Is there a right or wrong when it comes to our classroom?

The first thoughts that popped into my head when reading about the ban of Legos was how could they do that. Legos provide some many learning experiences and children can learn a lot from those blocks. As I read more and got familiar with the story I realized that the only solution was to ban Legos from the classroom. The follow up story talks about how much heat the classroom got from the media and random people from all over the country. It made me start to think, what is right or wrong? But the more I thought about it, I started to think is there even a right or wrong? In our society and especially growing up everything is either right or wrong. But the more I reflect on teaching and classrooms I keep questions if there is even a right or wrong. Obviously, there are certain behaviors and language that are appropriate and inappropriate and laws and rules that are set but I’m talking about the way we teach children. Is there a right way to teach children? We already know that children learn differently so why are there still so many teachers that only teach one way and can’t change it. I understand that Legos are a vital part of school but the issue went deeper than just the actually material. The teachers didn’t take away a material and deprived the children of that learning experience instead by taking away the material is provided a lot of meaningful conversations and deeper learning experiences that go beyond the classroom but into politics and society. Also it proves the point that what works in one classroom doesn’t work in all classrooms. I can even go as far as saying what works with one child doesn’t work with all children. With that being said, I don’t understand how or why the media got involved. If they don’t know the full story or the lesson they were trying to teach, why must they get involved? They can’t apply the same rules to every school and who are they to say what is right or wrong? I believe that there is no right or wrong when it comes to teaching the most important thing is that the children are learning and they leave the class being more competent and confident.

How do we break the cycle?

All three of our readings talked about gender stereotypes and how the rules for each gender are established at an early age. This has been an ongoing struggle especially for the minorities to try and be seen as equals. In our society gender’s roles have changed. More women are becoming working mom’s and men have taken on more duties within the house and raising a family. Yet children see gender rules as black and white. How do we break that cycle?

The first read notes how gender stereotypes are reinforced in the toys that children play with and the clothes that they wear. I have noticed this in Wal-Mart and Toys r us. You simply need to walk down any aisle and see either pinks and purples or dark colors and know which aisle is for whom. It does upset me to see that girl toys are geared to fake adult things such as high heels, cell phones and make-up. What message are we sending our girls? Are we rushing them into becoming adults? What can they take away from those toys? That article brings up an important fact that the pictures of the children also reinforce the gender stereotype. It’s so easy to put a girl and boy playing with tools or cooking. I am constantly conscious about this in my classroom. In the beginning of the year, I post pictures of children playing in each center. I always make sure that in each center there are pictures of boys and girls exploring in that center. I try to encourage boys to explore dramatic play or girls to explore woodworking table.

I know that teachers are doing their part to create a gender-neutral environment. We set up a classroom and provide a safe environment for children to explore everything. As a teacher, I also make sure to explain to children when they make comments like “I can’t like that it’s for (whatever gender).” Yet we try so hard and it can be taken away from the parents. I know many of my parents that come in and say to their child that they can’t do whatever because it’s for the opposite gender. Mostly it’s dad’s telling sons that they can’t play with whatever because it’s for girls. I think if we are going to break the gender stereotype cycle we have to explain to parents and families what are goals are and hopefully they can work with us and support our ideals.

What makes classroom experiences valuable?

As teachers, we always want to be prepared for the day. We want to have our lesson plans set up; activities ready and have the routine mapped out in our head. Being Early Childhood teachers we also know how important it is to have a back up plan when the original plan needs to be thrown out the window. It makes me think that maybe there are times when we are too quick to throw something out or too quick to move onto the next topic. What factors makes classroom experiences valuable?

In Rethinking ECE, the story was about exploring the ecology around your school. This year because of budget cuts has numbered our field trips, another teacher suggested taking her class on weekly walks around the neighborhood. It was a great idea that I soon adapted that as well. I can relate to the author about the anxiety of the first walk. I was so cautious about the children’s safety. I was constantly aware of who’s out of line and making sure everyone was safe and counted for that I missed most of walk. After a couple more walks, I thought that the children were going to find this boring and I stopped doing it. It wasn’t until the children requested to go on the walks again that it made me think about experience that they were getting from these walks. It made me question my teaching, I am moving on too quick because I am afraid that the children will get bored? I try hard not to have bored children because that usually ends in chaos but I had to reevaluate my teaching. The author talks about revisiting the same sites and examining each detail. That is how you keep the activity intriguing by exploring every aspect; look at the trees, dig in the dirt, see how many modes of transportation there are, do an activity involving their five senses etc. While the children explore their environment it can tie into themes, or the interest of the children at that time. It’s the same activity but different way of exploring it.

In New Possibility, it was the students that shared in their own opinion what makes classroom experiences valuable. It goes to show with each activity or lesson plan that each student will come away with something different that they learned. At another university, they tried to put ECE majors into the Department of Education. I remember working with other Elementary Ed majors and looking at their detailed lesson plans. At the end of the lesson plan it asked for goals or objectives, as in what do you want the children to learn. I thought how would one go about doing that? As evident from this chapter, even in college, each student learned different things. Students have different obstacles and are so unique that accomplishments vary from student to student. So what makes classroom experiences valuable varies from student to student but I think what’s most important is that each student finds each classroom experience valuable.

How do we prepare for the unexpected?

As a teacher, everyday is different, different student, families and circumstances that are out of our control. I think what defines a teacher is the way they deal with the unexpected. We already know that we must prepare for the unexpected, to become flexible and to adapt to the change. Every moment can be viewed as a teachable moment if capitalized the right way and some of the best learning comes from things that were never planned or just scratching the lesson plan and going with the unexpected.

In Staying past Wednesday, a teacher must deal with uncomfortable feelings and how to deal with death. In our culture, we try not to talk about death and it has become a hush hush topic of conversation. The teacher in the story does the opposite and deals with these uncomfortable feelings head on. She allows students to talk about their feelings and let them feel all the different types of feelings they have. I know when our class pet guinea pig died last year I was also faced with this dilemma. I didn’t know how to approach this topic, are the children to young for such a heavy topic? I decided that we needed to have a conversation about it and to talk the children through whatever they were feeling. We are constantly talking about feelings and allowing the children to accept all feelings. In the end, the children could work through all of the steps of grieving and to really understand the whole process. As I shared this process with the families, I actually had one parent ask me why I didn’t just buy a new guinea pig because the children would have never known. I had to explain that this a natural part of life that they will have to face sooner or later and I wanted to provide an open opportunity for each child to deal with their feelings in a healthy manner.

The second reading talks about how a teacher reacts to a sensitive subject with her coworkers. I think it is important for all children to know that not everyone celebrates the same holidays. It provides an opportunity for children to be less egocentric and to understand and explore the world and different countries. I don’t think that the teacher was trying to offend anyone or his or her culture but it did come off that way. It must be hard to prepare for the unexpected when it is dealing with colleagues. It’s one thing to constantly be on your toes with the students but I’m sure it can throw you off when it comes from your colleagues.

In New possibilities, It discusses different types of obstacles other teachers had to go through. It reminds everyone that life is unexpected. Things never goes as planned. Reading all of these women’s stories goes to show that it doesn’t matter what happens, what matters is how you deal with it. “Success is how high you bounce when you hit bottom.” –George S. Patton