An “ism” is about the institutional advantage and disadvantages people experience due to their membership (or perceived membership) in certain social identity groups (Derman-Sparks,2010, pg. 24). A consequence that I feel that I can see that I might have with children and their families with whom I work with “ism(s)” such as racism and religion to name a couple. Here in the area that I am in there is a barrier that is built with racism and religion. I myself have had to deal with racism being in this area. I would speak with individuals over the phone but once they meet me in person, they have a difficult time matching my voice with what they see in front of them. I have had this encounter a few times with children and their families when they first meet me. I have heard it more times than not that my voice does not match what people see. With children and families this could very well be the same problem because of a language barrier as well as their religion in this area or any area. When families come from other places or countries and speak broken English or little to no English it is somewhat of the same thing that I experience with people who meet me for the first time. I think that having this exposure helps me to have an understanding of what children and or their families will have to deal with when others are not familiar with their broken English or native languages. The same thing goes for religion. When others are not familiar with a religion other than their own, they may become reserved or have predetermined ideas of what other religions do. I think that when situations like these arise instead of letting them work themselves out it would be best to use this as a learning tool for children and their families to remove any biases and preconceived ideas of others through learning exercises or sharing facts about other races, religions, cultures, and languages.
Reference
Derman-Sparks, L., & Edwards, J. O. (2010). Anti-bias Education for Young Children and Ourselves. Washington, DC: National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC).
https://www.goguardian.com/blog/learning/diversity-in-the-classroom/
3 comments:
Hi Violanda,
It's a shame when I know exactly what you mean when you said "I would speak with individuals over the phone but once they meet me in person, they have a difficult time matching my voice with what they see in front of them." although mine is not because of racism, but ageism, which I talked about in my blog as well. I have also had parents say to me that I look so much younger than what they are expecting from my voice and I can always tell which parents feel uncertain if I can do my job and teach/protect their child when I seem so young, despite the fact that I am 33 and have already been teaching for 10 years. We call the parents up first to set up face to face meetings to fill out paperwork and numerous times during these meetings someone had mentioned how young I look or ask if I "just graduated college" despite me having already given them a "Teacher Bio" page that describes my attributes in full.
Like you, I try to remember how I feel when the happens to me every time I meet a new family, especially if we are "different" from each other (culturally, linguistically, or religiously). I don't want to present a personal bias or an unintended microaggression or assume that I know more about them when I haven't really even gotten to know them yet. Appearances can be deceiving and instead of judging, creating a bridge between us and closing those -ism gaps are extremely important if we want to be effective educators.
Great post!
-Brittany
Violanda,
It is hard to deal with racism especially in today's society. Before I began teaching I also never realized how often ageism is brought up. Some teachers are told they are too old to be teaching while others, like myself, are told that they look too young to be teaching children. It seems so very unfair. I try to reflect on situations like these and use them as teachable moments with my students.
Great Post!
Thank you for sharing,
Heather
At the point when prejudice is essential for the way of life, we as a whole ingest convictions and mentalities that are formed by that reality. Our activities will now and again mirror this in spite of our earnest attempts, implying that we as a whole commit errors every now and then, and can accidentally cause outrage or hurt. As a Black man I have experience racism and hate in certain fields of life and now as I'm older I believe they lack understanding. All I can do is pray for them and try to move on as a person.
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