Social Acceptance

"You’re not supposed to be wearing that; that’s for boys," said *Jacob to *Sierra who was wearing work boots and a Home Depot racing jacket, during literacy time one day in my kindergarten classroom.

The teacher quickly spoke up and said "students can dress however they want Jacob; Sierra is cold and that jacket looks good and warm!" This distracted the students and got them back to literacy!

Society has already drilled into the heads of these kindergarten students what is socially acceptable, and the “Metonymic Fallacy,” the portrayal of white middle class women as standing in for the experiences of all women (to be considered "normal" boys and girls must act a certain way). Just because Sierra was wearing something that society has portrayed as being "masculine." Sierra was considered abnormal by Jacob because she is a girl, and in Jacobs mind (and many others) girls should be wearing "girl like" things (dresses, pink clothes, etc.).

I could relate Sierra to the Mansfield girls in Lyn Michael Browns article "In the Bad or Good of Girlhood." The girls in this article were all great girls, but did things a little differently than society constructs, so they were left out, and not made to feel welcome. This feeling of not belonging can be a real boundary for children, and it's probably only a matter of time before Sierra, and other students who want to wear something that is not usually considered "normal" do not feel as though they can wear what they want because there will be social consequences for wearing something that is seemingly “abnormal.” I think that Sierra expected that the teacher would say something (and she did) which made Sierra feel more comfortable, unlike in the Mansfield girl's case, when the teacher was not even on their side when it came to differences.

I thought the teacher in this classroom handled this disruption in a fast efficient way, which worked for the time being. But Jacob and the other students in the class probably did not understand what they were doing that was so wrong in the first place (they have always learned that girls should be “girls” and boys should be “boys”), and would surely benefit from learning information about peoples differences.

No child is exactly the same, and all children deserve to come to school without the worry of being left out and made fun of. This school has a wide variety of students from different cultures, and backgrounds, who have different beliefs and thoughts. This school, and all schools, need culturally competent teachers, who incorporate different cultures, encourage children to talk about differences, and encourages children to learn. Teachers must be aware of, and account for, all the differences that students have and educate students about people’s differences. It will be very difficult, in this day and age, to stop all of this discrimination because so much of our society depicts boys and girls to be a certain way. But no progress is made unless we, as teachers, take small steps to stop this in our classrooms.
*Not actual names

Prompt #7

Being able to observe two different teachers with two totally different learning styles and techniques has given me great insights as to what works, and what does not work when it comes to children being excited to come to school each day and learning skills and techniques that will help them now and as they get older.

One of the many things I took away from this experience that I will never forget is that a non-participatory classroom will not prepare students for future success. Engagement is key to learning! I remember my first week at this school, before I became a reading buddy, I went into my first grade classroom, and students were in centers. The teacher told me to go around to the different centers and let the students teach me! The students were thrilled to be able to show someone new, how smart they were and what they have been learning! Every child that taught me, was happy and engaged, and this proved to me that giving every child a chance to speak, gives them a chance to “show what they know,” which boosts confidence levels and creates a classroom of participatory learning! It was a wonderful sight to see!

One thing that I do not wish to bring into my future classroom is continuous day after day repetition of words and phrases. I have observed that this does not help children to learn the material at all. As I have said in my previous blog, when children are forced to repeat and repeat and repeat the same things over and over, it does not take long for students to become restless and uninterested. I observed this many times in one of my classrooms and almost none of the students were paying attention to anything being said by the teacher.

My experience as a reading buddy was very difficult, but very eye-opening. I struggled a lot in keeping my students on track, trying to get them to sit still and listen, trying to get them to cooperate and take turns, and trying to make this a positive learning experience for them all. It was a challenge, but the students taught me a lot about what they need from their teacher to be successful and overall this experience has changed me for the better.

I saw a lot of things that I did not like that are occurring in this school, and it has made me want to do something about it! Joseph Kahne and Joel Westheimer argue in their article: “In The Service Of What? The Politics of Service Learning,” that there are two models of service learning that exist, a Charity model and a Change model. I could have gone into this experience knowing that I was helping children who were struggling; gone in, done my hours, learned some information, and got out (Charity). But I chose to practice the change model. As I reflect on this experience, I feel these students and teachers struggles, and I want to take action, and transform lives, as I remember my experiences at this school and how important it is for children to have an Empowering Education!