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.