Final Farewell!! the Journey continues..............

Throughout this course, I have learned that it takes more than teaching curriculum to children.  There is so much that educators have to commit to children and their families.  The one hope that I have pertaining to diverse backgrounds is to always remain humble and respectful of cultural differences.  As an educator, I hope to find ways to implement an environment that embrace and honor life experiences and culture of children.

 One goal that I would like to set for early childhood related to diversity, equity and social justice is to continue establishing positive relationships with families and teach children about self-identity.  Self identity is important because children show signs of being influenced by societal norms and biases early on. 

To all of my colleagues and Dr. Ferrari especially, who have shared ample information that has helped me along the way, I want to say thank you for all the sources you have shared.  There is so much that I have learned from you about what to expect, since I have not yet to teach in any classrooms or be director of a center yet.  Your life experiences have become my second foundation of knowledge for operating child care, teaching, and caring for children.  I always state that I have a long way to go, simply because many of my colleagues have experience in the field.  Once I get that experience, I hope to be successful just as many of you are!  Thanks so much for giving advice and comments on discussion boards and blogs and I hope we can continue to strengthen each other along the way!

P.S  sorry so short, but my daughter fell on my computer screen and cracked about an hour ago, so I had to go find someone's computer to borrow so that I could complete my assignment.  so guys, just imagine what type of night I've had. 

Creating Art

Bias Discomforts and Trauma

We have been privileged this week, to express about what has impacted our lives about bias, discomfort, and trauma within early childhood years. Also, what I have learned about anti-bias work, yourself, and others.  We were instructed to express this with art or media.  My picture solely defines the cries children may want to say but are not able to say because they don't know how.  As you can see within the collage, it expresses that children can very well be victims of prejudices, along with childhood trauma in the form of neglect, abuse, poverty, incarceration, and much more.  We have learned that the effects can be tremendous, leading to poor social skills and low self-esteem, substance abuse and hate relationships, but also on the flip side, the hard work of anti-bias education can help children understand their true purpose in life, and develop the skills needed to accomplish goals in life. 

Also, I have attached a sample song to express what or how children may feel after childhood trauma.
The words in the song are very relative, and when I heard the song, it was touching to my soul.  There are so many innocent  children who are traumatized  from arrays of aspects and we often do not know exactly how they feel, until we have walked in their shoes.

Anti-Bias Exercise

I have a five year old little brother, and he is full of life, adventure, and much more.  I actually remember a time when my little brother was hanging out with me and we were out and about doing some shopping.  We all know that kids notice everything and pay attention to some things more than adults do. My brother noticed many different people while we were out and about and he did not say anything about what he considered “different” to him until he seen a man that he considered “fat”, and he said, “What that fat man doing in the kid’s store?”  I immediately had to correct him, and told him to be quiet, because he was rather loud when he made his statement.  After he said what he said, I got down on one knee so that I was eye level with him, and I told him that it was not nice to speak that way about no one, regardless if they are different from how he and I look.  I had to explain to him that people are allowed to be different and it does not make them a bad person just because they are different. At the present moment when I made my statement, the looks on his face let me know that he felt like he had done something wrong and that he felt remorse for what he had done.  The messages that he may have gotten were to not say hurtful comments about people and that it is acceptable for people to be different from his appearance.  From an anti-bias educator’s perspective, may have gone a little smoother.  The educator may have asked the child to explain why he feels the way he does and does it benefit him or the person he was talking about in any way?  The educator may have also expressed the importance of respecting each individual for who they are as a person and not based upon what they look like.