EDUC 6357- Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

If childhood centers think that it is appropriate to exclude literature depicting gay or lesbian individuals they are doing themselves a disservice.  There are a growing number of same sex parents in society that are raising children that are being bullied because of their family situation.  This does not have to be strengthened by the lack of exposure that they received at a young age by their childcare facility.  A childcare facility should be open minded and welcoming diversity to other children, so that they are aware of differences around them.

If a parent came to me and told me that they did not want their child to be cared for or around an individual of a different sexual preference I would say "what they do on their own time is not my concern, but the way that they educate children is my concern.  If they are regarded as high individuals in their field, I see that there is no reason for your child not to get the best education.  Can we discuss and further develop a rational protocol about your child's educational journey?"

I think that it is important that parents do not forget that their children's education and exposure to culture is wrapped around the concept of diversity.  Diversity has a broad definition, and it is not limited to one specific thing. 

When children are young, their minds are like sponges, and they have a eagerness to soak up all that knowledge.  In wanting to be a professional educator it is important that we discuss those important aspects of diversity, so that they are aware of the difference out in the world.  In acknowledging those differences, it allows children to be comfortable in exploring their own individuality. 

Observing Communication

     The observation that I witnessed was a mom that was dropping off her child at school, and her son was upset.  She walked him to the back of the room to hang up his backpack, and walked to the front door.  Her son was clearly upset, and the teacher asked the child what was wrong, and the mom responded " he wants his poptart that is in his backpack" and proceeded to leave the room.  The teacher then walked the child to the back of the room to get the poptart out of his backpack, and told the student that he could have "one of them, and we can save the other one for after school." The student was satisfied with that answer, and walked to the table to eat his poptart.

     Through this observation there was some confusion as to why the parent would allow the child to bring a poptart from home, but not allow him to eat it on the way to school.  Instead he was brought into the classroom upset, and she knew the reason why, but did not offer it to him once he was in the room.  It took the initiative of an adult to listen to the child (Stephenson, 2009).

 

     In this observation I felt like the child was trying to communicate with his mother, but the mother was not taking the opportunity to talk to her son about what was going on.  The child wanted someone to pay attention to him, and he was being ignored until the teacher in his class asked him what was wrong.  "Teachers' words and the way they use them create meaning for children as well as for themselves" (Dangel & Durden, 2010, p. 75). 

 

     I think that it would have been better if the parent spent a couple of minutes talking to her son about why he was upset.  Him being upset about his poptart might not have been the only reason that he was upset.  There could have been things at home that had taken place, that was upsetting to him and the poptart was the middle ground for the situation. 

                                                                          References

Dangel, J. R., & Durden, T. R. (2010). The Nature of Teacher Talk during Small Group Activities. Young Children, 74-81.

Stephenson, A. (2009). Conversations with a 2-Year-Old. Young Children, 90-95.

 

 

Creating Affirming Environments

When walking into the center I think that it would be nice to have family photo collages that children have constructed with their parents next to the parent information board.  I would encourage parents to have pictures of family members that are also on their child's emergency contact sheet, so that there is less confusion when new people are introduced into the room.  For example if some one's grandma is coming to town to visit, we would be able to show all the children her picture from the photo, and explain that she is coming to our class to play with us.  So that when the grandmother comes into the room the children will have already seen her face, and it will not be as overwhelming.

Another idea that I thought would be nice would be to have children's art work framed around the room, to give it the feeling of a home.  Every month artwork can be replaced with newer material and the older ones can be sent home.  This allows every child to feel important and unique for creating something that could be put up around the room. (Keeping in mind that frames would have glass removed, and plexi-glass would be replaced so that there is not a safety hazard).

An idea that I loved from the Laureate Education video was that the owner had a shelf by the front of the room that families were allowed to bring in artifacts from their culture to display on the shelf for the month.  I think that this idea is amazing, because it allows families to decide for themselves what they determine as important instead of others suggesting ideas for them to bring.

In this same sense in reading through Chapter 4 I really liked the idea of families bringing in receptive cards, so that they are able to create traditional dishes and share them with all the children.  I have heard rumors that the program I work for in Kansas City is going to be trying this out next year, and I hope it happens!  This is a great way to introduce the books Everyone Eats Bread, Everyone Eats Bread, and etc. to demonstrate that everyone might eat similar foods, just in a different way.

Last but not least I would love to hang a world map on the wall for families to put a heart as to where their heritage is from.  I think this would lead into large group time about exploring the world around us, and introducing more traditional cultures into the room.  When some ones relative comes to visit the room, we can share the knowledge that we have with them, and they can build upon it.

There are so many more ideas that I could share about how to set up different areas, but I think that these ideas are good for foundation work.  These ideas can be built upon in so many different ways, with the children's guidance.