Week 5- Evaluating Impacts on Professional Practice

There are always consequences of peoples actions.  I have experiences some sort of ageism at my school for being so young from an older male teacher.  It is constant, until I recently told him I thought that his comments were not funny (ignoring them did not work, good reminder to be a more open communicator). His comments about how young I was made me feel at times that I was not "old enough" to hold the position that I have (negative consequence), however it did make me feel that he has no idea what he is talking about (positive consequence) and that I know what I am doing (and I would never treat a person that way.   

When -isms show up it is mind-consuming, so I was spending less time thinking about teaching. I thought about his words often for along time and about what I could do differently to make him change his mind.  Then I realized I need to do nothing differently (besides tell him to stop) to change who I was to make someone else see me differently.  I am who I am (a very young looking teacher). 
Having experience gives us examples when we are working with young children and their families.  It is interesting that I have never had a parent question my age, however it was not until this year that they really started to ask me for advice with their children.  I am not a parent, but I do have some pretty great experiences that I like to share with people.  Most often when parents are really concerned with their child's academic progress I tell parents about my brother.  He has severe dyslexia (ex. didn't read his first book until college) and he just graduated with his Masters from Tulane University (proud sister). My story about him seems to give the parents just a little glimpse into my life and how we are are all so different from one another, we have no idea people's stories until we ask or find out. 

I could not imagine what it might feel like for a family or a child to experiences racism or class-ism.  From my experiences I thin that it would play havoc on my emotions and certainly it would be more difficult to perform at work.  When you feel inferior about something it an be more than difficult to try an prove yourself, because often the person who you are trying to prove yourself to has their mind made up.  Not to say that you cannot help teach everyone around you.  I think that if people around me were having such stereotypes it would be so hard for me to come into school everyday.  Teachers are not just supported from their co-workers but also from their parents (I could not imagine if they had stereotypes against me).  I think that physically it would wear me out and I would feel incompetent to do my job. 

So, if I think about my reaction, I could not imagine what young children and their families potentially could be thinking.  Especially, if you think about a child's performance at school.  If I think that it would emotionally, physically and cognitively wear me down... it probably would do the same for them.  This is SUCH an excellent reminder of how important anti-biased education is for our communities.

Week 3: Observing Communication

I chose to observe at a recent wedding that I attended.  There was a huge group of people there that I have known for 26 years.  I chose to observe my sister-in-law and niece.  My sister-in-law is so good at communicating with her daughter (she is three).  My niece is one easy child, but occasionally acts very appropriate for her age. This was her first wedding and my sister-in-law has obviously talked with Ainsley before they came to the wedding.  She reviewed that we could be silly now but when people started to walk down the isle it was time to be quiet, Ainsley had heard this before, she nodded her head in agreement.  She was also allowed to play with the doll she brought.  When the ceremony started, Ainsley no longer wanted to sit, she was allowed to go to the floor with two rules, you have to be quiet and stay with us.  She was on the floor trying to get our attention, but my sister-in-law ignored or reminded the rules.  Ainsley wasn’t scolded for being on the floor; she was doing what she needed to do at the time but at the same time adhering to the rules that her mom had provided her with before coming to the wedding.

What was so good about this observation is that Ainsley was given the expectations before she arrived and she knew them.  She knew she needed to be quiet and stay with us.  Often I think that parents and even teachers forget to review expectations and therefore you get behaviors because children are not sure of the expectations. 

This was a really good reminder for my how often I need to review expectations in your general education classroom you review them often but in my classroom is daily/hourly/every activity.  I can notice the difference when I review the expectations at each activity.  It changes everything.  I also just started extended school year with some of my students and we reviewed those expectation at each new activity and it just goes so much smoother. It gives the child some background to what they are going to be doing.  There are times where, GASP, I forget to go over expectations and then I get frustrated with students running all over the place or hitting their neighbor.  Then I remind myself that I did not tell them what I wanted them to do.  We can learn a lot by observing, especially a lot about ourselves.

Week 2: Creating Affirming Environments

It is hard for me to think about what a in-home childcare facility would look like for me because I have my own classroom, but after watching Adriana I came up with some ideas on how I could envision it looking like.   

Derman-Sparks and Olsen Edwards (2010) suggested that having authentic representations of the community that you are serving (p. 45).  I like what Adriana did in her center, she had a family community wall that showed pictures of the different families that were in the center.  I also enjoyed that she posted pictures of the children playing in the infant and toddler area (Laureate Education Inc., 2012).  I do this in my classroom now and a) my students love it, b) I use it as a reference tool for my students ("Look how nice you were playing with ____").  

Something that was brought to my attention after watching the media segment this week is a transition area. What a great idea for the children before they start their days, especially when it can be a hard transition at times.  Adriana provided the children with a transition area, this helped with "good byes" to the parents.  She followed this time with circle time (which is something that I would do) and allowed the parents to stay if they wanted (Laureate Education Inc., 2012).  This is a great way to have the parents feel apart of the community.  

If I ran an in-home childcare facility I would probably base my planning on themes (monthly), which is what I do now in my classroom.  This would allow me to integrate anti-biased curriculum into all my themes (Derman-Sparks & Olsen Edwards, 2010, pg. 47).  I would like to provide a sensory area and I liked the ideas of including dolls in that area to allow children to express their emotions (Laureate Education Inc., 2012). 

Something that I have been working hard at is getting away from the tourist curriculum.  I would like instead to have one family each month either share cultural items with the class or come into the class to do some sort of activity.  This would be a great way to incorporate everyone and really get that community feeling. 

As for materials for students I like to include a variety.  Some of my favorites are random pieces that can be fashioned together, I love seeing what students create (robots, monster trucks, dump trucks, super hero's). I have never used persona dolls but I am thinking that this would be a great thing to introduce.  Currently, I use social stories and draw out scenarios and feelings.  It would be great to transition to dolls for addressing issues especially during circle time. 

There are so many things to consider when you are setting up a center/classroom.  I am sure that as I hear from eveybody else that I will get some great ideas!

Resources:

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

 ourselves. Washington, D.C.: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).

Laureate Education Inc., (2012). "Welcome to an Anti-Bias Learning Community". Retrieved

 from Walden University.