Observing Communication

This week, I went to observe a teacher with 3-4 years old children in an early childhood setting to see how the adult-child communication was and the effect of their communication. This observation took place during the free play time. The children were engaged in their own play; while the teacher sometimes joined them in the play or sometimes just stood by aside and watched them until intervention was needed. 

I noticed that the teacher would lower her body to the children's level when she communicated with them. She would listen carefully and patiently to whoever tried to share their ideas of play with the teacher. Even some non-English native speakers, such as Japanese, Korean, or Chinese children, could not express themselves clearly and fluently, she would wait until they finished their words and then tried to restate what they were saying to check whether they were well understood by the teacher. When one of the children, who was a Japanese girl, frowned, felt anxious and was about to cry since she could not put her words together properly, the teacher calmed her down by patting on her back and giving her more time. I learned that when the teacher tried to figure out what the children tried to convey, she showed her respect for the children; she made the children feel relaxed and comfortable to say their ideas out loud without feeling urged; she read their body language to give them comfort.

I think the communication strategies that the teacher used are quite affirming and effective; as well, those strategies are similar to what Lisa Kolbeck in the media segment presented to us. Lisa suggests that teachers show respect for children by going slow, "trying to be receptive to what the children were saying....and not jump in and take [their] words out of [their] mouth. Let them feel what the flower of their idea was, letting it come out of them" (Laureate Education, 2011). Moreover, she suggests that teachers be sensitive and pay close attention to children's body language so that we could "pick up cues about how to communicate" (Laureate Education, 2011).

Once children feel respected and have the sense of self worth, they would feel more comfortable to share more of their ideas; thus, more opportunities are provided for children to develop to their potential, emotionally, socially, cognitively and linguistically. For example, the Japanese girl that I observed, after the teacher's comfort and patient waiting, she calmed herself down, better expressed herself, and showed her teacher what she had created in the sand table. She would feel more confident in speaking English next time even though she would still have difficulties in expressing herself; she would feel herself heard and accepted.

The observation and the learning materials this week are beneficial to me. Before, in order to get a better idea of what children want to tell me, I sometimes interrupted and made assumptions about their ideas, which would make them feel frustrated when they were not well understood. However, I learned "how important it is that we not close children off with the walls of our assumptions. We leave ourselves open to surprises, because children have so many surprises inside we can learn about it if we're quiet enough to get them come to us with it" (Laureate Education, 2011).

Reference:

Laureate Education, Inc. (2011). Strategies for working with diverse children: Communicating with young children. Baltimore, MD: Author

Creating Affirming Environments

If I opened my own Family Child Care Home, I would like to create an anti-biased environment for children and plan a daily-based anti-bias curriculum, which help children recognize value and respect their own identities and others' identities. Things that I would like to include in my Family Child Care Home are:

1. Camera. I would like to use the camera to take photos of children and their families in my program for making books, posters, or some learning materials for my anti-bias curriculum. Children would learn some facts of diversity by "beginning with what they already know and have experienced" (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010, p.5).

2. Books. I would prepare a variety of books, handmade and purchased, which enrich children's interest in reading and introduce human similarities and differences to children. I would make sure that books are age appropriate and non-stereotyping, and provide children to learn about diversity and fairness (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). If some good books still convey some hidden biases, I would bring it up for children to discuss about.

3. Posters. I would use the homemade pictures and purchased images to present diversity in and beyond our program. Children learn best about people as individuals; in this way, children's knowledge of diversity can be further broadened (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010). Meanwhile, I would hang up flags of children's country in my program, children's family pictures, children's individual mini portfolios, and so on, to nurture their feelings of being proud of themselves and knowing more about other children.

4. Music. During the free-play time, music from diverse cultures and in different languages will be put on for children to sense and appreciate the art of music and language.

5. Dressing-up center. I would provide clothes for girls and boys in different cultures and different jobs. In this way, children are stereotypically limited to a frame in which only boys can be a doctor and girls be a nurse; only white and blond can be a ; princess; etc. (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

6. Open-ended materials. I would provide gender-neutral materials for children; as well, art materials such as markers, crayons, and paint, will be provided in a range of skin tones. In this way, they would learn not to hold the biased attitude that only girls can use pink or black and brown are not nice to use (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

7. Figurines. Through figurines from diverse cultures with different clothes and backgrounds, children can broaden their awareness of various aspects of diversity (Derman-Sparks & Edwards, 2010).

With all these things in my Family Child Care Home, children would learn better about themselves and the others related to diversity. As well, I would build up partnerships with parents by keeping them updated about what's happening in my program, asking for some information about their home cultures, inviting parents to the program, and so on. Moreover, children's own portfolio will be put in an accessible place for welcoming children with families to read by themselves; a notice board will be at the door, with words in different languages to inform children and parents of daily arrangement. With these, children and families will feel welcome and respected to come to my anti-bias curriculum.

Reference:

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).

What I have learned--EDUC6357

When I think about working with children and families who cares me from diverse backgrounds, I hope that through open communication, biases or prejudices that exist in children and families in a overt or covert way can be unlearned with the supports from anti-bias educators; that children can learn diversities of culture, language, family, perspective, physical characteristics and so on with respect and value them, which help them self identify and develop their pride of who they are; that families which have great impact on children's self identities, learning and development can partner with anti-bias educators and discover their own biases and prejudices so that educators and parents stay on the same page to better support children's development of diverse aspects.

One goal I would like to set for the early childhood field related to issues of diversity, equity, and social justice is that I would keep on with myself reflection journey in which I could unfold my own biases and biases from others so that I can keep myself updated about who I am and who they are, and gradually unlearn biases that harm children's development. As well, through self reflection, the better I know about myself, the better I can serve children and families.

Hereby, I would like to say thank you to my instructor Dr. Klein and my colleagues. l really appreciate the feedbacks that Dr. Klein gave me on my assignments, which help me see a better me in the journey of self reflection. I would like to say thank you to my colleagues for their initial posts on discussion board and blogs and their responses which gave me another perspectives regarding biases, identities, trauma, family influence and classroom influence, etc., and opened my windows of diversities. I am happy that we will still have opportunities to exchange ideas in the following two courses.

Creating Art

https://xiaowanchen.wordpress.com/2015/04/17/starting-seeing-divetsity-blog-creating-art/

Start Seeing Diversity Blog: "We Don't Say Those Words in Class!"

Last night, my friend with her daughter invited me to go shopping with them in a shopping mall where lots of fancy clothes were display. When we came to the Children's zone, we could see there were two or three child models with clothes on shown in the window in each shop. All of sudden, the daughter of my friend, 5-years-old, screamed with a scared tone "Ah.....", which scared my friend and me. My friend worried and asked her what happened. The daughter pointed to one of child model in the window and said, "He is black! When I turned my head and saw the black one, I got scared." Knowing that her daughter did not get hurt, my friend responded, "But you should not scream loud indoors. It is not appropriate." Then without any comment on what the daughter said about the black child model, they walked away from that window show. 

The mom focused on her daughter's behavior of screaming but neglected her scare of the black child model. The hidden message conveyed in this example is that it is ok to be scared of the black. This reminds me of a Chinese saying that my friend would always said about her daughter, "A white complexion is powerful enough to hide seven faults." This is a Chinese traditional and stereotypical concept of beauty, which indicates bias about the color of skin and racism. The daughter did not independently learn this bias; she learned from the people and the environment around her. Because of her white complexion, she often heard compliments, which formed her misconception of beauty and developed her bias toward the black. 

Actually, after shopping with my friend and her daughter, I texted to my friend and told her about the issue that I observed and my thoughts about the bias that was hidden in their communication. Later on, she told me that she did not notice at all her bias she had and never thought that she would have racism and affect her daughter. Our open communication helped her recognize her bias. Then I suggest her to read some books and show some pictures about diverse people and culture so that they could be together to learn the similarities and differences between and among people and unlearn biases. That is I think what an anti-bias educator should do to--help people recognize the existence of bias and diversity (Laureate Education, n.d.).

Reference:

Laureate Education (Producer). (n.d.). Start seeing diversity: Race/ethnicity [Video file]. Retrieved from https://class.waldenu.edu

"Start Seeing Diversity Video" Blog: Gender, Gender Identity, and Sexual Orientation

Having awareness of the existence of sexism after the previous course Perspectives on Diversity and Equity and this course so far, I pay much more attention to what people try to convey in their conversations regarding gender or sexual orientation and to what the world around us reveals to us, including media, books, diverse cultures and so on. Then I find out that homophobia and heterosexism permeate the world, even the world of young children, including books, movies, toys, stores, culture of early childhood centers, and schools. For example, at school, I can hear a girl say "Boys cannot use pink markers because pink is for girls" or "You cannot be daddy because you are a girl". Or, in a book, the female are usually described as a nurse, a teacher, an assistant of a certain job, a house-cleaner; and the male are set as a doctor, a scientist, an astronaut, a breadwinner and so on, which show gender bias and stereotypes. Moreover, hardly you could see in a book a daddy and a mommy are two women or two men. It seems that children are "protected" to be what they "should" be, stereotypically. However, trying to preventing children from recognizing gender diversity and contacting with family diversity will do no good to children's gender identity development.

Some people believe that early childhood centers should avoid the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals such as same-sex partnered families, which prevents children from learning more about family diversity and makes children learn sexism in a covert way by excluding those books. As stated by Derman-Sparks and Olsen-Edwards (2010), "children's comments and interactions reveal the influence of family and societal attitudes about gender behavior, coupled with children's own developing attempts at understanding the world (p.92)." Therefore, before I communicate with people about the disadvantages of avoiding the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals, I would listen carefully and respectfully to their perspectives of sex orientation. Then I would tell them my understanding of their views and of healthy sexual development in the preschool years. I would assure them that "sexual orientation does not develop from the activities children do, and that it is based in a child's particular biology (Derman-Sparks and Olsen-Edwards, 2010, p.95)", including book reading regarding gay or lesbian individuals. To show respect for family diversity and create opportunities for children to discuss values, experiences, and bias, the inclusion of books depicting gay or lesbian individuals should not be avoided.

Reference:

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