What I have learned. and special thanks..

Throughout this course I have learned so much about children and diversity. One hope that I have when working with children who come from diverse backgrounds is to be able to build a special bond and relationship so that they are comfortable.  I want every child and family to feel like they belong and are understood by me especially as an educator.  I want them to be open and trust me fully and that will be the foundation to make a real impact on a child's life.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field in issues related to social justice, diversity, and equity would be to be more of a leader and begin to build my own community of people who are for children and diversity and their growth and development also to spread awareness.  Helping others recognize their biases all while working on my own.  A lot of people don't know the impact we as adults and educators have on children and their growth and development and I want to make it my job to let it be known.

Throughout the course I have learned so much from my fellow colleagues and gained a lot of insight to things and I want to say thank you to all of you for your input and as well as your insight to me.  I wish you all much success in your continued Journey here at Walden and beyond!

Art and Diversity Go hand in hand.

This course we learned a lot about the anti-biased approached and spoke on our own different biases we may have in the course as well as the many challenges that children face in a world of diversity.  I decided to put together a collage representing children and diversity and what it means to me as well as some biases that I may have and am overcoming and what I have learned in this course with pictures as a representation. Whether it be adopted children, same sex families, single family homes and people from all over. The world is full of many different people of many colors, shapes, sizes, sexuality, religions and it is important for me as a future educator to recognize those things and embrace them and learn about them as I continue on this journey in early childhood.


 

We Don't say those things.

I do recall a time that I personally witnessed a child being reprimand for something they thought was different.  I was a young kid and we were on a field trip to the zoo and there were other schools visiting the zoo on the same day there was a group of kids from one school that had a child that had down syndrome.  One of the children in my class saw him and immediately said "He looks weird" One of the teachers said to my classmate that is not nice to say and she pulled him to the side and had a whole conversation with him about how we cannot judge others for looking different and accepting others.  

The message that might have been communicated to the child is that pointing out a persons difference in a negative way is mean and not the right thing to do.  I believe she did the proper approach in pulling him to the side instead of in front of everyone, she also did a general message to the whole class as well so that it was not to happen again.  The teacher resolved the issue quickly as soon as it happened and didn't yell or use excessive force she simply talked with him in a way he would listen and so she could get her point across.  

Using the anti bias approach is what should be practiced is all situations with children and learning.  An anti-biased educator may have asked more questions to the child and gained more info on why the child thought the other child looked weird, Also explaining to the child how diverse the world is and how everyone is different in their own way.  An anti-biased educator may have done some exercises to help the children in dealing with and accepting someone different, being open asking and answering questions and preparing the child for the world of diversity.