Monday, June 21, 2010

August; Hyperlinks

The reading Making Room For-one Another, discusses how August, who is writing a dissertaion, chose a kindergarten classroom that was led by a teacher that was committed to democratic pedagogy and wanted to research how the children in the classroom react and deal with having lesbian parents or come from other non-dominant family structures. August spent time in the classroom to observe these children and document the student and teachers conversations and to see to what extent the children participated in the conversations and how the children reacted toward the different make- up of each family. August's focus was on one particular child who not only had lesbian parents but was also adopted.



I work with the same age children as discussed in this paper. I found Zeke's approach interesting in how he discussed "sensitive" material with the children. I felt myself become nervous when a child would ask a question, "How can two dads be in love?" The way that Zeke approached the question and answered it, reminded me that children are not looking for an elaborate answer.





I also became concerned for Cody throughout the reading. I thought that the teacher was going to put Cody on the spot and make Cody talk about a topic that was clearly uncomfortable for him to discuss. I later found that not to be the case. I thought that the literature that Zeke used to discuss the different families was a clever way of talking to the children about how families can be different. I then began to research books and web-sites that could be useful for teachers who may be faced with these types of questions in their classroom. There are several books and web-sites that can be used to assist in the converstaions, like the one in Zeke's classroom. Here are just a few:

books: All Families Are Different

Who Is In A Family: by Robert Skutch

ABC: A family Alphabet Book: by Bobbie Combs

The Family Book: by Todd Parr

www.lessonplanspage.com/SSFamilyStructuresRoles23.htm

www.colage.org/real

3 comments:

  1. I wanted to find out more about The Family Book by Todd Parr. I learned that this particular author has a variety of books that help children understand diversity and that it's okay to be different. Thanks for the information!

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  2. Thanks for the resources, Mary. I sympathize with your hesitation in knowing what to say when a child asks such sensitive questions. Hopefully, with practice, time, and knowledge, it will become easier and more clear about how we can address these issues in a socially acceptable way. With my history teaching in a Catholic school, however, I would never be able to answer a question like that because it is completely against Roman Catholicism. Those questions are somewhat absent and definitely disregarded in a Catholic school.

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  3. Mary, you had some great connections. I too when reading found myself a little hesitant and nervous to see what Zeke's responses were to questions like, "How can two dads be in love?" I was thrilled with the way Zeke handled the conversations. I looked at the lesson plan you linked and I think that would be a great activity to do with the kids when discussing different families. It would be nice to see the collage and it would help teachers to get to know the children a little better.

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