can identify  (Wolpert, Laroche,Rasmussen, Committee for Boston Public Housing, & Redleaf Press, 1999b). The comparisons and differences can be noted to find that all sorts of people of different sizes are part of the human family. Also, our library does not at this point have any books that deal with physical characteristics that could result in prejudicial thinking. An issue we are beginning to address. I think we can introduce the idea in staff meetings, then the teacher can see that each of her children is represented in her classroom.

This may be a good place to speak about the personna dolls ( Whitney, 2008). The teacher could have used a doll to represent a victim of prejudice due to her weight and engage the children in investigating feelings and issues of fairness. However, we are a Montessori school and this particular teacher has a problem with giving animate attributes to inanimate objects. The principal and I have discussed perhaps introducing this idea to the school as a person-removed way of sorting through issues (Laureate Education, Inc., nd a). We have put it aside temporarily knowing this teacher's feelings about it. As we continue to read and investigate the pros and cons of these dolls, this may be a good way to address the situation.

Just countering with words, I think is not enough. As Eric Hoffman points out, children need concrete information to disassemble conceptions and build new ones (Laureate Education, Inc. nd. b). Pictures, visits to the classroom and field trips introducing realities of life are a good start. Helping the child to see similarities among people whom he/she sees as different help build new and positive concepts.

References

Derman-Sparks, L., & Olsen Edwards, J. (2010). Anti-bias education for young children

            and ourselves. Washington, DC: NAEYC.

Laureate Education, Inc (Walden University). (n.d.a). EDUC 6357. Antibias in ECE Settings - Nancy Spangler In Learning from Another’s Life Story . Baltimore, MD.

Laureate Education, Inc. (Walden University). (n.d.b). EDUC 6357. Antibias in ECE Settings - Eric Hoffman In Learning from Another’s Life Story . Baltimore, MD.

Whitney, T. (2008). Using Personna Dolls. In A. Pelo (Ed), Rethinking  Early Childhood Education (pp. 23-28). Milwaukee, Wisconsin: Rethinking Schools, Ltd. 

Wolpert, E., Laroche, R., Rasmussen, N., Committee for Boston Public Housing, & Redleaf Press (Producer). (1999a). Start seeing diversity: Physical Ability and Physical Characteristics. St. Paul. MN: Redleaf Press.

Wolpert, E., Laroche, R., Rasmussen, N., Committee for Boston Public Housing, & Redleaf Press (Producer). (1999b). Start seeing diversity: Race and Ethnicity. St. Paul. MN: Redleaf Press.

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

This week has pulled some interesting observations together.

Firstly was going on Amazon to look for reading material for my soon to be 7-year old girl friend. Now that she is out of my purview of students, I feel unsure about her birthday presents. Fair enough, I did subject 'reading material for girls', but was not ready for the 'girliness' of princesses, fairies and jewellery design. She is that but she is so much more - she is mountain climbing, on site GPS expert, widely opinionated, wildly active, fluent in two languages and  so much more.

Then I took a look at our school library. We have broadened our base and now provide books in languages of many of the students. The bulk remain in English but there is a sample representation. However, within these there is little deviation from the nuclear, heterosexual family.  There is some representation of genders in jobs that are  not traditionally assigned like a female construction worker and a male child care giver and some racial diversity. As we continue to update our library with books of more contemporary publications, this is improving. There is a dearth of reference to any homosexual orientation.

The Virtues project we use at our school  has published a book using the multi-cultural children represented in their school including a little girl in a wheel chair (Robarts, Yan & Gao, 2008). We have taken this paper book apart and laminated the pages for easier use in our Nursery class. It became the favorite almost immediately. Virtuous language is used that these students probably cannot fully understand but they are magnetized to this book. It is a first and continuous choice both for group and private reading. My point here is if these children were offered a broader and truer representation of society they are ready and more that willing to take it in (Njoroge,  Benton, Lewis & Njoroge, 2009).

Recently we had students' art work professionally framed for our annual art show. Two of the families of male students were absolutely unaccepting of the pink frame put on their child's picture and demanded it be replaced. The comments were something like:  'I can't put that in his room! and 'He's a boy! That's pink!' These families are German and American. We were a little surprised because the framers did a stellar job of interpreting the paintings into the frame this year. On a further interesting note, when I took the problem to the Chinese campus supervisor, she laughed incredulously, shrugged her shoulders and said she would do what she could. In China there is no blue/pink gender differentiation. A little girl all decked in pink and lace could be addressed as a beautiful boy just as a child in a blue baseball outfit as a girl. I am certain this will bring out some 'crazy foreigner' comments in the factory. It all goes to show how arbitrary it all is (Maglaty, 2011).

Before I comment on the older children, I have one more observation from my 1-2 year old students. Just now I have four, McQueen car, shiny, red and black, back packs among the boys in my class. I look at the girls' packs and they are pastel, with Disney images or traditional prints. The girls are just as interested in the McQueen  bags as the boys which has considerably slowed down their shoe changing for investigation. So I cannot think that they all had the choice and chose the pastels and princesses. My point is, if the parents are choosing at this age, does this set a precedent for later choices.

A beautiful story comes from the Primary (3-6 years) class. A four-year-old male student has taken a liking to his mother's sequin bag and scarf. Coming into the cloakroom the other day, his friend said,"You are wearing a girl's clothes.' The young man said immediately and confidently, 'Yes, isn't it beautiful!'. His friend paused and said, 'Well, yes it is.'. This kind of confidence in his gender identity is a product of home working in tandem with the school (Mobile Learn, n.d.). There were other stories of freedom of dress and interests but none that carry on beyond a few months.

It seems the evidence is pretty firm that children are taking note of diversity and how their significant people respond to it from birth (Njoroge,  Benton, Lewis & Njoroge, 2009). Because children are actively and continuously making assumptions by what they are receiving, the silence on subjects of diversity can lead them to errant conclusions ( Laureate Education, Inc., n.d. ). One of my chat partners has an interesting  anecdote on this subject. She as three brothers who are older that she, the middle one, seven years older. When he was 18, he moved out of her family home under unhappy conditions. She remembers there being fights between this brother and her parents and even visits by the police. She thinks this had more than his being homosexual  to do with.

She would have been eleven at this point but does not remember having homosexuality in her consciousness until she was 14 when her classmate's brother was involved in a well publicized affair in her community and she was affected by her friends sadness and shame.

Here is the confusion. She is not clear to this day, more than 20 years later, what the situation was or is with her brother. It is not discussed or ever referred to. She remains estranged from her brother and has a somewhat judgmental view of him which is TOTALLY out of her character or her parents. This family is very accepting of whatever orientation a person has but there is a wall within their family.

As this topic was raised, the discussions began on whether this should be brought up with the children without provocation i.e. there is an untruth being propagated. With the example of schools like the Washington Beach Community Preschool (Mobile Learn, n.d.) , we will continue to work toward an increasingly inclusive view of the world.

References

Laureate Education, Inc. (Walden University). (n.d.). EDUC 6357. Learning from Another’s Life Story in Families and Children. Baltimore, MD.

Maglaty, J. (2011). When did girls start wearing pink. Retrieved from http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/When-Did-Girls-Start-Wearing-Pink.html

Mobile Learn (Walden University). (n.d.) EDUC 6357 Start seeing Diversity: Sexual Orientation.

Baltimore, MD.

Njoroge, W., Benton, M. L., Lewis, & Njoroge, N. M. (2009). What are infants learning about race?: A look at a sample of infants from multiple racial groups. Infant Mental Health Journal, 30(5), 549-467. Available through walden Library's Academic Search Complete database.

Robarts, K. , Yan, S., Gao, X. (2008) Character. Beijing, PRC :  The Children's Virtues Development
Project.

Till we meet again

This is week 8! Is it just me or are these weeks seeming to increase in speed.

Thank each one of your for support on posts and comments that furthered my understanding on communication and collaboration.

Thanks for your personal experiences that enriched the quality of the course.

A point of interest from a previous sharing of information. We did a 'Share Your World' event at our little school yesterday, Saturday. With international foods, crafts, books and toys we raised over 17,000RMB (about $2,700) for Coleurs Du Chine (a children's charity in China) in 2 hours. There was so much interconnecting going on. The rooms were alive with chatting, laughter and good-natured joking. And thanks to your compatriots, I was given credit for the idea!

I do hope we can keep each other at least on the back burner. With the way the world is evolving, we could find ourselves sharing actual as well as virtual space someday.

I will be continuing  in 'Teaching and Diversity' and look forward to seeing those of you who share that specialty next week.

To others my personal email is: bobbieholliday@hotmail.com.

Who knows I may figure out blogs and keep with that as well!

AND as Alice has reminded me - we just might physically intersect at graduation!!!!!!

Thank you again and good luck in all its forms!

Bobbie

The Project now Stands Adjourned

On this holiday weekend, I am reminded of the choirs I have been involved in at different levels of responsibility. I think one of the strongest links to a powerful adjournment is the group's consensus to the vision. This joint venture requires the best from yourself and equal attention to those about you whether voice, instrument, stage, lighting, sound, set-up or director. These all-consuming collaborative  efforts. striving for excellence for the cause makes for wonderful, celebratory moments after the last performance. Hugs, tears, hoarse voices and heavy steps walk away from this amazing journey, knowing we will see each other again but not with the energy surge as the past days have brought.

The question is how to make the effort worth it. Either where we are has to be shown as unacceptable or the goal has to be worth the while for each participant.

As well as the vision, there is that sense of joint venture - warm-ups, tuning, butterflies and one voice that connects both mind, senses and spirit. Mis-steps or misses are a group affair.

We are heading to our graduation ball in a few months and I think of its aftermath. After the last twirl or hip-swinging train or little body swinging safe in the arms of a caring adult and good byes and thank you's are only an echo, the staff pretty much collapses. But it is a happy tired because the roles were clear and everyone both did their job and supported others to do theirs. The collaboration of person with person  makes the end moments so precious and gives everyone a place at the table. The staff meeting will bring thank you's and other recognitions but that moment of camaraderie stands out as a ' well worth the effort' moment.

The adjournment reviews the success and remembering that it is done by people, the team. After a time, reviews will point out what things could be improved on. I have memories of school parties that did not end as well. The main reason, I think was the lack of collaboration born from low commitment on the part of the team members.The roles that were clearly defined as it happened did not fit the one the ground situation. The one that blazes clearly in my memory denigrated to personal attack and shame as we went into our Christmas vacation. However, awful this was, the next time there was a stronger drive to see that the job was accomplished not only well but to the best of our ability.

Each contribution is important and adds to the success or failure of a project. While a leader is important, it is just as important that the members are fully onboard. Sometimes it may be their job to help the leader be a good one.

What are  my words:   vision     commitment     collaboration     celebration