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.    

Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

I remember when the Ellen DeGeneres show first aired, I was immediately hooked. I started watching the show daily. I remember one particular time my cousin came home with me and it was time for the show to come on. I turned to the show and was all ready to watch and the look of disgust came over her face. She asked “are you about to watch that; I can’t stand to watch gay people I just can’t do it”. I was shocked that she felt that way but I continued to watch the show. While watching the show I felt uneasy because I knew she was not comfortable watching the show. It amazed me how opposite two people from the same family could be.

In one situation I had a class of all boys except one girl. Basically I had a room full of boys around the age of thirteen. Majority of these boys played sports and were on the football team at that time. The boys that did not play sports were looked upon as an outcast; they were portrayed as weak because they were not on the team. In the peak of an argument I would you “fag” “you are gay” “you act like a girl” “you are a sissy” and anything else that would mean a boy acted like a girl. I took offense to hearing those slurs and immediately addressed the issue. I wanted the boys to know their behavior was unacceptable and would not be tolerated. I did not want anyone to take offense, be ashamed or embarrassed. I feel you have to stop things instantaneously before anyone begins to feel it is appropriate to use such disgraceful language. 

Reflecting on Communication in the Early Childhood Field

I would like to thank all of my colleagues for your continued support. Some of you all I recognize from my very first course. It is comforting to see familiar names; it is almost like seeing a familiar face. I thank you all for your words of encouragement and questions. The questions that some of you all proposed to me pushed me to expand on my thoughts and even see things from a different light. I appreciate each and every one of you all and wish everyone nothing but the best through their education journey and throughout life.



ksaleh21@gmail.com

Team Building and Collaboration

Last school year, due to the budget crisis our school lost a wonderful vice principal, a counselor, and three teachers. Together we were a group that focused on working together and developed ways to help each other when in need. It was the hardest dealing with the last week of school and the last day of school was almost unbearably. I literally wanted to cry and had to hold back tears while saying good-bye. It was not the fact I felt I would never see them again but more because the bond was being broken. When you get use to working with certain people you begin to feel comfortable and then you are able to start building trust. Toward the end of the summer it was realized some of the cuts did not have to be made after all and a vice principal, counselor and one teacher were hired. It was too late to try and get the initial people back because they had already found jobs. It was hard getting use to the new people because they were new. In my mind I felt no connection.

 I do know it makes it much harder to say good-bye to a group who is high performing. In my past experiences with unproductive groups, I could not wait to say my good-byes and hoped I never had to cross paths with them again. However, through it all, I am able to have had the chance to work with those colleagues and the chance to say good-bye.

When this program concludes, I imagine adjourning from my colleagues through blogging. I feel I have developed a relationship with many of my colleagues. I would like to formally say my good-byes from the program but not from each other. I have learned so much from my colleagues and would like to continue learning from their experiences. 

Nonviolent Communication and Conflict Management

Due to uncontrollable circumstances I was asked to temporarily switch positions at work. I have been working with special education students and the classes are small. I was asked to take on another subject, grade and class size. My original class is being split up amongst other special education teachers. I am happy to help out until the teacher is able to come back but I am trying to adjust to this abrupt change. I now have seven class periods with 30 children in each. Behavior issues are an all time high for these junior high students. I understand it is an adjustment to them as well, not being use to have me in the classroom.  Recently, a colleague across the hall walks over during passing period and asked a student standing right in front of me do you think you all are better or worse since Ms. Saleh is here. The student who has behavior problems herself replies “oh I think we are way worse” the teacher shakes her head and say “oh”. I was completely shocked this teacher asked this student a question like that with me right there in front of her and I felt that was unprofessional. This is a Title 1 school and behavior has always been an issue for many teachers with years of experience including her. For the past three years, I have personally witnessed behavior issues. Since that statement was made I find myself putting distance between myself in this colleague. I talked with another colleague who is a teacher assistant (TA) and comes in during a few class periods to work directly with the special education children. I explained how my feelings were hurt because this colleague made it appear I am doing a horrible job. The TA reassured me it was not my fault and that I was doing my job. She also told me behavior issues have always been a problem for the class since the first day of school. The original teacher did not enforce the rules as much as other teachers. Also, she told me I should speak up more when there is something I do not like. For me I think I did the best thing by not saying anything originally because my feelings were definitely hurt by what she said. Sometimes when we get hurt our initial thought is to say something back that is hurtful. Now that I have time to think and especially after this week I could use the NVC principles and the three R’s. I can talk to her an address the issue to stop the casual verbal attacks and remind her we are all there for the same reason. Through that conversation I can implement respect and be able to get her response on the matter. There is a possibility she does not even know what she said was hurtful. 


Corso, R. M. (2007). Practices for enhancing children’s social-emotional development and preventing challenging behavior. Gifted Child Today, 30(3), 51–56.

O’Hair, D. & Wieman, M. (2009). Real Communication: An Introduction. Boston, MA: Bedford/St.Martin’s

The Center for Nonviolent Communication. (n.d.). The center for nonviolent communication. Retrieved from http://www.cnvc.org/