What I have learned

My hope is that I continue to strengthen myself to be an anti-biased educator to help support all learners of any background. I will continue to support diverse children and their families to form a partnership to help their child reach their fullest potential in my classroom.

A goal I set for myself is to continue learning ways and insight about issues related to diversity, equity, and social justice. My goal is to engage in professional development, trainings, or webinars that will give me knowledge so that I can strengthen myself as a well-rounded Early Childhood professional.

Thanks to all my colleagues for your support during this journey. It has been a great experience to link up and share ideas, comments, and new knowledge as it relates to the early childhood field. I wish you all continued success and happy holidays.

Warmest Regards,

Tierra Jackson

Creating Art

I ndividually                                            

D eveloping

E xplicable personalities and characteristics

N otably

T hru traumatic experiences, biases, and discomforts

I nto

T he

Y oung child

I created this poem entitled “IDENTITY” to define how young children start developing diversity early on. As we have been learning from this course, these early experiences of trauma, biases, and discomforts will shape how we start to view the world around us. It plays a significant part on how we develop and form identities as a young child.

References:

Image from-

Rubashkyn, E.R.(2014, March 14). Eliana’s Blog.

Crossing Borders [Blog post]. Retrieved from

http://elianabutterfly.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/gender_identity_mtf_story.jpg

Start Seeing Diversity

An instance I can recall happening when a child pointed out something they noticed different was with my little cousin. We were out shopping in the mall and I can remember seeing a shorter than average person coming towards us. I was hoping my little cousin would not comment or even notice the difference, however, she did. As the lady was approaching she stated, “Why is that lady so little?” I really was in a moment of shock. I just was like “Shhh, Be Quiet!”

                The message I communicated to my cousin was that this person is different. Not only that, but that we should now respond to what we see. Now when she sees another person that is of shorter than average height, she may think that something has to be wrong with that person. Professionally, it would have been best not to just “shhh” my cousin, but perhaps explain to her that there are many different people in the world. People come in many shapes, colors, and sizes. Later, I may even share some books about differences in people.