What I Have Learned

 One thing I hope when working with children and families or anyone is that I never make them feel uncomfortable, not important or not belonging. One goal I would like to implement in the early childhood field is suggesting an opportunity to discuss biases in trainings. It is important to talk about how to educate our children but in the process we have to understand there are many factors that prevent children from learning. All educators need to be aware of their own biases and remind them of the obstacles these children face.

Lastly, I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your continued support. It is reassuring to read encouraging comments. As well it is nice to see my colleagues being able to relate to my feelings and experiences. I hope to continue working with each and every one of you. I wish you all nothing but the best; as well as a Happy Holiday and a prosperous New Year. 

Creating Art

I am me

I am just like you because you are different just like me

My family is unique because there is no other family like this.

I have beliefs and you have yours

Black, white, limbs, no limbs, Muslim, Christian, old, young, lesbian, gay,  are all people at the end of the day

During this course I was able to talk about the biases that others ignore. I was once the “other” who thought it was best to pretend like my biases did not exist and that those who were different did not exist. I thought that was the proper way of handling things. I understand that by not acknowledging their presences does not make the fact that they are different go away. Everyone wants to feel important.

My collage represent that our world is filled with all different races and religions. Some people are happy and living luxury lives while others are experiencing pain, sadness and poverty. Some have obvious disabilities while others plainly look different.

"We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

I have a student who has Tourette syndrome so he twitches a lot, his neck jerks, which causes his head to shake quite often, his eye twitches and he stutters. On the other hand, he is a very talkative student who does talk more than needed and at times he irritates other students around him. Due to the fact his behavior is a problem at times the students are very short tempered with him. One student yelled out “would you shut up and stop doing all that twitching”. The teacher assistant immediately tells the student “No, do not say that” and silenced the student.

I think the student was confused on why she was being asked to stop talking. The teacher assistant did not want to draw attention by saying that is not nice to say. The student asked why she was asked to stop talking when she felt she was telling the boy the right thing to do. The boy in return told her he has Tourette syndrome and is unable to control his twitching. There was a long pause of silence and then she replied that she was sorry that she didn’t know.

I think in a classroom setting when the children and the student are going to be working together for many months, I think it is important to get a good understanding about each other. I think if we openly talk about things such as disabilities, it no longer becomes a foreign topic. I remember in school if we had someone who has a disability we would talk as a class and would ask questions so everyone would feel comfortable. Once you talk things out, it is out in the open and there is no more curiosity or ignorance which can lead to biases. The way things have changed so many people are scared of being sued. Even if the child is open to talk about their disability the discussion it brought to an end abruptly. I think if people were aware that he has Tourette syndrome the students would not have ridiculed him for twitching and been more sensitive.