Saturday, February 16, 2013

We Don't Say Those Words In Class!!


 
What a great blog topic!! Before taking courses here at Walden, I never considered what an anti-bias classroom looked like, or what I would do to ensure my classroom was full of diversity. However, upon learning the importance of embracing all diversity, I consider everything I can do to welcome all children.

During the summer, I was told I would have a girl in my class that should be in the 6th grade; however, because she was in a wheelchair and was not able to talk or interact with other students, her mother requested she be in my class because we were always singing and dancing. At first, I was quite nervous, but then I welcomed the challenge I knew I would have. Why did I consider this a challenge? First, she was in a wheelchair, she did not speak, and she has one arm missing, and because I did not know how my 4 year olds were going to react to her, and what I was going to do to ensure she was welcome in my class.

During the first week of school, she did not come in as SPECO was getting everything set up for her in her room. However, she began coming in the second week of school. I introduced her, and we all said good morning to her. I remember one of my students took off running, began screaming and ran into my arms. At first, I was so shocked I had no words. I hugged my student and soothed her. I used this time as an opportunity to talk about differences and how we should always accept those differences. I explained to my students that she was just like anyone else, only she was in a wheelchair and couldn't talk. I explained to them how she communicated in different ways than we did, but we should always show her love and respect. I wanted my children to understand this and accept this, but I knew it would take some time. N. Spangler (Laureate Education, Inc., 2010) suggests we use persona dolls or puppets so children will bond and friend these puppets and begin to engage with them. Pelo (2008) suggest persona dolls can help young children respond to stereotypes with compassion. I wanted my students to show compassion and ensure there were no injustices being done because of the visual differences of my student, and by the 4th week of school, my students were engaging with her, hugging her, and talking to her daily.

I remember one of my students coming up to me and asking me why one of her arms were missing. I never once told her to "shhhh" or ignore her; rather, I explained to her, and the whole class, how she was made that way, and how we are all made differently, but how we all need to be accepted and loved regardless of how we look. Should I have silenced her or not elaborated, I feel I would have done injustice to all of my students.

As an anti-bias educator, I want to always ensure my students are not developing bias attitudes, and should comments arise, I want to stop this bias before it continues. "Although children may not understand the full meaning of their biased comments, these can become the bias for more developed prejudice if adults do not respond to them" (Derman-Sparks & Ramsey, 2008, p. 44). Because these biases can continue for a lifetime, we, as educators, must do everything we can to ensure we are preventing stereotypes in our classrooms and with our students.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). Learning from another’s life story: Anti-bias in ECE settings. Retrieved from http://mym.cdn.laureate-media.com/2dett4d/Walden/EDUC/6357/CH/mm/audio_player/index_week6.html

Derman-Sparks, L. & Ramsey, P. (2008). What if all the kids are white? In A. Pelo (Ed.), Rethinking early childhood education (pp. 43-47). Milwaukee, WI: Rethinking Schools.

4 comments:

  1. Susan,
    I think the best lessons we have with our students are those teachable moments like you experienced in your classroom. I think it is best to address these type of situations and use dolls and books to help our students understand diversity better. I love how after a short time the students were engaging with the student in the wheelchair. I think your classroom demonstrates the benefits of an anti-bias classroom and the importance of putting these practices in place. Thanks for sharing.

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    1. Marcie,

      Yes, I too was thrilled when my students began interacting with my student in the wheelchair. They would give her hugs or rub her hand or leg. It was some of the sweetest moments I witnessed, and she enjoyed it too.

      Through this course I believe I have become a better anti-bias educator. I am certainly thankful for the information I have received from this course!

      Blessings,
      Susan

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    2. I had a child in my four year old classroom who was in a wheel chair. The reading corner was quite small and he loved books. Each of the children would take turns handing him a book for him to read. We were singing one day and using flannel board and he wanted to join along. One of the kids mention how they wished we can make room for him to fit in. Just like Nyla's teacher did with her class in our textbook, "Began to address the ways the equipement got in the way of the connection to the other children" (Pelo, 2008, p 148). We put our heads together and was able to come up with the plan of placing a small cushion on the floor for him. After talking with the parents, it was okay for me to lift him out of his chair seeing that he would not be in any harm and sat him on the cushion. He felt so much part of the group and his classmates enjoyed him sitting with them. During recess he was able to do the same.

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  2. Susan,

    I loved your post and what your students are learning about diversity and “able-ism”. I really don’t know what I would do if a child came into my class that was several grades ahead and in a wheelchair and no arm. You handled it well. There were a lot of foster and adopted children in one of my Head Start State Preschool classrooms and they had a lot of issues. My principle forgot to tell me that one of the girls had a false eye. She was running and jumping and accidentally the eye popped out. I was in “Aw”, I didn’t know what to do. I isolated the bathroom and asked for help. Then I ran to my principle and told her. She was so calm. She told me what to do and believe it or not, the four-year old girl just plopped her eye right back into the socket. We continued our play and the next day we talked about different disabilities.

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